- Fitbit
Fitbit Charge 6
Our top pickAdds even more features to a great fitness tracker.
Whilst the Fitbit Charge 6 may not look very different to the Fitbit Charge 5, it has some key new features. There's an upgraded heart rate sensor that's up to 60 per cent more accurate. There's a physical button for easier navigation, and Google features including Google Wallet and turn-by-turn directions with Google Maps. You can also control YouTube Music directly from your wrist.
Pros- YouTube Music controls
- Physical side button
- More accurate heart rate tracking
Cons- No Spotify controls
- Very similar to previous model
- No improvement in battery life
- Fitbit
Fitbit Charge 5
A great alternativeA stylish fitness tracker that's packed with features.
The Fitbit Charge 5 is a stylish fitness tracker that's packed with features. It can monitor everything from your steps, sleep, and heart rate to your blood oxygen and stress levels. You can also track a wide range of fitness activities such as running, cycling, lifting weights, and yoga. Additional features such as Daily Readiness and mindfulness sessions are available with a Fitbit Premium subscription.
Pros- Stylish design
- ECG and EDA sensors
- Good battery life
Cons- No native music controls
- Lacks physical buttons
- Less accurate heart rate tracking
The original Fitbit Charge was released all the way back in 2014 and the fitness tracker has come a long way since the first iteration that was little more than a step counter. Over the years, the Fitbit Charge has seen new features added with each new model, culminating with the Fitbit Charge 5 that can monitor everything from your blood oxygen to your stress levels.
And now there's a new Fitbit Charge on the scene. The Fitbit Charge 6 is the latest fitness tracker from the Google-owned wearables company. How does it compare to its predecessor? We've compared the Fitbit Charge 6 with the Fitbit Charge 5 head-to-head to see what's different.
Price, availability, specs
The Fitbit Charge 5 was first released in September 2021, and cost $179.95/£169.99 at launch. It's currently available for $149.95 from Fitbit or $141.89 on Amazon. The Fitbit Charge 6 is $159.95 from Fitbit and will be available from October. Let's take a look at some of the key specs.
Fitbit Charge 6 Fitbit Charge 5 Brand Fitbit Fitbit Heart Rate Monitor Yes Yes Notification Support Yes Yes Battery Life 7 days 7 days Display Always-On Colour AMOLED touchscreen Always-On Colour AMOLED touchscreen Health sensors Heart rate, SpO2, EDA, ECG Heart rate, SpO2, EDA, ECG Mobile payments Google Wallet Fitbit Pay Exercise modes Activity tracking, sleep tracking, Active Zone Minutes, Cardio Fitness Score, Daily Readiness Score, Stress Management Score Activity tracking, sleep tracking, Active Zone Minutes, Cardio Fitness Score, Daily Readiness Score, Stress Management Score
Design and build
Put the Fitbit Charge 6 next to the Fitbit Charge 5, and you'd be hard-pressed to tell them apart. The design of both fitness trackers is almost exactly the same, with a 1.04-inch AMOLED display in a stylish aluminium case. There are a few subtle design changes, however. The aluminium case of the Fitbit Charge 6 is now made using 100 per cent recycled aluminium, which isn't the case with the Fitbit Charge 5.
There are also a range of new colourways, with the Fitbit Charge 6 available in Black with an Obsidian band, Silver with a Porcelain band, and a bold new Champagne Gold with Coral band. The Fitbit Charge 5 comes in Graphite with a black band, Soft Gold with a Lunar White band, and Platinum with a Steel Blue band.
The most noticeable physical difference between the Fitbit Charge 6 and the Fitbit Charge 5 is a very welcome one indeed. On the side of the Fitbit Charge 6 is a subtle physical button. This allows you to navigate your Fitbit Charge 6 without having to rely solely on tapping or swiping your screen. It's a significant improvement to how you interact with your Fitbit Charge and solves a gripe that some Fitbit Charge 5 users had.
Hardware
In terms of hardware, the Fitbit Charge 6 is also remarkably similar to the Fitbit Charge 5. Both models have the same memory capacity, have the same battery and battery life, and include most of the same components, including a 3-axis accelerometer, GPS + GLONASS, SpO2 oxygen saturation monitor, skin temperature sensor, and ECG and EDA sensors.
