Review: Fitbit Sense health watch

I’ve been lucky enough to review a lot of Fitbit devices. From the company’s very earliest trackers they’ve being great at constantly updating their devices and adding useful new features with every new device. Now, with the release of the companies new flagship smart watch, Fitbit Sense, they have once again added a host of new features and useful tools. I had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks with the brand new Fitbit sense to test and review.

I’ll say right off the bat that Fitbit Sense has a lot of features and tracks a lot of data. With this Sense review, I’m going to focus on some of the newer features only and how they work, or else this could turn into a miniseries.

On Wrist calls set up
It appears it is now possible to use the Sense’s built in microphone and the Bluetooth connection between your phone and your Fitbit device to accept calls on the Fitbit sense, even for Apple users.

Choose a voice assistant
Another new option with the new Fitbit sense, is the ability to integrate with either Amazon Alexa or Google assistant. Previously the Fitbit devices were only compatible with Alexa on some models. But there’s a big “BUUUUT” here for Canadians: Google Assistant is not available on Canadian versions of the Fitbit sense. At least not yet. So I wasn’t able to test out that feature. I did enable Alexa.

ECG
To use an ECG to take an electrocardiogram, you need to first download the ECG app via the Fitbit app on your phone, that is unless you’re in Canada. As of the writing of this blog, frustratingly , the Fitbit ECG app is not available to Canadian users. The holdup on this kind of stuff is usually that Health Canada needs to approve the feature, which takes time. Apple Watch faced a similar delay in Canada. So for now I won’t be delving into this feature. But it will be coming… one day.
More info:

EDA
Fitbit sense
EDA:
And ED a scan app on Fitbit sense detect electrodermal activity which may indicate your body‘s response to stress. Because your sweat level is controlled by your nervous system, these changes can show meaningful trends about how your body responds to stress. You can choose between a two minute quick scan or a guided session that lasts longer. To run a scan, open the ED a scan app. Choose the length of your session then place your hand over the top of the screen; your Palm must touch all four sides of the metal frame during the scan. The results of the scan are available in the today tab, under the mindfulness tile,/your journey

Skin Temperature sensor
The new Fitbit Sens also has a skin temperature sensor. The suns will track your own personal range of average skin temperature, then start to let you know if your skin temperature is in range, or seems to be above or below what your baseline of normal is. I guess this might be helpful in detecting the onset of fever, beyond that I didn’t see much use for this feature.

Blood Oxygen or SpO2 monitor
Monitoring blood oxygen levels can be extremely useful for elite athletes or folks trying to fine-tune their health and metabolism, and along with things like heart rate, and body temperature can be an indicator of overall health. Low blood oxygen may also be an indicator of COVID-19.

Battery and charging
The new Fitbit Sense charges fast. During my testing, I was able to take it from just under 10% battery to 75% in about 20 minutes.

Overall review of Fitbit Sense

Overall, I’m sad to say I’m not wowed by the new Sense; at least not yet. It feels like many of these new features aren;’t ready for primetime yet. And without them, you could save yourself some bucks and opt for one of the other lower cost Fitbits.

To recap: The blood oxygen measurements are lacking. Apple Watch by comparison measures your blood oxygen level throughout the day and you can also take an on-demand measurement at any time. The version on Fitbit Sense feels weak and inferior and more like a gimmick than anything relevant to someone who might truly want this feature.

Google Assistant isn’t available in Canada, yet and the ECG option is also a no-show for now.
I felt like the stress management feature wasn’t truly reflective of what I was experiencing day-to-day.

On the upside, the battery life feels practically eternal, and the charging is fast. The notifications work great and I like the new addition of Bluetooth phone connection so I can answer calls on my wrist, though with that said, there’s no way to initiate the call on Sense; only answer.

In short, I think you can get most of the greatest Fitbit features on a lower cost device right now. Especially some of those new health features like blood oxygen, and ECG aren’t yet ready for Canada. Of course you could also get your Sense now and just wait for those updates to trickle in.

[kellilewellen]

The skin temperature will be good for couples who are trying to get pregnant, tracking ovulation.

[camwoo]

I'd love to see a review on Fitbit Premium. I've had the Fitbit Charge, Charge HR, Blaze, Versa, and Versa 2, and I'm finding fewer reasons to upgrade with only marginal improvements.

[MTisOnly]

The only problem with Fitbit is the fact that Google is in the process of acquiring them. And, knowing Google's short attention span, they're liable to kill it, just like so many other projects they've eliminated.

[OFOFBORG]

Not bad. Too bad it’s missing a few features for Canadian and the battery is awesome. The price is not really reasonable. Awesome Erin! Thanks for sharing my friend! 👍🏻👍🏻

[williecabrera]

My Fitbit Sense it great. I compared the Heart Rate reading and the Oxygen measurement with the medical one that you put on your fingertip. Both readings were accurate. The Sense also measures HRV which can help with recovery, and it also shows oxygen level vairiation and breaths per minute while sleeping. There is a lot of data on this device.

[GoingTheDist]

Can't you use Alexa or Google Assistant to start a phone call? Google, call my Mom.

[thebeigesheep]

I literally dont get the point of this watch. I have a versa 2 and dont even see a point in upgrading