Fitbit Sense
MPNs: 4973271, 4973272, FB512BKBK and 2 more41 reviews
Fallen from grace – After about 6 months of use, the poorly designed band fell apart but they replaced it with another so thought all was good as i dont do too much activity for my $450 activity tracker! Then just after a year of ownership, the main device started to work intermitently so i got back to support again who sent a replacement which seemed to be a UK… Read more
model and oxygen monitoring didnt work or didnt have hardware on the unit. I havent figured that out after 2 rounds of useless Fitbit support. As i wait for the faulty replacement, i was going to use the original device but the lovely support people deactivated it (no logical explanation given). I still await probably another unchecked faulty unit which will probably have the same or different issues. Then i read some recent reviews and seems Google are ruining the brand like many other once good brands.
Battery problems – I’m onto my 3 watch in 12 months. Battery problems for 2 watch’s now the screen has come off. As outside the 12 months from my original purchase, not covered by warranty. Used super glue to glue screen back on. Still works but you can’t use the finger for anything now. Won’t be waisting my money on them anymore. Show details
Rubbish watch rubbish company – Fitbit replaced the first one after the battery expired and now the replacement has died too. 12 months seems ridiculous for a 300 dollar watch that I just wasted an extra 120.00 on the premium subscription that I'm so sorry sir is non refundable. Going to buy a Garmin
Reviews with attachments
The Fitbit sense is the epitome of a sham product! – I strongly recommend you Dont buy Any Fitbit products! Product not designed to last! ~ Expect screen damage, poor batter performance, charging- pairing issues ETC through normal use ~ The Fitbit sense is the epitome of a sham product! its tracking of heart rate ,GPS are very inaccurate completely unusable. specific senses like spO2 aren't… Read more
accurate & usable on demand, its difficult to setup & use the fitbit app. constant problems pairing watch to app And transferring data over wi-fi!
In ordered to use watch Fitbit want to spy on you 24/7 & collect all the data the watch collects.
Watch is good.. Charger is terrible and makes the watch useless – The watch itself works well. Probably the only downside is the lack of third party app support. The huge downside is the charger. The design of it is fundamentally flawed . After a while of use one of the pins in the charger sticks down rendering it useless. And it is always the same pin that sticks down on the charger . The only positive is… Read more
fitbit support is excellent at replacing the chargers, but you get over having to replace the charger every month or so. Also the watch has good battery life compared to the stupid apple watches.. if a apple watch had decent battery life I would buy one of them.
Terrible and dumb firmaware design! – This is my fist fitbit device, which is definitely the last one , too! The reason that I am so disapppointed with this device is that it could have easily manage to filter out the milage while you're driving and not consider that towards your daily step counts. I can say that because I'm an embedded system engineer and it pisses me off when I… Read more
see such a big flaw with brands like Fitbit who claim to be the best in the market and yet fail at such ordinary issues.
My advice to Fitbit: Just get rid of your firmware design engineers and hire better ones.
It makes it even worse when you look for the solution and you see the following dumb answer asking you to MANUALLY filter out the driving milage!
https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Other-Charge-Trackers/Steps-counting-while-driving/td-p/1652850
It just makes it hurt more! If I wanted to do it manually, why would I need a Fitbit? Wouldn't it be easier to count my step MANUALLY?
Sense fails to function and causes a rash – I upgraded from an HR so could track runs without phone, could load own music and to track health. Well about 50% of functions just not working. Readings not being taken and after 3 days a rash around half my wrist from the band requiring application of steroids and unable to wear a $400 lemon. Show details
Positive reviews
Despite my earlier post, Fitbit Premium is still an important health aid – Despite me being formerly being disappointed Fitbit stopped challenges, overall, Fitbit Premium is an excellent aid in addressing diet, health factors such as sleep and exercise, with the Coaching videos be of a high and varied range... Mindfulness, exercise and the food diary were a big factor in me lowering Triglycerides and weight, in a health… Read more
and sustainable way... perhaps even better without the stepping challenges which became a dominant factor at the cost of other areas.
Great device – I'm surprised to see so many negative reviews. I've had this watch for about 4 weeks now and it's great. It's comfortable, charges quickly and was easy to set up. It does everything it is advertised to do, and does it well. Show details
Fitbit Sense will make sense - eventually - but get it now – I upgraded to the Sense after 5 or 6 years with the Ionic. The Ionic seemed to be getting a little left behind in the new technology and available Fitbit clockfaces. I am a very long-term Fitbit user and I was pondering moving to the Appel watch but stayed with Fitbit because I had so many years of data. So what do I think of the Sense? After… Read more
about three weeks, I am still deciding. It's definitely an improvement on the Ionic.
