Customer Ratings & Reviews

The surge has performed very well. I like that it senses sleep well, the heart rate monitor was a key function I sought and it delivers on it. The gps tracking when exercising is great, I like the dashboard and the ability to look back and I also see additional functions (track food, water) that I will use in the future. Small downside to the device is its profile on the wrist, where it sits higher on one side of the device... Small inconvenience from time to time.

This is like the early version of the Mac really cool device but not much else out there with as many features to compare it with it. "Wearables" still in early stages of development. Pros: GPS, HR on wrist, big screen for visibility, touchscreen for ease of use, battery life, smart watch features w/fitness tracking, app really easy to use, looks like a watch not a hospital braclet like most fitness "bands", competitively priced. Cons: big and bulky, wouldn't slide under dress shirt sleeve easily, buggy on exercise tracking had to search user blogs to find fix to common problem, black and white screens while many color versions coming out now from others (like Garmin Forerunner 235, and others), not waterproof, lighted screen coming on at night if accidently touched waking my wife, have to be in exercise tracking to keep heart rate on screen, cant load apps like mocrosoft band. Conclusion: Decided to return it and go with Garmin Forerunner 235, (not a touchscreen, more $, but is waterproof, and app can be buggy) but expect Fitbit, Garmin, and others to continue developing, its just hard to find one that has it all, big issue on all of these is right now, is trade off on features, size, and battery life, but eventually like the Mac they'll get there.

I've had the One, Flex, Force and Surge. Buy an extended warranty. The One was pretty rugged but all others are so so designs. They claim 5 ATM but won't say any more than water resistant. You can get some water on it and sweat is no problem. Wore it once in the shower and display fogged. That one went back. Battery life is lousy. I charge multiple times a week anymore and maybe use GPS for a walk occasionally. Their claims of life are way off in my experience. Second watch had decreasing battery life and then touch screen would not respond to swipe. That one also went back. All 3 I had a minor rash that the companies use advice controls and eventually stops. I think they must put some kind of coating on surface that wears away because all 3 initially gave me a minor rash but went away with time and little no regard to prevention measures. Why 3 stars is that the hr is worth it. I do like GPS capabilities. It does help with fitness, calorie, burn tracking. The software in my opinion is the best on the market. Just pay for the extended warranty with Fitbit fitness trackers. Maybe they will hire better designers and engineers.

This is the second one I bought. I have 2 issues. The screen scratches easily. Highly recommend getting a screen protector. Did this time round. Second issue is with the band. It can rub a rash sometimes even when wearing it loose. I think the built in angles in the band are a mistake. Different widths of arms can be why some people get the rash and others don't. Stair counter is useless. But, I love everything else. Step counter and GPS are great. HR monitor is pretty accurate.

I love this activity tracker! It is comfortable and perfect for what I was looking for. The tools are great and really push you to be more active and fit. GPS is accurate and I found that heart rate is as well. It is a little big, the face/top/device itself is wider than my actual wrist, but I actually don't mind it! The app/website is great too.

So far this has been a fun watch to use, yes I said fun. It has many features that find myself using daily. One for instance is the sleep tracking. I am able to see how well I'm sleeping, how long I sleep for and how many interruptions I have through out the night. This to me is a very cool feature. But probably the most talked about would be the heart rate monitor. It seems to work pretty good as in keeping track instantly of your heart rate but I have only compared it to a couple devices at the gym and was 50/50 on Comparison. But to me it seems more important that it consistently tracks my high and low range so that I can train in bpm I want.. over all I am pleased with the heart rate monitoring specially since you don't have to wear a chest strap... the one main negative I have for the watch is that it doesn't offer cycling/mountain biking training in the exercising apps. But FROM the forums this seems like something they are working on and will probably be available to up load. One last thing gps works great on all activities that I have tried..

