fitbit flex or one?

skinnyme47

Here is a site you might want to check out comparing the different Fitbit products available. It is http://www.fitbit.com/comparison/trackers. I personally have the Fitbit One, but by wearing the Fitbit Flex on your wrist, I would think the possibility of leaving it on your clothes and accidentally throwing it in the wash would be minimized. That and you can wear it in the shower, so you won't take it off and leave it somewhere. Hope that helps.

jrbb03092

I love my One. So much. I would go nuts if I didn't have it now.

My pet peeve is how many people don't read the instructions and/or understand what a Fitbit does i.e. calculate your BMR and give you calories for that PLUS activity.

I wonder how many people return or stop using them based on this misunderstanding *facepalms*

xynyth

Once I turned off calorie estimation on my FLEX I like it a lot more now. I have worn it swimming, in the shower, running, at work and it's held up through all of that. I especially like that the band is designed to really stay on. Yes it takes a little work to get it closed the first time but after that it's no big deal. I like the silent alarm feature and the sleep tracking is interesting, but I don't really know what the point of it is. My biggest piece of advice would be to TURN OFF THE CALORIE ESTIMATION if you wear it all the time, like I do. There were some days it told me I could eat several hundred more calories that day, so I did, and the next day it would change and I would be over That was really frustrating as I ended up overeating on a few days when I thought I was in the clear and I wanted to chuck this thing out a window. Now that I fixed that little problem I am loving the FLEX.

ShannonMpls

It can't count calories if it's NOT ON MY PERSON. I have 45 days to request a refund for any reason, so it's going back.

Of course it can. It is using data from your personal metrics - weight, age, sex - to calculate your RMR. When the band/device is not moving, the Fitbit assumes you are not moving, and therefore calculates calories based on your RMR. When the device moves (along with your body) that activity is added to your RMR to estimate your TDEE. If you forget to wear the device for a day, it will report your daily burn as being your RMR. This is exactly how the device is intended to work.

alankirkgray

I have a fitbit flex, and here are some positive comments to respond to some of the negative comments that I regard as thoughtless.

The flex fits on your wrist, and you can wear it in the shower. It is regarded as difficult to make the clasp work at the beginning, rightly so. But it took me about five minutes to loosen it up just enough to work fine -- just need to push the prongs of the clasp into the slots a number of times to get is adjusted, then you can go ahead and put it on pretty easily. And you need to take it off about every five days to recharge the battery, not a big deal.

You don't need to plug it in to your computer to sync it, unless you want to. You can sync it to a USB dongle you put into your PC, and it syncs wirelessly.

The benefit of having it on your wrist is that it does some useful things. For example, it has been accurately tracking what it calls my steps on my exercise bike. I was surprised it did so, then I looked and my wrist moves about an 1/8 inch with each revolution, and it has counted that, with only about a 1% error. In enter my exercise into myfitnesspal, and when it syncs, that overrides the fitbit calculation of steps on the bike.

You can use it pretty easily to track your sleep if you like.

If you have it off, it does not count your steps or motion and use that to determine calories, but the web software will calculate your base metabolic rate -- BMS -- and keep a running count of calories you burn that way during the day, adding to that the calories it calculates when it does recognize motion from taking steps.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with it, and the sync with MFP is quite effective.

Thought it worthwhile to provide some response to the throw-away negative responses I've seen here. Anyone should make up their own mind, but don't be guided by thoughtless comments that serve no purpose.

sugboog29

It can't count calories if it's NOT ON MY PERSON. I have 45 days to request a refund for any reason, so it's going back.

It DOES count it even when NOT on you. Mine does everybody's does... it's designed to do that. It calculates your daily burn, it's what it's supposed to do. Really it is. Ask anyone, they will tell you the same thing.

^^this....it does. I was confused when I first got mine, contacted customer service and they explained it. hmmm...who knew! I have a one and love it!!! The few days I've forgotten it...I feel almost naked!

NathanFronk

I got the Flex and am already trying to send it back. It's COMPLETELY inaccurate. I'd take it off for hours and it would still report calories burned for that time away. It looks very cool, but past that, I would say it's useless. I haven't tried any of the other Fitbit products but the Flex was pretty off-putting.

I am wearing the Flex as I type and wanted to remedy some misconceptions.

