Fitbit announces new Charge, Charge HR and Surge

This post was originally published on the Fitbit press site. It has been adapted from its original format.

Fitbit, the market leader in the fast-growing Connected Health and Fitness category, today unveiled three new activity and sleep-tracking products: Fitbit Charge, Fitbit Charge HR and Fitbit Surge. Continuing its mission to inspire people to lead healthier, more active lives, Fitbit extends its award-winning line with innovative devices to help a range of consumers reach their health and fitness goals:

• Fitbit Charge - a high-performance wristband that delivers all-day activity tracking, real-time fitness stats and Caller ID right on the wrist for people who want to step up their everyday activities to improve their overall health
• Fitbit Charge HR - an advanced tracker that delivers continuous, automatic wrist-based heart rate, Caller ID and all-day activity tracking for active users: regular exercisers looking to push their fitness further
• Fitbit Surge - a sleek Fitness Super Watch that offers the best of GPS, continuous wrist-based heart rate, all-day fitness tracking and smartwatch functionality in one device, for people dedicated to reaching their peak performance

"Our mission has always been to deliver innovation through exceptional, wearable design in a way that empowers consumers with greater knowledge of their overall health," said James Park, CEO and Co-Founder of Fitbit. "That being said, we understand that everyone's approach to fitness is different. With the addition of these new products, Fitbit offers the widest variety of trackers-at affordable prices across all mobile platforms-ensuring that everyone can find the right fit for their lifestyle and their goals."

Energize Every Day with Fitbit Charge

Fitbit Charge is ideal for people looking to track everyday activity to take their fitness to the next level. This high-performance wristband displays all the most important stats right on the wrist. Fitbit Charge is Fitbit Force reinvented - with better features, improved design and more all-day wearability.

Fitbit Charge features include:

• Tracking of steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned and floors climbed
• Exercise tracking to easily record workouts, see real-time exercise stats and have summaries appear automatically on the Fitbit dashboard
• Bright, OLED display showing time of day and real-time stats
• New automatic sleep detection monitors sleep quality using motion analysis to understand sleep and wake times; also features a silent, vibrating alarm
• New Caller ID helps users stay connected to incoming calls; wristband vibrates and shows caller's name or number when a smartphone is nearby
• High-quality, water-resistant, comfortable new textured wristband design with an improved clasp
• Up to 7 days of battery life so you can track an entire week with just one charge

Every Beat Counts with Fitbit Charge HR

Fitbit Charge HR is designed for more active users who are dedicated to staying fit and want a full picture of their health - in and out of the gym. Fitbit Charge HR features Fitbit's proprietary PurePulse optical heart rate technology, which provides continuous and automatic wrist-based heart rate tracking, without an uncomfortable chest strap. PurePulse uses safe LED lights to detect blood volume changes when your heart beats, right on your wrist and applies Fitbit's finely tuned algorithms to deliver heart rate tracking 24/7. PurePulse helps users:

• Get accurate calorie burn for more activities- during exercise and everyday activities like walking, running, biking, lifting weights, spinning, skiing, yoga, Pilates and more
• Maximize training with fat burning, cardio and peak heart rate zones
• Maintain workout intensity by reaching your target heart rate
• Optimize health through heart rate trends and resting heart rate, an important measure of overall heart health and cardiovascular fitness

Fitbit Charge HR includes all the great benefits of Fitbit Charge, plus:

• Continuous heart rate right on the wrist 24/7 to get more accurate all-day calorie burn, reach target workout intensity and maximize training
• All-day insights into overall heart health including resting heart rate and heart rate trends, alongside stats like steps, distance, floors climbed, calories and active minutes
• Up to 5 days of battery life - Charge HR is specially designed with battery efficient technology, so you can spend more time tracking and less time charging

"Whether your goal is to become more active, improve your heart health or lose weight, tracking everyday activity and heart rate is essential," said Harley Pasternak, best-selling fitness and nutrition author, personal trainer and Fitbit brand ambassador. "Heart rate tracking is the most accurate way to measure calorie burn, helping you maximize workouts while still properly fueling your body. With Fitbit's new heart rate feature, users have access to more information than ever before, making it even easier to access the information needed to track, reach and beat goals."

