Fitbit Zip

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smalltoongirl
smalltoongirl Posts: 16 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
has anyone got one? I'm interested in buying one but not sure if its just an expensive pedometer. When I exercise, will it recognise it and will my calories burned increase? Or will I need a wrist one like the flex. Thank you!
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Replies

  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    All the Fitbit models calculate your TDEE (maintenance calories) and sync with MFP. Which one you choose is entirely a matter of personal preference.

    You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
  • Azexas
    Azexas Posts: 4,334 Member
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    Like Editorgrrl said, all the fitbits will calculate your calories burned throughout the day and sync to MFP. If you are curious of which fitbit does what you can check out:

    http://www.fitbit.com/compare
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 612 Member
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    If your looking for something to calculate your calories during exercise, you would be better of getting a activity monitor that you can control when it reads your heart rate. preferably with a chest strap sensor.
    2 good ones are the Polar A300 and M400 both with H7 chest strap sensor.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Got my daughter a Zip. Before giving it to her, I wore it for a few days and compared to my One. Very similar #s in terms of steps, calories burned. Zip is the lowest model, does not track sleep or floors climbed. But a reliable device for steps. No activity tracker can be perfect for calories, but Fitbit seems to do a pretty good job.

    Personally I also tried the Polar A300 and while it was good during actual cardio, it was useless as a daily tracker. When pushing a shopping cart, holding things with the arm that wore the device, etc. - it didn't count my steps fully. Gave me something like 250 steps for a grocery shopping trip, and it was at least 100 each way from car to entrance. Returned to Amazon...
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 612 Member
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    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    Got my daughter a Zip. Before giving it to her, I wore it for a few days and compared to my One. Very similar #s in terms of steps, calories burned. Zip is the lowest model, does not track sleep or floors climbed. But a reliable device for steps. No activity tracker can be perfect for calories, but Fitbit seems to do a pretty good job.

    Personally I also tried the Polar A300 and while it was good during actual cardio, it was useless as a daily tracker. When pushing a shopping cart, holding things with the arm that wore the device, etc. - it didn't count my steps fully. Gave me something like 250 steps for a grocery shopping trip, and it was at least 100 each way from car to entrance. Returned to Amazon...

    No arm based pedometer is going to give you accurate steps, the poster said she wanted something that was good for doing exercise which is what a HRM (A300) does.

  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    ScubaSteve1962 wrote: »
    No arm based pedometer is going to give you accurate steps, the poster said she wanted something that was good for doing exercise which is what a HRM (A300) does.

    I lost the weight & have maintained for a year with first a Fitbit Flex (which doesn't even have a heart rate monitor) and now a Charge HR. My step count may not be 100% accurate (I get "steps" drying my hair, and miss steps pushing a shopping cart), but my Fitbit burn obviously is. And that's all that really matters to me.

    The only way to gauge the accuracy of any device is to trust it for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress. Buy a device at a store near you, keep the receipt, and return it if you don't like it.

    One advantage of Fitbit over other devices is the social aspect. Fitbit challenges against your friends are great motivation—and fun.
  • venuila
    venuila Posts: 190 Member
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    I didn't do a lot of research before I got my zip. I don't know why but I thought it was going to show me calories burned during exercise but it doesn't. I still use it though with a hrm I bought off amazon.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    venuila wrote: »
    I didn't do a lot of research before I got my zip. I don't know why but I thought it was going to show me calories burned during exercise but it doesn't. I still use it though with a hrm I bought off amazon.

    Your Fitbit burn is TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), the number of calories necessary to maintain your current weight. Your default MFP calorie goal is activity level minus deficit. When you connect your accounts, MFP sends your water & aggregate meal data to Fitbit, and Fitbit sends your burn to MFP. MFP projects your burn at 11:59 p.m., compares that to your MFP activity level, and adjusts your calorie goal accordingly.

    If (and only if) you enable negative calorie adjustments in your diary settings, eating back your Fitbit adjustments means you're eating TDEE minus deficit.

    If you want your Fitbit exercise to appear in your MFP newsfeed, post a status update.

    You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
  • TheSurge0n
    TheSurge0n Posts: 113 Member
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    I'm using Fitbit HR, it's just for motivation.
    It's good.
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 612 Member
    edited June 2015
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    editorgrrl wrote: »
    ScubaSteve1962 wrote: »
    No arm based pedometer is going to give you accurate steps, the poster said she wanted something that was good for doing exercise which is what a HRM (A300) does.

    I lost the weight & have maintained for a year with first a Fitbit Flex (which doesn't even have a heart rate monitor) and now a Charge HR. My step count may not be 100% accurate (I get "steps" drying my hair, and miss steps pushing a shopping cart), but my Fitbit burn obviously is. And that's all that really matters to me.

    The only way to gauge the accuracy of any device is to trust it for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress. Buy a device at a store near you, keep the receipt, and return it if you don't like it.

    One advantage of Fitbit over other devices is the social aspect. Fitbit challenges against your friends are great motivation—and fun.

    Polar has the same social aspect with the flow app, the only advantage fitbit has is the advertising, Polar just came out with 3 activity monitors. but you haven't seen one commercial for them. As far accuracy, I use a V800, and wear a pedometer. Today, I did 66 mins on the elliptical, at 160 to 170 strides per min, the V800 is off by 1500 steps due to my arm not moving sometimes. that's the only downfall. But the things it will do, give you and accurate heart rate while working out, display your heart rate and adjust level/resistance on most cardio equipment, give you your heart rate while swimming, waterproof to 30m. It's nice to know that I'm putting in more effort to get my heart rate to the level that I used to put in little effort before. Also, with polar it seperates BMR/activity/training calories,it adjust MFP for BMR/activity calories, and put your exercise calories in for you. With the polar you control what profile you are using IE: crosstrainer (elliptical), treadmill, walking, running, swimming and my other exercise, and when you sync with the polar flow app, that information syncs to mfp.

