Fitbit on Monday announced the third generation of its very popular Charge lineup of fitness trackers – the Charge 3. The Fitbit Charge 3 takes what made the Charge 2 great and makes it even better. It has made the screen larger, improved the notifications you can get on your wrist and much more. There’s plenty of upgrades here on the Charge 3, including water resistance for up to 50 meters, allowing you to track your swimming. Fitbit has also brought Fitbit Pay over to the Charge 3, and unlike with the Versa, it’s available on both the regular and special-edition models of the Charge 3.
For a few years now, Fitbit has made it easy for users to track their activity on their wrist, and that’s continuing here on the Charge 3. You’ll be able to choose from fifteen different exercises, which include things like swimming, running, weight training and much more. What is new here is that you can set these based on your goals. So, instead of just tracking for the 30 minutes of running you’re doing, you can set it to run until you burn 300 calories, or when you’ve run a 5K. You can also see real-time stats and it’ll let you know when you have reached your goal. As already mentioned, swim tracking is here – and it works similarly to the Flex 2, Ionic, and Versa’s functionalities, including support for lap and time tracking.
Fitbit has also included connected GPS instead of built-in GPS. The reason for this, according to the company, is because it saves battery on the Charge 3 to help it get the to seven days of operation on a single charge. But also because the hardcore runners that want GPS on-board are going to get the Ionic instead. Another feature that’s here also debuted on the Versa earlier this year in the form of Female Health Tracking. It will allow you to get a better understanding of your menstrual cycle within the Fitbit app. There’s also advanced sleep tracking on the Fitbit Charge 3, with Sleep Stages and Sleep Insights, so you can see how long you’ve been in deep sleep and REM sleep.
The Fitbit Charge 3 is going up for pre-sale today on Fitbit.com, and will open up for pre-orders with select retailers tomorrow for $149. There is also a special-edition model that will be priced at $169. Fitbit also offers some new bands for the Charge 3, which will range from $29 to $49. These include woven, silicon, and leather accessories.
