The surge!
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I ordered the Surge on 12/29 from REI. I had chatted with their customer service a few days prior to that, and they told me it would be available on 12/30. So when I ordered it on 12/29, it went on backorder as expected. But then I was hoping it would be shipeed on 12/30. That didn't happen. They still show it as backordered today.
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I too picked up the Surge in the limited-release email so I've had it for nearly a month now. I really like it. A slight downside for me, the sizing for their L and their XL bands has a very narrow crossover point, and I'm right in the middle of it. I took a risk on the L limited-release and it's ok though I wish I could get it just a hair looser, but it's been fine. I suspect if the XL has as many slots in the strap as the L does, that the XL would have been slightly better and I could tighten it up. The band appears to be integral to the watch though, doesn't appear to be any sort of an easy replacement but I'm ok with it.
The band is indeed super-comfortable, and with their previous band problems they sound paranoid in the instructions about keeping it clean and taking it off a lot and all that, but I usually only have it off in the shower and my skin is just fine after ~4 weeks.
It's nice not to have to remember to press a button for sleep-tracking, though I've found it a bit off -- if I'm being insomniac and lying there trying to sleep, apparently I don't toss and turn enough and it says I still slept. Guess that algorithm would be hard to get perfect.
Steps seem pretty accurate, though it seems to miss a few if I'm, say, carrying something carefully in my non-dominant hand.
Of course, for great accuracy, it has a GPS function and it's been fun to hike and come back and have the map in the app.
Now that it tracks certain types of exercises and more accurately, I do wish that, similar to the way apps such as MapMyRun are handled, it could sync the actual exercises to MyFitnessPal and not merely be considered a step tracker when there's an actual exercise logged on the Surge.
An extra bonus is that it tells me caller ID and shows me texts (oddly, there's no way to clear them but to shutdown/restart the tracker; I've confirmed that with Fitbit support). It doesn't seem to catch them all though even if the phone is near (I think it's when there's more than one in quick succession), and sometimes there's a delay between getting them on my phone and having them echoed to the Surge. I'm trying to see the pattern and report it.
The silent alarm is stronger than the one on my One was (and of course I don't have to remember to put the tracker in a sleep band, and those sleep bands' velcro would die after only a few months of use too so I don't miss that), so that's helpful in forcing me awake.
The one other downside is that for me, with the One syncing to my Galaxy Note II and Galaxy Tab 4 and Mac that I'd get around 13 days between recharges. The Surge doesn't go more than three days and now once I've had it totally die on me without getting the "battery low" email. Oh and if you track anything with the GPS the battery life is more like one day. Takes about an hour to recharge fully though. However, I've seen it not charge well once, I charged it at night and I think the charging cable didn't snap in cleanly. Do check and make sure the battery indicator has a little lightning-bolt next to it.0 -
^^The battery life concerns me. Mine is still on backorder and the retailer told me last night that they don't expect to get any in until 1/11/15. 0
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Also, I feel left out... I didn't get the "limited release email" and didn't have any opportunity to get one earlier, though I'm a current Fitbit user and have been interested in an HRM (was about to buy a Polar before I noticed Fitbit was developing one). The first contact I got from Fitbit about the Surge was this morning when they sent me an email saying it is available. I feel forgotten.0
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Just got mine and I'm setting it up now. Hoping it works out!0
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Hello all!!
I received my Surge last month and have loved it so far! It takes some getting used to as it is a pretty sophisticated tracker! The issue I had initially was that the Small size band is a bit snug.... so I'm hoping that when I lose some weight, it'll be just right!!! (Sucks that it doesn't come in a Medium!!)
Also, I paired my Surge to my cell phone to receive notifications-- and this worked beautifully, however I couldn't erase them off of my Surge after I read them! If anyone finds out how to do this, please let me know!!! And feel free to add me as a friend as we can take this journey to fitness together!!
