With the wide range of products in the fitness wearables market, it can be difficult to choose which device is right for you. Thankfully, we’re here to help. We tried out two of the most popular fitness wearables – the Microsoft Band and the Fitbit Surge – and compared them in various categories to see which fared better.
Hardware
The Microsoft Band and the Fitbit Surge have fairly similar hardware capabilities. Both include 24/7 heart rate monitoring, allowing users to track their workouts better. The technology isn’t perfect yet – the heart rate monitor occasionally doesn’t register anything more than a resting heart rate unless you explicitly tell it you’re exercising. Still, it’s a great tool to calculate accurate calorie burn and determine rest periods in between workout sets.
One thing to note is that the Surge is waterproof, meaning you’ll be able to take it with you into the shower or pool. The Band is water resistant but not waterproof, so make sure to take it off before you engage in water-related activities.
Winner: Fitbit Surge
Software
The Microsoft Band is available on Windows, iOS, and Android. It tracks step and calorie burn, as well as sleep quality analysis. The guided workouts from the likes of Gold’s Gym and Men’s Fitness proved helpful. While you can view your activity history on your phone, there’s not much else you can do with the system online. There is no social aspect to be found.
Both devices also monitor sleep patterns, but the Surge detects sleep automatically while the Band requires manual input. GPS works well on both devices, providing highly accurate stats on pace, distance, split times, route history, elevation, and workout summaries.
Fitbit’s web interface and data tracking are phenomenal. The Fitbit app is available across Windows Phone, iOS, and Android. The app shows you your progress, lets you record workouts, map routes, share and compete with your friends, log your food intake and earn badges based on your activity achievements. This community aspect added an extra dimension to tracking workouts and providing motivation to keep going.
Winner: Fitbit Surge
Battery Life
The Microsoft Band has an unfortunate battery life of only 48 hours on normal use, and even less if advanced functionality like GPS is used. It only takes about 90 minutes to recharge the battery to full, but it’s still rather inconvenient, especially if you like to wear your Band to sleep.
On the other hand, the Fitbit Surge’s battery life lasts for an impressive 7 days with its lithium-polymer battery. This is especially great if you need to go camping or hiking with no access to any outlets.
Winner: Fitbit Surge
Design/Comfort
There’s no getting around this, so I’ll just say it. The Band is uncomfortable. It’s clunky and fairly rigid, and because it’s a flat top, you’ll have to get used to wearing it with the face down. Wearing it to sleep proved difficult, much less running with it! The Band comes in three wrist height sizes: 49mm, 41mm, and 49mm, but its poor ergonomic design can’t be escaped.
The Surge is easily more comfortable due to its sloping face and slightly large body. It felt much more like a watch. However, its mild bulk and severe black design can make it stand out, making it potentially awkward to wear in an office setting, and it can even get in the way of typing.
Winner: Fitbit Surge
Display
The Microsoft Band has a 1.4-inch touchscreen color display with a beautiful Windows-looking user interface. The display is easy to read even in bright sunlight. Its screen resolution is 320×106 pixels, giving it a vibrant look.
The Surge, on the other hand, has a 1.25-inch monochrome LCD screen that has backlight capability. The display is also touchscreen. However, the user interface felt claustrophobic, and the division between the touchscreen and hardware buttons was confusing.
Winner: Microsoft Band
Notifications
The Microsoft Band shows you all incoming call alerts, text notifications, email and calendar updates, and even social media alerts from Facebook and Twitter. This proved very useful, because a quick glance at the wrist is all it took to determine whether a notification was worth responding to. You’ll quickly realize how cumbersome it is to fish your phone out of your pocket every time you hear that ‘ping.’
The Fitbit Surge will display notifications such as incoming calls and texts, but there’s no third party app notification support at this time.
Winner: Microsoft Band
Price
The Microsoft Band is $199, whereas the Fitbit Surge is $249.
Winner: Microsoft Band
Conclusion
While the Fitbit Surge is slightly more expensive and offers fewer features than the Microsoft Band, its dominance in all the other categories makes it the clear winner in our minds. The primary reasons are its increased comfort and long-lasting battery life, two crucial traits in any wearable device.
