How To Change The Band On A Fitbit Charge 3

Our Verdict

A swim-proof design, improved touchscreen and potential for deeper slumber insights make the Fitbit Charge 3 the best accommodating fitness tracker for the money.

For

7-day bombardment life
Touchscreen display
SpO2 sensor'south slumber assay potential
Swim-proof

Against

No automatic run-pausing at launch
No on-lath GPS
Not the near authentic heart rate

Tom'south Guide Verdict

A swim-proof design, improved touchscreen and potential for deeper sleep insights make the Fitbit Charge 3 the best all-around fitness tracker for the money.

Pros

+
7-day bombardment life
+
Touchscreen display
+
SpO2 sensor's sleep analysis potential
+
Swim-proof

Cons

-
No automatic run-pausing at launch
-
No on-board GPS
-
Not the most accurate eye rate

When it comes to the hardware, the $150 Fitbit Charge iii is a solid upgrade from its predecessor and capable culling to its successor. The pattern isn't radically unlike, but a larger display with an actual touchscreen that responds instantly to swipes and taps is a huge comeback. The new band is swim-proof and offers a new swim workout mode, which makes information technology more useful for people who enjoy a variety of exercises.

Only that'southward not the most important feature. Fitbit'south efforts in sleep make the Charge 3, which has an SpO2 sensor that could potentially be used to diagnose sleep apnea, more exciting than other affordable fitness trackers on the market.

Like Apple tree, Fitbit is thinking beyond basic activity-tracking and notifications to give you lot deeper insights into your health. The Charge iii is a step in that management, although the health features with biggest potential aren't quite ready for primetime.

If yous're thinking of picking up the Fitbit Charge 3, you may want to consider the Fitbit Charge 4, which costs $150, only also has GPS built in, meliorate sleep tracking, and the power to command Spotify playback from your wrist. Read our total Fitbit Accuse 4 review (and Fitbit Versa 2 vs. Fitbit Charge 4 face-off) to see why information technology supplanted the Charge iii as the all-time fitness tracker.

If yous own a Fitbit Charge 3, Charge 4, Inspire Hour, Ionic, Versa, Versa 2, or Versa Light, yous can enroll in Fitbit's new center study, and the company will notify you if your device detects an irregular heart rhythm that indicates AFib. Fitbit will also connect you with a doctor for a gratis consultation. The Fitbit Heart Study, open to U.S. residents 22 years or older, is beingness conducted to determine how accurate its devices are in detecting atrial fibrillation, as the offset step to receiving FDA approval. Here's how to sign upwardly for the Fitbit Heart Study.

Fitbit Accuse 3 cheat canvass: What's new

Bigger touchscreen display: The Charge three'due south responsive screen is 30 per centum bigger than the Charge ii'southward, which makes viewing information a lot easier.
7-day bombardment life: You can easily sail through a calendar week on a charge, even with daily workouts.
Swim-tracking arrives: The Accuse 3 is h2o-resistant, unlike its predecessors, and then it tin can rail pool workouts.
Connected GPS: The Charge 3 quickly latches on to your phone's GPS, simply built-in antennas would be more convenient.
New sensor for sleep insights: An SpO2 sensor will be used to alert users enrolled in the Fitbit Sleep Score Beta program if they experience animate disturbances. That plan starts in November.

Price and availability

The Fitbit Accuse 3 is available to buy now for $149.95. You lot can order the fettle tracker directly through Fitbit's website or from a variety of third-party retailers, including Amazon and Best Purchase.

Design: Subtle but meaningful changes

Fitbit isn't reinventing the wheel with the Charge three, which looks identical to the Charge ii at first glance.

The biggest alter on closer inspection is the display, which is thirty percent larger than its predecessor'southward. The company's goal is to put more information on your wrist at a glance, which is a adept thing. But the taller screen makes some of Fitbit's accompaniment bands, like the Horween leather strap I tested, sit awkwardly on my arm. The sporty bands are thicker than the leather options but as well fit more comfortably around my wrist.

If you're upgrading from the Charge two, you'll detect that the side button is no longer a mechanical slice that depresses when you lot touch it. Fitbit engineered an inductive button that responds with haptic feedback when you use it to toggle through the bill of fare or pause a workout. The new push button creates a sleeker look, and besides makes the Charge three's design swimproof.

I like the new look, and I also appreciate the experience of the haptic feedback, which is a slight, subtle vibration that radiates throughout the device.

The biggest change is the touchscreen display, which is thirty percent larger than its predecessor'due south.

Like the Charge two, you tin easily bandy in bands fabricated of different materials to switch up your wait. The band pieces attach hands — it takes merely seconds to remove 1 slice and slide in another.

Display: Larger touchscreen makes a difference

Fitbit's larger screen definitely comes in handy. Now you can read entire messages and notifications without having to follow side-scrolling text, and view multiple apps on the screen at the same time. (Just ii, but that's an improvement.)

Merely more importantly, the Charge 3's brandish is now fully touchscreen. The Accuse two was more than of a tap-screen — y'all had to jab at the brandish with your finger to view stats such as mileage covered and calories burned. At present y'all can simply swipe upwardly on the home screen to view all of those metrics and quickly scroll through them.

The new tracker doesn't have a full-color display; instead, its text and animations come in xvi shades of grey. Color would be a overnice touch, peculiarly when running exterior. The cogitating screen tin can exist tough to encounter in the morning calorie-free, fifty-fifty without a direct glare. Red or yellow text would exist easier to glance at.