Kim0 -
I also have the Surge. I upgraded from the One. I am likeing it so far. I am waiting the the bike update. I hope that comes soon. I find the band is comfortable for me.0
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I feel so left out... for those of you who got the Surge last month, did you buy directly from Fitbit or from a retailer? How did you find out about it? As a current Fitbit customer, I feel like I should have been sent the special email and given the opportunity to buy it earlier as well. 0
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I just got it on Saturday. My wife was looking to see if it was stock at REI and found it at an REI that is 20 minutes from my house. I called to see if they really had it and the sales guy had to search for it in the back. He was pretty surprised that they had one. I think the Surge is awesome. There are only two issues I have noticed. I get my notifications but it doesn't vibrate, same with the silent alarm. I sent a note to support last night. Also I wore my surge to my spinning class and also wore my polar heart rate monitor so I could compare them. My surge was a little off, I may have had it on too lose. I am going to test it out again. The cool thing is that on my Fitbit account it gave me a graph of my heart rate throughout my workout. I wish that could feed to MyFitnessPal0
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The closest REI to me is 2.5 hours away and I haven't been near there recently. You'll see above that I have one on backorder from REI and the most recent thing they have said is that they will get some on 1/11/15 and will ship then. Since 1/11 is a Sunday, I expect it will probably ship on 1/12. Then to get from their distribution center in Washington to my home in Iowa will take a few days at least. That assumes they actually get some on 1/11.0
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midwesterner85 wrote: »I feel so left out... for those of you who got the Surge last month, did you buy directly from Fitbit or from a retailer? How did you find out about it? As a current Fitbit customer, I feel like I should have been sent the special email and given the opportunity to buy it earlier as well.
Hi Midwestern 85!
I owned a Fitbit Force and because of the recall, they sent me an email with a special offer to be one of the first to get a Surge.
Kim
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midwesterner85 wrote: »I ordered the Surge on 12/29 from REI. I had chatted with their customer service a few days prior to that, and they told me it would be available on 12/30. So when I ordered it on 12/29, it went on backorder as expected. But then I was hoping it would be shipeed on 12/30. That didn't happen. They still show it as backordered today.
I did the same, I then saw brookstone had them in stock so I cancelled my REI order and reordered from brookstone.0 -
I should be getting my new Surge tomorrow.. I ordered mine from Verizon yesterday afternoon. I can't wait!!0
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midwesterner85 wrote: »The closest REI to me is 2.5 hours away and I haven't been near there recently. You'll see above that I have one on backorder from REI and the most recent thing they have said is that they will get some on 1/11/15 and will ship then. Since 1/11 is a Sunday, I expect it will probably ship on 1/12. Then to get from their distribution center in Washington to my home in Iowa will take a few days at least. That assumes they actually get some on 1/11.
Check Target and Walmart.0 -
mmgavitt, can you tell me whether the gps function on the Surge is any good? What benefits having it really offers? Without playing with the device myself I can't tell how it will work exactly, but since the GPS is the only feature I care about that the Surge has and the Charge HR doesn't, I'm wondering if it will be any better to use the Surge GPS rather than just Runkeeper on my phone. It seems like a good feature to have but...I'm not really sure why, exactly. Is it worth the upgrade, do you think? I kind of like the smaller size of the Charge HR.0
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Hi - just got mine about an hour ago - soo excited - ordered it directly from fitbit, got it in about 3 days! Hoping the "dent" in my arm from my bodymedia link band will now go away (sigh, I may miss that awkward tan line ... haha just kidding!)
Hopefully this will be as awesome as I think it will - I'm gonna like not having a monthly fee, that's for sure!0 -
Can I get some feedback from anyone that is on the smaller side. I have concerns about the size of the surge on my short arms.