    Any time you're more active your going to maintain or lose weight.
  • smalltoongirl
    smalltoongirl Posts: 16 Member
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    Some of my family have fitbits and always complete to see who does the most steps a day. I looked into the polar one, but for the amount of exercise I do I feel like it won't be as good for me. I like the idea of the fitbit zip being in your pocket or clipped on. I wear a watch everyday which is why i wouldn't want a wrist one. I'm a student so cost definitely matters which is why i'm looking at the cheapest.

    The cardio workout I usually do burns around 400-500 calories a time. Will the zip pick these calories up or not?
  • TheGaudyMagpie
    TheGaudyMagpie Posts: 282 Member
    edited June 2015
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    I have a One. It basically is an expensive pedometer, but an accurate one. Cheap pedometers have never worked correctly for me, but the Fitbit One does. I don't regret the expense at all as I think I've had it for two years and I wear it nearly every day. I've promised myself that I can look into one of the fancier models when it dies, but I believe it will last for years as it has even been through the washer a few times. I don't feel the need to upgrade otherwise. I think the Zip is a fine investment if you just want to track steps.

    If you do something other than walking, you can enter the exercise in the Fitbit dashboard and it will still sync with MFP. Otherwise, a Zip or One will not distinguish between types of movement. I am not sure about the other models, but I'm a little suspicious anyway of the reliability of anything that claims to do more than count steps.
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 612 Member
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    Here you go, this should answer all your questions
    http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/10/fitbit-depth-review.html
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 612 Member
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    TheGaudyMagpie wrote: »
    I have a One. It basically is an expensive pedometer, but an accurate one. Cheap pedometers have never worked correctly for me, but the Fitbit One does. I don't regret the expense at all as I think I've had it for two years and I wear it nearly every day. I've promised myself that I can look into one of the fancier models when it dies, but I believe it will last for years as it has even been through the washer a few times. I don't feel the need to upgrade otherwise. I think the Zip is a fine investment if you just want to track steps.

    If you do something other than walking, you can enter the exercise in the Fitbit dashboard and it will still sync with MFP. Otherwise, a Zip or One will not distinguish between types of movement. I am not sure about the other models, but I'm a little suspicious anyway of the reliability of anything that claims to do more than count steps.

    While fit bit just started doing more, Polar heart rate monitors have been around and used for 30 years, they just got into the activity monitor market in the last 2 years they are very reliable and have great customer service.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I love my little zip. This is my third one, as I have lost a couple; boo. The one advantage the wrist versions have is that they recharge. Every few months I have to get a new battery for my zip. I don't like things on my wrist other than my motivational running band.

    df4b7353088b51a85fb1092f67150d52.jpg

    The zip DOES NOT accurately log activity on a stationary bicycle and of course I don't wear it in to the pool. It has it's limitations.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    Oh, and it syncs to MFP and only adds calories above my base metabolic rate. It's smart. I don't know how.
  • colors_fade
    colors_fade Posts: 464 Member
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    I have a zip. It is basically a glorified pedometer. The nice thing is, it does sync to MFP, so the steps get counted as exercise calories automatically and I don't have to hand-enter the data myself. In addition, the FitBit dashboard (webpage) has some nice metrics on it by default. I like looking at my overall calorie deficit for the week, and seeing what days have been good/bad. It's a good way to track my overall deficit for the week.

    As far as Heart Rate Monitors go: I understand, greatly, the desire to have a HRM-type device and more accurately account for your exercise. But my own opinion is, those devices are vastly overpriced, and you're just as well off with a simple pedometer like a zip, and then entering manually into MFP any other exercise you do.

  • djscavone
    djscavone Posts: 133 Member
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    My two cents. I started with a ZIP and really liked it as it was cheap, small, and displayed the steps. My wife had a flex and I did not like the non display of steps. She then got a ONE. I liked how it kept a charge and was easy to recharge via her laptop. I on the other hand had to buy new batteries every three months and then for some reason it began to eat them more frequently. So I went with the ONE and have been very happy. So yes it is a pedometer, how expensive is relative. For $99 I thought it was a fair deal. For my running I use a Garmin forerunner 10. Again a lower end device, low cost at under $100, but it does what I want - pace, time, logs to a website. I like to use what I need and what is made for the activity.
  • brightsideofpink
    brightsideofpink Posts: 1,018 Member
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    I have a cheap zip and I've been using it since last August. It does everything I expect it to do and I'm quite happy with it. I've had it long enough to compare the expected calorie burn against my actual weight loss and I find it pretty accurate. I've lost as expected. Most of my steps come from intentional exercise- running, fast walking- not just from daily activities. It does a good job of recognizing the difference between 5000 steps accumulated making photo copies and walking from office to office and 5000 steps earned in a run. A basic pedometer won't do that for you. Hope that helps!
  • brightsideofpink
    brightsideofpink Posts: 1,018 Member
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    jgnatca wrote: »
    I love my little zip. This is my third one, as I have lost a couple; boo. The one advantage the wrist versions have is that they recharge. Every few months I have to get a new battery for my zip. I don't like things on my wrist other than my motivational running band.

    The zip DOES NOT accurately log activity on a stationary bicycle and of course I don't wear it in to the pool. It has it's limitations.

    I've done a few tests with this. If I invert it and clip it to the bottom of my workout capris, it registers pretty close to the expected burn of a stationary bike. It doesn't catch every cycle, which is a good thing. You ride 3 miles and it registers less than 1 mile walked, but it seems to be pretty good when matched up against other charts I've found. Try it out.

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