1) The Fitbit Flex and website assumes you are alive and breathing even when you take the flex off. This means that you are burning calories all day, and the Flex accounts for those calories. For instance, if you are 25 years old, female, and reasonably active you might have a BMR (number of calories you burn just by being alive) of around 2400 Calories/day. That's 100 calories/hour. If you take off the flex for 8 hours it will assume you burned 800 calories.

2) The Flex does not count stairs as the Fitbit One does because Fitbit found that stair-counting was inherently inaccurate, and so dropped it.

3) Accuracy: It is extremely accurate. I wrote a review on Amazon explaining how to calibrate the flex properly http://www.amazon.com/review/R3FES980GE6PC5/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

4) Get the Flex.

pinkraynedropjacki

Once I turned off calorie estimation on my FLEX I like it a lot more now. I have worn it swimming, in the shower, running, at work and it's held up through all of that. I especially like that the band is designed to really stay on. Yes it takes a little work to get it closed the first time but after that it's no big deal. I like the silent alarm feature and the sleep tracking is interesting, but I don't really know what the point of it is. My biggest piece of advice would be to TURN OFF THE CALORIE ESTIMATION if you wear it all the time, like I do. There were some days it told me I could eat several hundred more calories that day, so I did, and the next day it would change and I would be over That was really frustrating as I ended up overeating on a few days when I thought I was in the clear and I wanted to chuck this thing out a window. Now that I fixed that little problem I am loving the FLEX.

It's only water resistant not waterproof. Swimming is not such a good idea with it.


I wear my One 24/7 and the cal estimation is brilliant. I get given about 400-600 more cals a day but only cause I work hard at getting it. 25,000 + steps will get you that. I only go via the cals here rather than the site, if MFP tells me I have 1500 cals more I can eat.... today was closer to 1900 on top of my already 1500 then so be it. I'm not putting anything on & taking it off.

bsalvato

I have had the Ultra and the Flex. In my experience I can disprove what some posters are saying about it not being accurate or counting hand movements as steps. I find it to really be just as accurate as my Ultra was if not even more because it never comes off of my body. The best part is I can just open up my iPhone app and see my progress at any given time. Just like any other item you'd spend a good chunk of money on do your own research. Yes, user reviews are good to a point but you always have that one person who won't be happy no matter what. If possible try them both for a time, not at the same time because you can't link two to one account.

maegmez

How can it accurately calculate calories burned if it doesn't know your heart rate and activity exertion? I prefer my polar hrm and only track my calories burned when exercising. I have a very low resting heart rate which means I have to work harder to get my heart rate up to burn decent calories.

I just don't see how it can be accurate.

I also don't believe my hrm is exactly accurate either but it's going to be closer than a pedometer.

EmilyJackCO

I have the Flex, and I love it to bits. I got mine the day after they were released from Best Buy - and I have never had a problem with it at all.

It is actually REALLY accurate, at least for me. I'm really active, and it tracks it all appropriately. The calories that it's tracking when you're not wearing it/sleeping/inactive/etc are your daily expected BMR calories, not your activity.... you don't just hibernate if you're still. What it does NOT pick up though, is my stationary biking or weight lifting - I have to figure those in separately, and their site is great for that.... it's great for everything. And you don't have to pay for it like Bodymedia. You *can*, for additional features, but there's no reason to.

Technically, it's easy to use, even for someone like me without an iPhone or Android device - I just sync it to my laptop with the wireless dongle (the poster that said you have to plug it in, no - only to charge, and I do that once every 6 days or so). No problem. I've asked them to do something for both the Windows Phone 8 and RT devices, and they're working on it (Jawbone flat out refused). You should understand a little bit about the technical side of these critters before investing in them to assist - and that goes for all of the fitness devices they are coming out with these days. At least enough to pick up the one that is right for you and the way you want to use it. I will say that the integration bi-directionally with MFP is AWESOME.

I got mine specifically to monitor sleep, and the Fitbit One wouldn't work so well for me for that - I'd have to remember to change it over to the wrist strap anyways, why not start with that? The only thing I found is that it does NOT track stairs as anything other than steps. No big deal for me, stairs are a daily part of my life living and working in 3 story buildings. It turns out, I sleep like CRAP even with my medications. That's the next thing to try to tackle.

It's not an HRM, it's not a GPS, it's a tool to track how much you move, how often. If you want something more than that, you need to look to Garmin or Polar or (what I want...) UnderArmor.

