Fitbit Charge 4 is still a solid fitness tracker
The Fitbit Charge 4 launched in 2020, is a feature-rich fitness, activity, health, and wellness tracker that can log daily steps, activity, sleep, heart rate, and more while also delivering notifications from a connected smartphone.
The first Fitbit tracker to include Spotify Music, it also has built-in GPS for leaving your phone at home while still logging a detailed walking, jogging, hiking, biking, or running route. With a 7-day battery life, there are 20+ goal-based exercises plus 7 GPS-enabled exercises, with SmartTrack that automatically logs certain exercises it senses if you forget to do so manually. Active Zone Minutes, meanwhile, provide real-time alerts as you enter fat burn, cardio, and peak modes and tracks daily activity to help motivate you to achieve daily and weekly goals.
With an SpO2 sensor to measure blood oxygen level, detailed sleep tracking including Sleep Score, stair climbs, reminders to move, female health tracking, and more, the Fitbit Charge 4 has all the features you could want in a premium tracker.
What are the advantages of the Fitbit Charge 4 versus other Fitbit trackers?
While the Charge 4 is an older model and has since been followed up by the Charge 5, there are a few key features the Charge 4 has that others don't. Built-in Spotify, for example, provides access and control for Spotify playlists and songs right from your wrist, which is not available in the Charge 5. The Charge 5 also doesn't log stair climbs.
With an inductive button and scratch-resistant touchscreen that is viewable in natural light, the Charge 4's screen isn't as nice as the Charge 5's brighter, colour AMOLED screen. It also has a plastic versus stainless steel case and buckle versus a soft loop like the Charge 5. But for some, this won't matter. The Charge 5 does add an EDA stress monitor and ECG as well and is slightly thinner.
As a more affordable option, however, the Charge 4 not only has many of the same features as more expensive Fitbit trackers, it even has some you won't find in the step-up model.
Should you buy the Fitbit Charge 4?
If you're on a budget and looking for a good fitness tracker that has all the essentials, from Active Zone Minutes to detailed sleep tracking, heart rate and Sp02 sensors, swim-proof design, built-in GPS, and generous battery life, the Fitbit Charge 4 fits the bill. What's more, as noted, you get some features with this model you don't get with the newer one, like built-in Spotify Music and stair climb tracking. If the additional features found in more expensive models, like ECG, EDA stress monitoring, thinner designs, and brighter screens, aren't dealbreakers, the Fitbit Charge 4 can be had for much cheaper and it still holds up today.
Plus, you can personalize the look with optional bands in a variety of styles, materials, and colours, including the special edition woven band, and download customizable screens to change up the look.