Fitbit Sense 2 review: Great hardware, but difficult to recommend

Price When Reviewed

$299.95

Best Prices Today: Fitbit Sense 2

$199.95

$199.99

Hybrid smartwatches at all times dwell in two worlds. As a part of the Fitbit household, the Sense 2 leans towards health monitoring, with mild smartwatch options. You can’t put one on and anticipate the expertise of an Apple Watch.

But even provided that design intent, the Sense 2 lacks the fundamentals you’d anticipate of a $300 wearable. While the {hardware} presents good enhancements, its software program goes unexpectedly backward, with options within the authentic Sense nowhere to be discovered. The outcome makes the Sense 2 really feel stripped down—and tanks its enchantment.

Note: This evaluation is a part of our ongoing roundup of the best Fitbits. Go there to find out about competing merchandise, what to search for in a Fitbit, and shopping for suggestions.

Fitbit Sense 2: The specs

• Price: $299.95 USD
• Dimensions: 1.5 x 1.5 x 0.45 inches (38.1 x 38.1 x 11.43 mm)
• Screen dimension: 1.58 inches
• Water resistant: Yes (as much as 50 meters)
• Sensors: 
  • Accelerometer
  • Altimeter
  • Ambient mild
  • ECG
  • Heart price
  • Skin conductance (cEDA)
  • SpO2
  • Skin temperature
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), Bluetooth 5.0, NFC
• GPS: Yes
• Speaker: Yes
• Microphone: Yes
• Battery life: Six-plus days (as much as 5 hours with steady GPS)
• Charge time: Two hours
  • Fast cost: 12 minutes for one-day battery life
• Data retention: Seven days of detailed movement information (as saved per minute), and the final 30 days of every day totals

Alaina Yee / IDG

Included with the Sense 2 is the tracker itself, small and huge silicon-like bands, and a charging cable. You can select between a number of physique colours (black, silver, and gold); every comes with a unique default band shade. In a stroke of excellent information, the Sense 2 is suitable with the charger and wrist bands for authentic Sense and Versa 3, so when you’re upgrading, you may reuse your present equipment—not like with Fitbit’s cheaper trackers.

The Sense 2 additionally incorporates a bodily button, relatively than the capacitive one on the primary Sense. As thrilling as that information was throughout the Sense 2’s announcement, the button has a considerably mushy really feel—clicks don’t backside out cleanly. It’s the form of tactile suggestions that makes one marvel if the button will begin jamming towards the top of its life.

Tempting {hardware}

Alaina Yee / IDG

Fitbit’s sequel to the Sense needs to be a simple advice. As a souped-up health and wellness tracker, there’s a lot to love. It captures a boatload of knowledge robotically—you get stats on steps, coronary heart price, and sleep, plus data that may clue you into the potential onset of sickness or common well being points (pores and skin temperature traits and blood oxygen saturation), doable heart-related well being points (ECG readings), and rising stress ranges (steady pores and skin conductance). And the accuracy is first rate sufficient to maintain most quantity nerds blissful, although it’s possible you’ll discover some variation in comparison with the Charge 5 and former Sense. My resting coronary heart price estimates ran 2 to 3 bpm increased on common, which involved me at first till I discovered it was the tracker, not me.

Several primary workout routines (together with working and biking) are additionally recorded robotically. Additionally, the Sense 2 can manually monitor an expanded set of different actions, with over 20 choices like CrossFit, kickboxing, dance, and cross-country snowboarding. This broader array of choices is a significant enchancment. Fitbit’s auto-tracking is restricted to only six classes—strolling, working, biking, swimming, elliptical, sports activities, and cardio exercises—and its trackers (together with the Sense 2) will attempt to apply these classes to no matter exercise you’re truly doing. 

For instance, my dance classes have been splintered into irregular fragments labeled as “Sport,” “Aerobic Workout,” and “Swim,” mere minutes aside. Even while you are doing one thing that matches an auto-tracked exercise, like strolling, it’s not at all times as correct as beginning a guide monitoring session. But health trackers have by no means been precision devices; having an expanded array of actions for guide monitoring helps steadiness the scales. You may also enter well being particulars like menstrual cycles and blood sugar readings within the Fitbit app, which is accessible via your smartphone or the online interface.

