Fitbit Sense review

Our Verdict

The Fitbit Sense is about more than than just getting in shape—it'southward nigh getting salubrious.

For

Attractive
Long battery life
Comprehensive fettle/health features

Against

Small app store
No Spotify music storage

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Fitbit Sense is about more just getting in shape—information technology's almost getting healthy.

Pros

+
Attractive
+
Long battery life
+
Comprehensive fitness/health features

Cons

-
Minor app shop
-
No Spotify music storage

Fitbit Sense: Specs

Display: ane.58 inches, 336x336 pixels
H2o resistance: 50m
GPS: GPS and GLONASS
SpO2: Aye
Wireless: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC
Mobile payments: Fitbit Pay
Size: 1.59 10 ane.59 ten 0.49 inches
Weight: 1.62 ounces w/ small ring; 1.7 ounces w/ large band

The $329 Fitbit Sense is the near ambitious smartwatch even so. Yes, more ambitious than the Apple Watch half-dozen or the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3. That's considering the Sense has not merely an FDA-approved ECG sensor and blood oxygen reading but the ability to measure electrodermal activity and skin temperature.

The Apple Sentinel six does blood oxygen levels, too, but Fitbit appears to exist leading the evolution of smartwatches as they morph from devices that merely rail our steps to devices that take a more holistic look at our health.

As I institute during my Fitbit Sense review, these new features are designed not to give yous a sense of impending doom, just rather a better thought of how you're doing. That's why the Fitbit Sense is one of the best smartwatches and best fitness trackers yous tin buy. It also earned 3 separate recognitions in the 2021 Tom'due south Guide Awards for Health and Fettle.

How to set upward Fitbit Sense and Fitbit Versa three

Fitbit Sense review: Price and release appointment

The Fitbit Sense is bachelor at present for $329. You can buy the watch with a black case and black band, or a golden case with a white band.

Those who haven't already subscribed or used Fitbit Premium will likewise receive a 6-calendar month trial for Fitbit Premium ($9.99/month, $79.99/year), which includes advanced sleep metrics, guided programs, a wellness report, and video workouts. I'll share more on Fitbit Premium later in this review.

Fitbit Sense review: Design and brandish

Made of stainless steel, the Sense is modest and calorie-free, making it comfortable to wear both twenty-four hours and dark. When placed adjacent to the Fitbit Versa 2, the Sense is roughly the same size, only has more rounded sides — it's a more than round squircle. The right side of the case has a pocket-size touch-sensitive solid-country sensor that acts equally a push, and causes the watch to fizz slightly when pressed. Nosotros explain more nigh the new push in our Fitbit Versa three review.

The Sense comes with a silicone Infinity Band strap that I found a bit fussy to strap on my wrist. Fortunately, it'southward easy to switch out the bands.

I was really impressed with the Sense'due south AMOLED display. While not as high-resolution as the Apple Picket 6, it was bright, colorful, and crisp, and easy to read even outdoors. The screen has three different brightness settings, and you tin can either adjust the timeout or set information technology to always-on (which reduces the battery life to well-nigh two days).

Fitbit Sense review: Health features

I don't need a watch to tell me I'm stressed, but the Sense will quantify how stressed you are.

Compared to all the best Fitbits, Apple Spotter 6 and the Samsung Galaxy Picket 3, the Fitbit Sense is the most ambitious when it comes to new health features. The EDA and skin temperature sensor are unique to Fitbit, and are meant to give you a better understanding of just how y'all're doing. It remains to exist seen how useful these metrics are, but Fitbit deserves some credit for trying something new.

EDA sensor

I don't need a watch to tell me I'thou stressed. But, the Sense will quantify how stressed you are, non simply based on how you feel subsequently doom scrolling on Twitter, but too your heart rate, slumber, and activity levels. You can also accept an EDA scan, which measures your electrodermal activity, and then factors in your other metrics. After, information technology asks you how you're feeling, and gives you lot the option of taking a guided meditation session to aid you calm down.

Skin temperature

Similar to its claret oxygen and EDA sensor, the Sense's peel temperature monitor is meant to provide a general sense of your overall health, only is non a primary indicator of any medical condition. Like the SpO2 sensor, you lot take to clothing the Sense while you're sleeping for it to get a reading; it takes three sequent nights for the watch to get a baseline reading. A higher or lower peel temperature could hateful anything from the onset of an illness or pregnancy, or something every bit simple as your room was warmer or cooler than the night before.

