Fitbit Charge 3: Pros and Cons

I’ve had my Fitbit Charge 3 for over a month now and have lost multiple Workweek Hustles to Rebelliouskitchen already 😆. About time I wrote a review about this tracker!

The Fitbit Charge 3 lets you track your activities, sleep, monthly cycle for the women, and much more. My main reason for purchasing a Fitbit was to be able to track my sleep, as I suspected I was awake during nighttime a lot more than I should (which turned out to be true). Something I feel I should mention here is that wearing a Fitbit has really motivated me to move more. It’s great to track your workouts, but it’s also fun to follow the progress of the people you follow and challenge your family, friends and colleagues. Read on if you’re thinking of purchasing a Fitbit too!

Look and comfort
I chose the Blue Grey / Rose-Gold Aluminum look because it looked good online. I must admit that when it first arrived I was a tiny bit disappointed in the color of the strap – online it looks more blue-ish grey (like the description would suggest) while in real life it looks more purple, but I’ve gotten used to it and now I actually like it. It goes really well with the rose-gold Fitbit. Good to know: there are more straps available in the Fitbit shop, and when I do a quick Google search there are many suppliers that offer nice-looking straps. I haven’t ordered a new one yet, but I still might.

The first week of wearing my Fitbit my skin was slightly irritated by the strap although I do think I was wearing it a bit too tight. And yesterday I was under a lot of stress because of work and suddenly my eczema turned up (hey ho!) especially on the skin where my strap usually sits. But usually I can wear my tracker without any complications, it’s quite comfortable. Just make sure to clean your Fitbit regularly – instructions on how to can be found here. Another great thing is that the Fitbit Charge 3 is waterproof, which means it can track your swimming workout, but also you don’t have to take it off before you shower!

Tracking
I was sooo excited when I could finally get insights into my sleeping pattern! As mentioned above, I had a feeling I was more awake than I should be. Me and my partner figured out this could have something to do with our bed not being big enough, so we arranged for a new mattress and a bed-extension (yes, apparently that’s a thing!). I still see about 80 minutes awake-time on my Fitbit, but my sleep score has vastly improved upon swapping our tiny mattress for a bigger one.

Then there’s the fitness tracking, which works perfectly fine. I do find that sometimes just after charging my Fitbit, it will have some problems with syncing. I seem to be able to fix this by shutting the app and opening it again. I’ve set my Fitbit to track running, walking, biking, runs on a treadmill, yoga and just simply “workout” for when I’m doing my abs challenge. I still need to figure out if I can add “dancing” to it (no, not only for when I’m clubbing!).

I must admit I’m slightly obsessed with the heart tracker. It seems to be quite accurate (yes, I’ve tested this multiple times by timing my bpm with a stopwatch). Your Fitbit Charge 3 will also be able to show you your Cardio Fitness Level and Score. I was quite surprised (not to say shocked) that mine started out to be between “Poor” and “fair”. But I’ve read online that your tracker needs to stabilise and find a pattern during the first few days, after which it has more data and show you a more accurate score. Now it lingers between “Fair” and “Average”, which still doesn’t seem great but I’m not worrying too much about it. After all, worrying might raise my heart rate! 😉

The last thing I’ll discuss here is tracking food. I love how almost anything I buy in the supermarket can be scanned and added to my food tracker. It is very much up to date, even with new products. It’s good to get an insight into how many calories I eat versus how many I burn. It seems to be quite accurate.

A quick overview: 

Pros

• Nice look
• Comfortable
• Tracks almost anything
• Accurate
• Waterproof
• Motivating

Cons

• Sometimes has syncing trouble
• Can irritate skin

Have I persuaded you to purchase a Fitbit? Let me know in the comments!

This article contains affiliate links. For more info, please visit my disclaimer.