Another small-scale complaint: Fitbit should minimize the bezels on its fitness band displays. Everyone can tell you're wearing a Fitbit; at that place's really no demand to have upwards valuable real estate with a logo on the chin.

Workouts: Improved, but non perfect

The Accuse 3 tin at present withstand water submersion, so swimmers tin track their laps with the new band by activating the new Swim workout. On your wrist, you'll exist able to encounter time elapsed and calories burned, and and so view full workout stats when you sync the Accuse 3 to the Fitbit app.

This is a big deal for swimmers who don't want to splurge on a waterproof swim-tracker such as the $199 Versa or the $279 Apple Lookout Serial 3.

Fitbit now has just 1 fitness tracker with on-board GPS, the Ionic, which 1 of the company's worst-designed devices. I was hoping the Charge 3 would improve upon the Accuse 2 past adding GPS, merely unfortunately, the new band has to connect to your phone's GPS to accurately track workouts instead. The proficient news: The Charge 3 locks onto your phone'due south GPS within a second (literally). The band likewise tracked 1 3.18-mile run fairly accurately even without GPS activated — it logged the run as iii.24 miles.

I tested the Charge 3 against a Polar H10 breast strap, the gold standard for consumer-grade heart rate-monitoring, and found that the band accurately measured my BPM while resting, but wasn't spot on while running. Afterward a 3+-mile run, the Polar breast strap calculated that my boilerplate centre rate was 163; the Charge iii estimated the average was 158 BPM. The Accuse calculated my max heart rate at 173, while the Polar reported 180 BPM. The Accuse as well lagged backside the Polar past more a minute in the showtime of my run when my centre charge per unit jumped up to 156.

This isn't a huge bargain in terms of activity-tracking, because center rate is more useful to estimate trends and overall fitness level. Merely as Fitbit prepares to movement into health diagnostics (more on that later), accurateness will become essential.

The redesigned touchscreen display makes it easier to swipe through metrics while running, but I'd adopt to see more stats on-screen at the aforementioned fourth dimension rather than having to swipe with sweaty fingers to see electric current pace, average pace, center rate and time.

MORE: Fettle Tracker Buying Guide

The Charge 3 didn't automatically track runs at launch, but Fitbit fixed that with an update in December.

Sensors and sleep: Serious potential

Like Fitbit's Versa and Ionic smartwatches, the Charge three has an SpO2 sensor for measuring blood oxygenation levels. With that information, Fitbit can tell if you feel breathing disruptions while you sleep. Or information technology will soon.

In November, Fitbit is opening up a Sleep Score Beta program to qualifying Fitbit users that volition use the Charge three'south SpO2 and heart rate sensors to assess your sleep quality and charge per unit it out of 100. (If you own a Fitbit without an SpO2 sensor, you lot can still participate in the beta, but yous won't get alerts almost animate disruptions.)

Fitbit will soon allow Accuse iii users leverage the SpO2 and heart rate sensors to assess your sleep quality and rate it out of 100.

Fitbit could likewise utilise the SpO2 sensor to diagnose sleep apnea with clearance from the U.South. Food and Drug Administration, though it'south unclear as to how far forth in that process Fitbit is. Apple just received FDA clearance for 2 Apple Scout features, one an electrocardiogram app that uses the Series 4's electrical centre rate sensor to diagnose atrial fibrillation, or irregular centre rhythm. The other is a watchOS feature, non exclusive to the Serial 4, that alerts users if they experience five instances of irregular heart rhythm.

MORE: Best Running Apps for iOS and Android

Fitbit is also working on atrial fibrillation, but has already differentiated itself with in-depth sleep analysis, which the Apple Watch doesn't offer. With an SpO2 sensor, the Charge 3 (aslope the Versa and Ionic) could give Slumber Score Beta participants life-irresolute wellness information. The potential is huge.

Battery Life: As good every bit promised

Where Fitbit routinely pulls alee of the competition is battery life, and the Charge 3 delivers upwards to a week of fitness-tracking and notifications on a accuse. Later on three days and three workouts, the band was still chugging along at 68 percent. That'southward impressive, because I was also using the band to check notifications, the weather and playing with settings with the brightness on automobile (every bit opposed to dim or normal, which would conserve battery).

Fitbit makes trade-offs to proceed battery life lengthy, but for many people, week-long bombardment life would be a great reason to buy this ring.

Bottom Line

Fitbit's nigh loftier-profile new devices accept been smartwatches, but the company hasn't forgotten that its best-selling production is the Charge 2. The Accuse 3 is an obvious upgrade if you're a swimmer who wants in-depth slumber analysis in a device that can last a week on a charge.

The Charge 3 doesn't blaze any trails — at least not yet. I'm curious to encounter what Fitbit does with the Sleep Score Beta data, which could inform medical-grade software features down the line.

Fitbit notwithstanding hasn't made the perfect fitness tracker. Merely the Accuse three is 1 step closer.

Credit: Tom's Guide

Caitlin is a Senior editor for Gizmodo. She has also worked on Tom's Guide, Macworld, PCWorld and the Las Vegas Review-Periodical. When she'due south non testing out the latest devices, you lot can discover her running around the streets of Los Angeles, putting in morning miles or searching for the all-time tacos.