ECG sensor

The third smartwatch to receive FDA approval for its ECG app (the Apple tree Watch half dozen and the Samsung Milky way Watch 3 beingness the other two), the Fitbit Sense can expect at your heartbeat to see if there'south whatsoever irregular action or signs of atrial fibrillation.

In social club to use the ECG app, yous have to go through several pages acknowledging that only a doctor can diagnose aFib, and that you're 22 years or older, don't have a pacemaker and empathise that the assessment isn't a medical diagnosis.

After, you open the ECG app on the Sense, place your thumb and forefinger at either corner, and wait 20 seconds. Later, the app tells you if you take a regular or irregular heartbeat, or if the test was inconclusive. Information technology worked pretty well for me—my ticker is simply fine, according to the app.

SpO2 sensor

With the onset of the novel coronavirus, blood oxygen monitoring has gained a lot of attention as information technology could be an early alarm sign of Covid-19. Dissimilar the FDA-canonical medical devices that clip on to the end of your finger and shine light from 1 side to the other (known every bit a transmissive sensor), the Fitbit Sense, as well as the Apple Watch half dozen and diverse Garmin watches, use what'due south known as a reflective sensor. While they also shine a light into your skin, these sensors look for reflections that bounce back.

Partly because reflective sensors are less accurate than transmissive sensors, the Sense, Apple Watch, and all other wearables are not FDA-approved, so their readings should be taken with a grain of salt. In fact, many Apple Watch reviewers accept reported wildly-fluctuating readings.

The Sense proved pretty accurate in my tests. The same 24-hour interval information technology recorded my blood oxygen levels at 96 percent, I went to the dr.'due south function for a Covid test; as part of the test, my blood oxygen was measured at 98 percent. Information technology'south non a huge difference, just considering that a salubrious blood oxygen reading is 95 percent and college, there'south fiddling room for error.

Unlike the Apple Watch and various Garmin devices, the Fitbit Sense doesn't let you perform spot checks of your claret oxygen saturation. Rather, it takes a reading while y'all're sleeping. It'south probably better this style, so you lot're non constantly checking.

Initially, you had to use a specific Spo2 watchface while you were sleeping in social club to become this reading, just an update to the Sense's firmware now lets you use any watchface yous desire. Fitbit says it will add together seven new watchfaces with SpO2 information by the end of the twelvemonth.

Fitbit Sense review: Fitness features

Of course, with GPS and a heart rate monitor, the Fitbit Sense is meant for fitness, too. I took the Sense on a few runs around my neighborhood; on the first run, it took the Sense'southward GPS near a minute to acquire a point; on subsequent runs, it locked on in about 30 seconds, keeping up with the best running watches around.

During the run, the Sense's GPS and heart charge per unit monitor were accurate and fast, and information technology was easy to read fifty-fifty when on the motion. The Sense has a agglomeration of other niceties, including the ability to customize what's on the screen as you're running, setting the screen to Ever-on while y'all're exercising, Automobile-suspension, and Run Observe.

The lookout can also rail biking, Bootcamp, excursion training, elliptical, golf, hiking, interval workouts, kickboxing, martial arts, Pilates, spin, swim, tennis, treadmill, yoga, and more than.

Fitbit Sense review: Sleep tracking

The first few nights I wore the Sense, its sleep tracking proved erratic, sometimes logging that I didn't fall asleep until 2:30 in the morning, and other nights breaking up my sleep into ii parts. You lot're able to edit your sleep logs after the fact, simply if you do that, you don't get a sleep score. I then adapted the sensitivity to Sensitive from Normal, and ane night, the Sense was able to accurately record my zzzs. The second nighttime — a poor sleep nighttime for me — the Sense thought I slept for just two hours.I think I got more, merely I was pretty tired.

When it works, you get an overall sleep score — a number closer to 100 is better — too equally a wait at your centre rate and estimated oxygen variation. Fitbit's app likewise shows the amount of fourth dimension you lot spent in light, deep, and REM slumber.

Fitbit Sense review: Fitbit Premium

Fitbit Premium subscribers get admission video workouts as short equally three minutes and equally long as 30 minutes that cover all parts of your body.

