Two minute exam
The Fitbit Sense is one of the best Fitbits around and builds on the success of the Fitbit Versa line with several thoughtful new updates. It's designed to put you in charge of your own well-being, help you understand your body and mind, and make changes to improve your physical and mental health, and it works. Like many of the best smartwatches and fitness trackers, it includes an ECG sensor to detect signs of atrial fibrillation, but its stress-monitoring feature is what really stands out, and it's something everyone else does. You can benefit from and use every day, not just in a health crisis. It's a shame that many tools for managing your stress levels (like meditation sessions and mindfulness tutorials) are only available to Fitbit Premium subscribers, but the Sense comes with a six-month free trial, so you can get lots of benefits. of them even if you decide not to extend the subscription thereafter. The fitness tracking features that the Sense offers are also impressive, especially if you want to train using heart rate zones. There's a wide range of activity tracking options, and together, the watch and the Fitbit app give you a proper set of workout stats once you're done. The ECG feature was not available at launch, but was enabled in October 2020 via a firmware update. Google Assistant support is expected to arrive later this year. However, the Sense isn't perfect and we can also see room for improvement in Fitbit's companion app, specifically the menstrual tracker, which would benefit from integration with the skin temperature sensor and its features.
- Fitbit Sense (white) at Walmart for € 289
Prices and availability
As of this writing, the Fitbit Sense is available for pre-order directly from Firbit and from third-party retailers, and is currently scheduled to ship on September 25. The Sense costs $329 / £299 / AU$499.95, making it the most expensive Fitbit yet (which is to be expected given its feature set). All future devices in the Sense line are likely to launch at the same price, if they follow Fitbit's current pricing strategy.
(Image credit: future)
Design and display
- Clear and bright display
- Comfortable Infinity Band strap
- Wide range of watch faces
The Fitbit Sense is a beautiful smartwatch. It has a very similar design to the Fitbit Versa line, with a square face and rounded edges that Fitbit designers say are inspired by the lines of the human body. The case is made from stainless steel, giving the Sensation a premium look, with a small touch-sensitive button on the left side that can be configured to quickly access your most frequently used apps. A single tap will open an app (this is Alexa by default) and a double tap will bring up four shortcuts to other apps. We've found this especially useful for accessing our favorite workouts without having to scroll through menus on the watch, and for quickly launching an EDA analysis (more on that below).
(Image credit: Future) The color display (covered with Gorilla Glass) is bright, sharp, and responsive. Swiping right reveals various settings, including entering sleep mode, which dims the screen and turns off vibration, volume, screen brightness, always-on screen, and Do Not Disturb mode. Swiping down from any screen will display a display containing your notifications, which can be customized in the Fitbit app. The Fitbit Sense comes with an Infinity Band, which is made of smooth silicone with no hard buckles or clasps. It's very similar to the strap on the recently released Polar Unite, and has the same problem of being a bit difficult to hold as you have to thread the end of the wristband under the strap to secure it. Once you get the hang of it though, the band is extremely comfortable and we found we barely felt it at all, which is especially useful at night. Fitbit recommends wearing it a little tighter while exercising to ensure an accurate heart rate reading, cleaning the band regularly with soapy water, and removing it periodically to allow your skin to breathe.
(Image credit: Future) Like most Fitbits, the Sense comes with two bands to fit a variety of wrist sizes. The smallest bracelet fits wrists 5.5 to 7.1 inches in circumference, while the largest fits wrists 7.1 to 8.7 inches in circumference. There are a variety of watch faces to choose from in the Fitbit app (including the new SpO2 face), and you can choose four to save to your Sense for quick access. However, its placement in the Sense is a bit of a contradiction. Although the watch's settings menu allows you to change various settings related to your face, including adjusting the brightness and turning always-on mode on and off. However, if you want to change the layout of your watch face, you need to access a separate menu titled "Watches."
