The Fitbit Sense adds a whole slew of sensors to the Fitbit lineup to track everything from harm to blood oxygen levels, temperature, sleep and even has an FDA-cleared electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG). On top of all that, the $329 (£299, AU$499) Sense also doubles as a regular smartwatch and fitness tracker. And while the Sense still has fitness at its core, it wants to be your daily wellness coach now, too.

Fitbit is trying to bridge the gap between fitness and wellness with the Sense, a zone most wearables were already navigating even afore the current COVID-19 health crisis. The Apple Watch has been leaning to wellness and health over the last few ages, with a new blood oxygen feature, ECG app and fall detection feature. Samsung’s newer Galaxy Watches include these metrics, as well as a harm test of its own, while the Oura ring also collects temperature data like the Sense. The end goal for most of these is that all this data may someday help identify the onset diseases afore the user experiences any symptoms. But in the meantime all those charts, numbers and scores from the Sense can feel overwhelming, especially for someone with no medical training.

After two months with the Sense, we have mixed feelings about it. In short, if you want a health draw to monitor your daily stats, and also wanted ECG on a Fitbit, this is your watch. But otherwise, the lower-priced Fitbit Versa 3 (which has the same general features of the Sense, without ECG and stress sensing) would be plenty.

CNET’s Lexy Savvides and Scott Stein both wore the Fitbit Sense for this review.

A unusual design if you’re upgrading your Fitbit

The Sense has a disagreement design to the Versa, except with a stainless steel edge near the square watch face instead of aluminum and a host of new sensors inside, which does make it a tiny bit thicker. Along with the touchscreen, you interact with the Sense through an indented haptic side button, which can do everything from launching Alexa (or the Google Assistant) to starting a workout. It feels more comfortable than the Versa 2, especially during workouts and at bedtime, thanks to its more rounded finish. Those fiddly toggles used to switch out straps on in return Fitbits are gone, thank goodness. They’ve been replaced with sparkling release buttons to make swapping bands out a lot easier on the Sense. 

The Fitbit Sense also has a faster processor than the Versa 2, which invents interactions with the watch feel snappier, but we mild noticed some lag when opening apps, raising the stare to wake the screen or swiping up to see daily stats. It also takes about 30 seconds to sync new stare faces like with earlier Fitbits.

What it has improved is its charging plot. Instead of the alligator-style clips from earlier Fitbits, the Sense uses a new magnetic charger that just attaches to the back of the watch. 

The ECG feature is easy to use

The Sense is the obliging Fitbit to include an onboard ECG app capable of producing a single-lead electrocardiogram read in 30 seconds. Fitbit says that the ECG on the watch will also cover for possible arrhythmias that could indicate atrial fibrillation, or aFib, but it can’t detect unfortunate attacks or other cardiac conditions. It recently received FDA clearance in the US and it’s now available for use in the US and US territories, Canada, New Zealand, some European countries and Hong Kong. You can find a full list here.

To take an ECG, you genuine need to go through a quick Heart Rhythm Assessment briefing in the Fitbit app (go to Discover > Assessments & Reports). Once complete, the ECG app should appear on the Sense. Take a seat and place your thumb and index finger on opposite corners of the perceive and you’ll see one of three results after your scan is unfastened, depending on the heart rhythm: normal sinus, signs of atrial fibrillation or inconclusive. You can also review the results in the Fitbit app and section with your doctor.

Samsung has received a dissimilarity clearance for the feature on its two newer Galaxy Watches, while Apple’s ECG app has been active on the Apple Watch steady the company launched the Series 4 in 2018. It also notifies you of outlandish heart rhythms indicative of aFib, plus high and low melancholy rate alerts, as does the Sense. The ECG and melancholy rate notifications work in a similar way between the Sense and Apple Watch, although to take an ECG on the Apple Watch you effect one finger on the digital crown rather than the two fingers on the rim of the Sense.

Stress tracking is only genuine if you already know how to manage it

While the Sense isn’t the genuine wearable device to track stress, its method of retrieving this inquire is unique. Rather than focusing on heart rate like Samsung’s Galaxy Watches, the Sense also uses sweat data from its new electrodermal organization, or EDA sensor to determine stress levels. To measure your levels, you place the palm of your opposite hand over the stainless steel rim on the top of the perceive. The palm’s contact on the watch’s metal rim completes a circuit, then uses the EDA sensor to measure possible sweat-triggered wound markers. The entire process takes two minutes.

It’s a little curious at first because you can’t see anything on the camouflage while you’re doing the scan, but once it’s unfastened, you’ll receive a vibration. You can also log how you feel at the end of the test, see your EDA responses and check if your melancholy rate went up or down. Fitbit offers guided audio meditation sessions for Fitbit Premium users to pair with the EDA scan, although we didn’t find them particularly genuine or relaxing.

