Fitbit Charge HR

It has been about two months since my wonderful husband gifted me with a Fitbit Charge HR. A just because present, he is so sweet! Several of you requested that I share my thoughts on it and I wanted to wait until the newness of it wore off to give you my honest scoop. This is not a sponsored post.

Function – The Fitbit Charge HR is a fitness tracker designed to track number of steps taken, mileage, heart rate, calories burned, stairs climbed and it also tracks your sleep. The wrist display will also act as a watch and you can get call notifications with caller ID. One of my favorite functions? It also serves as an alarm clock with a vibration on your wrist. Very convenient if you wake up 2 hours before your spouse like I do!!! I am sure he appreciates the lack of intrusive alarms on my side of the bed now!

I find the Fitbit to be very accurate with my steps taken, the mileage and for the most part…stairs climbed. There are some days when I will look down and it says I climbed no stairs when I know I have gone up at least twice. There are other days when it will say I climbed 25 flights when in reality it was probably 15-20. The mileage is always right on with my treadmill for my runs.

The only thing I don’t like about tracking is that if I am lifting weights or doing something that isn’t cardio, it isn’t really tracking. I suppose if you are doing something that is raising your heart rate, then it is getting it with that. Overall this is a non-issue for me because I know I worked out, but it is still annoying.

I find the sleep tracking very informative. If I wake up and feel tired throughout the day, I can almost guarantee that I woke up and was restless several times through the night and can see so on my profile.

Style – Chris purchased the black one for me. His thought was that it was a neutral color that would match everything. So kudos to him for thinking that through! Had I been there, I probably would have gotten the purple one like here because purple is my favorite color. However, I kept the black one because he chose it for me and it grew on me really fast!

While I wear mine every single day with any outfit, dressy or casual….I do wish that it was more stylish and looked more like a real watch or something. Or even had designer swap-able bands for when you aren’t sweating it out. Fitbit, can we work on that? People that care about fitness still care about fashion too!

Motivation – I find that when I am getting ready for bed in the evenings, if I am close to hitting 5,000 or 10,000 steps….I will run in place while brushing my teeth or hit the stairs a few times. When I am sitting at work all day and I see I have barely gone 3,000 steps…I feel guilty and try to make extra laps around the office or pace around the kitchen while I am cooking dinner. If I sign online and see my “friends” have gone several thousand (like 20,000-50,000) more steps than I have for the week, it makes me feel like I am not doing near enough! So yeah, the motivation is there.

The Fitbit also sits on my wrist daily as a reminder to make better eating choices. Sometimes I tell it to bug off and eat a cheeseburger while silently cursing myself. Other time I find myself walking to the salad bar as that damn black band stares at me from my wrist. So judgy.

Care/Durability – While the Fitbit is not waterproof…I know, annoying right??? It has held up to my super sweaty work outs and the banging around of my wrists all day. There is one small scratch on the display screen. Who knows how I got it, but I am not surprised. I am not even a little careful with it. So to say that it is durable, is an understatement. This thing takes a beating like a champ. It is also super easy to clean. I just wipe it down with some Cetaphil (the facial cleanser) and a warm wet wash cloth. Trust me when I say that it needs a good cleaning a few times a week if you sweat during your work outs.

App/Integration – The Fitbit is Bluetooth enabled and connects with your phone and computer. There is an app you can download to track everything, enter food, water, etc. You can friend others who have Fitbits and see their progress and it syncs with other fitness tools such as MyFitnessPal. If I can figure out how to do all this, so can you!

Other Features –

–You can just double tap the screen instead of pushing the button on the side to see all your tracking! Brilliant! I probably would  have learned that in the manual, had I read it.

–It vibrates when you hit your goal for the day. Nothing like a little praise to make you want to go further!

–You earn badges for different milestones that you accomplish.

–It comes in three sizes – small, large and extra large. I have the small. If you are average size or smaller, I would say that the small would be right for you. My wrists are tiny and I would be lost in anything bigger. I wish the rest of me was that tiny. 

–The battery lasts me about 4-ish days. Charging it goes by really fast! I can usually put it back on my wrist after an hour or less with a full charge.

–It does run my cell phone battery down a little more than before I had it, but nothing crazy.

Overall- I really love my Fitbit! I am glad that I have it, and I do recommend it for anyone who wants to get serious about their health and fitness. For the extra $20, I feel like the Charge HR is a no-brainer for the heart rate monitor.

Do you have a Fitbit? Let’s be friends! Let me know in the comments and we can find each other. What fitness tracker do you have your eye on? Do you have any questions about the Fitbit? I am more than happy to give you my honest opinion!

Linking up with Joey.