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I am looking at two fitness trackers: FitBit Charge 2 vs Sony Smarband Talk. But why these two? Because these are my current toys and because I’ve been annoyed with both.

FitBit Charge 2

What I love:

The reason I chose FitBit Charge 2 (when I wanted to upgrade from FitBit Charge HR) was to keep having a heart-rate monitor. I got addicted to seeing how I perform during long hikes and other activities. The sleep tracking is also a gold mine of information.

And since my smartphone is usually somewhere in the bag when I am out of the house, having my fitness band buzz when I get a call is great (and I only miss calls because I screen! There, I said it!)

Plus, I’ve been using FitBit since 2014 and I’m very loyal to a brand. Didn’t even think to change.

The bonus: being able to change the band!

What I hate:

The above-mentioned band! I got my FitBit Charge 2 with a teal band. Which started to bulge right near the watch about three months after I got it. I saw and chose to ignore the situation until hubby asked me about it and then I faced the issue. Contacted FitBit and the reseller in Romania. After some back and forth and because it was under warranty I got a brand-new band from FitBit, free of charge. Awesome customer care! I chose prune. Why not? It had the same issue in the same amount of time. I never took showers with the Fitbit , by the way, although they say you can do that. So, by November last year (2017) both my bands were unusable, I was afraid I’d love the FitBit and looked for replacement bands.

At about the same time, the app for Android was acting up badly. I did everything I thought to do and even troubleshooted with the FitBit support team and it still would sync when it wanted and would never get call notifications. Bummer! (spoiler alert: I still don’t get notifications all the time when I get a call!)

Also, you need to have data, Bluetooth, and location on to get notifications or sync the steps.

>>read my FitBit Charge 2 Review

Why you should buy it:

If you need to track your workouts and go by heart rate and steps, it’s for you! Also, the sleep tracking works well.

Sony Smartband Talk

What I love:

Sony Smartband talk sw30 is a fitness tracker (or at least branded as one) but it’s useful if you want to get every single notification possible. My favorite one is getting the calls notifications while only having the Bluetooth on.

If you like to talk to yourself (sorry, to the band) you can use voice search (yes, that ok google) and you can even answer text messages like that or answer a call. Tested all but didn’t really stick to doing any.

The band is still intact after 4 months! yay

What I hate:

No heart-rate monitor. I thought I won’t miss it but boy, was I wrong. It cannot track my tango at all (cause my left arm is on the partner, so no steps plus there is no dancing exercise mode or any exercise mode for this “fitness tracker”) and thus there’s no real indication of the exercise.

The smart alarm is a bit…too smart or not smart enough. Sometimes the band doesn’t “wake up” to ring while I am already walking in the house. And about that: sleep tracking often doesn’t work at all or tracks part of the sleep.

Oh and the ghost alarms, too. I set an alarm for 7:30 am on a Saturday when I traveled. I deleted the said alarm after it rang on that day and it didn’t show in my list, yet, it kept ringing everything Saturday at 7:30 am. WHY?!

No backlight means you are blind as a bat if you don’t have a source of light to look at the band.

Why you should buy it:

If you need call notifications or notifications for everything, this is the band for you!

The test: FitBit Charge 2 vs Sony Smartband Talk SWR 30

Of course, being the numbers’ person that I am, I decided to set up a test.

• Wear both gadgets for a set amount of time (Fri 23 Mar – Sun 25 Mar) on the same wrist (left)
• When one needs to be charged, the other one gets off the wrist as well (so it won’t track more steps)
• Track both day-to-day activities and exercise (tango!)

The setup was easy. Since I just got my new FitBit bands (via Amazon), I charged the gadget and then placed it on my left wrist, making sure the settings are correct.

Test 1: getting call notifications.

Can you guess which one notified me? Yup, Sony Smarband cause FitBit didn’t bother. Again. Re-set the notifications for both gadgets and the same thing happened. Then, I got a notification that FitBit app has an update and, what do you know, the call notifications worked after I updated it.

Test 2: sleep tracking

Both devices tracked my sleep but there’s been some discrepancy.

Hours of sleep tracked

Thu Mar 22 Sony 9 h 13 min // FitBit 7 h 35 min
Fri Mar 23 Sony 5 h 25 min // FitBit 4h 42 min
Sat Mar 24 Sony 6 h 41 min // FitBit 5h 5 min
Sun Mar 25 Sony 9 h 49 min // FitBit 8h 18 min ( plus 57 min in the evening)

I don’t take naps usually … but FitBit has always tracked when I dozed off in bed reading or watching TV.
And while it feels better to see a longer time slept, I tend to believe FitBit, especially since it tracks sleep phases.

Test 3: silent alarm

I have an alarm set for 8:30 am on FitBit and 8:30 am to 9 am on Sony. They both rang within seconds of each other. If snoozed and meantime you get out of the bed, FitBit doesn’t ring anymore while Sony doesn’t shut up until you make it.

Test 4: Activity tracking

Steps tracked

Fri Mar 23 Sony 6274 // FitBit 7658
Sat Mar 24 Sony 4615 // FitBit 5988
Sun Mar 25 Sony 4899 // FitBit 5895

Test 5: Total calories burned

On Fri morning I set the same weight on both apps. Remember that FitBit has a heart rate monitor.

Fri Mar 23 Sony 1777 // FitBit 2338
Sat Mar 24 Sony 1700 // FitBit 2256
Sun Mar 25 Sony 1643 // FitBit 1928

A simple BMR calculation (on any of the sites) puts me at 1447 cal per day. That’s without any activity whatsoever. So, which tracker shall I believe?

Conclusion

I decided to go back to my FitBit (for as long as this band holds + the other 2 I have in the pack ordered). I love to see my heart-rate being tracked and the sleep details.

In all honesty, now I realize that Sony’s constant buzzing was a disturbance and didn’t help me much. As for call notifications, haven’t missed or needed them lately. That’s what happens when you travel and don’t have cell reception.

Still, I sometimes wear the Sony as a watch (on my right hand) since I do like the always on display to get a quick look at the time.