Fitbit Charge 6 : Scientific Test (IMPROVED by AI!)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 มิ.ย. 2024
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Timestamps:
00:00 Quick Intro
01:25 Heart Rate Test 1 : Indoor Cycling
05:05 Heart Rate Test 2 : Outdoor Cycling
07:23 Heart Rate Test 3 : Running
09:08 Heart Rate Test 4 : Weight Lifting
11:26 Sleep Test
15:40 Sleep Test : Comparison w/ Other Watches
18:06 GPS Test
20:00 Limitations
20:33 Recommendations & Conclusions
The Fitbit Charge 6 is a lot better than the Charge 5! Over the last few days I’ve done a lot of testing with the Fitbit Charge 6, and I was hoping that the promised improved heart rate tracking is true. And, I am happy to report it does appear to be the case, for the most case, because it did still show some issues. In this video I will show you the results for a first test of the heart rate tracking performance, sleep tracking accuracy and GPS tracking of the Fitbit Charge 6. Let’s get to it!
The Charge 6 supposedly debuts the most accurate heart rate on a Fitbit tracker yet, thanks to an improved machine learning algorithm. Google claims that the heart rate tracking during vigorous activities - like for instance HIIT workouts, spinning and rowing - is up to 60% more accurate than before. Now, as far as I understand this, this means that the sensor set is the same between the Charge 5 and Charge 6, but just the processing of the signals is what is leading to the improvements. And, as I’ll show you in a second, this actually seems to work. There are also a number of other additional features on the Charge 6, for instance you can use the Fitbit Charge 6 as an external heart rate monitor on third-party fitness equipment, which you cannot do with the Fitbit Charge 5. But that’s not why you clicked on this video. You want to check out the heart rate tracking performance of the Charge 6, so let’s get right to the systematic testing.
Back to my final conclusion of the Charge 6. Is it any good? Well, yes. The heart rate tracking actually seems quite good, and seems to have improved significantly compared to the Charge 5. The sleep stage tracking is exactly as I have come to expect from Fitbit, which is pretty good, though I did encounter a small issue. Only the GPS tracking was a bit disappointing. Therefore, overall, I’d preliminarily give the Fitbit Charge 6, 3.5 out of 5 stars. But stay tuned for my full review to see if this holds up with even more testing. Now, I’ve mentioned this in many videos, but depending on your needs, another smartwatch or health tracker might be a better choice. For health tracking, I personally use an Oura Ring and Whoop strap. If I want the best GPS tracking with good battery life, I’d probably pick a Garmin. And for improving my sleep, I use the Eight sleep pod 3. - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Hi Rob, I've been watching your brilliant reviews for a couple of years now and just wanted to tell how much your efforts in doing such comprehensive scientific reviews testing devices that are actually important to one's health are appreciated. Keep up the great work!
Hey Rob, congrats on hands down the best channel about wearables and surprising how many channels just do shallow reviews! and it'd be great to see more comparison in terms of sleep duration (start, wake up and nap detection) as there seems to be a lot of discrepancies among devices, for example, I've observed discrepancies between samsung watch classic 4, honor band 6 and fitbit charge 6 (interestingly honor band seems to be the best at this) and considering duration is one of the core metrics of sleep having data on this can help a lot to decide which device would offer a net positive for certain people (example, personally i would trade off a bit of phase detection accuracy in favor of total sleep duration accuracy)
I've been literally refreshing your channel waiting for this video! Awesome!
Outstanding review, as always! I wonder whether you've thought about incorporating additional statistical measures like the MAPE, or even sharing the raw data (not necessarily in the video, but maybe even as supplementary material). I think that providing such information could be very helpful (particularly now that most devices are improving so much their HR PPG correlation values).
From my experience with Charge 6:
- HR sensor is improved but not always performs well
- HR performs really well (comparing to Garmin HRM-Swim chest strap)... in the water (auto-detected swim keeps HR sensor on)
- HR locks onto the cadence. I run with cadence 195spm+ and HR often locks for a couple of minutes reporting numbers near 195. It may last a few minutes or more (longest such lock lasted 45 minutes on one of my easy steady runs)
- Built-in GPS doesn't work for me. It connects sometimes and a few moments later disconnects and tracker gives up on trying to connect. Dynamic mode isn't making things any better. Only Phone mode is somewhat reliable.
