Are you better off buying the Amazon Halo View or Fitbit Charge 5?
- GPS, HRM, NFC
- Active Zone Minutes
- ECG & EDA sensors
- Improved design
- A week of battery life
- Expensive price tag
- Need Fitbit Premium for some features
If you have a "go big or go home" mentality regarding your fitness tracking experience, you'll appreciate what the Fitbit Charge 5 brings to the table. It might as well be a tiny but mighty smartwatch with all its perks. You get onboard GPS, advanced health sensors, NFC payments, and more.
Bits and piecesAmazon Halo View
- Activity/sleep tracking
- Heart rate and SpO2 monitoring
- Compact, lightweight design
- Affordable price tag
- A week of battery life
- No GPS options
- Bland design
- Need Halo membership for most perks
Some users prefer simplicity when buying a fitness tracker, and that's where the Amazon Halo View delivers. You'll have the basics such as activity/sleep tracking and heart-rate monitoring, but the Halo membership introduces other perks, like Body Composition and Movement Health.
Amazon Halo View vs. Fitbit Charge 5: How do they compare?Deciding between two fitness trackers such as the Amazon Halo View and Fitbit Charge 5 may be more challenging. This is especially true when the two devices have more differences than similarities. There are a few important questions to ask yourself when making this decision.
Are you willing to pay extra for a tracker overflowing with features and leaving nothing to the imagination? If so, you might be a fan of the Fitbit Charge 5. If you're content with the basics and don't mind missing out on some premium perks, you might prefer the cheaper Amazon Halo View. They might be worlds apart, but these are two of the best fitness trackers in their separate categories.
Get unique details with the Amazon Halo View
The Halo View is Amazon's latest jab at finding its place in the fitness tracker world. It's certainly a significant upgrade from the original Amazon Halo band, but it's still relatively niche in what it sets out to accomplish. The Halo View comes with one year of Halo membership for free. After the first year ends, the subscription will cost $3.99 monthly.
As far as the physical design goes, the new tracker is equipped with a 0.95-inch AMOLED touchscreen. It's a big change from the predecessor, which had no display. The Halo View comes with a replaceable TPU band that you can swap out for other options. There are some decent Amazon Halo View bands to consider. The no-frills design is compact and lightweight, but it's not particularly stylish. If fitness is your main focus, this may not bother you much.
| Amazon Halo View | Fitbit Charge 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 0.95-inch AMOLED | 0.86-inch AMOLED |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, heart rate, SpO2, skin temperature | 3-axis accelerometer, altimeter, optical heart rate sensor, SpO2, ECG, EDA, ambient light sensor |
| Battery life | 7 days | 7 days |
| Water-resistance | 5ATM | 5ATM |
| Onboard GPS | ||
| Automatic exercise recognition | ||
| Stress monitoring | ||
| NFC Payments |
The new design is a step in the right direction, but you can't do much with the tracker itself. You'll be able to view your sleep score from the previous night, check out your step count, start an activity, take a heart rate or blood oxygen reading, and read your notifications. The main attraction perks will need to be accessed in the Halo app on your phone. Even with a bright AMOLED display, the Halo View battery can last for an entire week on a single charge.
Users can access the tracker's most touted features in the app, including Movement health, Body Composition, and Tone Analysis. On the original Halo band, the Tone Analysis feature worked with a microphone built into the tracker. Amazon listened to customer feedback about privacy concerns, which is why the Halo View does not have a microphone. Instead, users will have to activate this feature in the app on their phones to proceed.
Tone Analysis is designed to analyze energy and positivity levels in your voice.
Tone Analysis is designed to analyze energy and positivity levels in your voice. According to Amazon, Tone Analysis aims to help users understand how they may sound to others during conversations. I'm not sure how many users will rely on this feature, mainly since privacy concerns still exist. The company says that when users record real-time Tone sessions on their phone, the temporary recordings are only stored during processing. After that, they'll be automatically deleted.
Another unique feature within the Halo membership is Movement Health. This perk uses computer vision (CV) and machine learning (ML) to analyze your mobility, stability, and posture. The app uses your phone's camera to capture your movement. First, you'll watch a few demonstrations of specific activities; then, you'll perform them while the camera records you. The assessment will offer a personalized program that includes recommended corrective exercises to help improve your movement.
More and more wearables recognize the importance of body composition to overall health. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 does this by taking measurements with a health sensor, but the Amazon Halo View takes a different approach. The Body Composition feature uses your phone's camera to record a 3D scan of your body, which measures your total body fat percentage.