What an ordeal this has been. I purchased the small thinking my wrist would fit perfectly. It did not. So I had to send that back and try to upgrade to the large. They didn't have any large left so I tried the ChargeHR. That one didn't seem as awesome as the Surge but it was way more comfortable on my small wrist. I decided I liked the Surge better so I traded back to the large Surge. I waited a few weeks to write my review and I'm glad I did because my Surge stops counting flights. The online community had several other people who also had the same issue. Their fix was to restart the Surge. Okay, so I tried that and it worked perfectly.... for a day before it stopped counting flights again. So very disappointing. This is a very expensive unit to only work periodically. Another issue I had was with the elliptical. It does count my steps for the most part fairly well but not as good as the Fitbit One. I seem to be losing approximately 2000 steps when I use the elliptical. Not cool. I also enjoy that it tells me when I get a text or call on my phone. However, its not as good as the Gear Fit from Samsung was. The Gear Fit would alert me before my phone even lit up. With the Surge it's hit or miss if it even tells me if I get a text/call. I have yet to use/try out the GPS on this because it's been snowing for a month and I'm not trudging through 6 feet of snow. One more small complaint from me is the size. It's so large and because my wrist is smaller it looks even bigger. On my husbands giant wrist it looks alright but for me wearing sweaters and winter coats, it gets pretty uncomfortable. Also, at bedtime because of the size I have to usually turn it around so that the face is on the inside of my wrist. It makes bedtime more comfortable. The battery lasts about 2-3 days or so which doesn't seem all that terribly. It is a tiny bit difficult charging it and I dislike the fact that an extra charger is another $20. It's a special charger that doesn't fit any other Fitbit. Super disappointing. Okay, so all those negatives out of the way. I like how I can slide my finger across the screen to switch the screens. I also love the clock that's on the screen and the fact you have several different faces to choose from. I like how you can rearrange the fitness section to what you use the most. Although, run is always the top one (kinda lame. I'm not a runner. I do walk a lot though.) The heart rate seems fairly accurate. (Except for that one time I was trying to get my 2000 steps back from my elliptical workout by shaking my arm like crazy. The rest of me was perfectly still but my arm was shaking like nuts and it said my heart rate was 135 and climbing. I think it was going more from movement than actual heart rate but possibly when you're moving a lot it may just estimate heart rate? I can't really say.) I really enjoy this "superwatch" I just wish it would work better. I don't want to have to restart not to mention all the flights I'm missing out on not paying attention. I know it might seem kind of petty but for the price of the watch it's kind of annoying. I'm debating on whether or not to return it and just go back to my One. I could end up saving myself $250. *****************updated******************** I talked to customer service several times about the issues I was having with my flight count and it was getting very frustrating. Luckily, they were going to send in a replacement. It's about 8-10 weeks on backorder but I have a backup. Which is lucky because I know not a lot of people do.

I purchased this FitBit after owning 3 other previously so I was very familiar with the software and pairing side of things. The software is very easy to use and has compatibility with other Apps such as MyFitnessPal which some people may already be using. As far as the tracking aspect goes it is phenomenal. It is a 9 Axis point to take care of all of the tracking. To put it in perspective the new Basis Peak watch uses 3 Axis points. It has a variety of settings to make the watch understand who you are - Height, weight, dominate hand etc. *The GPS will eat the battery so if you are someone who runs in the morning and turns on the GPS, you will kill about 20% of the battery in an hour running. Just take the watch off and charge it while you shower after the workout and you should be ok to get that 20% back. Just make sure to turn it off! The Heart rate monitor works fairly well for the technology that is inside of it. When you work out make sure that it is tighter on your wrist to get a more accurate reading. It did not slip and slide on my wrist all though it was sweaty from working out. The smart features inside of the watch aren't the best. That being said this is not meant to be a smart watch just have smart phone compatibility. It will show you the text messages on the watch and you can play music from your phone and use controls on the watch to skip and play/pause assuming you paired the watch to your phone via bluetooth. (The watch has MiMo which allows you to still connect phone to a headset or car as well as the watch.) Reason not to get this watch: 1. Fitness Enthusiast - Do not buy this watch, their are other watches out there that are designed for you, if you purchase this watch you will be disappointed, it is not for you. You will find better devices to take care of the HR monitor (by using a chest strap rather than wrist) that will usually include a watch. This watch is for an average person who wants to track their fitness to improve it. 2. Smart Watch Users- If you are looking for a watch that uses has smart features move past this one. It has some features inside of it but as much as I love FitBit, they are sub par compared to other watches. Save yourself a return and get an actual Smart Watch that has tracking features inside of it. Most smart watches have a 3 Axis tracking tech inside that will give you your general fitness level as well. Just minus the features of sleep tracking, food tracking, water consumption etc.

This watch is great for fitness. Tracks heart rate, sleep patterns, steps, exercises and run or walks with GPS. No longer need an extra app to track my runs. Not for people looking for a smart watch. This is strictly for people interested in fitness. The screen is similar to a gameboy screen which keeps it simple and straightforward, i like it.