- Running distance is always short. I noticed that steps reported for the run don't match my cadence but they are always several hundreds lower. That may explain the distance issue (Fitbit never used GPS for running distance).
- Sports tracking in general is very basic and often inaccurate when it comes to metrics (swim lengths always wrong, running distance always short, less features like manual laps or swim stroke detection)
- HR broadcasting is almost useless as it won't work with majority of equipment (requires differenr connection handshake), it won't work with bike computers either. From all the equipment I could use only my PC and mobile phone connected. Nothing else.
I haven't found this many issues... As a beginner it's great and good price
YES! Was hoping you'd cover this one! Thanks!!!!
Rob, your Fitbit Charge 5 review, reports a 92,2% accuracy for the deep sleep detection. Check at timestamp 7 min 4 sec. And much better awake time detection as well(94,7%).
Maybe you need to clarify this difference to your audience? 😉
Hey man! Love your videos
Just came up the idea that you could calculate RMSE in the analysis. Correlation is good as it measures comovoments. However variables of different levels might comove similarly even though they are measuring quite differently.
By RMSE, root mean swuared error, i just mean make the deviation of what is measured, square it, take a mean and finally a squareroot. Its easy and might be helpful. Great job!
This has to be the best performing band in the market according to your testing. I've been binging your videos for the past 2 weeks and with certainty the charge 6 has outperformed all other bands (not watches) for both heart rate and sleep tracking. I mean usually the heart rate correlation for outdoor cycling really starts to fall off and gets even worse for weight lifiting, but the correlation for the charge 6 was above .90 for BOTH exercises. That really outperforms all other bands you've tested where typically the correlation will be around .60-.70 for those same exercises. I'm really impressed
Excellent video Rob, recently discovered your channel as I was interested in buying a tracker to get my ass of the couch and especially interested in Fitbit since my girlfriend and her kids are on that platform. I was a bit shocked how inaccurate the fitbits actually were. Your pixel 2 review gave me hope though but I don't want to spent €400,- and I want a longer battery life of at least a few days. So I was especially interested in this review considering the claims by Fitbit about the Charge 6.
Wow, the Charge 6 did amazing! That new algorithm really makes a huge difference. It's a shame fitbit didn't redesign the implementation of the gps antenna as it was a known design flaw of the Charge 5. Oh well, I can at least use my phone's gps. Really strange results with the running (I'm no runner so not an issue for me). Really intrested in your more thorough reviews of both the pixel 2 and charge 6 as it looks like they are top choices in their respective markt segments.
All things considered this looks like agreat choice for me since I want a tracker form factor with long battery life without breaking the bank. In most tests it performs very close to the Pixel 2 at 40% of the price and irl it should get a battery life of 4/5 days 🎉.
Mine is ordered :)
Nice weightlifting is getting better on fitbit as seen with the pixel 2 and now with the charge 6.
Happy to see more android friendly companies driving the change to better tracking!
Thanks for the videos Rob! Love the detail as usual!
Bellissimo video, grazie per il tuo ottimo e instancabile lavoro!! Sto aspettando con curiosità il prossimo video su questo smartwatch, quando uscirà? 👋👋complimenti ancora
Aaawww yes! Been waiting for this!
Thanks, really looking forward to the full review of the pixel watch 2
Thanks for all these efforts! 💙 Thanks for helping us in taking better and informed decisions.
Thanks for precise details and presenting graph data. For me it is well within my personal tolerance for accuracy. What I was surprised to see missing is Step count tests. Any average person who gets regular exercise, but does so by walking rather than running or biking is far more interested in step count over the course of day and likely has step count goals rather the miles. Example, I often spend 1-2 hours working in the yard, so step count helps understand how much yard work counts toward my daily goal.
I would say *although I didn’t test it scientifically* it is very accurate and it never really miscalculated my steps.
Sometimes it would miss 1-2 if I suddenly started running
Thanks for the video!
Do you think sweating has an influence on the heart rate measurements on the Fitbit Charge 5 and 6? I have some experience with the older Charge 5, and it basically often stopped getting any sensible heart rate readings whenever I sweat a lot during a workout.
Did you sweat much during your testing? Maybe during the running where you got the least accurate readings from the Charge 6?
