The Fitbit Charge 5 just dropped back down to its all-time-low price of $100. That’s the same price we saw for Black Friday and a tidy $50 discount off its usual $150. We named the Charge 5 the best overall tracker in our 2023 guide and gave it an 82 in our review when the wearable debuted. Right now only the graphite case and black band combo is discounted to $100. Both the white and gold version and the blue band with the platinum case are 13 percent off, bringing those down to $130 each.
The GPS features on the Charge 5 are particularly impressive, giving you fast and accurate data on your runs and hikes. Since it’s not a smartwatch, it’s got a slimmer design and the battery lasts far longer, granting two and half days on a single charge in our tests — and that’s with the always-on display enabled and daily GPS usage. The bright full-color AMOLED touchscreen display is a real improvement over the Charge 4, and while the Charge 5 isn’t a smartwatch, you’ll still get text and other notifications from your phone, plus contactless payment with Fitbit pay.
Where the Charge 5 really excels is as a health and fitness tracker. It will monitor your activity, sleep, stress levels and heart rate, giving you more in-depth data about all of it in the Fitbit companion app. The optional Fitbit Premium isn’t necessarily required for the Charge 5, but it is the only way to access certain metrics like your daily “readiness score” as well as guided workouts and meditations. The subscription is currently $10 per month and a six month membership is included with your purchase of the tracker, so you can get a feel for whether the service is for you or not.
If you’re looking to spend even less on a tracker, it’s worth mentioning the Fitbit Inspire 3, which is our current favorite budget tracker, is on sale for $80. That’s not the lowest price we’ve seen, but it’s close. Probably the biggest feature missing from the Inspire 3 is built-in GPS, so you’ll need to bring your phone along for GPS connectivity. But the tracker will still give you plenty of data about your daily activities and nightly sleep.
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