Smart watch functions
- Supplied with voice commands from Alexa; Google Assistant coming soon
- Daily stress monitoring and mood log
- Wide range of meditation and mindfulness tools
The Fitbit Sense offers a maximum battery life of six days, but regular use of its various sensors will cut that time significantly, as will using the always-on display. When it's time to recharge, charging is simple; the Sense comes with a small USB charger with a square docking station that attaches to the watch pack via magnets. It's very easy to use and the magnetic connection means it's impossible to misalign. It offers all the usual smartwatch features you'd expect from a higher-end Fitbit, including voice commands via Alexa (Google Assistant coming late 2020) and Fitbit Pay (as long as your bank is one of those in charge). ). You'll also receive call and text notifications from your phone, and you can dictate responses to text messages using Sense's built-in microphone. We will be testing these features thoroughly over the next few days and will update this review based on our results. Bluetooth call answering is coming later in 2020.
(Image credit: Future) The standout feature of Sense is stress monitoring, which is measured in the form of Electrodermal Activity Responses (EDAs), which are caused by the conductivity of your skin. This is affected by sweat, which in turn is affected by the adrenal glands. It should be noted that emotional stress is not the only factor that can affect EDA responses; physical stress such as exercise and heat can also affect it. To run a scan, make sure the Sense is secure so it can accurately record your heart rate, then swipe left, select ``EDA Scan,'' and place your free hand on your face for two minutes. You will feel a slight vibration when the analysis begins and another when it is finished. The fewer EDA responses the clock registers, the (probably) quieter it will be. Once the scan is complete, you will also be asked to enter a quick recording of how you are feeling at the moment: very calm, calm, neutral, stressed, or very stressed. You can then view these metrics in the Fitbit app. Stress tracking is listed under the "Mindfulness" category of the Fitbit app. Here you'll find a record of all your past scans, a calendar that shows your mood swings over time, and a series of exercises to help you manage your stress. You can set "mindfulness goals," which will instruct you to take an EDA analysis, record your mood, and practice mindfulness exercises over several days. Then you can look back to see how your mood fluctuates over time and understand the factors that affect it.
(Image credit: Future) There are different stress management tools in the Fitbit app, but keep in mind that most of them require a Fitbit Premium subscription. The Sense comes with a six-month free trial of Premium, but you may want to continue subscribing after that time expires to get the most out of the device. The Sense can also measure skin temperature at night, allowing you to monitor trends over time. It can't tell you explicitly if you have an infection, but high temperatures can be a sign that something is wrong. Fitbit is participating in a Covid-19 study that suggests that biometric data from devices like the Sense may be useful in detecting early signs of a respiratory infection. After three nights, the Fitbit app will be able to set a baseline temperature for your skin and show you how it fluctuates as you sleep (some changes overnight are normal). The graph just shows the variation, but this is reasonable because the skin temperature at your wrist will be very different from your core temperature, so trends are more useful than specific value. If you want, you can take your core temperature with a thermometer and enter it manually.
(Image credit: Fitbit) The Sense also tracks your blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) while you sleep, which can help you detect signs of conditions like sleep apnea, where you stop breathing periodically throughout the night, causing it can make you stop breathing. He causes sleep disturbances and fatigue in the Tomorrow. You'll need to activate the sensor manually in your device's settings, and be aware that this will drain the battery a bit faster. Period tracking is present in the Fitbit app, and while it's not recommended for birth control, it shows when you're most likely to be fertile and lets you record your PMT symptoms so you can be better prepared each month. This could be improved by integrating it with mood trackers, so you can more easily see the impact of monthly hormonal fluctuations. We would also like you to incorporate data from the skin temperature sensor, which could be a useful indicator of ovulation.
Fitness tracking
- Wide selection of training options
- Good for heart rate zone training
- GPS and Strava support on board
Workout options for Fitbit Sense include cycling, bootcamp, circuit training, elliptical, golf, hiking, interval training, kickboxing, martial arts, pilates, running, spinning, swimming, stairs, tennis, treadmill,...