Fitbit Flex Quick Review

Fitbit Flex Quick Review

Brief:  Cheap end Fitbit.

Price:  RRP Seems to be £80 though The Rainforest UK has them for £60

Specifications:  Erm battery life 5 days ish and it connects via Bluetooth Low Energy

Accessories:  It comes with two bands.  One slightly smaller than the other, ostensibly a girl and boy ones.  You also get the little charging cradle for it.  Thankfully though eBay can furnish you with a vast array of alternate bands.  I fancied grey so a couple quid later I had one.  Some though, can be highly ornate girly jewellery type things.

Build Quality:  It does seem to be nicely put together.  The band was nice, rubbery, soft to the touch yet sturdy.  It is quite nice but at the price it bloody ought to be.

Comfort/Fit:  I had no bother with it.  Granted I always had it loose but if you do wear it tight. Some people have found that their skin being snugly grasped causes a sweat and dead skin build up that can cause some skin irritation.  That’s the nature of its being a non-absorbent material.  It’s not something you can really say is the fault of the Flex.

Aesthetics:  Meh.  It looks alright, though I quite like my grey band it’s still a fairly sedate, bland band that lives on your wrist.  Maybe if you are very girly you’ll be wowed by some of the things on eBay, you can make it look pretty much however you like.

UI:  It has 5 little white LED dots.  The web interface though is rather slick and attractive.

Functionality:  Err it is a pedometer.  That’s basically it.  It does also kinda monitor your sleep if you tell it you’re sleeping but really, its pointless.  It is a pedometer and so long as you expect nothing more you’ll be fine.

Battery:  Excellent.  It is a bit disconcerting that there is no way to see the battery status at all but I got over that.  The thing claims 5 days and that seems entirely reasonably to me.  You get a little email to tell you when the battery is low, you plug it in with its little cradle and it charges fast.  Little battery so charges like lightning compared to a proper smartwatch.

Connectivity:  Err, Bluetooth.  I never had any issues with it not connecting or anything but given it does so little I’m not sure I’d have really noticed if it had.

Value:  Nope, don’t buy one.  If you’re willing to slap the money down for this I’d say spend the extra to get the Charge with its clock, so you can actually use the thing as a watch.  The Flex you can’t and it just seems so expensive for its one and only function, that of being a pedometer.

Pro’s:  Stupidly simple.  Good battery life.  Worked flawlessly.

Con’s:  Its cost.  Limited functionality.