Fitbit Surge

globalgamble

Just got my surge today! Any tips?

ntazzo

I have mine less than a week. Not sure what I think of it yet...

globalgamble

going to sync tonight.. i actually still have my Force, I didn't recall it I am super happy the surge has a buckle, that was a huge complaint when I got my force, it kept falling off! So I printed out the instruction manual, quite intensive! So, I gather if I want to log exercise, it has to be in GPS mode? Otherwise, it is just counting steps, distance, heartrate, sleep, and steps. I am getting the sense, just from reading the manual, that many of the new features happen in GPS mode. Do you run? Where do most of your steps come from? I run and play tennis daily. My biggest step day was 33.000 and I have had 2 other days when I got over 30,000. My average usually is 11-14 depending on whether i am in a tennis tournament. I got the small band b/c I read that the tighter it fits, the better the heart rate reading? How are you finding that feature? I just feel so lucky to get one! My mom got the last one from a best buy in FL and mailed it to me here in Brazil. As usual, fitibit is back-ordered 8 weeks.. when are they going to produce the right amount!!!!!!!!!!!

globalgamble

does anyone know.. if i sync my fitbit to the program.. then do I not have to track exercise manually???? seems like i am getting fitbit calories for exercise by a sync. i think if that is the case, I will remove the device b/c I think it is more accurate to break-down and manually enter the types of daily exercise I do...

T1DCarnivoreRunner

No, it is more accurate to use Fitbit exercise, especially since you have a device with an HRM.

To log exercise, you do not need to be in GPS mode. When you start exercise, depending on the type of exercise, it will turn on the GPSR to track. If you start a "Treadmill Run" (for example), that will not activate the GPSR. Otherwise, it will track steps throughout the day.

I suggest joining the Fitbit group here, as there is all kinds of information to be shared. The best way to do this when linking to MFP is to set your activity level to Sedentary, turn on negative calorie adjustments (which will take away calories if your activity level based on Fitbit is less than what MFP shows as a "sedentary" activity level). Wear the Fitbit all the time.

If you manually log step-based activity or log it with another device (Runkeeper, MapmyRun, etc.), your Fitbit adjustment will be reduced based on those calories. In other words, you should be able to log "activities" and MFP will not count it twice.

Here is an example of a day that I had Fitbit and Runkeeper both make calorie adjustments. If not for the Runkeeper adjustment, the Fitbit adjustment would have been 2,364 calories. *I'm having trouble uploading a screen shot, but you can see in my diary on 11/8/14.

globalgamble

Hmmm.. I wondered if maybe is better to use the fitbit b/c it accounts for every step. when i itemize my activity, i actually don't account for the steps I get (about 4000 average) that are not direct exercise. So, in sum, I should just not log manually and let my fitbit sync to this program to account for my overall steps per day, no matter how I got them....

T1DCarnivoreRunner

globalgamble wrote: »

Hmmm.. I wondered if maybe is better to use the fitbit b/c it accounts for every step. when i itemize my activity, i actually don't account for the steps I get (about 4000 average) that are not direct exercise. So, in sum, I should just not log manually and let my fitbit sync to this program to account for my overall steps per day, no matter how I got them....

Yes, exactly. It is a more precise measure of activity that way. Everyone always talks about being precise about food intake (by using a food scale), but improving accuracy of expenditure measurement gets less attention for some reason. Garbage in = garbage out. Fitbit is a tool to help improve the data inputs, to get closer to: Good data in = Useful information out.

globalgamble

I think though my fitbit adjustment is more generous than manually logging.. should I just trust in the fitbit system LOL .. Anyway, I still try to only eat my goal calorie intake regardless of what I earn from exercise, that way I am sure I am always negative burning! On Monday, the 16th, I had a fantastic 32,453 step day! I probably could have gotten 35 which would have been a record for me.. but saving that for another day. Gotta love government holidays. Seriously, to get over 30thousand, you really need to clear your schedule for exercise .. i ran 5 miles, walked 3, played tennis for 4 hours, and did a bike ride to cap it off. I was super stoked to see the new fitbit is accurate on counting biking steps. I used to tie my old one to my tennis shoes to get steps!!! I love my new fitbit! Happy stepping...

T1DCarnivoreRunner

The Fitbit just seems more generous than manual logging because you never manually logged casual steps. You go into the store and have steps, for example. Those add up if you do a lot of it.

I definitely agree about taking a day off from work (assuming you have a desk job like I do) to do something active to get a lot of steps. Or on weekends if you can fit that in...

Personally, I enjoy hiking the most and do a lot of that when I take vacation. I do 1 or 2 road trips every year to see historical sites and hike. The last trip in Nov. 2014, I had 36k steps on the first day (hiked >16 miles, but Fitbit underestimates distance because it doesn't know my stride), then 32k on another hiking day.

globalgamble

So annoyed fitbitch comes out with a different distance than what treadmill says! I find in road races it is also off, and races are measured out!

globalgamble

36 k day, u must have got a badge for that!!!!

T1DCarnivoreRunner

globalgamble wrote: »

36 k day, u must have got a badge for that!!!!

Yes, I got a badge for 35,000 steps in a day. If I get 40,000 steps in a day, then that badge will get replaced.

globalgamble wrote: »

So annoyed fitbitch comes out with a different distance than what treadmill says! I find in road races it is also off, and races are measured out!

There was just a discussion on this in the Fitbit group. You can go in and manually adjust your stride. Just go to www.fitbit.com/user/profile/edit and under the "Body Info" section, you can enter a stride for walking and a stride for running.

I had a run/walk recently on the treadmill and tracked steps and treadmill distance, then calculated and updated both to the same. At some point, I'll just run and just walk and get more accurate numbers. For now, my treadmill runs/walks are because it is cold outside and I'm trying to train for a 5K in April. The 5K training plan has run/walk intervals in every training.

AnnaNutBread89

What do you think of the fit hr? The one for the heart rate

T1DCarnivoreRunner

AnnaNutBread89 wrote: »

What do you think of the fit hr? The one for the heart rate

There are a couple of Fitbit devices with HRM's, including the Surge we are discussing. Personally, I planned to get an HRM for awhile and would have kept my Fitbit One (without HRM). So when I saw Fitbit was coming out with a device that did both step counters and HRM, I waited a couple months longer and got the Surge.

Having said that, I don't know if I would get the Surge next time. I would probably get the Charge HR. The Surge music controls don't work with Android, the text messages sync only sometimes, and the GPS feature drains the battery too fast to use on a longer exercise like some of my hikes.