Hi Rob, thank you for this awesome video! And I love the orange colored band 🤩
Hi Rob. Thank you. When a cheap Amazon Halo was bricked I lost my mind going through all of your reviews but came out on the other side much wiser and with a better understanding of the limitations of wearables. I made an informed decision and purchased the Charge 6 after this review and the great sale price I found online.
Thanks a lot.. Was waiting for this video... 😮
Extremely detailed video, thank you for this. We would really appreciate it if you could do a garmin venue 3 review next.
Congratulations on your reviews! I would just like to give you a suggestion to make them more "scientific" even about the GPS. You should add distance values recorded with a Garmin in order to have a numerical benchmark, which can make it clear how much the accuracy or inaccuracy affects the performance.
holy CRAP what an improvement over the other fitbits!
@TheQuantifiedScientist I love your tests! However Why are the new Casio watches missing?
Thanks mate, another great review! I might upgrade from my honor band 8
You're doing incredible work, and I'm really impressed by the thorough reviews and analyses you provide on watches. I'm looking for some guidance on selecting a watch that suits my active lifestyle, which includes walking and weightlifting. I'm primarily interested in a watch that offers precise step tracking and reliable sleep monitoring, all within a budget of under $100. Could you suggest some options? Any suggestions you might have would be super helpful.
Another great review...I hope you can do an in depth review about the Huawei Band 8, highlighting Cardio and SPo2...and many more at the same time how would you recommend the watch to be worn is better to be worn under the arm or use it just how it is indicated in the instructions... your review would be a great help.... thank you and God Bless 😊...
Thanks so much! I always come to you to see if buying a watch, is worth it. I recently lost my charge 5 while I was out and need a new one. Glad to see some slight improvements. Enough for me to upgrade, especially with pre-boxing deal sales on now
Interesting. I thought that by now the gps and the sleep tracker would be better. Does the calories counter is accurate? And what about the steps counter? 🤔 Amazing video as always, thanks for all the effort you put on your videos 🙌🏽
Maybe need to also look at RMS deviations for the higher R value results. Maybe also plot some stats on the spread of tracks from the GPS, though it might be a bit more tricky.
what an incredible review. new subscriber for sure
Thanks for review, I think this is my next watch!
oof I was thinking of using this for running, those are some odd results for new hardware. Looking forward to you revisiting the running in you further testing. TY
Man I'm soooo interested in a comparison between charge 6 and 5 nowdays.
Great video and thanks 🙏
Veeeery informative video.
Thank you very much.
Amazingly that charge bit 6 using the old sensor with exceptional improvement. That software could easily be installed on the 5th version.
I wonder how long the sensor lasts. I read so many that break just outside the warranty.
Yes but then Google won't profit as much, and as we all know it's profit above all.
They could sell a software upgrade with one time cost. Maybe 100e costs? since it's just software.
@@1Guggaburggi100 €? 😂😂
Maddening, but Fitbit consistently does software upgrades that they could pass backwards to older devices but refuses to. Charge 4 won't show a readiness score, for instance, even though charge 5 doesn't use any data charge 4 doesn't give. Pixel 8 pro has same hardware has pixel 8, but ai features are only enabled for 8 pro. Etc., etc... This should be a crime.
I love the data and testing. It would be even better if you can review the product regarding value and data access+usefulness. This could be a separate video. The thing is most of the top accurate devices now have some kind of paywall that keeps useful analytics or metrics away from their users and that's a very important criteria when it comes to purchasing decisions.
Hi Rob. I really appreciate your great reviews! Do you have any plans to review the Garmin Venu 3 in the near future? Thanks!
Great test do you plan to review also the Scanwatch 2
What version is the Fitbit Charge 6 firmware? Thanks for the video, hope you are able to do another updated Charge 6 review in future with anything else you find out about it. If somebody is using Charge 6, please share the Firmware version it's currently on, wondering if Sense 2 or Charge 5 might receive the upgraded tracking algorithm.
Hey man! Any chance you’re doing the Garmin Venu 3 soon?
Love your channel, thanks!
Hey! I hope you add more test subjects soon! Like different ages, skin tone (for the sensors), sex, and etc!
Well done!!
