A Shape Editor Calls the Fitbit Charge 5 Her Favorite Tracker of All Time — and It's $50 Off Right Now

With an almost excessive number of fitness trackers being released every single year — all of which tout must-have, unbeatable features — it's tempting to regularly upgrade your own model to the latest and greatest. Since money doesn't grow on trees, however, you're likely waiting for the perfect one to invest in. And based on glowing reviews from one Shape editor and Amazon shoppers alike, the Fitbit Charge 5 (Buy It, $130 $180, amazon.com) is the one worth splurging on.

Released in September, the Fitbit Charge 5 is the company's most advanced health and fitness tracker — and perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing. The tracker has had a glow-up since the last model was released, ditching the minimalist style and black-and-white screen for a glammed-up watch face, which features rounded corners, metallic accents, and a bright, full-color screen. And these design upgrades are just one of the many reasons why Akeesha Williams, Shape's social media coordinator and a longtime Fitbit fan, calls it her favorite tracker of all time. "It's a little bit more stylish in terms of the design, the screen's a bit bigger compared to the other trackers, and I like that there are no buttons on the side," she says.

Buy It: Fitbit Charge 5 in Lunar White, $130 $180, amazon.com

Along with that shiny and fresh exterior, the Fitbit Charge 5 is now equipped with brand-new features, including an electrodermal activity scan sensor that detects small changes in electric activity on your skin caused by sweat production. These changes may be a result of your body responding to stress, so tracking them with the watch's app can clue you in on your stress levels and whether you need to prioritize your mental wellbeing, according to the company. Also new to the device is an electrocardiogram (aka ECG) that measures your heart's electrical activity, records your heart's rhythm, and assesses it for atrial fibrillation (an irregular, often very rapid heart rhythm that can increase the risk of stroke and heart failure, according to the Mayo Clinic). Using this feature on the reg may be particularly useful for people who may be at risk of heart disease, as you'll be able to easily monitor your heart health and share your results with your doctor.

Despite all the fancy new scanners,the Fitbit Charge 5 still offers the same tried-and-true features found on past models, such as a heart rate monitor, step counter, oxygen saturation monitor, GPS, and sleep tracker — a feature Williams uses on a daily basis. "I didn't realize that I wasn't getting enough sleep until I started tracking my sleep score, and seeing the scores [made me realize], 'Wow, I get no sleep. This is why I feel so sluggish in the morning," she says. (If stress is ruining your shut-eye, these tips will help you take back your ZZZs.)

When you sign up for Fitbit Premium (which costs $10 a month or $80 a year), you also unlock access to stats like the "Daily Readiness Score," which compares your recent activity, sleep, and heart-rate variability to your baseline levels and tells you if your body is good to go for a workout or needs some recovery time, according to the company. "I've been using it and it's been pretty accurate — the days that it's told me to rest, I was so drained and tired," says Williams. "The sleep score plus the readiness score make it even easier to plan out the rest of my day." (

To help you better map out your workouts, the Fitbit Charge 5 also tracks your "Active Zone Minutes," or the number of minutes you spend in your personalized heart-rate zones, according to the company. Reminder: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises adults to power through at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity weekly, and this Fitbit feature will show you how close you are to hitting these recommendations. The watch will log these Active Zone Minutes whenever your heart rate increases — whether you're tackling a workout or just going for a Target run — and if you are powering through some sort of exercise, it'll vibrate to let you know what zone you're in, according to the company.

And Williams isn't the only happy camper. One Amazon shopper, who has previously owned four different Fitbit models and an Apple Watch (Buy It, $399, apple.com), said the Charge 5 comes out on top. "If you're looking for something purely for fitness tracking, then this is the one, you simply can't beat the metrics," they wrote. More importantly, reviewers say those metrics are accurate. "I tried to check accuracy at the gym, and my heart rate was exactly the same as shown in [the] Fitbit Charge 5 [as the] treadmill's heart rate sensor," wrote another shopper. "I also tried it during swimming, and I did 700 yards and after I was done the Fitbit device showed me I did exactly 700 yards. In terms of tracking sleep and pulse ox (oxygen level) it is also very accurate."

Of course, you get what you pay for, and the Fitbit Charge 5 will typically run you $180 — $30 to $100 more than other models from the company. But thankfully, you can now nab the Shape editor-approved device for just $130 until December 25. And considering the tracker's sleek new design and features, it's a deal you don't want to pass on.