Garmin Vivofit users

ArkMom35

My husband surprised me with one of these handy things this weekend. I've set it up with my stats, and even measured my stride length and entered that. At the end of the day it says I've walked over 15,000 steps a day. I'm a mom of four kids that are seven and under, so I do get up and down a lot, but I'm not constantly on my feet. How accurate is this thing step-wise?! I've tried to test it out and when I walk 20 steps sometimes it says 19 sometimes 22, etc. So I gather there's a small discrepancy, but I'm wondering how much discrepancy there might be?

Also, how accurate do you find the calories burned? I realize this reflects my natural calories burned just from being on top of the steps and exercise.

Thanks for any thoughts!

veloman21

Asking how accurate step count is, is a bit like asking how long is a piece of string? ....... The answer is, it depends!! I own a Vivofit and am happy with it and I think you will be too if you understand it's limitations.

The accelerometer within the Vivofit is measuring the acceleration of the device in 3 axis and interpreting the data to calculate how many steps you take. It is easy to fool.

For instance try this simple test, briskly walk say 20 steps in a normal fashion swinging your arms as you normally would. Check the display for number of steps calculated. Now walk the same number of steps with your arm fixed firmly by your side and then check the display. You'll see a significant difference. Also you can stand perfectly still and just swing your arm back and forth as if you were walking. The device will record 'steps' even though you are not walking.

You see the device has no idea if you are walking, running or shaking a martini, it's just looking at relative movement within certain parameters. (Try pushing a shopping cart down the supermarket aisle slowly, the device will probably not record any steps, or very few, even though you may walk hundreds.)

The key is not to get hung up on accuracy, it doesn't really matter. What the devices are good for is giving you a relatively good estimation on how much activity you are performing day to day. So if you average say 5000 steps a day for a week and set yourself a goal of increasing that to 10000 a day, the device will be a good indicator of your relative progress. Wether or not you are actually walking 9100 or 11,000 steps a day is really irrelevant.

In terms of calorie burn, an accelerometer is virtually useless as a measuring device.

ArkMom35

So what you're saying is basically it's useless for actually counting steps (and therefore distance too) and daily calorie burn. Which is really a waste of $85...

From what you're saying I'm understanding that it's only good for encouraging me to do more than I did the day before. I've been having fun with it, it does get me moving more. But that's quite a lot of money just for that. *sigh*

I appreciate your honest and informative response!

veloman21

I'm not really saying that it's useless, I've had my Vivofit for 8 months or so and have found it useful, I'm just saying don't get hung up on if you've walked 20steps and the device says 22 or 10 or whatever. If you do, you will get frustrated quickly

If you want some better calorie burn data during exercise, get a HR strap to pair with the Vivofit and that will give you better (but not perfect) data.

That said the newer GPS sport watches now include activity monitors and I have purchased a Polar M400 and will be retiring both my Vivofit and Garmin 310XT as a result. Of course it was $180 but worth it for me.

HelenWater

veloman21 wrote: »

I'm not really saying that it's useless, I've had my Vivofit for 8 months or so and have found it useful, I'm just saying don't get hung up on if you've walked 20steps and the device says 22 or 10 or whatever. If you do, you will get frustrated quickly

If you want some better calorie burn data during exercise, get a HR strap to pair with the Vivofit and that will give you better (but not perfect) data.

That said the newer GPS sport watches now include activity monitors and I have purchased a Polar M400 and will be retiring both my Vivofit and Garmin 310XT as a result. Of course it was $180 but worth it for me.

All activity trackers have different algorithms to interpret movement. I look at trends, not exact numbers.

@veloman21 The M400 looks pretty good! Does the inactivity alert stay on the screen until you walk around a bit, or does it just flash on the screen and then disappear quickly?

veloman21

HelenWater wrote: »

All activity trackers have different algorithms to interpret movement. I look at trends, not exact numbers.

@veloman21 The M400 looks pretty good! Does the inactivity alert stay on the screen until you walk around a bit, or does it just flash on the screen and then disappear quickly?

Yep that's what I'm saying, look at trends not actual numbers. Right on.

It stays on the screen until you move. Also the Polar flow software gives you about 10 mins in order to move after the alert goes off and if you haven't, It puts an inactivity stamp in your diary. Good motivation!!

HelenWater

veloman21 wrote: »

HelenWater wrote: »

All activity trackers have different algorithms to interpret movement. I look at trends, not exact numbers.

@veloman21 The M400 looks pretty good! Does the inactivity alert stay on the screen until you walk around a bit, or does it just flash on the screen and then disappear quickly?

Yep that's what I'm saying, look at trends not actual numbers. Right on.

It stays on the screen until you move. Also the Polar flow software gives you about 10 mins in order to move after the alert goes off and if you haven't, It puts an inactivity stamp in your diary. Good motivation!!

Thanks. It sounds very good. It would replace everything apart from my Garmin Edge 500, and I think the Mio Velo would help with that!

I'm in no way an athlete, but these gadgets keep me honest.

veloman21

HelenWater wrote: »

Thanks. It sounds very good. It would replace everything apart from my Garmin Edge 500, and I think the Mio Velo would help with that!

I'm in no way an athlete, but these gadgets keep me honest.

Yes that's exactly my setup. Cycling is my primary exercise and I use the Garmin Edge 500 for that. The Polar takes care of my running and daily activity monitoring. I really like the Polar Flow software too, much better than Connect.

Hopefully the next week or two will see the software upgrade that includes automatic background syncing with MFP. Also promised shortly is the ability to receive call, text, email alerts from my phone. Not a have to have for me but can be useful when out on a ride and need to decide if I want to stop and answer.

HelenWater

My name on Garmin Connect is Polly274 and I'm happy to connect with anyone who is interested in health and fitness.

HelenWater

veloman21 wrote: »

HelenWater wrote: »

Thanks. It sounds very good. It would replace everything apart from my Garmin Edge 500, and I think the Mio Velo would help with that!

I'm in no way an athlete, but these gadgets keep me honest.

Yes that's exactly my setup. Cycling is my primary exercise and I use the Garmin Edge 500 for that. The Polar takes care of my running and daily activity monitoring. I really like the Polar Flow software too, much better than Connect.

Hopefully the next week or two will see the software upgrade that includes automatic background syncing with MFP. Also promised shortly is the ability to receive call, text, email alerts from my phone. Not a have to have for me but can be useful when out on a ride and need to decide if I want to stop and answer.

Yep. I use Polar RS400 for dragon boat paddling and other cardio, but I do like the Edge 500 on the bike to feed back speed and cadence as I also use a bike trainer if it's raining or much too hot outside.

ncscott11

I have the Vivofit and it helps me to gauge my "activity level" for the day. I keep my activity level set to sedentary here and then use my Vivofit to either help me be active enough to eat a little more or it tells me if I didn't. For me it keeps me motivated (I have a desk job). For example I was super busy and didn't get up a lot last night so after work I knew I needed to move more because of where I was on my Vivofit. I like it myself.