Your reviews are great with superb rigorous testing giving a lot of detail usually missing from other reviewers. Consequently, many viewers will use your videos to help them make purchasing decisions. With this in mind, please inform viewers when features are locked behind a paywall. For example, the excellent sleep tracking features you speak about in detail are Fitbit Premium features. Without the expensive Fitbit Premium, you don't even get the breakdown of deep, light, REM, awake etc.
If you consider many folks will own a watch for 2 years the cost for this watch in EU will currently be around 400€ (160 + 24x9.90) … that's no longer such a bargain.
With Black Friday coming up, have you considered doing a video showing the best devices on sale then? You could do a quick TLDR on each device and link back to your full reviews. Hopefully it would drive some affiliate link sales for you.
Hi @TheQuantifiedScientist are you able to comment on the HRV performance / accuracy?
Thanks for a video, couldn't find answer to one important question, does it support wireless charging function ?
Good job Rob ❤
Hi. Thx for this review. I will check others as well :).
I want to keep track off my sleep and stress levels during the night. I use a Garmin Vivoactive 4s at the moment but it looks very bad.
First 4 hours off sleep my recovery is 0 as there is stress .... I have no idea where his comes from ... I know these things are not very acurate but the garmin looks very bad.
I was thinking off trying this one as it has a good price. An apple watch seems the best option but besides it price I do not own a iPhone.
Would you say this would be a good option for me or would you recommend something else?
Looking forward to next test off this watch.
PS: Funny to see Amersfoort in the tracking :D.
Hello; thank you very much for all these impressive and serious tests you make.
Have you been able to further test the charge 6 with respect to sleep analysis (you indeed said that the conclusions of the test in the video is somewhat limited because based on 2 nights)
Thanks again!
After a few weeks of usage - it usually misses one or two pool lengths, measuring a walk against phone GPS and phone app Charge 6 added extra 1km to a 6 km walk.
Venu3 next?? 🙏🙏
Do you share your testing data somewhere? Would love an update on this watch and the pixel2 with some more data. Great work man!
would also love an update as well!
I was seriously considering swapping to the Apple ecosystem just to use their superior Apple Watches for fitness tracking. Seeing these results makes me feel I can stay with android and upgrade my Inspire 3 to the Charge 6. Thanks a lot for this review! I've been waiting all week for it.
Thats funny, i just got this watch and have been thinking about getting an Apple warch se. The chatge 6 is ok, but just doesn't do a lot.
@@Marc-io6pv lol. If you already have an iPhone it's not a big jump, but I would need to dump a lot of money to get a new phone+watch if I were to switch. Another main downside keeping me from switching is the 1 day battery life.
@@Jinru919 True, I'm also an android user. I do have access to an iPhone 11 if needs be. I want this watch as it has good sleep tracking (same with apple watch) it appears I don't really need that good tracking anymore and yeah if wearing a smartish watch, I'd actually want more out of it. So yeah been looking at the Huawei band 8. Seems to do more, way cheaper and after 6 months isn't going to cost me £8 a month for very little (that I can see) information
@@Jinru919 I agree, I like the Apple watch, but it has a ton of drawbacks, cost being major! I'd need the phone too...like after spending over 450...then the 1500 phone?? NOPE! Cost in Canada is through the roof, so need something doing a simple job like this watch...and I do not like the huge round watches at all!
Why not get the Watch 2? It ranked better than Apple. You could get them for free with Pixel Pro phone last month.
Thank you for the great work.
Please try steps while shopping and pushing a cart 🛒
Good Morning, at 16.16 you mention the test marked in blue were measured by polography? Your transcript also says this. What equipment does that consist of? Thanks a lot, James
Hi. Hope you can do the retest for running soon. Thanks.
Thanks bought this instead of the inspire 3 based on the hr monitor consistency
HI, huge fan of your scientific approach to testing. Please please can you review the new Withings Scanwatch 2 to help consumers make informed choices.Thanks!
Hi Rob, great to see a Charge 6 review so soon after release. As someone with a Charge 5, I have been wanting to upgrade to something a bit more accurate. I love the battery life of the charge series, but the screen is small and the GPS sucks (unless paired with a phone). The Pixel Watch 2 did really well so that's a contender. My fingers are crossed that we will get a Garmin Venu 3 review in the near future because that one seems really promising!
Awesome video!
Hi!