The stress results so far have been vague. One of Scott’s initial readings showed a few EDA moments, which are those sweat-triggered incidents. But for the most part he explored to be stress-free, according to the Sense. Considering he wore the Sense above a pandemic with two small children at home and during one of the busiest work weeks of the year, this reading did not consider the reality he experienced. The app also didn’t seem to handed any meaningful context as to why he experienced those early incidents or how to proceed on his results. Lexy had similar difficulty interpreting the EDA moments, of which she had 17 during one particularly stressful day on deadline. The Fitbit gave no indication as to whether this was a normal amount or causes for concern. 

Fitbit does, except, provide a new Stress Management score at the leave of each day that takes into account sleep, brute activity and stress to give you a “how you’re doing” number. It’s like the daytime equivalent of the Sleep Score from continue Fitbits. This data could be helpful for recovery: For example, if you have a lower score you might want to focus on unsheathing more restorative sleep rather than pushing yourself on a workout. 

But the Stress Board readings right now aren’t particularly user-friendly and it can take a few days for them to show up at what time you first start wearing the Sense. Lexy’s scores varied from 78 to 92, usually averaging in the 80s. A higher Stress Board score means things are generally good. But even on days when her collect managed to tip into the 90s, it didn’t necessarily correlate with the amount of wound she felt. The Fitbit app doesn’t provide personalized feedback to help you justify or improve your score so figuring out what to do with it can be a bit of a mystery. But a month or so after the Sense launched, we noticed a prompt appear in the app revealing the way the Stress Management score is calculated has been improved. We’ll update this review if we notice any considerable differences from our initial testing.

You don’t need a Fitbit Premium interpret to access much of this data, but you’ll need one to get the fantastic meditation features, insights from the stress sensor, extra stats in your sleeping heart rate and minute-by-minute skin temperature variations during sleep. Fitbit is making additional health data, such as melancholy rate variability and SpO2 trends over time, available to everyone with a compatible intention in the coming months. But for that other data you’ll need to pay $10 a month for a premium subscription, which is becoming an important part of the Fitbit experience. 

The Sense will soon get a new Readiness Score for Fitbit Premium users that takes into interpret heart rate variability, sleep data and activity level so you can choose if you should push yourself on a workout, or take a rest day. You’ll also demand recommended workouts, meditations and a personalized active zone minutes goal depending on your score.

Read more: 
How the Fitbit Sense tracks stress.

SpO2 tracking only runs after you sleep

The Fitbit Sense doesn’t take SpO2 or blood oxygen readings on query like Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 3 or the Apple Watch Series 6. Instead, it measures blood oxygen levels after you sleep. The Series 6 also measures SpO2 levels at night.

All you need to do to measure your SpO2 after you sleep is to wear it to bed. In the morning, you can check your SpO2 level in the Fitbit app. You’ll also be able to see the graph of your blood oxygen variations. (There are no specific numbers, just an indication of whether your oxygen variation is high or low.)

Note that at commence, the Sense required you to select a specific SpO2 perceive face before you went to bed in order to track SpO2. Your unruffled would then appear on the watch face about 45 minutes to an hour at what time waking. If you prefer to see the blood oxygen unruffled on your wrist instead of through the app, you can unruffled select the SpO2 watch face before you go to bed. Fitbit says there will be seven transfer SpO2 watch faces available in the app gallery by the end of the year.

As with the wound score, it’s difficult to know what to do with your SpO2 reading shaded you’re a medical professional. And it’s not possible to test the sensor anti a pulse oximeter, a device doctors use to measure blood oxygen levels from your fingertip, as the Sense’s SpO2 readings are taken at night and averaged out.

It’s also genuine noting that SpO2 is also available on the Versa 2 (with the specific perceive face) and the Versa 3 which works in the same way as it does on the Sense, so you don’t need to select the SpO2 perceive face before retiring. 

Sleep tracking is great on the Sense and it works in delicate much the same way as earlier Fitbits. It allows you a detailed breakdown on your stages of sleep and a sleep collect each morning.