Anyone know if any stores have them that I can go try one on. I saw Walmart had a display model but it is attached to the display pretty securely. I stopped in to verizon and they didn't have any yet.0 -
midwesterner85 wrote: »The closest REI to me is 2.5 hours away and I haven't been near there recently. You'll see above that I have one on backorder from REI and the most recent thing they have said is that they will get some on 1/11/15 and will ship then. Since 1/11 is a Sunday, I expect it will probably ship on 1/12. Then to get from their distribution center in Washington to my home in Iowa will take a few days at least. That assumes they actually get some on 1/11.
Check Target and Walmart.
Target doesn't have any in stock, Wal-Mart has never heard of it apparently.
I checked with REI today, since they were supposed to get some from Fitbit today. They said their shipment has been pushed back to 1/18.
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midwesterner85 wrote: »midwesterner85 wrote: »The closest REI to me is 2.5 hours away and I haven't been near there recently. You'll see above that I have one on backorder from REI and the most recent thing they have said is that they will get some on 1/11/15 and will ship then. Since 1/11 is a Sunday, I expect it will probably ship on 1/12. Then to get from their distribution center in Washington to my home in Iowa will take a few days at least. That assumes they actually get some on 1/11.
Check Target and Walmart.
Target doesn't have any in stock, Wal-Mart has never heard of it apparently.
I checked with REI today, since they were supposed to get some from Fitbit today. They said their shipment has been pushed back to 1/18.
Weird. The Walmart by me had a big fancy display. Sorry you can't find it. Good luck!
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I got mine on Dec 26 at Target. Having had it for a couple of weeks, I'm generally pleased. If you've read any number of other threads, you know there have been some concerns and negatives about it. For the most part, I've not experienced any issues that I can't live with. This is my first Fitbit product so I don't really have anything to compare it to.
GPS Accuracy: I've read that people have had problems with this. Previously I had a Garmin Forerunner 10, which had incredible accuracy. I could run down a road on the left side and come back on the opposite side and it would track the difference of the width of the road. The Surge's GPS accuracy is not that accurate. It's also necessary to give it some extra time after it indicates it's gotten a signal. However, I'm pleased with the overall function.
Battery Life: No problems for me...have only had to recharge it every five days or so. If I use the GPS the battery life is much shorter and I'll recharge it after use. I am running a half marathon in February and will be interested to see how it does for two to two and a half hours on GPS. The tips say to turn off other functions like the Bluetooth and auto-sync. Given the specs of a five hour battery life with GPS I think it will be fine.
Size: Yes, it's large. It's probably not for some people. I have relatively large forearms and I think it looks fine on me. If you are a petite woman I could see how you might not like it.
HR Accuracy: For running, elliptical, walking, etc. the HR seems accurate. For weight/circuits where you have a lot of bending of the wrist it is definitely not accurate (too low). This is probably my biggest complaint, but not enough of one to cause me to return it. I have not tried wearing it further up my arm as some suggest to fix this issue.0 -
I just received mine on Saturday. So far it's been pretty accurate. My wrists are tiny but the small size is surprisingly comfortable. I forget that I am wearing it for the most part. Have even slept with it without issues. I had a Vivosmart before this and a Force before that which I returned for the recall. The HRM was a big draw for me. Plus Garmin's app interface isn't as intuitive as Fitbit and I wanted to compete against family, who all still have their Fitbits. So I now have a small purple Garmin Vivosmart for sale if anyone is interested haha
Heart rate seems comparable to the Wahoo chest strap I was using with my Vivosmart. Still have to use it a few more times to make sure since everything is still new. I haven't tried the GPS function yet.
As for battery life, I've left the cord and a USB plug in the bathroom so I just let it charge while I shower every morning. No problems there! Loooooving the new app interface with challenges, sleep monitoring (Garmin's sleep monitor is very very basic), and daily HR.
Verdict thus far = LOVE. Please feel free to add me if you want, both here on MFP and Fitbit: Fellow Surge owner here. Please feel free to add me here and at Fitbit: https://www.fitbit.com/user/23MWBB
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Surge owner here. Got it Saturday. I like the idea of charging it while in the shower. But I shower at the gym. I'll figure out a system.0
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I love the Surge. Still haven't figured the whole thing out yet but so far I really like it.0
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I just received my surge and I'm now in the process of returning it. It was incapable of monitoring my heart rate during a spin class. After looking through the FitBit community support site and going through all their FAQs, I found out that's one of the known issues with it. So, if you're like me and you like cycling and you wish to monitor your heart rate, the Surge won't work.
