The Fitbit Charge 5 has a built-in GPS system, which means you can leave your phone behind when you go for your run. Depending on the style of wristband you have on the Charge 5, you may want to remove it in certain conditions, but the device itself won’t have any trouble in even the harshest conditions. The Charge 5 is water-resistant to 50 meters and won’t have any issues with being worn in any environment, including rain, the pool, or the shower.

In my use and testing I’m easily able to get that and it’s a treat not to need to charge my band nightly, like I do with my Apple Watch. Fitbit claims you’ll get about seven days worth of use from a single charge, but that continuous GPS and “always-on” display mode will shorten that to closer to 5 days.

The battery life for fitness trackers is always dependant on which features you enable things like GPS tracking and heart-rate monitoring will drain the battery faster as they have to monitor and communicate with the watch continually. The Charge 5’s bezel is stainless steel and has more curves to it than the Charge 4. The 5 is also a bit thinner. They’ve added both an electrodermal activity stress monitor and an electrocardiogram sensor (more on those later). While the display size hasn’t changed between the Charge 4 and the 5, the Charge 5 has moved beyond the monochrome OLED touchscreen to a full-colour AMOLED screen, which opens up a world of possibilities for graphs, gradients, and animations. What’s new in Charge 5/what’s different from Charge 4?įitbit has added a new, brighter light in the Charge 5, twice as bright as the Charge 4’s display. In the Charge, you’re getting a smaller wearable than something like a smart fitness watch (like the Sense), but still with a lot of the most popular and useful health monitoring capabilities. If you’re looking at Fitbits you likely already know the basics they can do count steps and track activity, monitor sleep, check heart rate and more. Fitbit claims the Charge 5 is their most advanced fitness & health tracker to date. They continue to release newer and more varied offerings, and the Fitbit Charge 5 is no exception. Fitbit has become a household name in the tracker/health monitoring field, but the company hasn’t been resting on its laurels.

Charge 5 review