There is one key difference under the hood, however. The Fitbit Charge 6 has an upgraded heart rate tracker that the company says is the most accurate on any of their fitness trackers. It can provide up to 60 per cent more accurate readings when doing activities that are notoriously difficult for many heart rate trackers to keep up with, such as HIIT workouts or spin classes, where your heart rate is constantly changing. This enables the Fitbit Charge 6 to provide more accurate information about your calorie burn or active zones for these types of exercises.
Features
The vast majority of the features on the Fitbit Charge 6 are the same as those on the Fitbit Charge 5. Both models feature common fitness tracker features such as heart rate tracking, step count, and GPS tracking. Both models also include an SpO2 blood oxygen monitor, and ECG app to monitor your heart health, sleep tracking, an EDA Scan app for monitoring and managing your stress, and a Daily Readiness Score that tells you if you've recovered enough for another heavy workout, or if you need to do something lighter until your body has fully recovered. You'll need a Fitbit Premium membership to access the Daily Readiness Score on both models.
There are some differences, however. The Fitbit Charge 6 adds support for more than 20 new exercise modes, including skiing, HIIT, and kayaking. You can also link up the Fitbit Charge 6 with compatible fitness equipment such as treadmills or rowing machines. This allows your Fitbit Charge 6 to share your heart rate data with the exercise machine, allowing you to see your real-time heart rate on the display of your elliptical machine or exercise bike.
There are also two new features that allow Fitbit Charge 6 owners to finally get something back for having to migrate their Fitbit accounts to Google accounts. Fitbit Pay is now replaced with Google Wallet. If you're already using Google Wallet, that's one less payment app to have to worry about. And now, when you're out running a new route for the first time, you can get turn-by-turn directions right on your wrist from Google Maps.
Possibly the biggest new feature, however, is the addition of YouTube Music controls. One of the biggest gripes with the Fitbit Charge 5 was that it removed the Spotify controls that were part of the Fitbit Charge 4, making it much harder to control your music when working out. The Fitbit Charge 6 now has YouTube Music controls, allowing you to play, pause, and skip songs from YouTube music playlists, or turn the volume up and down, right from your wrist. If you're a Spotify user, this still may be not exactly what you're looking for, but it's still an improvement over the Fitbit Charge 5.
Battery
The Fitbit Charge 5 has a lithium-polymer battery. It has battery life of up to 7 days, although if you're using the always-on display or blood oxygen monitoring features, this will be reduced. You can charge from empty to 100 per cent in just two hours.
The Fitbit Charge 6 also has a lithium-polymer battery, and is rated for the same battery life of up to 7 days. Once again, battery life will be reduced if you're using the always-on display or blood oxygen monitoring. There's the same two-hour charging time to go from zero to fully charged.
We've not yet tried out the Fitbit Charge 6 but with the Fitbit Charge 5 we found that the 7-day battery life claim was pretty accurate; we could wear the device all week without needing to charge. It remains to be seen if the improved heart rate sensor in the Fitbit Charge 6 will have any noticeable impact on the battery, but we'd expect the Fitbit Charge 6 to get the same week-long battery life as the previous model.
Fitbit Charge 6 vs Fitbit Charge 5: Which should you choose?
If you're having to choose between the Fitbit Charge 6 of the Fitbit Charge 5, there's really very little reason why you'd opt for the older model. The Fitbit Charge 6 looks almost identical to the Fitbit Charge 5, has all the same features plus some excellent new ones, including more accurate heart rate tracking, and YouTube Music controls. The addition of physical side button is also extremely welcome.
Fitbit Charge 6
A stylish fitness tracker with useful new features.
That's not to say that the Fitbit Charge 5 isn't a great fitness tracker in its own right. It has most of the key features that you'll find on the Fitbit Charge 6, looks almost exactly the same, and is likely to drop in price now that the new model is here. If the physical button and YouTube Music controls aren't a big deal, and you're happy with the accuracy of your heart rate tracking, then the Fitbit Charge 5 can still do a great job.
Fitbit Charge 5
Great looks and many of the features of the Charge 6