I'm going to get a FitBit One instead, I like seeing how many steps I take and I wish to monitor my sleep quality as well.0 -
I just received my surge and I'm now in the process of returning it. It was incapable of monitoring my heart rate during a spin class. After looking through the FitBit community support site and going through all their FAQs, I found out that's one of the known issues with it. So, if you're like me and you like cycling and you wish to monitor your heart rate, the Surge won't work.
I'm going to get a FitBit One instead, I like seeing how many steps I take and I wish to monitor my sleep quality as well.
What is the issue? The HRM never works? The HRM doesn't work above a certain pulse? Can you expand on that?0 -
It's just been released here in the UK and am glad to of read all these reviews. I've had the Charge for a week and think I'm contemplating upgrading to the Surge. Thankfully I have someone who will take the Charge off of me for face value so not losing any money. Keep them coming as my decision won't be made for another week or so. 0
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Also have a Surge which I bought, and a Charge HR which was a gift -- Fitbit's blog says they're working on multi-device support for the same account so I'll probably hang onto both so I can eventually switch between them when I feel like it.
Overall I prefer the Surge at the moment. The always-on versus button tapping is a plus (and backlighting at night). I was leery of the Surge's size before it arrived (I'm 5'0" with tiny wrists), but while it's noticeable I don't find it too bulky. The Charge HR will be nice to wear when I need something less HI I AM WEARING A WATCH.
Strap's very comfortable. I might be exchanging my small for a large; I have 6.5" wrists which should fit the smaller band but when they say it's small it's small.
I find the heart rate readings tend to lag when you're checking in real-time. But I've compared the Surge's HR to my Garmin chest strap both at rest and while working out, and the final averages and calorie burns match up almost perfectly, so I'm happy. I have only tried walking, running, zumba, and yoga, have not done anything with weightlifting. The GPS isn't rocket science but it's enough for my basic needs.
Text notifications are a bit shady. Some don't come through at all, and I haven't figured out what the issue is.
Very nice not having to tell it to enter sleep mode. The silent alarm though is not strong enough to wake me up, which is a bummer.
Anyway, anyone who'd like another friend please feel free to add me! https://fitbit.com/user/2W5VL60 -
midwesterner85 wrote: »I just received my surge and I'm now in the process of returning it. It was incapable of monitoring my heart rate during a spin class. After looking through the FitBit community support site and going through all their FAQs, I found out that's one of the known issues with it. So, if you're like me and you like cycling and you wish to monitor your heart rate, the Surge won't work.
I'm going to get a FitBit One instead, I like seeing how many steps I take and I wish to monitor my sleep quality as well.
What is the issue? The HRM never works? The HRM doesn't work above a certain pulse? Can you expand on that?
Hope we get a response, but I'm guessing anyway.
In the FAQ's it's said for more accuracy, especially at higher HR's, you need to move the band farther up the forearm.
So picture that and then traditional spinning bike hand placement and body motion - I'm sure it would be falling down all the time and be much looser and probably not even reading HR at the wrist then.0 -
Mine shipped yesterday and it should arrive tomorrow. I'm soo excited, but I'm out of town tomorrow. So I won't actually have it until Sunday early. What I think will happen is I will not go to sleep when I first get home, but will want to open it and get started and such. We shall see...0
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OK, I got my Surge, but I cannot figure out how to manage music with it. I thought that was one of the features. Does anyone know about that?
Also, I just want to say as far as the HRM goes, I manually took my pulse when resting and was only 1 bpm away from what the Surge was saying. I haven't tried that during exercise, but it seems like it is pretty accurate when resting.0
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