Do you believe Garmin Vivoactive 5 is better for sleep tracking???
Thanks!!!
You're great man!
Is there anywhere we could browse this graph of all watches you show in the end of heart rate segments? Pretty please?
Great detailed reviews, but as a couple other comments have mentioned - the calories burned accuracy is one of the biggest points of contention with all these trackers. Accurate HR sensing seems to be one of the larger factors associated with it, but if possible, would be a great addition to your (already great) reviews. Thanks !
Thanks for the vid :)
You bet! 😊
Hi, will you test the polar 3 vantage ? Thx for your job👍
It would be great if you could also measure the calories burned accuracy 🙏🏼 also for the Fitbit inspire 3 :)
Please test the Polar Vantage V3! Thanks in advance! :)
Hi Rob, thank you for the review. Would you consider using Muse S headband as a reference in sleep tracking ? Will you post your UltraHuman ring results as well ?
Muse2 why TQS ignore this for years???????????????
Thanks!
Hi Rob, Any chance testing any of the Suunto watches?
Great vids on this channel. What about headbands 🤔
hello, i would love a garmin venu 3 review. Thanks for all your incredible reviews!
Great video sir rob! Can you do a scientific review for the Amazfit Bip 5
Awesome! I'm between this and the Venu3. Can you pls review that?
Thank you, SmartWatchPewdiepie.
brilliant reviews
Any chance you may be on the Suunto new releases? Vertical or Race
Did they bring back the meditation app? It was on the Charge 4 but not the Charge 5.
Can you compare the health accuracy of the Fitbit Charge 6 to the Huawei Band 8?
Is the Charge 6 publicly available yet because if not it could be on prerelease software causing the artefacts during running.
Any recommendations for pool swimming watches?
Please re-review the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro after most recent updates to the newest OS, same as the GW6. Apparently the watchs no longer use the green LEDs to monitor sleeping, rather just infrared, so that's they're less disruptive at night. How does that affect sleep tracking performance
Will you be working on a scanwatch 2 review as well?
Can you review xiaomi watch s1 or s2 whether it can work pretty well on both aspect if heart rate and sleep stages tracking in its price range?
Thanks to this review i remembered why i returned my Fitbit Charge 5 because it was no so reliable in sleep tracking.
Not every night it recorded my sleep and several times it didnt record some moments in the night .
It seems it's doing again that .
I'm not impressed.
I like the new background. 🤠
Impressed, just bought it.
Looking good!
Did they update the Sense 2 with this software as well?
When you are comparing devices, handedness set on the device matters for the sensors. You should specify your handedness and whether you will be wearing the device on your dominant or nondominant hand.
Hi guys. Someone has the link to this device comparisons? WOuld be awsome to see and analyze in hte background.
Any update on this device every day performance? Is the tracking stable, how does the sleep tracking turned out to be over time?
Thank you as always for your video! I'm waiting your scientific review of Amazfit Cheetah square 😇
How do we acquire the data for this? Is it a data export request or sending data to Habit Dash?
Hi Rob :-) Many many thanks for your work!!!! Rob, I would really really really appreciate your help. I have a low heart rate - below 50. Fitbit writes that their watches are not recommended for people with a resting heartrate below 50. Why is this? I really really do hope to hear from you.
Hi! I saw your video about the Mi Band 8 Chinese Version
Was wondering if you'll be doing a follow-up by checking out the Global Version?
First of all, I would like to thank you very much for the quick review of the new fitbit. It is now clear to me that if Fitbit wanted to, it would fix the serious problem with the Fitbit charge 5 caused by update 194.61. Many users have a dead bracelet. Others have battery life issues. It only lasts a few hours after charging. Sorry if this doesn't belong here, but if the Fitbit charge 6 has similar or even the same hardware, then they could release an update and improve / fix the Fitbit charge 5.
Yes, i'm one of the people who has a dead fitbit at home now. My charge 5 fried a week ago, 7 months after the warranty experied. They gave me a 50% discount on a new one and i am going to use it, but only to make some profit and buy anything that its not fitbit
Got battery life reduced from 1 week to 30 min thanks to the update 194.91. Interesting way to promote Charge 6 sales
I hope you test the new stress feature on the oura rings!
Nice video 😊
will you be doing a video on the global version of the mi band 8?