Fitbit Sense 2 Smartwatch

An insight into your health

The Sense 2 is Fitbit’s most advanced smartwatch for health tracking, and while it can’t be classified as a medical device, it serves a useful purpose for keeping you honest about your well-being. Packed with a variance of sensors inside, you may come to trust it as something of a potential early warning system.

The Sense 2 packs all this in what is a smaller body than the original Sense smartwatch. That includes an ECG** (electrocardiogram) to measure the heart’s function and rhythm. It goes even further with a photoplethysmography (PPG) algorithm that can check for signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib) while sleeping or lying down. It can’t say whether you might have sleep apnea or not, but it is a way to get a sense (no pun intended) that something may not be right.

It also brings back the EDA sensor to measure electrodermal activity through skin and sweat to monitor stress or skin temperature. You will always find that data on the Sense 2, with more detail available at your fingertips via the Fitbit app.*** It can take readings throughout the day to gauge how you’re handling any stress.

**Not intended for use by people under 22 years old.

*** Select Health Metrics require Fitbit Premium membership

Body Response

The EDA sensor also comes with a new, expanded feature called Body Response that takes the data coming from the sensor’s tracking abilities for a more holistic score. It will combine your heart rate, heart rate variability, and skin temperature to better understand your body’s stress levels. That’s where Fitbit’s Stress Management Score comes in.

The Sense 2 works with the Fitbit app to provide some guidance on steps you can take to amend or improve a stress score that might be a little concerning. In addition, the score brings Fitbit’s sleep tracking technology into the mix, assessing sleep quality as part of the overall score.

Body Response is exclusive to the Sense 2, making it a unique feature within the brand’s product lineup. It’s not possible for this smartwatch to know the differences between what causes you to be excited or stressed, but it could be important for you to know when those spikes occur.

It also does fitness

Fitbit didn’t make the Sense 2 purely as a health tracking device, it also has fitness tracking capabilities. It can pair using Bluetooth with either an iPhone or Android phone and can automatically track a number of exercises on its own. An improved heart rate monitor helps to more accurately track how many calories you burn on top of that. Built-in GPS ensures you always know routes and distance while wearing the watch.

The fitness tracking you would expect from a Fitbit wearable applies here, as you do get a wide range of features to work with. If you like to be active, or you want to be spurred into action, the Sense 2 was designed to deliver results for those scenarios. Smarter sensors should also deliver more accurate tracking during active periods.

When taken together with all the health tracking metrics the watch captures, the Sense 2 is one of the more well-rounded smartwatches currently available. You can also swap out the straps for others that fit into your workout routines, or even your lifestyle.

Newfound connectivity

Fitbit gave the Sense 2 a bit of a new direction with software that integrates some of Google’s apps. It does not run on Google’s Wear OS, so it is still Fitbit’s own platform, only you will gain access to popular apps, like Google Maps and Wallet, when future updates bring them in.

You still have access to a number of other features, like Google Assistant or Alexa for voice assistance and the ability to control smart home devices, among other things. You can talk to callers through it or voice-to-text to reply to messages (Android only)—all while your phone stays in your pocket.

The Fitbit Sense 2 comes with a free 6-month trial for Fitbit Premium to new users. With Premium, you gain access to an array of extra video content, like workout routines, guided programs, and meditation practices.