When the scan is complete, the results will let you know where you fall on a scale for people in your age group that ranges from low to healthy to high. Ambitious athletes with strict goals may benefit from this feature, but others who casually track their health and fitness might find it a distraction. The scans are also pretty intrusive, so users may also be concerned about privacy with this feature. Amazon states that the scan images are processed in the cloud and automatically deleted. So they'll only exist in your Halo app unless you opt for cloud backup.
A future feature that users may appreciate is Halo Nutrition. Amazon expects to launch this perk soon, which will be available in the Halo app. Users will be able to access personalized tools for exploring healthy recipes. You can plan a full week of meals. If needed, you'll be able to prepare these meals around certain dietary restrictions, such as vegan, vegetarian, keto, Mediterranean, and paleo.
Track your fitness and more with the Fitbit Charge 5
The Fitbit Charge 5 is one of the company's most robust trackers yet. If you've dabbled with any previous models, such as the Charge 4, you'll immediately notice many improvements. The refined design is more comfortable and more stylish. In addition, it has a sharp AMOLED touchscreen instead of the previous grayscale OLED displays, a welcome upgrade.
Rather than being housed in a cheap plastic case, the Fitbit Charge 5 comes in a sleek and durable stainless steel case. It's compatible with interchangeable bands, so users can change them as needed. There are plenty of Fitbit Charge 5 bands to pick from. However, keep in mind that the previous Charge 4 bands aren't compatible with the new device.
One of the main differences between this tracker and its competitor is that the Fitbit Charge 5 has GPS. At the very least, most trackers offer connected GPS that uses your phone to track your route during an activity. Fitbit has gone a step further and provided on-device GPS, so you won't have to rely on your phone. Unfortunately, there are no GPS options on the Amazon Halo View, so you cannot track your distance during workouts.
While Fitbit Premium is a worthwhile investment for some users, it's not required to use all of the features on the Fitbit Charge 5. However, one new perk relies on the subscription, the Daily Readiness Score. This feature helps you understand when is the best time to work out and when you should focus on rest and recovery.
The Fitbit Daily Readiness Score can be viewed in the Fitbit mobile app every morning. You'll receive a personalized score drawn from your activity, heart rate variability (HRV), and sleep history. Fortunately, you'll get a free Fitbit Premium trial when purchasing the Charge 5. So you'll be able to try out this feature and see if you want to continue the subscription after the trial ends.
Two of the newest features are the ECG and EDA sensors.
The Fitbit Charge 5 offers some advanced health sensors. Two of the newest features are the ECG and EDA sensors. The advanced EDA (electrodermal activity) and ECG (electrocardiogram) sensors were introduced last year on the Fitbit Sense smartwatch.
These features are geared toward health enthusiasts who want to monitor key aspects of their well-being. For example, the EDA sensor allows you to record your temperature and stress levels accurately. Additionally, the ECG sensor is designed to detect irregular heartbeats that may be associated with an underlying condition such as atrial fibrillation (AFib).
Aside from all these advanced perks, the Fitbit Charge 5 offers essentials that users rely on for daily use. Some examples include heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, automatic exercise recognition, stress monitoring, female health-tracking, blood oxygen monitoring, etc.
Amazon Halo View vs. Fitbit Charge 5: Which should you buy?
These fitness trackers offer unique experiences that provide valuable insight into your health and overall well-being. With that said, these are two very different experiences. Considering the Fitbit Charge 5 costs twice as much as the Amazon Halo View, you might think twice if budget is a concern. It's true that the Halo View isn't nearly as robust as the Charge 5, but it still offers a personalized experience that might be a better fit for some users. Of course, you'll need a Halo membership to enjoy the best features, including Movement Health, Body Composition, and Tone Analysis.
If you don't mind paying a bit more to get every feature under the sun, the Fitbit Charge 5 is a great choice. You can enjoy most of the tracker's features without being tied to a subscription, including GPS, heart-rate monitoring, sleep tracking, ECG and EDA readings, stress tracking, blood oxygen monitoring, Active Zone Minutes, and more. A Fitbit Premium subscription will unlock more features, but it's not required to enjoy the key features on the Fitbit Charge 5. You also get a whole week of battery life and a more stylish design.
The whole packageFitbit Charge 5
No stone unturned
$120 at Amazon$120 at Best Buy$120 at Walmart
You'll get the whole package when you buy the Fitbit Charge 5, which may justify the high price tag. What's more, you don't need a subscription to use all the best features. You get GPS, heart-rate monitoring, activity/sleep tracking, a week of battery life, and Fitbit Pay.
Bits and piecesAmazon Halo View
A different set of data
Perhaps you're seeking a fitness tracker that takes a slightly different approach. The Amazon Halo View is an affordable wearable that focuses on other details. It measures your movement health, analyzes your tone in conversations, and records your body composition.