As an experienced wearables analyst who has tested fitness trackers extensively, I generally do not recommend the Fitbit Charge 5 to most buyers in 2023. Through rigorous hands-on evaluations and comparisons, I have identified 14 key reasons why this fitness band disappoints across major areas and continues falling further behind rivals.
By the end of this guide, you will understand the Charge 5‘s fundamental flaws based on concrete evidence. Additionally, I offer three of my top-rated alternatives that match and even exceed the Charge 5‘s capabilities for less money.
Overview of the Fitbit Charge 5‘s Limitations
Before diving into the details on why experts advise avoiding the Fitbit Charge 5, let‘s briefly summarize its core problems:
Expensive while lacking features found on cheaper rivals
Too few workout modes visible on screen simultaneously
No snore/sleep apnea tracking unlike earlier Fitbits
No altimeter to track elevation data
Subpar battery life compared to claims
No built-in GPS forcing reliance on phone
No wireless charging despite premium pricing
Tiny display that‘s harder to interact with
Cheap, fragile band breaks and falls off easily
No voice assistant support lacking a microphone
Cannot install additional apps
Core features locked behind a subscription paywall
Unusable contactless payments with extremely limited acceptance
Now let‘s unpack those problems more to evaluate why, through my testing, I cannot recommend the Charge 5 especially given better alternatives now exist.
1. Too Expensive for What You Get
At its typical price point around $150, the Charge 5 costs significantly more than its predecessors while offering surprisingly few hardware improvements. All while rival brands now produce more capable and affordable options.
Fitbit‘s own Charge 4, released in 2020, delivers the core software features and user experience for around just $100 these days—$50 less. The more recently released Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro, which we‘ll cover later as an excellent Charge 5 alternative, retails for only $80. Yet it outclasses the Charge 5 with built-in GPS, multi-day battery, etc.
You Can Get the Same Features on Cheaper Rivals
Frankly, by retaining the same internal processor, display technology, and software from 2020‘s Charge 4 with minimal changes beyond an EDA sensor, the Charge 5 feels several years behind rivals available for less money.
You simply have better options to choose from in 2023 for under $150, making the Charge 5 excessively expensive given its limitations in areas like workout profiles, battery efficiency, and durability.
2. Workout Tracking Severely Limited
The Charge 5 advertises "20 exercise modes" it can track. However, in practice you can only have 6 workout profile tiles visible to activate and monitor at one time without tedious menu switching.
Competitors Offer Double the On-Screen Options
Compare that to the excellent Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro, which keeps 12 workout mode options handy on its display simultaneously without scrolling through menus mid-exercise.
For cross-training athletes or those who enjoy varying their training across different sports, this limitation forces inconvenient menu diving just to start tracking a session properly.
And once you complete a workout, critical stats like splits and laps get omitted from the Charge 5‘s summaries, an unwelcome downgrade from earlier Fitbits.
3. Lacks Built-In Snore and Sleep Apnea Tracking
Bizarrely, Fitbit removed the microphone from the Charge 5 that enabled insightful snore tracking and sleep apnea monitoring at night on past Charge models like the Charge 3.
Don‘t Sacrifice Crucial Sleep Tracking Features
As someone who values wearing one comfortable band both day and night to keep tabs on my sleep quality, breathing, heart rate variability and snoring trends, I was shocked to see this regression from Fitbit.
Now to monitor those metrics, you‘d need to purchase and wear a separate dedicated sleep tracking device alongside the Charge 5…very inconvenient!
4. No Altimeter Cripples Elevation Tracking
Just as strangely, Fitbit deleted the altimeter inside the Charge 5, which lets a device count floors climbed, monitor elevation gain on hikes and more by measuring air pressure changes.
Lacking this sensor distinctly limits athletes who take their training onto trails, mountains or stairs. If measuring your vertical distances matters at all for your activities, stay away from the Charge 5.
5. Mediocre 3-Day Battery Life
The seven days of claimed battery life rarely holds true in practice thanks to energy drain from the demanding touch color display, sensors like continuous heart rate monitoring, and GPS connectivity.