MelAb8709

I've had the Flex for about a week now. Yes, the wristband was stiff and hard to close the first time I put it on but not anymore. The battery life is good, it lasts several days before you have to charge it, which you can do either with a wall adapter or on your computer.

The Flex does NOT have a screen where you can see your progress. It does not track stairs, but I have to assume that stairs still count as steps and to me that's what matters most.

I have the FitBit app on my iPhone and so if I want to see how I'm doing I just open up the app and take a look. No big deal. Yes, it's visible but it's a simple band and it doesn't look some of the more obvious devices I've seen out there. It's sleek and not bulky.

It vibrates when you reach your step goes for the day. You can set up a silent alarm which is nice because it's not as jarring to wake up to as a regular alarm clock. It just vibrates on your wrist and it does snooze - I think it stops snoozing when it senses you are no longer sleeping. I do use the sleep tracking function.

It's probably not 100% accurate, but I doubt any of them are 100% accurate. For me, I bought mine at REI - they were having a 20% off promotion on anything in the store, plus I used my dividend so it came to about $50. It did take 2 weeks, as it was on back order. They're extremely hard to find at an actual store.

pinkraynedropjacki

How can it accurately calculate calories burned if it doesn't know your heart rate and activity exertion? I prefer my polar hrm and only track my calories burned when exercising. I have a very low resting heart rate which means I have to work harder to get my heart rate up to burn decent calories.

I just don't see how it can be accurate.

I also don't believe my hrm is exactly accurate either but it's going to be closer than a pedometer.

It does though. I wear my Polar FT60 when working out, set an activity on my Fitbit at the same time.... cals match up perfectly burned for that. I get to eat more as well. I have a RHR of 51.... I work with hand & leg weights to get my HR right up to at least 120...at a minimum. Fitbit gives me extra credit for going for a walk after that, gives me credit for going that extra bit that I normally would have sat down for. I know when I walked 5 hours straight to get mascara my polar didnt come with me.... I would not have had been able to eat more than MFP told me....my Fitbit however gave me 50,000 steps worth of credit in cals burnt.


Oh and it DOES know if you are walking slow, faster or even running. It can tell by the stride & by the pace of the stride steps. It adjusts to it.

livelaughlove384

I thoroughly love my UP by Jawbone. I only take it off to charge it or to sync it, I can wear it while washing dishes and while in the shower. It's very accurate and the app is user friendly and gives great insight to your movements and sleep.

rocket_ace

I got the Flex and am already trying to send it back. It's COMPLETELY inaccurate. I'd take it off for hours and it would still report calories burned for that time away. It looks very cool, but past that, I would say it's useless. I haven't tried any of the other Fitbit products but the Flex was pretty off-putting.

its supposed to report calories burned - even if you are sitting still (which is what it thinks is happening if you take it off) - it is adding in your natural metabolism calories (which are alot) from just being alive and breathing.....anything extra (like walking) would show up as more calories burned.

My vote is for the One right now because it also can do elevation (which is important)...but I'm looking forward to the flex (which I think may be a more convenient form factor) to add elevation. right now I have the Ultra and its still going strong.

SameMe_JustLess

I had an Ultra, upgraded to the Flex, took it back the next day and got the One. Have never looked back!!

thegoodner

You actually an swim with in a flex and I do it all the time - it's just not proven to be accurate at logging swimming activity. You can't go scuba diving in it though. We emailed FitBit specifically to ask them. It's water resistant to 20 meters.

I own a FLEX which I bought after several months of use with a ONE. I love them both for different reasons.

ONE - I hated wearing on my bra and was terrified of leaving it in a pocket and washing it. Also, the clip piece would wear out, and the wrist strap made me HOT when I was asleep and over time, would start to fall off in the bed. But, it is quite accurate, has the digital display, and tracks stairs THE FLEX DOES NOT DO THIS.

FLEX - I never have to take it off. The light display shows how you are progressing in your step goal. It doesn't bother me at night, and I am not afraid of it coming off - the clasp is tight at first, but once you get it through that first time, your golden. I wear it in the shower at the gym, at home, and wear it to the pool. I use the fit bit app on my iphone, which I love, but you can connect with the dongle if you need too.

The fitbit dashboard is very motivating, and works seamlessly with MFP. I think it's about preference really. I'm willing to trade a small amount of accuracy and stair counting, for the peace of mind of knowing where it is.