It looks good, its design and display are excellent and its functions are easy to use, once you get used to it.
I was already a Fitbit premium user so I had access to all the extra health metrics the Sense offers.
And there is a lot of data that can be collected. My suggestion is that you read the Fitbit information and see if it is useful to you.
For me, I love data, even if I don't fully understand what it means and what I can use it for.
So, in summary
The watch looks good, feels good and is easy to use. It has lots of clock faces to choose from. It has heaps of data that it collects and built-in apps such as exercise which can GPS track your walk or run and give you heart rate data.
My guess is that Fitbit will gradually develop and refine the data it allows you to collect.
Have a read about the EDA Scan the Sense does. It gives you a score or result, but I really don't know hat use it is - as yet.
I suspect if you get in now and learn about the watch, all this data will be useful you at some point.
Hopefully, Fitbit will upgrade its firmware as it goes and you can benefit from that as it improves. And hopefully, you don't have to buy a new watch to get the new goodies.
But be warned. Fitbit can be frustrating to deal with sometimes when you have questions, issues or need support.
I suggest you join the community forums and use Twitter messages for your support questions.
And read up on the Fitbit articles about what the Sense does. So you can make sense of what it means for you
Negative reviews
Gives my wrist a rash, charger is rubbish – At first I thought the charger was ok, but it got worse and worse. Googled it, found that often the connector points on the charger break. Sure enough, checked mine and two were damaged. Replacement costing over $40 including shipping. Have to change the wrist it is in every day otherwise the rash gets too bad. Got it as part of a Telstra deal. Would not buy. Show details
Ongoing dramas from the beginning – My Sense is not even a year old and is my second Fitbit and unfortunately, it will also be my last. I was a very happy Charge 5 customer for years and then decided to upgrade to the Sense - a bad mistake. The charging cable was a problem (actually well-known in the community) from the beginning as it is so twisted that it always puts the sense in… Read more
slow charging mode. So you have to watch the Fitbit when it starts charging, get a slow charging message, change position, and try again - repeat. So annoying. Now I also have to reboot the Fitbit itself every week as it just randomly loses all the stats on the watch itself. You can swipe down and the only thing you get is a black screen. Such a shame that Google took them over as since that happened Fitbit has gone down. Not sure yet what to get next.
Garbage! – Purchased this product as a gift in December 2022, and it has never worked properly, continually failing to sync Now it has just entirely stopped working at all and will not even charge. Trying to get help from this company is just impossible. I hope this review will prevent anyone else from being duped into purchasing any of their products. Show details
Find out how Fitbit Sense compares to other Smart Watches / Fitness Trackers
Know better, choose better.
Recent reviews
Don’t buy fitbit – 6 month old Sense continually refuses to charge and fitbits only advise is to reset. Support is awful, chat cuts you off if u don’t respond in 30 secs which defeats the purpose of chat. Watch is faulty and should have been replaced under warranty but Fitbit have no clue , had enough Apple Watch in future Show details
Fitbit Sense Buyer beware of Major issues with Battery life – I bought my Fitbit Sense in Dec 2021 from Officeworks Aust for $297AU. I had been a Fitbit customer for 10 yrs and generally happy. For me this was a premium purchase based on reviews then available. Until this week I was totally happy with connectivity, performance and battery life ( it generally it sat at 80% plus). 3 days ago I received a… Read more
message from my App that battery was low, I charged it and did so following 2 days but still receiving the message. Yesterday it lost power completely. I had already made sure all surface were clean. In Australia electronic products are only covered by a 1 year guarantee except for Apple who has been recently been pressured by Govt authorities to offer the internationally recognised 2yrs. I contacted my local store to no avail. I have now become aware my experience with the Fitbit Sense battery issues is a common fault and is yet to be recognised or rectified by Fitbit
Utterly rubbish – I bought a fitbit sense after having a Galaxy watch for a number of years. I thought they were a good brand, I'd had an early fitbit, can't remember the type but it was pretty good as I recall. I've had nothing but issues with the sense. I'm on my 4th replacement and after a couple of months this one has now died. All of the issues have been… Read more
around the Sense just becoming unresponsive. I've then contacted support who have asked me to do certain things, clean the back with alcohol etc etc. I end up returning the sense, as its in warranty (because they keep getting replaced) they send me a new one and a few months later we do it all over again. I'm just about to send my latest replacement back. At least they replace without any issue which is great in one way but I'm sick of having a tracker that isn't reliable, I just want a reliableribust tracker. I'm not sure whether it's just not suitable as I live in a sub tropical climate and I get pretty sweaty when working out. Really disappointed with the sense. I love the features in the fitbit app especially the sleep profile's. Just wish the sense was more robust and I didn't keep having to return the product.
