Some users also received a new 'snore detection' tool as part of a public beta test. The Sense isn't perfect though, and we can also see room for improvement within the Fitbit companion app - particularly the menstrual tracking tool, which would benefit from integration with the skin temperature sensor and stress-monitoring functions. At the time of writing, the Fitbit Sense is available to pre-order directly from Firbit and from third-party retailers, and it is currently due to ship on September Any future devices in the Sense range are likely to launch at the same price, if they follow Fitbit's current pricing strategy.
The Fitbit Sense is a good-looking smartwatch. It has a very similar design to the Fitbit Versa line, with a square face and rounded edges that Fitbit's designers say are inspired by the lines of the human body.
The case is stainless steel, giving the sense a premium look, with a small touch-sensitive button on the left-hand side that can be set up for quick access to your most frequently used apps. A single-press will open one app this is Alexa by default , and a double-press will display four shortcuts to other apps. We found this particularly useful for accessing our favorite workouts without scrolling through the watch's menus, and for quickly starting an EDA scan more on that below.
The color display covered with Gorilla Glass is bright, sharp and responsive. Swiping to the right reveals various settings, including access to sleep mode, which dims the screen and deactivates vibrations, volume, screen brightness, always-on screen, and do-not-disturb mode. Swiping down from any screen will reveal a shade containing your notifications, which can be customized in the Fitbit app.
The Fitbit Sense comes with an Infinity Band strap, which is made from soft silicone with no hard buckles or catches. However, once you've mastered it, the band is extremely comfortable, and we found we barely felt it, which is particularly useful at night. Like most Fitbits, the Sense is supplied with two bands to fit a range of wrist sizes.
The smaller band fits wrists 5. However, their location on the Sense is a little counterintuitive. The Fitbit Sense offers a maximum battery life of six days, but regular use of its various sensors will reduce that time significantly — as will use of the always-on screen. It offers all the usual smartwatch features you'd expect from a high-end Fitbit, including voice controls via Alexa Google Assistant is coming towards the end of and Fitbit Pay provided your bank is among those supported.
You will also receive call and SMS notifications from your phone, and can dictate responses to text messages using the Sense's built-in microphone. We'll be testing these features in depth over the coming days and updating this review based on our findings. Bluetooth call-answering is coming later in The Sense's standout feature is stress monitoring, which is measured in the form of electrodermal activity EDA responses, which are caused by the conductivity of your skin.
The stress management section of the app monitors EDA to record stress patterns. A study preliminarily found that EDA may help differentiate between changing mood phases, although the authors ultimately concluded that more thorough research would be valuable.
At the end of the free trial period, a person can choose to cancel or renew their membership monthly or yearly. Individuals may also purchase a 2-year protection plan with their Fitbit Sense. People looking to purchase a fitness tracker can consider other wrist-worn devices. They can compare the features and prices of the various models to determine which is the best option for them. The device can help a person track their exercise and manage their health and fitness goals.
The device also has a stress management detection tool that may help identify mood trends. Individuals should research the various alternative fitness trackers available to ensure that they get a product that meets their needs. Fitbits are wearable fitness devices that can track a person's health and fitness achievements and help them reach their wellness goals. Learn about…. The best fitness trackers monitor metrics, including sleep, heart rate, and exercise.
Read on for more on the best fitness trackers. Fitness trackers may help improve health by motivating people to do more physical activity and tracking various metrics for them. Learn about some…. A heart rate is the number of times the heart beats per minute. Keeping motivated to increase and improve our fitness levels can be a tricky task. We have selected the top 10 fitness apps to help you reach your…. Alternatives Summary We include products we think are useful for our readers.
Share on Pinterest. The watch holds up to five watch faces in an app on the device, and to add more you must use the Fitbit app on your phone. Luckily, there are many free options that allow users to pick from a huge range of digital and analog faces. Fitbit offers some customization, but doesn't support the level of personalization you'd get with the Apple Watch's complications.
Overall, Fitbit's accompanying smartphone app is straightforward and easy to use. But non-premium members can certainly still benefit from the plethora of data provided by the watch and the occasional free session.
The Sense also does all of the many things one would expect a premium smartwatch to do. It answers phone calls if your phone is nearby, sends alerts when you get a text or an email, supports mobile payments through Fitbit Pay, and is compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. These options all work as they should with minimal fuss. I particularly enjoy using the smart alarm that vibrates in the morning when the watch senses that I'm lightly sleeping, which is less jarring than waking up to a traditional alarm.
