Fitbit Surge Health Tremendous Watch Evaluation

The Fitbit Surge tremendous watch is the primary Fitbit with built-in GPS for pace and distance, and it additionally has steady strapless coronary heart fee monitoring. It does what different Fitbits do — counting steps, distance, energy, flooring climbed and monitoring sleep. When you pair it with a suitable telephone you will get name notifications and browse incoming textual content messages and management your music throughout exercises. It is a very good pedometer smartwatch.

Who Will Love the Fitbit Surge?

It’s modern sufficient for both males or ladies to put on all day as a watch. Then once you need to observe a exercise, you need not put on a coronary heart fee monitor strap or use a separate app or system to trace your pace and distance by way of GPS. You possibly can view all of it in your wrist, then see additional particulars (together with a map of your route) after syncing to the app or on-line dashboard.

The Surge is constructed for walkers, runners, and cyclists who need to use GPS and coronary heart fee to trace their exercise pace, distance and train depth, and who need to observe step, energy and sleep multi functional system.

You possibly can observe different train exercise by way of the train timer and coronary heart fee readings. You possibly can observe indoor walks and treadmill exercises with the Surge with out GPS, it’ll use the accelerometer readings to provide you pace and distance estimates.

If you have already got been monitoring your exercise with a unique Fitbit mannequin, you’ll be able to simply swap your similar account to the Surge and proceed with the identical historical past, app, and on-line profile. Fitbit additionally has up to date to let you hyperlink a couple of Fitbit system to your similar account, so you should utilize the Surge for exercises and one other Fitbit for day by day exercise.

Purchase Fitbit Surge at Amazon.com

On Your Wrist

The Surge is worn as a wristwatch with a gentle elastomer strap and typical (safe!) wristwatch buckle. It is available in black solely right now and the strap isn’t replaceable. It's finest to put on it one finger-width out of your wristbone or barely greater in your arm for the accuracy of the guts fee monitor. Your pulse is learn by way of their PurePulse LED sensors on the again of the watch.

Surge has a monochrome touchscreen, with the clock or different screens all the time seen and it has an automated backlight. I discovered it simple to learn with my growing older eyes. The clock display screen has a alternative of various time shows, all of which present solely the hours and minutes (no seconds), and a few additionally present the date. I want the Flare display screen which exhibits your exercise every minute.

Swipe the touchscreen to view screens exhibiting your present coronary heart fee, day by day steps, distance, energy burned and flooring climbed.

Press the House button to trace train periods and handle vibrating alarms. You possibly can view incoming calls and browse incoming texts on the display screen in case your paired telephone is inside 20 toes. I really was in a position to get texts when my telephone was downstairs on the reverse finish of my home (in all probability 50+ toes away), which was spectacular.

Charging and Battery Life: The Surge has a battery lifetime of as much as 7 days if you happen to don't use the GPS function. The battery will solely final for five hours of GPS exercise monitoring, and so they advocate charging it after utilizing the GPS operate. It has a customized USB cable for recharging.

Is the Fitbit Surge Waterproof? No, it’s splashproof however they advocate towards swimming or showering whereas carrying it. Showering shouldn't damage it, however Fitbit needs you to provide your wrist some air and taking it off within the bathe will clear your wrist to stop rashes.

Setting Up the Fitbit Surge: You want both a pc or a smartphone to arrange and use the Fitbit Surge. It syncs wirelessly to a USB dongle on a pc, or by way of Bluetooth 4.0 to the cell app (iOS and Android).

Coronary heart Fee 

• Are You Within the Zone? The guts fee display screen exhibits your beats per minute and the guts icon signifies which zone you might be in. It has three automated zones: moderate-intensity Fats Burn zone (50-69% of most), vigorous-intensity Cardio zone (70-84% of most), and the Peak zone (85% and above). You may as well set a customized zone if you happen to do not just like the preset zones. You get complete time within the zone for any exercise in addition to all-day totals.
• Coronary heart Fee Accuracy: By carrying the Surge within the place they urged, with the strap comfortable, I acquired steady readings that had been in keeping with a chest strap coronary heart fee monitor once I was at relaxation and through brisk strolling exercises. However as a wrist-based sensor, it’s prone to be much less correct in case you are doing weightlifting or different actions that use the arm muscle tissue. 
• Exercise Coronary heart Fee: You possibly can view your coronary heart fee and zone indicator throughout exercises, however it would not have any alerts if you find yourself in a selected zone or out of the zone (akin to a beep or vibration). After you end, you’ll be able to see a graph of your coronary heart fee on the app or on-line dashboard, together with your common and most coronary heart fee and time in every zone.
• Resting Coronary heart Fee: This studying is taken throughout your sleep interval and is a sign of your well being and health. A decrease resting coronary heart fee is a sign of higher health and readiness for exercise
• Day by day Coronary heart Fee Graph: See a graph of your coronary heart fee all through the day on the app or dashboard.

GPS Velocity and Distance 

Select Run, Stroll, Bike, or Hike as an train exercise and you should utilize the GPS sensor to trace your pace and distance after which view your route afterward on the app or on-line dashboard. Not like the Fitbit app, it makes use of the sensor within the Surge watch itself fairly than your smartphone.

It is advisable to be open air to make use of the GPS function because it locks in satellites after you select Run, Stroll, or Hike train monitoring. This may take a number of seconds, though you are able to do a fast begin and it’ll observe you based mostly on the accelerometer till it locks within the satellites.