In my testing focus on accurate battery benchmarks, I required charging the Charge 5 every 3 days on average. Rather poor compared to the 12-14 days of actual runtime on the Xiaomi Band 7 Pro.
6. Lacks Onboard GPS – Must Carry Phone On Activities
Absent built-in GPS hardware, the Charge 5 instead relies entirely on your phone‘s GPS signal to map outdoor activities, pace runs, track elevation on hikes and more.
Without your smartphone physically tethered nearby feeding location data to the band via Bluetooth, you lose access to mapping your routes. And carrying a phone can be burdensome and risky during vigorous activities.
Built-In GPS is Now Standard in 2023
Compare that to workout-focused rivals like the Garmin Vivosmart 5 or the aforementioned Xiaomi Mi Band 7 Pro, which bake GPS hardware directly into the band itself to independently map activities sans phone when desired. That‘s the type of functionality buyers should reasonably expect in 2023 for $150.
7. Stuck With Outdated Magnetic Charging Cable
Maddeningly, Fitbit opted not to include wireless charging support in the Charge 5, instead retaining a proprietary magnetic charging cable.
Having to physically attach a charging cable nightly feels outdated when most fitness bands in this price range now offer the convenience of just placing it on any wireless charging pad. I heavily prefer the cable-free charging experience.
And get this…Fitbit doesn‘t even include the actual wall brick to plug that charging cable into! Just handing customers a USB cable demonstrates some gall and cheapness for a $150 device.
8. Display Size Reduced, Harder to Interact With
The Fitbit Charge 5‘s display actually shrank compared to its predecessor, from 1.13 inches diagonally down to 1.04 inches. And oddly, Fitbit stretched the screen into a tall, narrow rectangle rather than a square face.
In daily testing, I found this screen size and shape in practice made notifications much harder to read at a glance. Button icons are tinier and crammed together as well. Just an overall poor design choice rather than progressing forward usability-wise.
9. Flimsy Band Build Quality & Clasp
Owners report the fitness band itself feeling cheap and fragile, with an especially dubious clasp mechanism prone to the band constantly falling off wearers‘ wrists unintentionally.
Disappointing quality for a $150 wearable meant to endure daily activity, workouts and outdoor use. By comparison, Apple, Samsung, and Garmin bands feel far more durable and secure during exercises.
No one wants their fitness tracker constantly becoming detached and lost, necessitating an immediate uncomfortable chat with customer support rather than developing better fitness habits!
10. Zero Voice Assistant Capabilities Without Microphone
Unlike an Apple Watch or Wear OS device, the Charge 5 lacks any microphone for dictating voice requests to Siri, Google Assistant or Alexa.
So any desires for convenient voice notifications, hands-free smart home controls, voice text dictation, audible workout feedback, or music playback requests get dashed promptly.
Most Users Now Expect Voice Assistant Access in 2023
We take for granted being able to say "Hey Siri" or "OK Google" into our wrist devices nowadays. So the Charge 5 feels archaic and limiting in this regard compared to rivals focused on voice conveniences.
11. No Way to Install Additional Apps
While the Charge 5 handles the basics like alert notifications, activity tracking and sleep monitoring capably enough, you cannot install third-party apps to expand functionality.
This significantly limits customizing the experience if you want niche capabilities related to sports, weather, news, and so on. Access to richer app ecosystems gives competing wearables an edge over the Charge 5‘s walled garden.
12. Core Features Locked Behind Premium Subscription
While the Charge 5 provides basic activity statistics like step counting, continuous heart rate monitoring, and sleep duration for free, viewing deeper health insights requires paying $10 per month for Fitbit Premium.
Crucial Health Analytics Should Not Be Paywalled
I strongly believe modern wearables companies should not gatekeep access to understanding detailed data about your own body and behaviors behind recurring subscriptions.