There are a handful of third-party alarm and timer apps on the Fitbit app store, but don't expect much more. But the store's offerings seem barren compared to Apple's App Store.
The Sense , unlike other smartwatches, comes with an electrodermal activity EDA sensor that helps measure your overall stress levels. This sensor detects small, electrical changes to your skin; the fewer electrodermal responses you get, the less stressed you are, according to Fitbit.
An app allows you to do a quick scan by placing your hand over the watch and staying still for two minutes. The watch vibrates to let you know when your scan is done, and prompts you to manually record how you feel. The sensor only works if your hand is completely still while touching the outside of the watch casing, so I found it difficult to truly relax while simultaneously keeping one hand glued to my wrist.
But my stillness clearly paid off when the app showed that I had zero EDA responses after my session and that my heart rate had dropped from 81 to 78 beats per minute.
This was nice to see, but I honestly did not feel any less stressed than I had before. These measurements are then compiled by the app into a Stress Management score, which ranges from one to A higher number means that your body is showing less stress.
The score looks at metrics like responsiveness based on heart rate data and electrodermal activity , exertion balance activity , and sleep patterns. In addition to taking scans and issuing a Stress Management score, Fitbit also offers guided meditation sessions in the Fitbit app for Premium members that utilize this EDA sensor. A few introductory sessions are available for free.
Although I didn't personally find the stress management feature to be all that helpful, bringing EDA sensors to smartwatches can be useful since you can't really buy a standalone device to measure this type of metric. The EDA integration is certainly nice to have, but I understand why the technology hasn't been sold as a standalone device.
Until Fitbit explores new ways to make EDA scans feel more natural, it's an interesting but only marginally useful statistic.
Unlike its competitors, Fitbit only allows SpO2 monitoring during sleep, meaning you cannot use the watch to get an on-demand SpO2 reading. Fitbit says this enables the watch to establish a baseline of oxygen saturation that's probably more consistent than a spot check.
Traditional pulse oximeters clip to the end of the finger and take measurements by passing light through the skin and tissue, as the Yale School of Medicine explains. Pulse oximeters on smartwatches can produce similar readings, but use a different technique to get their data.
Smartwatches like the Fitbit Sense use LED lights to shine through the skin on the wrist and measure the reflection of the light instead of its transmission through the skin. Choudhury says smartwatch blood oxygen sensors should work as accurately as their clip-on counterparts. While there isn't enough data showing how smartwatch sensors compare to traditional pulse oximeters, she still thinks making this type of data more accessible is valuable.
Fitbit also says its SpO2 feature shouldn't be used for medical purposes and is only intended for general wellness. Apple has made similar remarks about the Apple Watch Series 6 's blood oxygen sensor.
As for the lack of on-demand SpO2 data, some might find this to be a drawback, but I disagree. I feel that my watch sometimes offers too much information, which can lead to excess stress. After months of use, I barely glance at my SpO2 data. My levels stay consistent, which means it's not a metric that I need to check regularly like other frequently changing measurements such as heart rate and sleep quality.
Fitbit is currently working on a feature that notifies users when their SpO2 levels fluctuate, though there is no indication of when users might see that update. The Fitbit Sense is a solid fitness tracker, although it lacks some useful features of its competitors. The onboard GPS is fairly accurate and only takes about 30 seconds to a minute to connect — the same amount of time it takes the Strava app on my phone to connect. The watch consistently tracks my location, pace, steps, and heart rate while exercising around my neighborhood.
There are also specific exercise modes for biking, bootcamp, circuit training, elliptical, golf, martial arts, yoga and many others. Like the Apple Watch, you can set specific goals for your workouts — for distance, time, active zone minutes, or calories — and the watch will give you haptic feedback when you complete them. This is a great feature, but unlike Garmin and Apple, the Sense does not allow for pace alarms. This means that there is no way to get a notification for when my pace is too slow.
Also, unlike the Apple Watch, the Sense lacks the ability to quickly switch between exercise types mid-workout, which some might find helpful. The Sense also allows users to take an electrocardiogram ECG by opening an app on the watch and placing their index finger and thumb on the metal corners of the watch casing.
The readings are then stored on the Fitbit app where they can be viewed or exported as a PDF.
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