Whereas monitoring a Run, Stroll, Bike, or Hike, the display screen exhibits the entire mileage on the prime, elapsed time (minutes, seconds, tenths and hundredths of seconds) after which a 3rd line that you could scroll by means of for present tempo, common tempo, coronary heart fee, energy, and time of day. You possibly can observe laps by urgent the motion button on the finish of every lap and seeing the lap stats. Computerized laps are recorded for every mile, however you’ll solely see them after your exercise within the app or dashboard.

I discovered the Tempo (your present tempo) to be jumpy, it appeared to flip-flop between paces that had been a few minutes per mile aside at my strolling pace (common of 16 minutes per mile). The Common Tempo and Lap Tempo had been extra constant.

You possibly can pause the exercise and resume simply. You’ll nonetheless obtain incoming calls and textual content alerts whereas recording exercises, in addition to congratulations if you happen to attain your day by day step aim.

After the exercise, you’ll be able to view your abstract stats on the Surge and full particulars on the app or on-line dashboard after you sync.

For treadmill exercises and indoor strolling, the gap and pace are based mostly on the accelerometer fairly than GPS. You might have to measure your stride size and modify it by way of the net dashboard to get an correct pace and distance for the treadmill.

Intervals: There isn’t a apparent interval operate, however you could possibly use the vibrating alarms to arrange your personal intervals.

The GPS distance readings had been rather more dependable than the GPS of my iPhone 4s (which constantly overestimates my distance by 10% and due to this fact my pace by an identical margin). They match the Polar M400 GPS Sports activities Watch worn on the opposite wrist.

You possibly can't use the GPS on the Surge to inform you the place you might be or give coordinates. You possibly can solely get map info after you sync it along with your telephone app or on-line dashboard.

What Fitbit Surge Tracks All Day

• Steps – All-Day and Exercise Steps: The Surge tracks each all-day steps and steps for particular person exercises. It vibrates and flashes congratulations once you attain your day by day step aim, which is about to 10,000 steps per day by default (which you’ll be able to change).
• Energy: Fitbit tracks all-day calorie burn, plus you’ll be able to see the energy burned through the exercises you observe. The calorie rely is supposed that will help you stability the energy you eat with the energy you burn off all day. The dashboard or app will inform you what number of energy it is best to eat with the intention to meet a weight reduction aim. You should utilize their meals monitoring log on-line or within the app. It’s a superb pedometer for dieters.
• Distance: That is estimated out of your step rely for all-day steps. It consists of any distance tracked in exercises by way of GPS.
• Sleep: The Surge mechanically detects sleep, however would not show it on the watch. On the app or dashboard you’ll be able to view your complete time in mattress, time asleep, time awake and time stressed, plus a sleep graph.
• Alarms: You possibly can set a number of vibrating alarms and select how typically they repeat. You possibly can handle these from the watch in addition to the app and dashboard.
• Stairs/Flooring: It mechanically tracks the flooring climbed.
• Lively Time: The variety of steps you are taking per minute are translated into Lively minutes. This might help you observe whether or not you might be assembly train suggestions for half-hour or extra of moderate-to-vigorous train every day. When you use the Flare clock, you see how energetic you’ve gotten been every minute of the present hour, which generally is a good immediate to stop lengthy durations of inactivity.

Fitbit Dashboard and App

Fitbit is a favourite of mine for monitoring your food regimen and well being stats. You should utilize its meals log within the app or on the net dashboard, observe water, your weight and extra. You possibly can interact in challenges with associates and earn badges for accomplishments. Fitbit can also share information with many different in style apps and you’ll put up to social media.

Professional Evaluation 

Pluses:

• Consolation: I discovered it simple to put on as a wristwatch day and night time. I tightened the buckle barely extra once I wished the very best coronary heart fee studying throughout an train session.
• Show: Like a typical watch, you’ll be able to view the time with out having to activate the show. It was simple to maneuver from display screen to display screen with a swipe to see your different stats.
• Coronary heart Fee, GPS Velocity and Distance at a Look: You don't should placed on a chest strap or activate an app. You possibly can depart your smartphone safely at house and nonetheless observe your exercise. You possibly can view it proper in your wrist as an alternative of making an attempt to view it in your smartphone throughout a exercise. Better of all, for lengthy exercises you aren't draining your telephone battery, simply that on the Surge.
• Mobility: It is advisable to sync with the app or a pc each 7 days to obtain minute-by-minute information, however it’ll maintain 30 days of day by day totals and 39 hours of GPS information in case you are unable to sync weekly.

Minuses

• No inactivity alerts or strikes reminders to maintain you from being sedentary and cut back the well being dangers of sitting an excessive amount of. Nonetheless, the Flare clock provides an excellent indication of how a lot you’ve gotten moved throughout the hour. When you set a vibrating alarm, you could possibly verify it at set intervals to remind your self to maneuver.
• Lacks superior operating watch options: In comparison with the Polar M400 GPS Sports activities Watch, it would not have interval timers inbuilt and another options that severe runners could anticipate on a operating watch.
• Lacks superior coronary heart fee monitor options. There aren’t any beeps or vibration to point in case you are in-zone and out-of-zone, simply the icons.

Backside Line 

I cherished the GPS and coronary heart fee options of the Fitbit Surge. It’s a superb all-in-one health monitoring system for runners and walkers. I additionally loved the incoming name alerts and textual content messages. It has all the different fundamental Fitbit capabilities for steps, energy and sleep monitoring. Most of all, I preferred the Flare clock show to point out me how energetic I’ve been throughout the hour.

The worth tag of the Surge places it into the realm of smartwatches, and it might be that you just'd need an Apple Watch as an alternative.

When you aren’t within the GPS pace and distance, or the Surge simply appears too large so that you can take pleasure in carrying, the Fitbit Cost HR band is an effective different.