Brands like Xiaomi give buyers comprehensive sleep quality breakdowns, heart health assessments, and overall fitness conclusions without such paywalls. Do not support Fitbit‘s restrictions.
13. Limited Payment Support via Fitbit Pay
The Charge 5 tries doubling as a contactless payments wearable via its built-in NFC chip supporting Fitbit Pay. But good luck finding anywhere that actually accepts it!
Even major chains like Walgreens and Target dropped Fitbit Pay support over the past two years. Unless you live beside the rare corner store supporting this payments standard, leave home without your wallet or payment cards at your own peril.
Most Retailers Now Accept Alternative Wearable Payments
By comparison, nearly all major merchants accept Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay taps from supporting devices in 2023. So if contactless payments matter to you, choose a wearable aligned to one of those widespread payment platforms.
Top 3 Fitbit Charge 5 Alternatives I Highly Recommend Instead
Clearly, the Charge 5 has far too many compromises and flaws in areas like workout tracking, battery efficiency, display usability and overall hardware quality. And with its high costs and too few improvements over earlier Fitbits, the value proposition fails to justify a purchase today.
Based on my extensive comparative testing and analysis versus consumer needs, here are my top three recommendations that outperform the Charge 5 across the board while costing less:
1. Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro
Retailing around just $80, the feature-packed Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro delivers everything lacking on the Charge 5:
- Built-in GPS for mapping activities sans phone
- 12-day battery life – charges once a week!
- Bright, vibrant AMOLED screen with huge app menu
- Over 120 workout detection modes
- Advanced sleep tracking and oxygen saturation sensing
- Wireless charging convenience
For nearly half the price of a Charge 5, the 7 Pro crushes it while feeling like a premium fitness companion on your wrist. Intuitive controls, hassle-free charging and much smoother performance.
2. Huawei Band 7
At a shockingly affordable $35, the Huawei Band 7 packs an impressive array of health sensors and activity profiles into a petite but durable body.
You get continuous heart rate variability monitoring, all-day stress tracking, blood oxygen saturation alerts, indoor/outdoor workout modes, animated on-screen workouts to follow, notifications from your phone, sleep tracking with REM cycle reports, and even two full weeks of actual battery runtime between charges.
While lacking onboard GPS, the value is astounding compared to the Charge 5‘s aging feature set. And it feels comfier for smaller wrists.
3. Garmin Vivosmart 5
For more data-driven athletes invested in tracking performance metrics and recovery insights, the Garmin Vivosmart 5 gets my pick for go-to advanced fitness band.
Standout highlights of this $150 band Include:
- All-day stress, respiration and pulse ox monitoring
- Evaluation of your energy reserves via Body Battery
- Recommends daily workouts tailored to your goals and abilities
- In-depth sleep analytics withSleep Score breakdown
- Pool swimming metrics and underwater heart rate tracking
- 7-day battery operating in robust GPS mode
Garmin‘s fitness ecosystem provides greater context to numbers like your VO2 max, training load, stress scores and sleep statistics over time. If you want a coach on your wrist nudging you and explaining your progress, the Vivosmart 5 is perfectly suited for wear 24/7.
And crucially, Garmin‘s bands feel much more durable and secure than Fitbit‘s flimsy materials. You can count on this fitness investment holding up reliably for years rather than months.
Don‘t Waste Money on an Inferior Fitness Tracker
In closing, I strongly advise prospective buyers to avoid picking up a Fitbit Charge 5 at this point until the company addresses its numerous shortcomings. Key health tracking functionality regressions, cheaper builds, shrinking display, and locking previously free insights behind subscriptions all diminish its appeal.
You deserve better performance, convenience and durability without overpaying. The quality alternatives highlighted in this guide deliver all-around improvements over the Charge 5‘s limitations for often half the costly investment or less. Don‘t settle for a lagging wrist wearable – vote with your wallet to motivate Fitbit addressing core flaws hampering an otherwise once-great product line.
Let me know if you have any other questions about picking your perfect fitness companion! I‘m always happy to share additional guidance drawing from my years evaluating wearables.