Train Smarter, Go Farther with Fitbit Surge

Fitbit Surge is Fitbit's most advanced tracker to date, a sleek 'Fitness Super Watch,' designed for peak performance. Featuring 8-sensor technology that combines the power of all-day fitness tracking with GPS, heart rate tracking and smartwatch functionality, Fitbit Surge is ideal for users committed to training, dedicated to health and consistently looking to maximize progress.

Fitbit Surge includes all the breakthrough features of Fitbit Charge and Fitbit Charge HR, plus:

• Built-in GPS delivers stats like pace, distance, elevation, split times, route history and workout summaries for smarter training
• Records multi-sport activities like running, cross-training and strength workouts; see comprehensive summaries with tailored metrics, workout intensity based on heart rate and calories burned
• Smartwatch features including Caller ID, text alerts and mobile music control let users train smarter and stay focused right from the wrist
• Eight sensors - GPS, 3-axis accelerometers, 3-axis gyroscope, digital compass, optical heart rate monitor, altimeter, ambient light sensor and touch screen-working harmoniously to give users the most advanced tracking in the thinnest, lightest design on the market
• Backlit LCD touch screen display with customizable watch faces, makes it easy to navigate through real-time stats, workout apps and alarms
• Up to 7 days of battery life - Surge is specially designed with battery efficient technology, so you can track a work week or a marathon on just one charge

"I never stop trying to shatter my personal bests, whether it's pushing myself to go longer distances, maximizing training through a variety of different types of workouts or quickening my pace across my usual routes," said Dean Karnazes, world-renowned ultra marathoner and Fitbit brand ambassador. "The new Fitbit Surge is ideal for fitness enthusiasts like myself. Having the multi-sport Fitbit Surge with me all day helps me reach peak performance and intensity through insights into my activity 24/7, so I have the information I need to train more effectively and efficiently."

Smarter and Faster Motivational Tools - A Winning Combination

Fitbit's well-designed, innovative hardware combined with its unique interactive online and mobile features gives users the motivational benefits they can't live without. As the industry leader with 69 percent market share, Fitbit's software offers the widest range of easy-to-use, smart, efficient and motivational tools, which help to make it the top-downloaded free app for connected fitness devices on iTunes, Google Play and Windows Phone stores. Top interactive features include:

• Smart features: Caller ID, text alerts, alarms and music control
• More efficient tracking features:
  • Real-time, continuous, all-day activity tracking plus GPS
  • PurePulse technology for automatic, continuous heart rate tracking
  • Exercise tracking to easily record workouts, see real-time exercise stats and have summaries appear automatically on the Fitbit dashboard
  • Automatic sleep detection
  • Track food fast from a database of more than 350,000 items and features like a barcode scanner, Easy Meals and Calorie Coaching
  • Windows Phone (News - Alert) users can take advantage of Cortana, Microsoft's intelligent personal assistant, to quickly track food, log workouts and more using voice control
• Motivational features:
  • Set goals, see progress on charts/graphs and earn badges (and bragging rights)
  • Tap into MobileRun, which uses GPS to track, log and compare workouts with real-time updates and voice cues to stay up-to-speed on stats and get extra encouragement to meet goals
  • Challenges: Fitbit's newest app feature, brings even more motivation and fun to Fitbit's iOS, Android and Windows Phone apps
    • With Challenges, users can directly compete with friends and family to help meet and beat goals in new competitions, including Daily Showdown, Workweek Hustle and Weekend Warrior
    • Encourage and compete with family and friends within the largest community of users - a proven support system helping customers successfully reach goals

Fitbit's family of six activity trackers and the Aria Wi-Fi scale also sync wirelessly to more mobile platforms than any other trackers available today, including more than 120 iOS, Android and Windows devices. By combining the most product choices with Fitbit's unparalleled software and cross-platform compatibility, users can access everything needed to reach their health and fitness goals.

Dedicated to the Highest Product Standards

Fitbit is committed to creating the highest quality products to help customers live healthier, more active lives. Fitbit consults with scientific experts and also tests its products with independent labs to ensure they meet stringent standards. This year Fitbit also created the first-ever Scientific Advisory Board for wearables that includes leading, certified dermatologists to help enhance Fitbit's testing protocols and develop product wear and care guidelines.