A User’s Comparison of the Fitbit Charge HR and Jawbone UpFitnessTrackers

I had the Jawbone Up before. It was my first fitness band. Despite being one of the earlier models of fitness bands in the market and the lack of some of the features found in the current crop of fitness trackers, I had a great time using it. Unfortunately it broke down short of a year of careful usage. Now my wife gifted me with a Fitbit Charge HR and my expectations and excitement, to be honest, were quickly dampened as soon as I started to have it as a fixture on my wrist.

Below is my personal comparison of the two products. I will not delve into all the features of each fitness tracker but will discuss only those that matter for me in my day-to-day usage of each device.

Jawbone Up

My main issues with the Jawbone Up were its coiled design and the lack of Bluetooth connectivity to my phone. As to the coiled design, I had this lingering concern that I might overstretch it every time I fasten it on my wrist considering that there was full electronics circuitry inside the band. Its website said it could be flexed so many times but this failed to shake off the thought that there might come a time when I would actually damage the band myself. This concern was exacerbated by the lack of Bluetooth connectivity of the device. Everytime I would like to check the readings from the device, I would have to take it off, plug it into my iPhone, take the reading, and then put it on again; thus flexing it twice everytime. Another weakness of the device was its inability to automatically track sleep. You have to press a button at one end of the band to tell it that you were going to sleep. Again, it was a design flaw because the manufacturer said you could wear the band in the shower, but you would get to think of a time the button would get stuck without you knowing it, and then allow water or moisture to seep through the device and damage the electronics inside. Even more important was that it was really cumbersome to have to press a button whenever I would start to sleep. Really cumbersome!

The pros of the device were its deceiving appearance as a fitness tracker and better display of data on its iOS app. The former was a big deal because, as an ordinary guy, wearing it would not make you look like a fitness junkie, especially if you do not have the fit and buffed look to go with it.  Another strong point of the Jawbone Up was its Idle Alert feature which could give you a mild buzz after a certain period of inactivity. You got to decide and set the interval and time frame so it was flexible enough to make it fit your lifestyle. Personally, I consider this a great feature of the device. And from the point of view, again, of an ordinary guy, those mild buzzes were very strong motivators to get you moving and steadily make the effort to pull apart from a normal life of sedentariness and inactivity.

Fitbit Charge HR

The strongest points of the Charge HR are its ability to track hours of sleep automatically and its Bluetooth connectivity. I believe the sleep tracking is one the best and most accurate among fitness trackers. Connecting the device to my iPhone via Bluetooth whenever I would like to check its readings is a complete relief over the plug-and-read of the Jawbone Up.

Personally, the biggest letdown of the Fitbit Charge HR is its lack of feature akin to Idle Alert of Jawbone Up. Often,  I would find my day ending and I still haven’t done enough to meet my Steps goal. As an ordinary guy, there is a struggle to up the ante of my everyday pace where I would normally make only between 2000+ to 4000+ steps per day as against my goal of 10,000 steps.

Another big disappointment for me is Fitbit’s decision not to sync it's data with iOS Health. Now my only choice is to purchase an workaround app to be able sync my Charge HR data with the Health app. What a letdown!  I recently tried an iOS app Sleepio which tracks my sleeping hours. There is the setup option to sync my sleep hours from my health tracker instead of having to manually log it in. Jawbone Up is available for syncing but Fitbit is not. I have to quit using the app because I find it absurd having to log everyday my sleep hours when it can be synced but my fitness band manufacturer is just hardheaded and would not do it. It appears Fitbit is being notorious in denying not only Apple but other manufacturers its data. I hope it is not their strategy to win battles against other manufacturers but lose the war to keep customers.

Conclusion

I prefer the Jawbone so if I will have my way, I would rather have the current Jawbone Up 3 over the Fitbit Charge HR. Jawbone has caught up already on the ability to track sleep automatically and on Bluetooth connectivity.

I also miss badly the Idle Alert of Jawbone Up now that I'm using a Fitbit Charge HR. I have proven myself the feature's ability to change a lifestyle when even my doctor could tell herself that I was doing a lot of walking/running when she was doing a checkup on me. My good cholesterol (HDL) level was raised and my bad cholesterol (LDL) has lowered because of my faster paced lifestyle. Those were great times for me because I was steadily motivated during the day and I was consistently achieving my goal of 10,000 steps. 

Although this one is a matter personal taste, but I find the Jawbone Up band beautifully designed and not obvious as a fitness tracker. On the other hand, the Fitbit Charge HR’s simplistic design and boxy head is unappealing and run-of-the-mill, and calls attention that it is a fitness tracker. I can live without the display feature of the Charge HR. I am sure there must be a better way of designing a display if ever it has to be present on a device.

Lastly, Jawbone Up's ability to sync with iOS Health is an essential come-on. Fitbit’s decision to refuse syncing its trackers with the Health app, whatever tactical gain it would give to the company itself, is a real disappointment and loss to the users (unless Fitbit will become equal to Apple and come up with the ability to make beautiful phones also.)