Verdict
The Fitbit sensation 2 feels like a upright watch for monitor different aspect of your health but a worse smartwatch than the original Sense . If you require the best that Fitbit can offer on all fronts , then you might be best avoiding this one .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Fitbit Sense 2 is the now Google - owned company ’s second - generationsmartwatch that ’s very much focused on keeping tabs on both your physical and genial eudaemonia .
This is still a smartwatch that finds room for sensors likeECGand skin temperature and can track heart rate 24/7 and line oxygen during sleep . Now it also wants to keep much a closer eye on when you might be feeling accent .
You ’re also getting the Fitbit physical fitness and sleep tracking staples , along with something that will serve you pay your way and can extend week - long assault and battery life .
With Google ’s ownPixel Watchnow in the building , the query is whether Fitbit ’s own smartwatches still deserve a place on your wrist .
Design and screen
The Sense 2 does n’t look too dissimilar to the originalSense , though Fitbit say it ’s thinner and lighter . Putting it side - by - side with the first Sense and it ’s not a pronounced change in how this spotter feels to wear out . You ’ve still got a 40 millimetre face that ’s made from Al and a strap that comes in small or large sizing options , with both strap sizes included in the box .
The large variety here is that Fitbit has decide to include a strong-arm button and that ’s definitely a big confident . Previously , interactions outside of using the touchscreen display were done by press the sides of the case . It was far from the ideal solution of having some form of physical control while also taste to offer a clean , unlittered aspect . Sometimes buttons are a near affair and Fitbit has acknowledge it did n’t quite get things right when it ditched them .
Things do n’t seem to have drastically change in the covert department where you ’ll find a rectangularAMOLEDtouchscreen that can get fairly vivid and supply vibrant , colourful surroundings to show off vigil faces and stats . It does offer an always - on way , though the raise to heat gesture support persist as disappointingly slow as it did on the first Sense .
If you care mixing things up on the strap front , that ’s possible on the Sense 2 and it takes a simple button press to release the 24 millimetre strap from the watch slip . You ’ll have to largely stick with Fitbit ’s own official strap if you want to swap silicone polymer for leather and also be felicitous to give anywhere from £ 24-£50 for something voguish look .
The silicone band attached to our Sense 2 did nicely congratulate our case colour though the clasp setup makes it a very awkward strap to batten in property and it can take some fiddling around to get it right . Once it ’s in place , it does n’t budge , but arrest a fit that ’s a fine balance between something that sit snug enough for the sensors around the back to reliably cover data and is n’t too uncomfortably taut to wear day and night is easier said than done .
Fitbit has n’t budge on the layer piddle resistance the Sense 2 offers , so it ’s giving you something that ’s set to stay on in a shower or go for a swim as long as it ’s not overwhelm in water beyond 50 metres depth .
Features and performance
The Sense 2 runs on the latest adaptation of Fitbit ’s own FitbitOS operating system and it ’s clear it ’s had a bit of play with how the software is deliver . Whether it ’s for the effective is surely up for debate .
antecedently , you swiped up from the main watch expression to view Fitbit ’s Today splashboard and sneak flop from the sample shoes got you to the app screens . That ’s now changed . cabbage up from the same place brings up your notification stream . Swiping leave or right gets you to thingummy for things like exercise tracking , conditions , sleep information and heart charge per unit stats . Pressing the physical button gets you to your apps and most recently used apps .
While getting used to the locating of features is something you ’ll need to adjust to , something you ’ll not get used to is the very torpid response you get pinch through screens and launching apps . Fitbit does n’t talk processing power here , but whatever is powering the Sense 2 is simply not really cut out for the business .
point over to the Fitbit companion smartphone app and there are some interesting discoveries to be made here . While the core app looks conversant , delving into the Fitbit Gallery app store shows a distinct want of third - company apps . Things like Strava , Uber , Deezer and Spotify are all absent .
That lack of music streaming app support also spotlight that you ’re not getting a build - in medicine player here either or any sort of medicine controls .
you’re able to view telling , utilise Fitbit Pay and there’sAmazon Alexaintegration on table , but no option to choose Google Assistant . Fitbit has denote it ’s move to sum up support for Google Maps and Google Wallet , but that keep is n’t live yet . Interestingly , Fitbit has make up one’s mind to inactivate the Wi - Fi financial support on the Sense 2 and can not on the face of it be throw on either .
What is here works in a standardized fashion to how it did on Sense , though you ’re decidedly begin a stripped - back smartwatch experience with laggy performance and it ’s not readable if the third - party app sustenance that was present for the first Sense will return on the Sense 2 .
Fitness and health tracking
Where thing seem a small more normal is when you see what the Sense 2 can bid in terms of physical fitness and health monitoring feature . It ’s still a good health and wellness tracker than it is asports tracker , so if you care more about steps , sleep and think about stress as fight down to getting super exact and honest exercise trailing , then this is one for you .
day-after-day footmark count are easy to keep an eye on from the watch and the watch face and daily step counts were in general 500 - 800 steps within the same trailing on the Oura Ring 3 . Sleep monitoring is a literal intensity level for Fitbit and that ’s no unlike on the Sense 2 in terms of the degree of detail and accuracy of data . element like slumber length and sleep stage equipment failure were very similar to Oura ’s own reliable sleep tracking support .
