Fitbit

[mngreeneyes 674]

I don't have a fitbit, but I have a Garmin vivofit 2. I love mine. A couple differences to keep in mind depending on your types of activity. 1. I am a swimmer as well as a runner so I wanted a devise that was Water proof. My Garmin is waterproof to 3m or 10 Ft. I pretty much never take mine off so I don't have to worry about washing it or losing it. 2. I am not good at remembering to charge things. My Garmin is on a watch battery. I am headed towards a year with the same battery.

If what you are looking for is the challenges and online group stuff, then fitbit is probably for you. I wasn't interested in that stuff, I have other sites I use for that purpose.

I got a fairly cheap model when I bought mine. My next one will have the HR monitor as well, but so far this one seems to be holding up super well so I may have to break down and buy another one instead of waiting for it to break!

pam

[DeletedMember 715]

I love my Fitbit HR Charge. It helps keep me accountable. I work a very sedintary job, so if I am not making an effort, I might only see 3,000-4,000 steps in a day. If I get lazy and see that for more than about 2 days in a row, it sort of forces me to at least get out and walk a couple of miles. It also encourages me to just get up and move around the office from time-to-time, or go for a walk during my lunch break or whatever.

Someone brought up some of the short-falls of the device, which I agree with, but will give you my opinion:

Accuracy - they are not terribly accurate. I find mine (when compared to GPS) runs about 10% over actual. This is true, but to me irrelevant. If it bothers you, and you want to make sure you're getting 10,000 steps a day, just set your target for 11,000 or 12,000. For me, the point is to get regular activity. If I'm hitting 10,000 a day, but it's really only 9,100 - I can totally live with that. Beats the crap out of <5,000 a day!

Same with heart rate. At random times throughout the day it may say my heart rate is 100+, which I know is not possible. However, I find that when I am running on a treadmill and compare it to the HR monitor there, it is usually within a couple BPM. Same if I sit and relax for a few minutes, then take my BP. My BP gauge generally matches the fitbit to within a point or two.

Take away - it may not always be perfect, but in the aggregate I've found it to be pretty accurate.

Charging - honestly, this has probably been my biggest struggle. Unlike other devices, I don't want to take it off at night, as I like to monitor my sleep patterns as well (although I do have some serious accuracy questions with this function). So it becomes hard to charge a device that you would prefer to wear 100% of the time.

My solution? I take it off every morning when I get up and plug it in. By the time I am done getting ready in the morning it is almost 100% charged, so it never gets low. If I go out of town for the weekend I can make it almost 4 days without needing a recharge. It does recharge VERY quickly, even when run completely out of battery (1-2 hours at most).

It's not a perfect solution, but it's great for me.

I would like it to be waterproof as I spend a lot of time in the summer out on the Water. I know you can buy 3rd party waterproofed ones, and I probably would go that route if I were to do it over again.