Fitbit has overhauled its entire wearable line-up, announcing the Fitbit Charge, Fitbit Charge HR fitness bands and the Fitbit Surge, the company's first "super watch."
Essential reading: Essential Fitbit Charge tips and tricks
All three devices have been rumoured to be coming for over a month, after a series of leaks spoiled the surprise. However, the company has a vastly improved line up, packing GPS and heart rate monitoring into its devices, that seem aimed more at runners and sports people than its previous offerings.
Fitbit Charge and Fitbit Charge HR
An update to the Fitbit Flex, the Fitbit Charge is a fitness tracking band on steroids, packed with more sensors to record an array of activities.
Essential reading: Best fitness trackers
The Fitbit Charge (£100) keeps track of steps, calories and sleep as you might expect, but also can display caller ID and smartphone notifications on the OLED screen, as well as real-time progress of your goals. It's an impressive array of features, especially given the price point, but that’s nothing compared to the Fitbit Charge HR, which brings heart rate sensing to the company’s line up for the first time.
The Fitbit Charge HR (£120) also features continuous heart rate tracking using an optical sensor, which should offer better calorie burn data and make it capable of recording gym workouts – something lacking from the majority of current wearables.
Wareable verdict: Fitbit Charge review
Fibit also boasts that the Charge HR is capable of around 5 days of battery life, which if it bears out under our review, would be a huge achievement, given the strain of optical heart rate sensing.
The Fitbit Charge will be released on 17 November, but the Charge HR won't be around until "early 2015."
Fitbit Surge
The Fitbit Surge (£200) is being touted as a “fitness super watch” with GPS and continuous heart rate monitoring both included.
There are a total of eight sensors built into the watch, and it’s designed for multiple sports, rather than just running and cycling like the majority of its competitors.
The watch features a backlit LCD touchscreen display, and Fitbit reckons the battery will last seven days on a single charge – something we can’t wait to test out.
The Fitbit Surge is set to be released in early 2015.
What it means
Fitbit’s new line up shows that it’s serious about fitness tech, and the Charge HR and Surge will certainly appeal to serious amateur athletes, training for marathons and 10K events.
Continuous heart rate tech has been expensive, uncomfortable to wear and often inaccurate so far, so if Fitbit can get this technology right, it can become a serious competitor to the likes of Garmin and Polar – and the company's product line is certainly growing in diversity:
“Our mission has always been to deliver innovation through exceptional, wearable design in a way that empowers consumers with greater knowledge of their overall health,” said James Park, CEO and Co-Founder of Fitbit.
“That being said, we understand that everyone’s approach to fitness is different. With the addition of these new products, Fitbit offers the widest variety of trackers - at affordable prices across all mobile platforms - ensuring that everyone can find the right fit for their lifestyle and their goals.”
Check out reviews and guides on the latest fitness tech at our fitness hub.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.