A good idea, without much Customer Support – Fitbit has little company presence in Australia. The Sense does some things quite well, but if things don't work, it's hard work to get support. My own view is to look elsewhere for a health/fitness device. Show details
Do not buy! – This watch is an absolute rip off..even after the fancy magnetic charger fails because the pins do not work..even after it falls of your wrist because of cheap fixings..and even after getting ripped off to have to pay fitbit to access your own data....which is not even accurate..even after that at $400 plus...do not buy! Show details
Great function but very poor battery life – The Fitbit Sense includes great functionality and, according to Fitbit, the battery should last "up to 6 days". When I used most of the functionality, I had to recharge the battery the next day. Even when I limited the functionality, the battery would only last about 2.5 days (at most). I have not idea how "up to 6 days"could be achieved. If you… Read more
buy this watch be prepared to charge every day or at best every two days. Based on the poor battery life I would not recommend this watch and suggest that Fitbit need to provide accurate data so that people do not waste their time and money buying this watch. I returned the watch within the 45 day money back guarantee period.
Garbage. Factory resets every time it gets an update – works find for a few months , then out of nowhere Fitbit release an update, it turns off and does a full factory reset requiring setup all from the start. Life is too short to try and do product quality testing and troubleshooting for Fitbit who clearly cant be bothered doing it themselves Show details
Expext heart rate problems. Other would buy again if they fix heart rate – On second fitbit sense due to none correct heart rate during exercise that also effects calories burned. Some gps cycling rides didn't show up although most have. Battery assume 3 days not 5 and that's still above others such ad samsung and Apple. Looking forward to sense 2. Show details
Inaccurate heart rate reading – Consistently reads low, can walk up long step hills to the point where I can hardly breath and check heart rate and its less then before I started the climb , swapped with my daughter samsung watch and it was over 180bpm , expensive watch that could give me a heart attack if I keep pushing Show details
Find out how Fitbit Sense compares to other Smart Watches / Fitness Trackers
Know better, choose better.
Rubbish product dont go near it – I have been a Fitbit customer for 7 years and always been reasonably satisfied with the tech, I love the online account you can set up and the feedback you can get. The hardware isn't great normally lasting only a couple of years and then it gives up. This particular product made by Fitbit is the worst I have seen from them, I have replaced the… Read more
unit 3 times now and every time I get a new replacement after a couple of months it just stops recharging again. I have stopped taking the product back for a replacement and on my last visit requested and was provided with a refund. I wont use the product anymore. Only my view, but since the business was bought by google the hardware quality has deteriorated significantly as has the online customer support.
Great device that you cannot use any features on! – Upgraded to Fitbit Sense from and Inspire and at first thought it was fantastic. However, I quickly realised that the biggest promoting feature of 6 days battery life is 100% inaccurate. With all the features turned off, I can get 1.5 days battery life at the most. Which then renders the tracker pointless because I can't track anything. This is a very expensive pedometer at best and I feel really let down by Fitbit with this! Show details
Not what you would expect – What attracted me most to the sense was the battery lasting 6 days. After using this watch for almost 2 months now, I have quickly come to realise that it does not last the 6 days as promised and be prepared to charge it every 2/3 days. I have now switched off all functions to have the battery last longer, have made use of all the trouble… Read more
shooting instructions and yet no use. I have nothing but a pretty watch counting steps and telling the time. Better off using the charge 2 if it's a step count you are after. Pretty pointless having a watch that promises all these amazing features but fail to deliver...
