Gadgetory

everyone welcome back now for those who have been longtime followers you know I love smartwatches and considering they do everything these days why would anyone buy a Fitbit specifically the charge 3 well considering most smartwatches not all of them but most of them are still big and bulky their better life might not last as long as activity trackers and as much as I love the new Apple watch which has everything you do get what you pay for but those starting prices they start at $400 there might just be enough on this thing here on this Fitbit charge 3 to make it worthwhile I personally paid for this at the retail price of $149 they do come with both small and large size straps so fit should not be an issue as always I'll place my affiliate links that in that video description below click on those links for the most updated prices in real time you never know when these things might go on sale oh and if you haven't already be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram my social media handles are again that in that video description I'm Jimmy with Jim's review room and I'm here to help you make that purchase decision welcome everyone going over the physical features first let's see how it looks on your wrist the factory band still feels good although it might be a little stiffer than the last generation it's still secure though with this latching strap that they use and I personally haven't had any kind of irritation you can be the judge if this looks good to you or not now you can change the bands without any tools just use your finger to press and release and swap them out for something maybe more colorful maybe a different texture your call the screen is hands-down fitbit's best on the chart series that test this in bright sunlight and it's very much visible I know the footage on camera isn't the best but in person it's bright the stock screen is large with your steps up top the time and below is your heart rate reading more on the accuracy of that later now we're clearly not at a smartphone touch responsiveness but it's greatly improved and it feels close enough I'm flipping through the screen so you have to keep in mind the touch area is still quite small though and you have to somewhat exaggerate the movement or distance to ensure a swipe everyone's familiar with their smartphone sensitivity so I just wanted to point out it's just slightly different on this either or you're not gonna get pissed off and initiate that return at least I don't think so so let's see what we have swiping up shows you a better life steps taken and how many steps you have taken towards your hourly goal mine is at back 250 which I need to get better at here your heart rate reading with heart rate zones split into four different quadrants if you will estimated distance calories burned flights of stairs climb with a little staircase icon and your active minutes last but not least here is your sleep tracker which I love now using this highly responsive and practical pressure-sensitive button on the left side is simply refreshing here it's merely used as a back button but with each press you feel a little vibration it's satisfying to use in a non-creepy way that is but since we're on the home screen here let's swipe down now this is really cool and finally we have notifications which allows for a lot more text to be shown no more limitation - a brief summary now it's just a bigger summary during my time testing most people's text messages including messenger allo and Google Hangouts can be read in its entirety since most people don't send paragraphs with text anymore unless you're my ex or so I know you watch it leave me alone but it's the same with emails and the other random notifications and yes within the Fitbit app you can decide which notifications you want to come in and which ones you don't it's pretty awesome now from the home screen swipe engrain gives you exercise which continues to break down further with workout profiles like running biking swimming treadmills interval training weights etc and there's more that you can configure within the app and with some exercises like running as an example if you aren't carrying your phone with you the Fitbit charge 3 is able to use your phone's GPS to record and display your distance and pace and keep in mind it's also much more accurate to using running as an example again you can set a goal that you want to achieve distance time or calories burned if not just start the activity the Fitbit will attempt to find your phones for GPS which is usually quick from my testing and basically then you're off running now while running you have information such as distance so far pace which is a huge plus and duration swiping on this screen you have pace average heart rate with heart rate zones calories burned steps taken and the time and what I particularly didn't like when you accidentally start an activity and decide you don't want to record it you have no way of deleting it I wish Fitbit would recognize this as a workout that was a little too short or simply just ask me would you like to save this activity instead of forcing me to save it and then possibly sifting through this data or clutter later and then deleting it not a big deal but there's times where you start a run I would fit over my Bluetooth earphones and then it records that time is essentially your pace which is all screwed up and such I want to start over you don't want that in your data all right so back onto the main screen here there's a feature for you to breathe