And to the lady who is complaining about logging calories burned even when it's not on you, others have pointed this out, but THAT'S HOW CALORIES WORK. You never stop burning them, so fitbit tracks that based on your personal metrics. If you go above and beyond your base calories, fitbit updates your MFP account giving you more calories in your daily allowance.

joyous504

I can't live without my one. I like the idea of wearing the flex all the time - it's water proof- but I don't know how accurate it is.

jonnythan

How can it accurately calculate calories burned if it doesn't know your heart rate and activity exertion? I prefer my polar hrm and only track my calories burned when exercising. I have a very low resting heart rate which means I have to work harder to get my heart rate up to burn decent calories.

I just don't see how it can be accurate.

I also don't believe my hrm is exactly accurate either but it's going to be closer than a pedometer.

Heart rate has very little to do with calories burned.

Your body burns calories by actually using energy. It takes energy to move your body a mile along flat ground, for instance. The Fitbit basically measures the amount of energy it takes to move your body how you've moved it. That's actual energy expenditure.

Anyway, get the One. The Flex is all kinds of problematic. The wrist just isn't a good place from which to measure body mass movement.

bsalvato

Once I turned off calorie estimation on my FLEX I like it a lot more now. I have worn it swimming, in the shower, running, at work and it's held up through all of that. I especially like that the band is designed to really stay on. Yes it takes a little work to get it closed the first time but after that it's no big deal. I like the silent alarm feature and the sleep tracking is interesting, but I don't really know what the point of it is. My biggest piece of advice would be to TURN OFF THE CALORIE ESTIMATION if you wear it all the time, like I do. There were some days it told me I could eat several hundred more calories that day, so I did, and the next day it would change and I would be over That was really frustrating as I ended up overeating on a few days when I thought I was in the clear and I wanted to chuck this thing out a window. Now that I fixed that little problem I am loving the FLEX.

It's only water resistant not waterproof. Swimming is not such a good idea with it.


I wear my One 24/7 and the cal estimation is brilliant. I get given about 400-600 more cals a day but only cause I work hard at getting it. 25,000 + steps will get you that. I only go via the cals here rather than the site, if MFP tells me I have 1500 cals more I can eat.... today was closer to 1900 on top of my already 1500 then so be it. I'm not putting anything on & taking it off.

it's water resistant to 10 meters, that's 30 feet. Swimming with it is just fine, it just doesn't track it which is why you set an activity record. I used mine in the pool while on vacation and no adverse effects. i just didn't keep it constantly submerged

From Flex Help: While it is water resistant and can be submerged up to 10 meters Flex is not designed to track swimming activities. If you want to better reflect your swimming activity and calories burned, we recommend logging the activity on the Activities page of your Dashboard.

SpaceMarkus

I have both. I like the one better for some things and the Flex better for others.

To me, having the One in my pocket meant I'd forget about it and was way more inclined to cheat. My normal weekly wardrobe is business casual, so clipping it to my pants wasn't an option. Either an exec would make me remove it, or it would hit on something at my desk and pop out of the silicone case. However, as someone that takes 5 flights of stairs a few times a day, the stair tracker was a nice option.

The Flex is great for keeping me honest. As it sits on my wrist it's a constant reminder not to reach for that latte. it is water resistant, which is great in Florida. I've taken it swimming several times with no issue (just wading depth, not diving to the bottom of the pool).

The One's display is nice but, again, if it's in your pocket I found myself using my iPhone anyway.

One downside to the Flex is it counts activity when you use that dominant hand. So if you're brushing your teeth, or doing any other "activities" that require the use of one arm it'll register a boat load of steps. Just take that into account. The only thing I miss is the activity timer. It was nice to see what I was burning during a workout rather than estimating it later.

Oh, and yes the FB is supposed to track your calories when you aren't wearing it. No it doesn't have your heart rate at the moment, but assume when you aren't wearing it you probably aren't doing any strenuous activity anyway.

ddzubow

I have the zip and it's been great for me. My sister has the One and loves it. I considered the Flex when it came out but wanted to wait for reviews...from everything I heard, it's not worth it. It is apparently very inaccurate (which is somewhat expected because it's worn on the wrist, so how can you expect it to monitor steps properly).