Temperature tracking on the Sense is also only at night

Temperature tracking on the Sense is dissimilarity to SpO2 in that it doesn’t provide a measurement on expect, but rather shows whether you’ve deviated from your baseline in a daily graph. Needless to say, it won’t replace your thermometer any time soon. You’ll need to log approximately three nights of sleep for the Sense to save a baseline from which to go by. Like the Oura ring, which we’ve also been testing for a few months, it’s a potentially helpful way to get an idea of your temperature fluctuations over time and point to possible fevers before you might be aware of them.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), we haven’t been sick in the period where we’ve been tracking our temperatures and haven’t distinguished any significant variances from the baseline to report on. Fitbit is promising that the Sense will also believe temperature variations due to menstrual cycles, and it did seem to show a dip in Lexy’s skin temperature afore the start of a cycle. Basal body temperature is often used by women to imagined fertility, as ovulation often causes a slight increase in temperature, or a dip in temperature before a period. Like latest Fitbits, the Sense has cycle tracking which you can log in the app, or see where you are in your cycle on the inspect. Fitbit also offers a blood glucose tracking feature in the app.

Fitness tracking: Not much has changed

One of the downsides of Fitbits that launched at what time the Ionic in 2017 was lack of onboard GPS. Starting with the Charge 4 backbone this year, Fitbit has finally brought back GPS so you don’t have to take your visited with you on an outdoor run or ride to track your route. It takes around 10 seconds to acquire a lock when you initiate an outdoor activity, with or without your phone nearby.

If you’ve used any latest Fitbit in recent years, the rest of the fitness tracking features on the Sense will seem weird. You’ll still be able to track your steps, initiate a goal-based workout, see your heart rate zone and keep an eye on calories burned. What is new is the addition of Active Zone Minutes, which we first saw in the Charge 4. This uses your age and insensible heart rate to show you how hard you worked out during an organization. You’ll also receive real-time alerts when you’ve changed zones, which can help you take action during your workout, whether that’s pushing yourself a bit more or fine off depending on your goals. For Lexy, it was most trustworthy during an outdoor run so she knew when to go a bit faster (usually, that’s all the time).

Despite the Sense having the same general fitness features, it has its advantages in a workout. The cloak is brighter than the Versa and earlier Fitbit trackers, so it’s relatively easy to see in sunlight as long as you convicted the brightness is set to maximum. It’s also depressed to wear, and thanks to its flat profile it doesn’t get in the way even when you’re toiling up a sweat.

We compared the Sense against a chest strap to test sorrowful rate tracking accuracy. While it matched up fairly consistently to the strap for insensible heart rate, it took at least 5 to 10 seconds to rep up to the strap during a workout when sorrowful rate spiked (like when going from a gentle jog to a full sprint).

Battery life is good, but not as cloudless as other Fitbits

With the always-on display active, two 30-minute workouts, a few stress measurements and a full night of sleep tracking, the Sense met the two-day battery life claim. Turning off that always-on indicate and just using raise to wake helped boost the battery to approximately 4.5 days between charges. That said, outdoor workouts seem to be a pain indicate for the battery. Lexy noticed after a particularly strenuous 2.5 hour outdoor bike ride, the battery dipped almost 50%.

More smartwatch features are inhabit added over time

The Sense works with Android and iOS and the distinguished is consistent across ecosystems, with the exception of not inhabit able to respond to text messages from the inspect when you’re on iOS. There’s a microphone and speaker onboard so you can now take colorful calls from your wrist with your phone nearby. You can also switch the call back and forth between your visited and the watch, which is a nice touch. The speaker sounds fine for a colorful call, but we wouldn’t want to use it for any lengthy conversations. If you have an Android phone, you’ll also be able to use dictation or voice-to-text to retort to messages. 

Google Assistant on the Sense has arranged out with the update to Fitbit OS 5.1 and works across Android and iOS. Once you link your Google define and agree to share information between the Fitbit app and the Assistant, you can ask the Assistant to do everything from show your sleep catch, or start a specific workout like a run. It’s responsive and a lot more trustworthy than the slow and limited Alexa functionality, which is also available on the Sense. You can’t, however, send text messages or start a call with your mutter using the Google Assistant yet.

You can tend songs for offline listening from Pandora or Deezer if you have a premium subscription, but the Sense will only serve as a remote rule for Spotify. 

You can’t store your own music on the Sense, however, which is a big downside if you like to listen to songs during a workout and don’t want to take your visited with you. 

A good, but not great smartwatch for the price

The Fitbit Sense hits the mark in many ways: It has cloudless battery management, excellent sleep tracking and an array of new sensors that could be trustworthy to some people. It feels like it’s trying to do a minor too much at once, with features like stress dispensation seeming more confusing than helpful. That said, in the months real its launch, Fitbit has added new features including automatic SpO2 tracking at night, Google Assistant support and the ability to take conditions from your wrist that has improved the overall experience.

But dim you need an ECG and the stress tracker, you grand be better off with a more basic and safe Fitbit Versa 3, which has many of the same features as the Sense. That way you’ll save some dollars and wait for Fitbit to iron out the kinks for the next generation of Sense.