Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

IMPORTANT: 1) Screen sensitivity: what works very well for me is to tap lightly on the actual band right underneath the display screen (not on the screen itself). My tracker is very responsive tapping this way and saves you from wearing out your finger. 2) Band issues: IT GETS BETTER from the first few times. The band needs time and you need practice, that is all. I find that carefully aligning, then poking my index finger under and between the metal pins and pressing/pinching works great, with practice it takes maybe 5 seconds with one hand. 3) Initial syncing: highly recommend setting up via the free Fitbit app through a phone vs using a computer and dongle. Actually finding the new tracker and getting ready for device setup only took minutes (I've done it twice now for myself and a family member and both times were easy). Okay, here is an update after about a month of wearing the Fitbit Alta, I received 3/10 afternoon. Battery life is amazing - it lasts about a week without having to charge. Saw a couple recurring issues in recent reviews and since I really love my Alta I wanted to share my first hand thoughts: Band - Why are people having so many problems with fastening the band? I have the finger strength of a child (weighing in at 90 lbs) and I can do it in about 5 seconds. It’s hard the first few times as it is being broken in, but my goodness, you just align, then strategically press/push in between the metal pins underneath and it snaps right in for me. - Honestly, I had so much more trouble with the little band in the clasp for the charge HR, I could never get it to straighten out right. It just takes practice! - Plus, not to mention this band is so much cooler than my old Charge HR, I can’t get over how slim, form fitting, thinner, and softer it is. Oh yeah, and you can switch out the bands if you want to get different colors! I'm waiting for some alternate styles before splurging since at least the Fitbit models are pricey. Display: - I love the new screen, it is resilient to scratches and the displays are clear with a lot more display options than the Charge HR (horizontal & vertical options). If you had the Charge HR you know that it was hard not to get scratches on even that small screen, the Alta display is made of a different material and fares much better in everyday life in terms of scratches. - Okay, now the screen itself, the screen appears when I move my hand up to look at the screen, then to tab through the screens all I do is tap VERY lightly on the band itself underneath the screen and it works every time, no laggy issues and no sweaty exertion. - I find the Alta to be very responsive without needing to tap hard. Steps - For me when I did some mini-tests, I did find that the Alta counts when you’re holding stuff & not swinging arms but doesn’t count when you’re stationary and doing work stuff at the desk. Setup/Sync - Initial setup so really easy for me, I literally just hit the add tracker button via the Fitbit app, enter confirmation number that populates on the tracker & wait about 10 min for it to set up… all by itself. - I’ve noticed that syncing is a lot faster for the Alta than the Charge HR. I had so many issues with the Charge where it would mostly sync, then stop, then freeze, and I’d have to exit and do a bunch of creative stuff to make it work again. No issues to date with Alta. Skin Sensitivity - Really sorry to hear some people are having reactions. I personally had none and I consider myself as having pretty sensitive skin. I cannot generally wear any jewelry because constant hand washing and soap irritates my skin no matter the material. Battery Life - Awesome - I got on 3/10 (Thursday) and it is now 3/16 evening and still have not needed to charge (hehe, likely because I switch out for the charge HR at night to get resting heart rate but still). - I did charge initially before use and had no issues using the new clasp type of charger. That’s all for now, I love my Alta and really grateful that we got this product rolled out, I was so tired of having the huge Charge on my wrist. Older Update: I ordered Fitbit via their website and received on 3/10/16 evening and have not needed to charge yet. I am petite, like 5' and under 100 lbs so when I wore the Charge HR even in a small it was huge and clunky on my small wrist (1/2-1" extra space on each side of the wrist when worn). The Alta looks so elegant, fits much better, and the bands are of a softer and more flexible material, absolutely love wearing this tracker and love showing it off. Yes the pins are hard to get into the holes the first few times but as with anything else, it just takes practice and wearing it a couple times for it to be effortless. My two favorite things are the activity flower and the active reminders directly via the tracker. So for those of you that have had the One, there was that adorable little flower that would grow the more active you are. The Alta has this same feature in one of their offered clock faces and it is available as the main screen when you flick your wrist. It shows the time vertically and the flower right under. By the way, 5 different vertical clock formatting options and 5 different horizontal ones, crazy right?? Then there are the reminders to move, which is something that I really enjoy. The intent is to keep you moving throughout the day, because even though you may workout later on, it is important not to sit too much at your desk. What the Alta does is target at least 250 steps in an hour, if within the space of an hour you have not reached the 250, the tracker will buzz once at 10 minutes before the hour is up and a cute message pops up to remind/request you to get moving. Sometimes it'll tell you how many more steps are needed and other times it'll just ask for a quick walk. If you decide to stroll, it'll buzz again once/if you do reach the 250 and congratulate you. This is so adorable and just what I needed, especially for those afternoons at work when I am so absorbed that I won't even get up for 3-4 hour blocks. By the way, the period of when the reminders are sent are very customizable and it reportedly does not get sent out if the tracker senses that you are sleeping (I can attest this does work since I've worn while napping and the alerts did not get sent out). Some cons for you, in a way are the absence of the heart rate and the stair counter. For me it does not make too much of a difference. I still wear the Charge HR at night so that I can check my resting heart rate, but otherwise I don't care to see how it fluctuates too much through the day. I don't have the option to take the stairs so no biggie there. One thing I did note is the activity reminder sometimes will send you the message that you met the 250 steps but then later through the app it'll say that you missed an hour. This sucks sometimes because I have the reminders set for 14 hours a day and you get a little green star if you get all 14 hours. I suspect this is just a byproduct of the tracker losing some steps when it syncs as happens with all prior trackers so it'll sometimes withdraw having met the 250 mark, I hope an upcoming patch will fix this. Overall, super thrilled with this latest Alta, and having owned the Zip, One, and Charge HR, it is my absolute favorite. It is slim, looks sleek, very light, the screen is nice and does not scratch easily (unlike the Charge HR), longer battery life (it seems off the bat), and the flower plus the activity reminder are all fantastic additions to the family.