Fibit just has just announced that it’s making available two new fitness trackers with heart rate monitoring capabilities. The Fitbit Charge HR and Fitbit Surge, like other heart rate wrist worn trackers, use green LEDs on the rear to detect the pulse as blood flows through the veins and capillaries. You must have solid contact with the skin for a few seconds for this to work, so we’d be skeptical about it working consistently while jogging. On the other hand you can always sample the heart rate during quick stops for a breather.
The Charge HR is a smaller, more basic version that costs $150, while the Surge is being promoted as “the ultimate fitness super watch” with GPS capabilities, ability to control music playing on your smartphone while showing you any text messages you may receive, and a battery life of up to seven days.
Here’s a promo video for the Fitbit Surge:
Product pages: Charge HR and Surge…
Fitbit blog: Charge HR and Surge available now, plus new Charge colors!