The current Sense 2 watch has several qualities that give it a more than decent place in the smartwatch market. It has a sleek design, is comfortable and lightweight, has a larger screen, an excellent five-day battery life, and skin sensors for a variety of biometric settings.
This $400 Sense 2 watch sits at the higher end of the Fitbit range and is still a lot more affordable than the high-end equivalents from Apple or Garmin. And it’s possible to find it at a better price by doing a little searching. In early November 2022, the price dropped to CA$260.
To give you a taste, the Sense 2 uses stress-tracking sensors with a new Body Response sensor that tracks Continuous Electrodermal Activity (cEDA) for all-day stress management right from your wrist.
Compared to the first generation launched in 2020, this Sense 2 is thinner and lighter.
Along with the cDEA feature, it uses metrics like heart rate, heart rate variability, and skin and body temperature to help you better understand when your body is showing potential signs of stress.
When you’re stressed, the watch prompts you to think about how you’re feeling and offers suggestions to help you relax. Its weekly summaries highlight trends like your busiest days and your strongest moods.
Five or two days of autonomy
The big improvement is undoubtedly the battery life. If the display is set to appear with just a flick of the wrist or a touch of the screen, the autonomy extends to almost five days. And if you find it too long, you can set the display to permanent. In this case, the autonomy drops to two days – even more than that of an Apple Watch with Display on Demand.
It only takes two hours to charge from 0 to 100%, and a 12-minute charge gives a day of autonomy.
Fitbit Sense 2 or Google Pixel Watch
Since the two watches were born under the same roof at Alphabet-Google, it’s interesting to compare them. In summary, Google’s Pixel Watch offers a number of lifestyle-related features not available on their Fitbit OS-powered counterparts, such as: B. Support for phone calls, access to the Google Play Store to download third-party apps, and the Google Assistant for smart home voice commands. In turn, the same Pixel Watch lacks several health features offered on proper Fitbit watches, including SpO2 tracking, high or low heart rate notifications, and guided breathing sessions.
By integrating with Google’s mobile app ecosystem, Fitbit was able to integrate Google Pay for contactless payments without a phone or credit card. On the other hand, the in-house function of Fitbit Pay is only possible with a few financial institutions in the country.
Put simply, the Sense 2 is like other Fitbit health and fitness watches, save for a few smart features.
Beautiful display day and night
Inside and outside, reading the information on the screen is no problem. There are three levels of brightness and an always-on display option. The touchscreen is fast and responds well to touch.
Another improvement: the first-gen watch’s haptic button has been replaced with a physical button on the left side of the new model.
Navigating the menus is easy. Just swipe down (quick settings), up (notifications), right (activities), and left (metrics, step count, heart rate, etc.).
The useful standby mode (quick settings) is accessible by tapping on the crescent moon. You can schedule the clock to automatically turn on or off sleep mode to avoid being disturbed.
Some features, such as the electrocardiogram (ECG), are not enabled by default. Open the EKG function on the watch, which opens the Fitbit app on your iPhone or Android device. Once the alerts are over, we get a 30-second reading of the heart’s electrical activity.
All in all, without being dated, the design of the Sense 2 isn’t really going to turn heads like the newer and thinner Apple Watch Series 8. It needs to add a strap that’s more stylish than the original silicone model, which is very comfortable.
Speaking of which, replacing the strap is easy, just press one of the latches to release it.
Another detail worth mentioning: even if it doesn’t really matter to 95% of users, this watch is water-resistant to 50 meters, a depth that far exceeds many watches on the market, all categories combined . .
Fitbit app
Pairing the Sense 2 with the Fitbit app on my iPhone 14 or my TCL device on Android is easy as long as no other watch is around. The Fitbit app can only manage one watch.
It has always synced my data with no issues. To get started, you’ll need to download the Fitbit app to your phone and sign in or create an account. If you already have the app, make sure it’s up to date (version 3.65 or higher.
Next, tap your profile picture > Set up device > Sense 2 > Set up and the app will guide you through the process. During initial setup, you have the option to turn on a variety of features on the watch, but you can change these settings at any time in the Fitbit app.
The $400 ($399.95) watch comes in three colors:
- Shadow Gray/Graphite Aluminum
- Moon White/Platinum Aluminum
- Fog Blue/Pale Gold Aluminum