in and out with the relax app boosts basically next is a stopwatch and countdown I know many like having I'm the riskier backing out alarms which is during my testing this is hands-down one of the best it's rare that I get even a SmartWatch this strong hear that vibrations I believe are enough to wake up moderate to maybe even deep sleepers but I do know the sensation is much stronger than most activity trackers and smartwatches out there for alerting me without waking up or bothering those next to me now for those who are wondering at the time this video I do have the newest update which includes the ability to sent quick replies back with a predetermined message at the moment this only works on Android and with my testing it's convenient when a family member or so reaches out and you want to tell them hold on or give me a second you can customize what message you want to send within the app - you don't have to use the defaults now the other new feature is being able to accept and reject phone calls with a check mark or an X respectively not a test distance and surprisingly I'm able to still receive a call notification from 40 linear feet away the only issue though I encountered when testing is it only buzzes twice and then it stops so if I'm not aware of the vibration initially on my wrist and might miss it all together and seconds if I have my phone on vibrate and a phone call comes in a charge 3 doesn't vibrate at all that's weird now after the rejection you can send a quick text message as well as you can of course accept a phone call but keep in mind when you do accept it though there are no microphones on the activity band itself you can't talk into it like a SmartWatch the phone activates so be sure that your phone is not in your coat or your butt or whatever it may be now last but not least is the weather app which gives me both the highs and lows with an icon indicating what's happening for the day sadly I can't tap on today's date and get an hourly breakdown nonetheless the weather app is so pretty handy last but at least our settings brightness and left on auto and Good Vibrations by marky-mark I left on normal not strong that is so with all those features being mentioned how did my test perform here goes Fitbit claims up to seven days battery life I personally am averaging six days and eighteen hours battery life is phenomenal for an activity tracker the Fitbit is also water resistant up to 50 meters and perfectly fine for swimming and using in the shower getting caught in the rain earlier in the week and simply dunking this in water the band has been perfectly fine now the auto exercise feature do work especially if you're walking around let's say window shopping or so thank tivity is tracked and everything is accounted for even if you do forget now keep in mind every activity needs to be performed for a minimum of ten minutes before Fitbit auto records it as an exercise for example if you can't keep a consistent run for more than 10 minutes the activity is still tracked but it won't be labeled as an exercise now sleep tracking has been accurate for me and I love the data that app accumulates over time I know I sleep quite late and wake up quite late too but all that matters is what you do during the moment that you're upright but anyways the fitbit products produces times your awake there's REM sleep light and deep sleep and again it's been accurate the syncing seems to have improved quite a bit as well I did have trouble setting it up on my phone initially for some reason but after I leave EA that turning it on and off and resetting stuff after the charge delivers paired I notice my phone would sync with the band automatically every 10 20 or 30 minutes or so either or want to check it the stats are relatively up-to-date now as for heart rate tracking I always use my chest straps as a comparison as they've been reliable time and time again and provide a lot smoother and consistent data so with my testing the Fitbit charge 3 still provides what I deemed generic heartrate performance you can see my test on-screen as proof here now with a consistent run that data and accuracy is within reason for a risk-based heart rate tracker if you're doing interval runs I noticed that deviations can be as high as 10 when the activity is somewhat intense with my assessment and comparing fitness trackers and smartwatches over the years a charge 3 again so falls in that generic category it's still accurate and good for resting heart rate measurements daily heart rate measurements throughout the day those who want to monitor their heart health in a general sense and to those who perform runs that are a consistent pace the deviation only gets really wide when again you're doing more intense workouts hopefully that clears it up for you guys so over on the charge three still retains its activity tracking status and this doesn't necessarily blur the lines of a SmartWatch it's getting closer but again fighting tivity band it's perfectly fine that's what the more expensive versa and the ionic is for if you're looking for smart features but for an activity tracker this is hands-down one of the best for how well it works what offers and it's performance for everyday use overall if you're considering the charge three hands down it is worth it alright folks be sure to LIKE and subscribe if you haven't already be sure to add me on Facebook and Instagram again the links are down in that video description below and of course fire emojis light up that cab expected you guys take care I see you