iDevice review
Fitbit Charge 6 review: a great heart rate tracker with a fussy GPS
Accurate heart rate, strong sleep tracking and a week of battery, if you can get the strap tension right.
Thumbs up
- Accurate heart rate when worn snug
- Excellent sleep tracking
- Up to 7 days of battery
- Built-in GPS, Google Wallet
- Shares heart rate with gym machines
Thumbs down
- GPS is unreliable, slow to lock
- Strap tension trades GPS against heart rate
- Small screen on the run
- Some features need Premium
- Fragile clasp
Wear the Charge 6 snug on an outdoor run and its heart rate tracks a chest strap closely, with the average landing within a couple of beats.
The trouble starts when you lean on the built-in GPS. Fasten the strap snugly and your wrist blocks the GPS antenna. Loosen it to help the GPS, and the heart rate gets worse. You end up choosing which number you care about.
Heart rate
When it's worn properly, the heart rate numbers are reliable. On a rower it keeps pace with a chest strap. Treadmill runs are less consistent, and it can read high. You can also beam live heart rate to treadmills, ellipticals, rowers and bikes that support the Bluetooth heart rate standard.
GPS
The Charge 6 has its own GPS, so you can see pace and distance on your wrist without your phone. Day to day, it's fussy. Forced to use only its own GPS, it takes a long time to lock on and can draw some odd routes, and a GPS run drains the battery fast. If accurate distance is your goal, this isn't the tracker for it.
Sleep and health
Sleep tracking is a real strength. It logs light, deep and REM stages, and it won't mistake half an hour of reading in bed for sleep. It also tracks HRV, breathing rate, blood oxygen and skin temperature changes. It checks for signs of AFib, and the ECG app works in select countries. Step counts line up well with a good sports watch.
Battery and screen
Google rates it at up to 7 days, and with a few workouts thrown in, it gets close. Use the always-on display or SpO2 tracking and you'll charge more often. A full charge takes about two hours.
The color AMOLED screen is bright and covered in Gorilla Glass 3, but it's small, and on a run it's hard to read.
Everyday extras
Google Wallet works from your wrist, and you can control YouTube Music if you have Premium. It weighs 30 grams (1.1 oz), comes with small and large bands for wrists from 5.1 to 8.3 inches around, and is water resistant to 50 meters (164 feet). One knock: the clasp on the infinity band can fail early. Some features, like the Daily Readiness Score, need Google Health Premium.
It works with iPhone on iOS 16.4 or later and Android 11 or later, through the Google Health app.