Alaina Yee / IDG

The Sense 2 makes having all this information in your wrist much more comfy, too. It shaves each weight and bulk from the unique Sense—sufficient to be tangibly felt, even when the variations appear small on paper. If you could have a small construct, you’ll not take care of slipping or sliding as with the chunkier, heavier authentic Sense (or pores and skin irritation since you’ve needed to pull the band extraordinarily tight in compensation). This smartwatch additionally hardly ever will get caught on sleeves when placing on a detailed becoming jacket. I truly generally forgot I used to be carrying the Sense 2 till it buzzed with a notification.

Speaking of, vibration power on this watch is great. On the Light setting, I might already clearly really feel notifications come via, even whereas in movement or driving. With different trackers, together with different Fitbit fashions, that generally isn’t the case.

Alaina Yee / IDG

Battery life stays the identical as the unique Sense, with a ranking of six-plus days. While not an enchancment, it nonetheless supplies loads of time in comparison with full smartwatches that get a day or so at most. With the display brightness set to regular, I received about seven days on common with average train (mild every day strolling, plus two classes of power coaching and two to a few classes of dance) and lightweight notifications (common of two to 6 per hour, relying on time of day). You’ll burn via the battery a lot sooner with heavier use, significantly when you use GPS to trace your route.

Disappointing software program

Your first interactions with the Sense 2 will likely be totally clean. Setup is way sooner than with the unique Sense—no extra having to manually configure Wi-Fi for the preliminary spherical of software program updates. It simply occurs seamlessly.

The working system has been revamped and streamlined, too. While the look isn’t dramatically totally different, leaping into modes or settings is way less complicated. You will, nevertheless, to need to reorient when you’re accustomed to the unique Sense, as the place you swipe to entry notifications and apps have flipped all about.

It makes for a great first impression, and these positives can appear dominant when you solely monitor exercises and well being. The crashing disappointment comes while you attempt to lean on the smartwatch capabilities of the system—as a result of there are barely any.

Alaina Yee / IDG

Third-party app assist is gone, for starters. You’re restricted to only Fitbit Pay, Google Wallet, and Google Maps, and the latter two nonetheless have but to launch.

Music assist has additionally swirled down the drain. No extra on-board storage or controls for Spotify and Pandora controls. It’s an enormous downgrade.

Most dumbfounding is the elimination of Google Assistant assist. On the unique Sense, you would use both Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa; now solely Alexa assist stays. How Google-owned Fitbit got here to this choice is mystifying.

The adjustments to notifications are far much less baffling, however nonetheless irritating when you hate delayed data. Instead of rolling in one after the other (as they did on the primary Sense), a splash display first identifies the app and, if a number of notifications can be found, what number of have been acquired. A brief pause follows, then the newest message or electronic mail is displayed.

Alaina Yee / IDG

This system is just like that of Google’s brand-new Pixel Watch, however feels a lot slower. The Sense 2’s display additionally fades in because it wakes, so it may well really feel like an eternity passes after flipping your wrist to see who or what messaged you. (The first Sense and the Pixel Watch wouldn’t have this transition to full display brightness.) You can’t change any of this habits in settings, both—your solely decisions are to love it, endure it, or move on the Sense 2 all collectively. And when requested, a consultant for Fitbit stated that there are not any plans to later allow third-party apps or Google Assistant assist.

Final ideas

Without any official remark, realizing the rationale for the Sense 2’s kneecapping is unimaginable. But given the timing of the Pixel Watch—simply two weeks after the Sense 2—this end result looks like Google trying to ensure the Pixel Watch’s success.

Regardless, the Sense 2 is an unlucky sufferer of complicated design choices. Despite its glorious {hardware}, it’s weak in opposition to the competitors. For the identical $300 price ticket, you would purchase the Garmin Venu Sq Music Edition, which has third-party app and music assist, plus a longer-rated battery life (as much as 11 days).

Alaina Yee / IDG

Alternatively, you would pay $50 extra for a Pixel Watch (Wi-Fi mannequin), which has extra sturdy third-party app assist and a person interface that feels sooner. And although its battery life is dramatically shorter, you get cool options in compensation, like having the ability to take calls instantly from the watch.

You may also simply get monetary savings by leaning laborious into the train monitoring and choosing the $230 Fitbit Versa 4, which launched similtaneously the Sense 2. You’ll lose the pores and skin conductance, ECG, and pores and skin temperature sensors, but when the wellness monitoring isn’t necessary, it can save you $70.

Of course, you may simply keep on with the unique Sense. If you don’t have already got one, it’s best to be capable of decide one up at a strong low cost as retailers clear their inventory. The Sense 2 is extra of an incremental replace, and until you deeply yearn for that new cEDA sensor, you’re not lacking a lot. In truth, you’d be gaining options.