I would highly recommend the zip or one because of their accuracy, as long as you can past the "inconvenience" of not having it strapped to your wrist all the time.

themtron

How can it accurately calculate calories burned if it doesn't know your heart rate and activity exertion? I prefer my polar hrm and only track my calories burned when exercising. I have a very low resting heart rate which means I have to work harder to get my heart rate up to burn decent calories.

I just don't see how it can be accurate.

I also don't believe my hrm is exactly accurate either but it's going to be closer than a pedometer.

This...I think I had another idea in mind when I got the flex. Really, I couldn't care less abt the calories I burn when I'm doing nothing. I want to know what I burn when I work out. All the calories burned lumped together is not what I was going for. So I'm going to return it, and probably end up with some Polar-deal I can use to track my Zumba activity and take right off.

Also, my Flex light display was acting funky after 2 days, so even if it was what I was looking for , I'd send it back just for that. Bums me out I don't like it, b/c it looked pretty damn cool. Aww.

jparks341

I had the Ultra, the first version of the One. I like it, but switch to the zip for the compact water resistant version. Love the zip, not so crazy that it has a non rechargable battery in it. The battery can die and has on me, replacement isn't a problem though be careful with door on back. I broke a plastic tab on door opening the door because my battery die a second time. The great thing is Fitbit is replacing it for me free of charge, awesome!

sammniamii

If you are gonna go FitBit, go One. I have the Ultra (older model) - I tried to purchase the Flex and gave up after I was informed that it would be at least 1-2 more months before my order could be filled.

I did enjoy the Ultra, I do wished it would sync bluetooth, but for what it was, it was a good device. I also had mine before MFP changed/updated their syncing w/ the FitBits - i unsynced mine because I couldn't get accurate readings anymore, no matter what I tweaked (on both sites).

But isn't accurate for things like weight lifting or cycling, so for any FitBit product, be aware there are limitations to what it will track. Walking, jogging and running do great.

Good luck either way. Sadly, I gave up on Fitbit - it's not what I need and it's fitting how I do things. Went to another product.

Kellyerin1217

I have the Fitbit One and have been using it for about 5 weeks, thus far. I absolutely love it and so glad I purchased it. I have not tried the flex so I cannot state anything about the flex.

In terms of the One, I do wear it all day—even at night to track my sleep pattern. Sometimes I notice if I am not sleeping well that can affect my mood the next day.

It is very accurate—very. I have tested it several times, manually counting my steps, and comparing it to what Fitbit steps. I personally like that I can count stairs with the One. I want to push myself to reach new goals, not just steps, but also climbing stairs and the duration of miles, I walk per day.

As to deciding which one you get, I think this depends upon how you will be using it and your purpose. If you are a swimmer and want something you can wear in water, the Flex might be better for you. I rarely go swimming and I do not mind taking off the One when I am in the shower. I like the stair-counting feature with the One and the Flex does not support that.

CarrieGetsFit

The customer service from Fitbit is amazing - I lost my One and they replaced it, free of charge, within a week which I thought was pretty awesome of them.

I am happy with my One, but I will probably go for a Flex if I have to buy another in the furture - mainly because I'd never really have to take it off and so wouldn't ever forget to wear it.

highervibes

Since I heard the FItBit counts hand movements as steps, coupled with the fact that I'm Italian, if I were to get one I would get the One hehehe.

tyedyechick0930

I had this debate as well. I think both the flex and one are great products! I chose the one however, because I wanted the option to not have it visible and I love the screen option. I like to be able to look on it and see my progress for the day right there. I can see how many steps I'm at, see my stairs, calories burned, and I love the little flower that grows as I progress throughout the day. I also love the little motivational phrases that come across when I pick it up...like "Highfive Charity", "Let's get moving Charity". I just think its more motivational. But, both are good choices. Whichever works for you. I just like to have the screen option since I don't have an Iphone and mine won't sync to my phone, so I can still see where I'm at for the day. I can definitely tell a difference in my normal day activity. I have a desk/office job and since wearing the one, I choose to take the stairs instead of the elevator. When I need to take a restroom break, I walk to the one on the other side of the building of take the stairs up so I can see more progress on my fitbit. It has definitely motivated me more. I've lost 15lbs since wearing it. Let us know which one you go with. :bigsmile: And, if you want to add me as a friend on here or fitbit let me know. Best wishes, Charity :flowerforyou:

fysty75

LOVE LOVE LOVE my FitBit ONE!!! Thought about the Flex but don't like the idea of a bracelet. I can hide my One.