Fitbit - Charge 3

I miss my fitbit charge 3. Compact, did workouts, heart rate, and read text messages. Battery lasted at least 7 days.

If you only want to measure distance, I count my laps in my head. I don’t think it’s easy to do, and I do lose track of a few laps every now and then. Overall, I’m quite sure my count is good, or I swam more laps than I counted (when I lose track, I try to start again from the last count I remember). I used to have a FitBit in 2024, and the battery was good (something like Charge 3 or 5 I think?). The screen slowly died away, and eventually, the entire watch’s system died after a few months of swimming. The watch was bought in 2018 or 2019, and I hadn’t used it much before 2024.

If there's a discount or discount code, then yes, buy a Fitbit while they're still available. That's exactly what I've been doing. I started with a Fitbit Charge 3 with a fading screen, upgraded to Charge 5, which had a battery that died.Now I just bought a Versa 4 because of the discount. Off-brand Amazon smartwatches are not worth it. They are not as accurate, and the Amazfit has privacy issues.Pixel watches are expensive. Garmin and other brands are beyond budget and too big to wear during sleep to track sleeping metrics.

Dude, I'm keeping my Charge 3 with its dead screen. It still tracks my heart rate and sleep and steps. I just can't use it as a watch anymore.... For the record, it's my third Charge 3 in a row, replaced because of dead screens. 😣

I switched from a Fitbit (had the charge 3, 5, and sense) to a Garmin venu 3. I like it way better. It needs charged less than once/wk. It will do everything you want plus some. If you want to input food, though, you'll need to use MyFitnessPal linked to it. That's the only gripe I have. Otherwise, it seems to do everything better, and the charging system is way nicer. I hate Fitbit chargers. I had no trouble finding nylon/velcro/stretchy straps (because that's what I like) and they're easy to install. I also like the body battery feature and morning report, and pretty much everything else about it. It's supposedly waterproof to 50m. I haven't had any issues. My last two fitbits were annoying and didn't last long. I've had this one 7mos so far. They also make a smaller 3S, and now the 4 is out. Haven't tried that one.

I bought a Huawei Band 8 recently. Only been a few weeks, I am very happy with it so far. i did not want something expensive. It was around 30 or 40 eur. I have used fitbit charge 3 before this is so much better for much less. Not sure about the life of it, as I just got it. But I was tired of changing fitbit band and I also hate its charger. It is also light weight which was important for me. It tracks stress, sleep, heart rate. Has a timer etc etc. the only issue is. Lose it nor health app is taking the steps from this, so I enter it manually. It may just be something that can be fixed, I havent gotten around to it yet. And yes it is really helping me with my steps. I also like looking at stress and sleep number.

My experience with the Charge line of Fitbits has been mostly positive. I bought my original Charge HR nearly 10 years ago (May 2016), and have only had to upgrade twice. The HR lasted 2-1/2 years. I replaced it with a Charge 3 in November 2018, then a Charge 5 in October 2021. The Charge 5 is now 4-1/2 years old and still going strong. I briefly considered switching to Garmin until I saw all the reports about its poor sleep tracking. Just my opinion, but I've concluded for now that switching away from Charge is premature. I'm going to hang in as long as I can, hoping first to hear more from Google about its commitment to trackers. Plus, I've got 10 years of historical data built up in my Fitbit records. Also, my opinion again, but it seems to me that the tracker market generally is overdue for a significant technological leap. New devices, new features, new brands? Things in the tracker market have been pretty static lately, wouldn't you say? A mature market? I doubt it.

My old Charge 3 had a so-called altimeter, but it was notoriously inaccurate. That's why later Charge models didn't have them. When I took my walks around a fixed route, starting and ending in the exact same spot, it would usually tell me that I ended about 20 ft. higher than I started. Never understood that.

You have to remember that Fitbits are manufactured and sold by the hundreds of thousands. It's inevitable that some small number of people are going to have a problem with theirs. It's no different for any other consumer electronics product. You always play the odds when you buy any tech, but odds are that yours will work as advertised. The Fitbit brand has taken a lot of heat since Google bought it. But considering the competition, I'm not surprised that Tom continues to rate it high. I've been very happy with the three Charge models I've bought since 2016.

I’m inclined to say that a fitness tracker is not a BIFL product. Hear me out: it’s an extremely small electronic item with a comprehensive sensor package and it’s potentially going to be used during intense physical activity that could expose it to impacts, temperature extremes and fluid exposure. I’ve never seen one that’s designed to be user serviceable and I’d suggest that most aren’t even manufacturer serviceable: chances are fair that if it breaks during warranty they just replace them, not try to fix them. Rechargeable batteries don’t last forever. When it was new my Fitbit charge 5 would go a week and a bit between charging. It’s 3 years old now. It lasts 4-5 days if I’m lucky. My charge 4 lasted two years. Charge 3 lasted two years. Both would still charge and hold it for a few days but both stopped tracking steps and workouts accurately. You’d probably have a bit better luck with a ruggedised fitness watch rather than a tracker - more room for a bigger battery and protection of the sensor package. I’m not sure how good the Casio G-shocks are as fitness watches or Potentially there would be a bit more life in something with solar charging like a garmin instinct solar. Either way, technology advances, new killer features become available and you’d probably want to upgrade.

same experience with Fitbit, did an great job so far (but only tested fitbit charge 3-5 and apple watch 10 so far)

I recently got a Garmin Vivosmart 5 to replace my Fitbit Charge I had for many years. Can’t believe I just made the switch, personally, the Garmin blows the Fitbit out of the water!