Fitbit Now Shipping Charge HR and Surge Fitness Bands

Fitbit today announced it has started selling the Surge and Charge HR, the company's latest activity trackers. Unveiled in October, the two wearables join the Charge and Flex in Fitbit's popular fitness band lineup.

Fitbit Surge

Advertised as a Fitness "Super Watch", the Surge includes a continuous heart rate monitor and an onboard GPS module for distance, route, and elevation tracking. Similar to other Fitbit wearables, the Surge also offers sleep monitoring, silent alarms, and all-day multi-sport activity tracking. Besides activity tracking, the Surge displays iOS notifications and provides music playback control via the touchscreen LCD display.

Fitbit Charge HR

Alongside the Surge, Fitbit is also shipping the Charge HR, a version of the Charge fitness band that adds a continuous heart rate monitor. The Charge HR supports the standard all-day activity and sleep tracking available in Fitbit's line of fitness bands. It also supports Caller ID on its monochrome OLED display.

Both the Surge and the Charge HR are available to order today on Fitbit's online storefront for $249 and $149, respectively. Fitbit has so far opted not to support Apple's Health ecosystem introduced with iOS 8, but there are several intermediary solutions to allow users to move Fitbit data into the Health app.

Top Rated Comments

mdelvecchio

114 months ago

a shame FitBit is so greedy w/ my data....no HealthKit support, no buy.

im aware of hacks to work-around the problem, but thats not for me or my family members id need to support. i want turn-key and i want it natively.

i sent my family to the Jawbone device line.

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

ericg301

can i ask what's the big deal not having healthkit integration? i have the charge HR, link it to my fitness pal, and have all my data right where i need it. at no point do i think im missing out by not being able to sync to the HEALTH app.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

dbanderson1

Re:

For those who use the Surge, if you keep it on while sleeping, can you comment on how comfortable it is? Was there an adjustment period in this regard? Other than to charge, do you ever take it off?

The watch strap is fairly flexible rubber material and I find it to be very comfortable. Fitbit recommends you wear it a little looser throughout the day and then you can tighten it a notch or so when performing strenuous exercise. As far as sleeping goes I hardly notice it. I guess I am used to sleeping with watches on and the strap / face isn't much larger than a full sized men's athletic watch. Though it is listed as water resistant I take it off to shower and try to remember to take it off while doing dishes (though I sometime forget). Haven't had any issues when it has gotten wet.

Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

asifj

Can anyone comment on the accuracy of the heart rate monitoring for Fitbit devices? I have heard some reviews that they are not comparable to the accuracy of Jawbone's.

carrrrrlos

I would have bought this a few months ago, but w/out direct integration in Health app, and Apple watch on the horizon (early 2015), I'll wait it out.
The wearable market is getting crowded.

aajeevlin

All these devices look very intriguing to me until I scroll down to the price. As much of a fitness buff as I am, $250 just seems to high for what they do (and don't do).

Agreed that $250 is not a small amount. But a typical GPS watch can easily go as much as $250-300 (starting from about $150). So I'd say charing $150 and $250 is not outrageous.

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