High hopes despite criticism but failed to deliver
I've owned a Fitbit Charge HR for about a year and have loved it. I wanted to take my Fitbit experience to the next level and start tracking my weight daily (plus having the body fat %). I've read the reviews about how inaccurate the body fat percentage numbers can be and how much of a nightmare the Aria setup is but I thought, I'll roll with the punches and give it a shot. Bottom line: all of the other reviews outlining the shortcomings of the Aria are true.<br /><br />My biggest gripe is the connectivity. I used the mobile setup method. Through the Fitbit app, there's a link to connect your Aria to your account and the process itself isn't that bad but my Aria would never stay connected to my network. It wasn't that the Aria forgot my SSID, because when I went through the reset procedure, my network was still saved, it just stopped communicating and wouldn't recognize me anymore (just as &#34;guest&#34;). I tried putting the Aria closer to the router but that never resolved the issue, it would just stop working.<br /><br />It is actually quite astounding that the Aria has been out so long, yet Fitbit hasn't responded to the connectivity criticisms. Utilizing Bluetooth would rectify all of the Aria's connectivity problems, but they stick with Wifi (band b, no less which is antiquated). I shouldn't have to worry about these things when using a scale, especially at this price point.<br /><br />Second, the body fat percentage numbers are really, really bad. I'm talking +/- 5% or even more, so it's hard to even get a gauge at your average, making it a useless feature. Yes, it is known that BIA is objectively inaccurate but it's really all over the board with the Aria and negates any selling value that it is included in the scale.<br /><br />While I had really high hopes the Aria would work for me, it followed through on delivering the common criticisms that everyone else has outlined. My advice: buy a standard, low-cost digital scale and manually enter. You'll save time, money and stress.
Rating: 2 stars