Fitbit has announced three new additions to its lineup of wristband fitness and health tracking products. The first, Charge ($130) is a reinvention of Fitbit’s Force product, providing activity tracking of steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned, and floors climbed. It features an OLED display that displays the time of day and real-time fitness stats, a high-quality, water-resistant textured wristband design with an improved clasp, and up to seven days of battery life.
Charge, which is available now, also supports caller ID from a connected iPhone or other mobile device, with vibrating alerts and display of the caller’s name or number.
Charge HR ($150) expands on the features in Fitbit Charge by adding continuous wrist-based heart rate monitoring using Fitbit’s proprietary PurePulse optical heart rate technology, which uses LED lights to detect blood volume changes on the wrist. The heart-rate monitoring feature provides more accurate reporting of stats such as all-day calorie burn and workout intensity, although the feature drops the battery life down to five days.
Surge ($250) is designed as a ‘Fitness Super Watch,’ providing eight sensors to combine all-day fitness tracking with GPS, heart rate monitoring, and smart watch capabilities.
It includes all of the features of the other two models, adding a built-in GPS for additional tracking of stats such as pace, distance, elevation, and route histories, and is designed to record multi-sport activities such as running, cross-training, and strength workouts. Surge features Caller ID, text message alerts, and mobile music control from a connected iPhone. It has a backlit LCD touch screen and customizable watch faces, and seven days of battery life on a single charge.