Terrible value will never buy Fitbit again – I am so bitterly disappointed in my Sense purchased in September 2020. I’ve had nothing but issues with it. 1. Had to buy a new charger within 4 months. Charger just took forever to fully charge the sense up- hours and hours. Fitbit insisted I just needed to KEEP hard resetting my device for it to work. Wouldn’t accept my complaint that the… Read more
charger was the problem. I was frustrated so bought a new charger and this proved the one I got initially was in fact faulty as the watch suddenly was charged up fully and quickly. 2. By January 2022 the device’s screen would just turn off randomly. Again, a hard reset was the only answer Fitbit provided. This was infuriating. I would still get alerts of a message or phone call by a vibration but nothing would be displayed on the screen. 3. Wouldn’t stay charged after 12 months, got to the point where I needed to recharge it whenever I was home just so it would work when I was out. 4. Heart rate and oxygen levels, sleep features stopped being recorded by April 2022.
It’s basically ONLY an average looking watch now that barely stays charged long enough to be useful and rarely has a working screen. I will never waste my money on anything Fitbit makes again.
Very frustrating watch. Don't buy a sense – The watch has a poor battery life and the gas is very weak compared to other watches and devices and the heart rate monitor is extremely inaccurate making the watch not much more than an expensive stop watch. Show details
Terrible - don't buy – I have had this watch for 7 months and it's been so disappointing. I can barely get a day out of a charge now, the call function has never really worked with my android phone despite troubleshooting with fitbit and the data is dodgy to say the least. Plus the monthly access charge is just salt in the wound. Much better options on the market (my husband's Garmin in fantastic) - don't waste your money on this overpriced junk. Show details
Don't buy – I want a bit more from smart watch and stopped using Fitbit ionic and got the sense, terrible kept dropping out amongst other issues so I took it back and got a refund went back to my ionic and then there was a big recall on all ionics, that was it with fitbit, I bought the Samsung galaxy 4, it was heaven I love it, only flaw is battery life but I just charge it each night with phone, Fitbit has really had it's day Show details
Watch won't charge after 2 months of use. Disappointed – Got the watch over Christmas 2021. - was really looking forward to a 4-5day battery life as the box/instructions said....disappointment after two weeks. had to charge it every two days. - two months on, and it would not charge. cheap product that is overpriced! Thanks to the retailer who we bought it from, for refunding our $$$ in full. Not… Read more
buying a Fitbit again!
Customer support is hard to reach to cancel Premium subscription for a watch that doesn't function.
terrible customer service, returning, won't buy again – terrible customer service, be warned fitbit will refuse to cancel an order (via phone, no options to cancel or update online) even if it was only placed 30 minutes prior, nor will they apply the discount code retrospectively (they make it incredibly hard to enter the code, and unlike other sides they don't let you confirm the order ie. it's very… Read more
easy to mistakenly order as I have). They make you accept the order and return it or buy a second device. And the on-hold music is PURE torture.
Watch works well when it charges – Watch works alright. Had no issues until the charger broke after 9 months. Then i had to wait for another which broke after a month. Not happy considering it’s overpriced. Show details
Limited life span – We bought 1 each of these aprox 18 months ago and whilst my wifes irrites the skin on her arm but she still uses it, mine has completely died. The screen cracked after about 6 months but not enough to effect its use. We have also been through 6 of the charging cords as the brass pins loose their tension. At almost $500 each for the watch and $29 each for the charge cords these watches are not worth purchasing. Show details
Poor value for money – Having previously owned a Fitbit band I had expected this band to perform better, especially as Fitbit is now owned by Google. I bought the Sense for its ability to measure Sp02, & GPS - which is advertised as built-in. In fact, you need to download an app for each of these, and install the Sp02 watch face - which always tells me that Sp02 is not… Read more
installed, despite uninstalling and reinstalling. The Sense also needs location to be on in your phone to be able to receive notifications, but this was not listed in the specs - only Bluetooth. The alarm vibration is not strong, I have slept through it on several occasions and no longer rely on it to wake up. The battery life is very poor, with the watch needing to be charged every couple of days - pretty useless if wanting to use GPS on a multi day walk. Essentially, the Sense does not perform as well as the Mi Band 5 ($60) it was replacing. It is a nice looking watch, but not worth the money.
Expensive & Faulty – I got a Fitbit Sense on Oct 26, in under one month of using it - the charger is already broken (the pin pushes in and you can't charge your Fitbit). You contact Helpdesk and they make you jump through hoops for a $10 cord, service is trash, product is no better than a Versa 2 which is the product I came from. I was so excited to see the functionality of the new watch - HIGHLY DISAPPPOINTED. Time to invest in an Apple Watch. Show details
Extra Information
ProductReview.com.au has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence our content moderation policies in any way, though ProductReview.com.au may earn commissions for products/services purchased via affiliate links.