Fitbit Charge 6 In-Depth Review: 12 New Things to Know!

Here's your complete Fitbit Charge 6 In-Depth Review, complete with a look at how the new features actually work, accuracy testing, and plenty more.

The Fitbit Charge 6 is an incremental update to the existing Charge 5, focusing on a blend of physical usability enhancements (bringing back the side button), while also increasing day-to-day usability (letting you access all the sport/exercise modes on device, versus a previous limit of 6 modes). However, with it we finally start to see the impacts of Google into the device. The Charge 6 brings with it Google Maps integration, Google Wallet integration, and YouTube Music integration. Plus, it now requires you use a Google account (versus the previous Fitbit account).

I’ve been using the Fitbit Charge 6 the last few weeks, putting it through its paces to see where it works well – and where it falls short. Both in new features, and whether existing issues on the Charge 5 are finally fixed with new hardware. This includes both daily wear/usage, but also sport usage across things like heart rate accuracy and GPS accuracy.

Finally, note that Fitbit/Google provided a media loaner Charge 6 to test. As usual, I’ll get that back to them here shortly. I’ll go out and pick up my own to continue testing the new features once they arrive. If you found this review useful, you can use the links at the bottom, or consider becoming a DCR Supporter which makes the site ad-free, while also getting access to a mostly weekly video series behind the scenes of the DCR Cave. And of course, it makes you awesome.

With that, let’s talk newness.

0:00 Quick Intro
0:29 Pricing
0:37 New Hardware Button
0:54 New Heart Rate Sensor
1:26 Heart Rate Broadcasting Testing
2:45 20 New Sport Modes
2:57 Excercise Modes On-Device
3:27 YouTube Music Controls
3:59 Google Maps Turn-by-Turn Directions
4:52 Google Wallet Payments
5:26 Zoom Magnifier Feature
5:47 Battery & Charging
6:07 Google Account Requirement
6:33 4-minute Hands-on Tour
10:50 Accuracy: Heart Rate, Sleep, GPS
13:52 Wrap-up: Worth it?!?

#FitbitCharge6 #Charge6 #Fitbit