When comparing Fitbit Flex vs Fitbit Charge 2, the Slant community recommends Fitbit Charge 2 for most people. In the question“What are the best fitness trackers that pair with iPhones?” Fitbit Charge 2 is ranked 1st while Fitbit Flex is ranked 12th. The most important reason people chose Fitbit Charge 2 is:
It gives you a lot of stats on your activities thanks to the GPS, altimeter, and heart rate monitor. It can track your sleep, show you alerts directly on the display, and offers a variety of helpful features such as reminders to move and a breathing function that helps you relax.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Replaceable wristband with lots of style options available
The fitness tracker itself is a separate part from the wristband that can be taken out and put in a different band. There is 10 wristband colors to choose from in the official store, and custom bands available from third-party vendors.
Pro Comprehensive reports of your daily activities
The fitness tracker offers stats such as distance traveled, steps taken, calories burned, weight changes, calories consumed from foods and drinks, restless and awake states of sleep, etc.
Pro Integrates with over 40 apps so you can get the info that's most important to you
The fitness tracker can be integrated with a variety of apps that together can offer more in-depth and complete overview of your health and fitness patterns.
Pro Visually displays your daily progress using LED lights
There are 5 LED lights that, after double-tapping the wristband, display progress towards a goal. Each light indicates 20% progress towards the goal and the tracker allows choosing between steps, calories or distance to display this way.
Pro Tracks weight goals
Fitbit Flex lets users create a meal plan and log their progress from the dashboard menu.
Pro 5-7 day battery
Fitbit Flex will last up to a week on a single charge.
Pro Real-time Bluetooth syncing
Flex constantly shares data over Bluetooth, meaning that the device doesn't need to be taken off in order for the data to sync to an iOS or Android device.
Pro Social layer can increase motivation
Information regarding goals and progress can be shared with friends, and users can even challenge each other with goals.
Pro Quick food and drink logging
Because of Fitbit's database of foods' nutritional information, food and drink logging is easy.
Pro Comfortable
The lightweight rubber band is very comfortable to wear.
Pro Gives you a lot of features for the price
It gives you a lot of stats on your activities thanks to the GPS, altimeter, and heart rate monitor. It can track your sleep, show you alerts directly on the display, and offers a variety of helpful features such as reminders to move and a breathing function that helps you relax.
Pro Reminds you to move throughout the day
The fitness tracker will give you hourly reminders to get up and move for a few minutes, so you're not spending your whole day hunched over a desk.
Pro Great choice of replacement bands
Including regular vinyl bands, leather, metal, luxury, etc.
Pro The large display is easy to read
The Charge 2 has a very clear black and white display that's easy to read in both light and dark settings. It gives you a lot of activity stats directly on the display, which keeps you from needing to frequently check the smartphone app.
Pro Only needs to be charged every 4-5 days
Compared to other fitness trackers with large display screens, and Charge 2 has an impressive battery life. It can go 4-5 days without needing to be recharged, so there is minimal interruption to your tracking.
Pro Great ecosystem
Lots of users, nice apps (Win10 UWP app as well), etc.
Cons
Con Oversensitive pedometer overestimates your step count
The fitness tracker's step counter often counts movement unrelated to walking or running as steps. It ends up reporting more movement than has actually happened.
Con Hard to get the tapping right to active LED display
The double tap to activate the LED display lights must be the appropriate pressure and timing in order for it to work correctly. This can be frustrating to some users.
Con Weak vibration causes alerts to easily go missed
The Charge 2 has a very weak vibration that is easy to miss, especially when you're active. As a result, it's easy to miss silent alarms or reminders to get up and move.
Con No smart alarm
Although the feature has been requested by the community since 2014.
Con No actionable notifications / call and text only
You can only see call and text notifications, no Facebook, Twitter, email, etc. And you can only see them, you cannot reply, delete, dismiss, etc.
Con App is not intuitive and terrible on Android
It is clunky and annoying, but works part time. There's a report on another Android that it just doesn't work. No alerts for 250 steps per hour. Not accurate. Clunky non intuitive functionality.
Con No water resistance
It is not water proof or even water-resistant. The watch will still function if you get a little splash of water on it, but you definitely can’t take it if you go swimming,
Con Lower quality screen that scratches easily
Rather than gorilla glass which is commonly used in the more expensive trackers, the Charge 2 fitness tracker uses a thick plastic display screen. It makes the device appear lower quality and scratches very easily.
Con Lavender band turns blue after a short period of wear
The specific color of band can start to turn blue after only the first day of wear. It very quickly looks stained and dirty.