Basis Peak and Fitbit Surge track your heart rate continuously using an optical heart rate sensor. Both sense your activities and track sleep. However there are some features in which one excels over the other.
Basis Peak and Fitbit Surge Comparison Table
| Product | Fitbit Surge | Basis Peak (Discontinued) |
| Release Date | April 2015 | October 2014 |
| Display | Monochrome LCD | Monochrome LCD |
| Weight | 49 grams | 54 grams |
| Touchscreen | Yes | Yes |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth | Bluetooth |
| Battery Life | 7 days without GPS (10 hrs with GPS) | 4 days |
| PC Sync | Yes (Bluetooth Dongle) | No |
| Compatibility | iOS, Android, PC | iOS, Android |
| GPS Sensor | Yes | No |
| Vibration Alarm | Yes | Yes |
| Altimeter | Yes | No |
| Clock | Yes | Yes |
| Accelerometer | Yes | Yes |
| Heart Rate Sensor | Optical | Optical |
| Perspiration Sensor | No | Yes |
| Skin Temperature Sensor | No | Yes |
| Notifications | Phone, Text | Phone, Text, Email |
| Water Resistance | 5 ATM (50m) | 5 ATM (50m) |
| Activities tracked | Calories, Cycling, Distance, Steps | Calories, Cycling, Steps |
| Sleep tracking | Yes | Yes (REM sleep tracking) |
| Elevation / Stairs | Yes | No |
Basis Peak Overview (Discontinued)
UPDATE – Safety Recall of all Basis Peak watches
The Basis Peak band is made of a soft silicone material with many notches to fit most wrist sizes. The display glass is made up of Gorilla Glass 3 which is used in quality Smartphones to prevent scratches and scuffs. The tracker has many biometric sensors such as perspiration, skin temperature and an optical heart rate reader. The strap is customizable and you can remove the existing band to replace it with another one.
Basis Peak can track your steps which is the norm for most of these fitness trackers. It also tracks your calories burned while sitting, being active and at night while you are sleeping. The Peak tracks your heartbeat and sleep (REM) automatically. The perspiration and skin temperature tracking takes Peak to a whole new level. This lets you know your exertion levels and how your body reacts to a particular activity. The band is water resistant and safe for swimming. It also features automatic activity transitioning which senses a change in your activity without you having to press any button or swipe any screen.
Fitbit Surge Overview
Fitbit Surge looks like a wide and thick sporty watch with a textured rubbery strap. The strap is adjustable and comfortable. The display is touch-sensitive with a monochrome screen with backlighting. There are physical buttons on the sides with a single button on the left and two buttons on the right. The left button lets you cycle through various modes and the right side buttons correspond to specific functions with the interface. On the underside of the unit there is a heart rate sensor and the proprietary charging port. The tracker also has a built-in GPS sensor.
The heart rate sensor is always on and will measure your resting heart rate along with your other activities all day long. This consistent HR measurement helps give you an accurate calorie burn reading. The interface is straightforward where you can swipe between various displays showing different statistics such as date, time, heart rate, steps taken, distance covered, calories burned, etc. The companion application gives you in-depth stats and presents activity data in a meaningful way.
Similarities between Basis Peak and Fitbit Surge
- Both trackers have a touch sensitive, always-on monochrome LCD display with backlight.
- Both come with a soft flexible rubber strap.
- Both have automatic activity recognition.
- Both devices have a built-in heart rate monitor.
- Both have sleep tracking features with vibration wake up alarm. However Surge can track REM sleep cycles as well.
- Fitbit Surge and Basis Peak have smart notifications for callerID and text messages. In addition Peak can notify you of your emails as well.
- Both devices can survive up to 50m under water (5ATM). However Surge is not recommended for swimming.
- Fitbit app and Basis Peak app are compatible with iOS and Android.
- Both take under 2 hours to fully charge.
Differences between Basis Peak and Fitbit Surge
- The strap in Fitbit Surge is not replaceable while Basis Peak comes with a changeable strap.
- Surge straps are available in three sizes (small, large and extra large) while Peak has a one size fits all strap.
- Peak weighs around 54 grams and Surge around 49 grams with the small strap.
- The LCD touchscreen in Peak is protected by Gorilla Glass 3.
- There are three physical buttons in addition to touchscreen in Fitbit Surge whereas in Peak everything is touch controlled.
- Basis Peak has magnetic charging whereas Surge has USB charging.
- Fitbit Surge can sync to your PC/laptop using a Bluetooth dongle provided.
- Basis peak lacks a GPS sensor and cannot track distance covered.
- Basis Peak has an additional skin temperature and perspiration sensors.
- The Surge also has elevation tracking which the Basis Peak lacks.
- Basis Peak can be worn while swimming.
- With Fitbit Surge you can control your smartphone music playlist.
- The Fitbit app works on a Windows phone in addition to iOS and Android.
- Battery life for Surge is around 7 days without GPS and Peak lasts about 5 days.
- Fitbit Surge is also compatible with many 3rd party apps like MtFitnessPal and MapMyRun. Basis Peak streams data to 3rd party apps which are GATT protocol compliant.
