For fitness tracking, the Fitbits are unbeatable. But with the Sense, we took it a step further by stuffing it with sensors that make it capable of measuring five vital signs. And it even rubs shoulders with Apple and Samsung as a smartwatch, without however equaling them.

We love

No one wants to configure their watch for a long time to measure their physical activity, Fitbit has understood this for a long time . With the brand new Sense, it's always the same recipe: just wear it and it detects on its own the sport you are doing, whether you are sleeping or walking, and measures the calories burned.

And to make us understand that we clearly do not do enough sport in this era of teleworking and COVID-19. Surprising how often a Fitbit has pushed us in recent weeks to take a short walk to reach 10,000 steps during the day or to get up at least once every hour.

It only takes 15 minutes – a time that can be programmed – to detect which of the 20 physical activities listed, from martial arts to tennis, hiking and swimming, you practice. We obviously didn't try them all, but the Sense recognized jogging and cycling perfectly, and displayed the time per kilometer in the first case, and the speed in the second.

But there is more. This watch devil can now measure a series of vital signs that indicate your overall health. We thus have blood oxygenation, skin temperature, respiratory rate during sleep, electrical resistance, variability and resting heart rate. All this is compiled in the Health Indicators tab and helps detect anomalies.

By compiling this data with a small questionnaire, the Sense will also draw up a portrait of your stress and will offer you, if you are too nervous, sessions of calm and meditation.

It is obviously advisable to keep it on while sleeping for better calibration, and it will reward you by showing you if you had a restless or too short night. She'll rate your night's sleep on a scale of 100, obviously giving very high importance to the duration rather than the regularity of sleep. We thus obtained scores from 77 (passable) to 91 (excellent), despite a fairly restless night in the latter case.

Now let's talk about its smartwatch side, which represents undeniable progress for Fitbit in this area. There are a few useful apps, such as timers, appointment display, weather and music control on Spotify. We can also pay at the checkout, in theory, but our banking institution is not part of the short list of Fitbit partners.

Probably the most useful feature is showing all phone notifications, text messages, incoming phone calls, visitor at the door if you have a smart doorbell on the watch.

You can call Alexa or the Google Assistant to ask them all the questions that come to mind or control home automation devices.

Battery life is about five days, and it only takes 40 minutes to go from 0% to 100%. You can keep the screen on at all times, but the autonomy will then drop to two days.

We like it less

We repeat ourselves, but we never managed to get into the habit of sleeping with a watch, and the Sense is even more disturbing than a standard bracelet because it is bulkier.

After two weeks of testing, we are never sure if the watch has been placed upside down. A very small button indicates its left side, but it is so discreet that you have to feel to find it.

Well, with its small store of applications and dials, this device can do a few things, but has nothing comparable to what an Apple Watch or a Galaxy Watch can do. For example, it is impossible to take a call directly on the watch and navigation in the sub-menus is quite laborious.

Finally, at $429, the Sense is expensive.

Shall we buy?

If you are looking for a smartwatch, skip your turn, the Fitbit Sense does not match the big stars that dominate this market. It's not his specialty.

However, as a fitness tracker and for general health tracking, the Sense is a champion. The seasoned athlete will probably want a more specialized device, but for ordinary mortals, it fulfills its role perfectly. A good buy in this niche, no doubt.

SenseManufacturer: FitbitPrice: $429Rating: 4 out of 5