I've had my Surge (non-GPS) for over a month and it has lived up to everything I expected. It has accurate tracking of steps and floors taken, good and accurate heart rate BPM (best when not exercising, adequate when exercising), and pairs well with my Android phone. Pros: Comfortable, simple interface, good app experience, syncs well, great battery life, easier to read than the fitbit Charge. Cons: Whereas most messages are easily readable, notification text is one size, small. But then I typically where reading glasses and with them on, the text is fine. No way to send standard reply after receiving a notification (as in receiving a text or a call. Would be nice to send something like "busy now, will call back". Has Timer but no stopwatch Net is, a good value for the money. Has more features than other trackers but not as many as some of the higher end smartwatches, but then, you don't have to charge it every night. If you are looking for a good tracker and a wearable HR monitor that you don't have to charge all the time, the Surge is a great value.

The fitbit surge is amazing. It tracks everything. It tracks your heart rate all the time and yet the battery still lasts for days on end. There are a almost every kind of exercise mode you can set the surge to while you are doing an activity. Another awesome feature is the GPS. The GPS tracks everywhere you go and you can review it after. The downside to the GPS though is it does use the battery very quickly so make sure you have a fully charged battery before you turn it on. It also tracks every step you take. This is the most accurate step counter I have had and I have tried about 3 other fitness bands including the Nike fuelband. The screen on the surge makes it really easy to check and see how you are doing. Also if you connect your surge to your phone through bluetooth you can actually turn on the Text and Phone Call notification which then sends your text messages to your surge so you can view your texts right from your wrist. Also it shows you who is calling so you can decide if you want to pull your phone out of your pocket or not. LOVE this product and would totally recommend everyone use it.

Love it!! It is exactly what I needed. The stats are awesome. I am learning so much about my daily activity, my heart rate and sleeping routine. I love it. It even alerts me of text messages and Voice calls. I can read the text messages in full on the watch. The voice show the caller id if a contact in my iPhone, otherwise, just the number. I no longer miss calls or texts because I don't hear or feel it in my pocket. My wrist now vibrates when I have a text or call. AWESOME!! There are however a few drawbacks I should mention. But not enough to be a big concern. First the screen is sometimes hard to read depending on the light. However a good side effect is no one else can read it but you. It is not waterproof. I ordered the large. I am trying to lose weight, however, I have it on the last notch and it is still tight. I'm only 320 lbs, at 5'10", so I don't see that I have big wrists. Due to this it has caused some rashing on the wrist due to being too tight. Just be aware of this. I feel it runs small. The last notch means you can use the clip to put the end of the strap into. So sometimes, when you rub the watch against something or yourself be aware that the watch will be become unlatched and fall off. Last the battery doesn't last 7 days. I get about 4 days out of a full charge. It's hard to find 2 hours I can take it off to charge it. Also be aware it has an altimeter in it to show when you've taken the stairs. So I took some friends to the top of the arch, used the pod, not walked and it showed I walked 30 floors. LOL In Summary, I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything. I have several friends using Fitbit and love being able to motivate each other. The stats are amazing. It provides so much detail. If you are serious about getting healthy or watching your activity, this is worth the cost.

After reading all the reviews on the surge, I determined that this was the one for me. I was super excited to buy and wear it but did find that it was pretty bulky on my arm. It seemed to be pretty accurate for heart rate and for using the gps while I walked but I never really fell in love with it like I'd hoped. I also found that after a couple days of wearing it on and off, my arm started to itch and I had a couple red bumps. After looking it up, several people had reported being allergic to the material in the rubber band. I'm not usually allergic to anything but unfortunately this did not agree with me. I have friends that absolutely love it but it was just not for me. Ended up going for the Apple watch instead.

I purchased the Surge in February and love it!! I went with the Surge so I could have the watch function. The HR tracker is pretty accurate. I'm always within a few beats of the gym equipment and the same as a chest HR monitor. Battery life is about 5 days before I have to charge. With it being winter I haven't used the GPS too much. GPS function is very accurate. You can also change the clock face. Another great function is the ability to receive text/call notifications. I like not having to pull my phone out of my pocket or walk to where it maybe sitting to see text. It is a little bulkey but you get use to it after a little bit. Wish you could swap out the band to a different color.