If you lot subscribe to Fitbit Premium ($$ix.99/month, or $79.99 per year), you go a few boosted features, many of which are deeper dives into certain measurements.

A Health Metrics dashboard will let yous view your 7-day and 30-day history for centre rate variability, breathing rate, oxygen saturation (SpO2), and skin temperature variation. Given the importance of some of these features, Fitbit said it was looking at a fashion to bring more of them to non-Premium members.

Aside from that, Fitbit Premium subscribers become access to a number of video workouts they can picket on their mobile devices, which are as brusk equally 3 minutes and equally long as 30 minutes that comprehend all parts of your torso. Examples include "10-minute Glutes with Katie," "3-minute Leg Challenge," and "15-Infinitesimal HIIT with Lisa." There are fifty-fifty a couple of cooking videos.

At that place are too 16 guided programs, which include everything from encouraging meliorate sleeping and eating habits to running and weight training.

Fitbit Sense review: Smartwatch features

While not as robust a smartwatch as the Apple Watch 6 or the Samsung Milky way Watch Active 3, the Sense covers the basics, plus a piffling more than.

If you're looking for a smartwatch that will let y'all check your banking company balances, command all your smart home devices and make phone calls untethered, this isn't it. Fitbit's smartwatch app shop is nowhere nigh as big every bit Apple tree's, only at that place are third-party apps for Starbucks, Uber, Yelp, Walgreens, United Airlines, Strava, The New York Times, and a few others. You won't notice MapMyRun on the Sense, as Fitbit probably prefers yous use its run-tracking.

The Fitbit Sense tin can store playlists from Deezer and Spotify, so y'all tin play music right from the watch. While you lot tin can command Spotify from the watch, you tin can't download music from that service to the lookout man itself. Because Spotify is 1 of the largest music services, I promise this changes presently.

Like the Versa two and Versa three, the Fitbit Sense has Alexa built in, so you can summon Amazon'south vocalism banana from your wrist. And, because Fitbit was acquired by Google, Google Assistant is also available. Yet, y'all can only have ane assistant active at a time. If you're using Alexa, information technology will reply to you via the Sense'due south born speaker

Yous can as well answer calls via the Sense when your telephone is nearby and, if the Sense is continued to an Android phone, you can also respond to text letters via vox-to-text.

And, the Sense has Fitbit Pay, which can exist used at pretty much the aforementioned places every bit Apple Pay.

Fitbit Sense review: Bombardment life

Compared to the Apple Watch Series 6 and Samsung Galaxy Sentinel, the Fitbit Sense's claimed 6-day battery life is absolutely ballsy. (If you're using GPS actively, the battery life is virtually 12 hours). Considering the spotter is meant to be worn all day and night, it helps that you don't have to remember to charge it every twenty-four hour period.

Afterward four days of wearing the picket twenty-four hour period and night, plus i 30-infinitesimal run using GPS, my Sense lookout was down to xix percent, which is excellent and roughly in line with Fitbit's claims. A half-hour run using GPS knocked the bombardment down by four percent.

The Sense comes with a proprietary magnetic USB charger, which snaps securely to the back of the lookout man; mine went from 19 percent to fully charged in less than an hour.

Fitbit Sense review: Verdict

I get a lot of pitches for gadgets claiming to offering better sleep, health, and fettle, and many of them experience like high-tech snake oil. For every ailment, in that location seems to be a tech-based solution. And, even with the more reputable companies, some features blur the line betwixt a government-approved medical device and one that's non.

That's why I like the Fitbit Sense's approach to things such as its SpO2 and skin temperature sensors. By non allowing you to actively bank check your blood oxygen levels, it makes it less probable that someone will use the Sense rather than an FDA-certified device to make sure you're healthy. Rather, it uses these readings, as well every bit a handful of others, to give yous a more rounded view of your body. While the Apple Sentry six is still the best overall smartwatch, the Fitbit Sense offers the most of whatever smartwatch when it comes to your health.

Michael A. Prospero is the deputy editor at Tom's Guide overseeing the home, smart home, drones, and fitness/wearables categories, every bit well as all buying guides and other evergreen content. When he'southward not testing out the latest running watch, skiing or training for a marathon, he's probably using the latest sous vide machine or some other cooking gadget.