Fitbit has also insert a new nap profile feature article , which sits behind its Premium subscription overhaul , which you get six calendar month of free entree to when you coiffure it up for the first time . You need to wear your lookout for 14 nights to get an analysis of sleep time and among other things you ’ll be assigned a sopor fauna to illustrate your nap doings . That animal can also be display on a dedicated watch fount .
On the wellness front , the Sense 2 can cut across descent oxygen during sleep to facilitate discover change in your cosmopolitan wellness . There ’s an ECG sensor and app once again to value heart rhythm method and help detect mark of atrial fibrillation . You ’re also getting support for high and scurvy core pace alerts and resting substance rate reading . There’salsoa skin temperature sensor , which like theSpO2sensor , does its tracking business during the night to bid extra health insight . These all work in a similar mode to how they did on the original Sense .
Fitbit has also made a much bigger push in late years on the thought of bear closer attention to focus and specifically notice when you might be feeling stressed . Along with features like guide breathing sessions , lumber your mood and recording focus management tons , it ’s adding the ability to tag when your body may be under stress .
It ’s doing that with an cEDA sensor , which is basically an elongation of the electrodermal activity sensor used in the first signified offering those insight on a continuous basis . You ’ll need to enable it in the Fitbit earpiece app first and you ’ll be give notice that turning it on will have a notable shock on battery life . Throughout the day you ’ll see notifications inquire you how you ’re feeling to help establish a gumption of your mood during the daylight and avail line up it with the information it tracks .
you may still take on the spot EDA readings by placing your palm on top of the Sense 2 ’s silver screen where you ’ll see heart rate changes , and EDA responses . The fewer EDA responses the good is the tonality here . You ’ll get hebdomadary summaries indicating stressful moments and then the watch will require you to select to focus on something that might improve your ability to cope with strain , whether it ’s through mindfulness seance , face at your sleep or day-after-day activity .
It ’s in spades a overconfident that Fitbit is contain a more focused look at tension and how that can touch on other things in your life . The execution and join the dots of it all still palpate like it needs work , but it does feel like a part of the Fitbit ( and Google ’s ultimately ) ecosystem that could grow to become more piquant , meaningful and motivational in terms of paying closer aid to those tension pool stick .
On the exercise tracking front , you ’re getting build - inGPSand features like robotic usage tracking , Cardio Fitness Scores and the ability to await at Active Zone Minutes and Daily Readiness Scores to well infer how hard you ’re work out and when you should cultivate out .
The core sport tracking experience does n’t experience enormously dissimilar from the first Sense . It often have an eld to blame up a reliable GPS signal during outdoor workouts and at times took so long that mean relying on accelerometer - establish tracking instead . When you do lock onto a GPS signal the data still palpate substantially suited to short 20 - 30 minute of arc runs where you may get the most reliable distance and heart charge per unit trailing information . Fitbit is n’t going deep into recuperation and training psychoanalysis you’re able to find on other watches around this price either if that ’s what you ’re looking for from it .
Battery life
Unlike some of thebest smartwatches , Fitbit ’s smartwatches are capable of well lasting a week and can even go a little longer , calculate on the feature of speech you ’re using on a regular base .
Fitbit does n’t serve out details on the size of the barrage packed into the Sense 2 but does say it should last 6 + days . It also state that using feature like the always - on presentation , SpO2 and cEDA sensor will see those shelling numbers drop .
If you ’re contrive to use the GPS tracking on a regular groundwork , then Fitbit quotes 5 hour of GPS stamp battery life , which is a sizeable drop from the 12 hours promise on the original Sense .
Those daily and GPS shelling numbers do seem to add up and casual drop - off was anywhere from 10 - 20 % . When you put the always - on display into use , you ’re looking at that everyday phone number dropping to around 2 - 3 sidereal day .
Fitbit does also let in a fast - charging feature , which gives you an extra mean solar day from a nippy 12 - minute charge .
If you desire a smartwatch that can maintain up for a week , then that ’s what the Sense 2 can hand over .
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Should you buy it?
Sleep monitoring remains a cardinal strength for Fitbit and the Sense 2 offers a solid tracking experience overall when you take it to layer .
The slightly sluggish software along with the missing smartwatch feature means you might be well off buy the quondam Sense .
Final Thoughts
The Fitbit Sense 2 is a act of an funny one . It pop the question a impregnable set of health and wellness monitoring features and it ’s bully to see a forcible clitoris in romp here , but the languor in the computer software and absent smartwatch features feel like a step back for the Sense . There ’s a real flavour that this feels like a smartwatch get between FitbitOS andWearOSand that ’s not undecomposed for anyone .
Trusted Score
How we test
We good test every fitness tracker we review . We use industriousness standard examination to compare features the right way and we use the watch as our chief machine over the review period . We ’ll always tell you what we find and we never , ever , accept money to retrospect a merchandise .
FAQs
The Fitbit Sense 2 does have the ability to let you take calls when the smartwatch is touch base to your phone by Bluetooth . This is a feature Fitbit says it will be sum soon to the Sense 2 .
Unlike the Fitbit Sense , the Sense 2 does n’t admit a built - in music player to let you store music or stream from the smartwatch .
Full Specs
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