I purchased the fit bit as a Christmas gift for my 70 yo father. He Loves his techie gadgets but- to be kind- is not necessarily as healthy as he should be & overweight. I've tried to get him to take his health more seriously but he hasn't been cooperative until he received this. After receiving his Fitbit, he's been walking daily and is pushing himself a bit farther each day. He can't stop thanking me for the Fitbit. He even told me that this "wasn't something he'd Ever purchase for himself" but is "truly grateful" for receiving it and that has truly "changed his life". In fact he called me earlier today & was very excited to tell me that Fitbit emailed him a progress report. He proudly relayed his weekly progress stats to me then said he feels better than he has in a long time which is motivating him to keep exercising and take charge of his health. He's even excited to be more accountable for what he eats and calories he consumes. It really touches my heart to see his child-like enthusiasm over his Fitbit- that I gave to him. It blows my mind that the Fitbit has been able to get him to regard his health more seriously when not even a catheterization or cardiologist have been able to.

I looked at MANY watches with heart rate monitors. In addition to Best Buy, I looked at Sports Authority, True Runner, and REI. The salesperson at Best Buy had the best knowledge and experience. The HR function seems to be accurate as compared to both a pulse/ox meter and the hand grip monitors on a treadmill and elliptical. The GPS is also accurate. It is stylish. I hate wearing a watch and haven't done so since I bought a cell phone all those years ago. This is relatively large but it is tolerable. The app is easy to use and gives much info. I have not tried the sleep monitoring function. I have a few criticisms. One is the backlighting. The lighting on the face is dim in some light conditions. It could be brighter. There are 3 settings - on, off, auto. Off is off. On is only on briefly when you touch the screen. I can't figure out what Auto does. I run at 5 in the morning which means low light most of the year. The problem with the On function is that if I am running and touch the screen so that I can see it the secondary info that is on the screen tends to shift. If I am monitoring heart rate, it will shift to calories or average pace. It would be better if I could "lock in" the secondary function. Or better still easily toggle the backlight to stay on or off allowing me to then switch between heart rate and pace, which are the only two things that I care about while running. Another complaint is the watch does not have a date function. It is a big screen. No reason at all that you couldn't have the day and date on the default time screen. A final criticism. There is an alarm function. However, you have to go to your computer or phone to set the alarm. It then syncs to the watch. Really? Overall though, the watch and app work well and Fitbit continues to make improvements with new updates. For instance, while I have not received it, the latest version that is pushing out, has a timer/stopwatch feature. That seems pretty basic and good of them to update to include it.

The watch overall is nice but when you sweat, the band will start to stink and your skin may get irritated. The colaries burned option seems to not be very accurate. I can hit 2200 calories burned simply sitting at my desk all day??? The step counter, stair counter and heart rate monitor seem to be pretty accurate. Since this was my main concern, I gave the product four stars.

I love the text message notifications. Feels great. Clock Face options are good. Sleep tracker is good. Heart rate is good but not completely accurate. I use the timer and alarm constantly... Way quicker then using my phone. Syncing to my phone is easy. Great exercise tracking options and i love the swipe screen. Improvements in the battery life are needed and the screen could be more vivd and brighter. A more accurate hear Rate Reading would be excellent. Hopefully Fit bit will make some of these improvements in the next one. Overall... Happy.

I tried the Polar M40 exercise watch first, and the Polar stuff was overpriced and under engineered. So I bought the Fitbit Surge two months ago. The Fitbit is MUCH MUCH better. The Polar recharge connector broke off in the Polar's watch after just a couple of days. The Fitbit has a much better connector that will NOT break off. The Polar interface has many problems in exchanging the data with common apps. The Fitbit has a MUCH better interface to do so. The Polar GPS took 10-15 minutes to find a satelite under some weather conditions, that the Fitbit takes like 30 seconds at most. The Polar wrist strap is "stiff" and not truly easily wrapped around when trying to charge, the Fitbit strap is greatly more flexible and yielding. The Polar requires a chest strap, the Fitbit does NOT require/have a chest strap. (However this gives the Polar a slightly more accurate heartrate reading than the Fitbit.) I really recommend the Fitbit over any Polar product.

I have had my Surge for over a year now, so I'm finally going to do a small review on it. Overall, there is really nothing that I can legitimately complain about. Battery lasts, I can go on runs, workout with it, ride bikes, weights, track my sleeping patterns, steps, you name it. From my experiences it seems to be pretty accurate. The band is showing some wear, but that's to be expected, and nothing worth knocking off a star for. Overall, I'm extremely pleased with this product. I would recommend it to anyone!