Anyone currently using a fit bit charge with heart rate monitor?

BitterSweetWinter

after watching and reading many reviews I am planning on purchasing a FItBit charge HR. I was wondering if anyone else is currently using one and how they are liking it?

Does it motivate you?
Do you feel it's accurate?

I plan on using it with daily activities but also at the gym, I'm hoping to get a more accurate calories burned.
Thank you.

lovechattys

I have had mine for a month. Love it. I have had a body media fit and an amiigo and now the charge hr. It's my favorite by far.

amyrose1387

I have had mine for a week, and so far so good :-) Heart rate is much more accurate during intense cardio than I had anticipated ([I had read a fair few negative reviews.) I had a fitbit one before I got the charge, and I have loved both. The heart rate feature is awesome.

kjsinsane

I have had my charge HR since the beginning of April & so far I really like it. The only trouble I'm noticing is that when I get very sweaty especially on my arm the heart rate seems to not be reading. If I go in to check the heart rate I just see the two dashes with the heart beating. Anyone else having this issue? Any suggestions on maybe how to fix this? When I look at my graphs after my workout the heart rate is still showing but I'm not sure how accurate it is. Other than that it has been wonderful.

allbarrett

I love my Charge HR. I don't rely on it for motivation, exactly, but it is a fun toy and I love data...and it provides lots of that.

ksinsane: the HR monitor in the Charge uses an optical sensor to monitor heartrate (it flashes light to highlight your capillaries and a sensor beside the LEDs counts the pulses of blood through the capillaries)...anything that interferes with the flashing light or the sensor (including water/sweat) will throw it off. The Charge will try to fill in the blanks between successful measurements and so you get the full graphs after your workout.

DvlDwnInGA

I wouldn't set your TDEE by it. It is a neat motivator though.

BeLightYear

I like my Charge HR but do not think it is accurate for high intensity exercise. It shows me that I burn the same amount of calories walking for 60 minutes as I do during 60 minutes of high intensity kickboxing (Turbo Fire) lol

I had the Bodymedia armband for years and loved that, I believe that was very accurate. Too bad they stopped making them

The FitBit is fun though to compete with my friends for steps and I do like the smilie faces.

thankyou4thevenom

I've had a fitbit since the Ultra was first launched and I love it. I find it very motivating. I suppI moved over to Charge HR in May and have no regrets. I love it even more as I have the data available on my wrist.

kika_mckee

I just got mine last week, and I don't think it's as accurate as my other HR Monitor with the check strap but it's so much more convenient that I will take it!

thankyou4thevenom

DvlDwnInGA wrote: »

I wouldn't set your TDEE by it. It is a neat motivator though.

Ummm that's entirely what the fitbit is designed to measure.

eileensofianmushinfine

I LOVE it!!!! I actually use it mainly for the # of steps and the heart rate. For what I need, the # of steps is accurate enough. The heart rate monitor is usually spot-on. It's great motivation with the challenges through the phone app.

DvlDwnInGA

thankyou4thevenom wrote: »

DvlDwnInGA wrote: »

I wouldn't set your TDEE by it. It is a neat motivator though.

Ummm that's entirely what the fitbit is designed to measure.

I know, it is not accurate is what I am saying.

tlrcwr

I love mine. I got it three weeks ago and it is very eye opening and motivating. I now find ways to fit in exercise everyday because it's depressing to see how little I move if I don't. I also finally caught on to how the calories, calorie goal etc works with the dashboard on my computer, and that made all the difference for me in terms of starting to lose weight. I've had zero trouble with mine. One thought though, measure your wrist for sizing. I bought the small based on my wrist (6.2) and I would have been more comfortable with the large size.

editorgrrl

Your Fitbit burn is TDEE—way more accurate than any online calculator. The only way to gauge the accuracy is to trust your Fitbit for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress.

I lost the weight & have maintained for a year thanks to MFP + Fitbit + Trendweight.

You can learn more (and find friends) in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

Fitbit challenges are great motivation—and fun.

Edited to add: Your Fitbit will calculate your TDEE, but you still have to log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly.

Logging is simple, but it ain't easy. Logging works.

sandjar131

I've had mine since they came out in January - love it! I tested the heart rate function during Zumba class with my Polar chest strap monitor and it was within a beat or two of the Polar every time I checked. Just got my husband one for Father's Day and he loves seeing which one of us had more steps in the day .

Bacchants

I got mine last week and I love it already! I find it motivates me to make better choices, eg on my commute home I can take the short route with escalator, or longer route with steps. Having it on my wrist reminds me to take the longer route. I'm hoping that soon I'll pick up the habit of going the longer way by default.

I'm not a massive fan of the dashboard on the PC, and I find the app screen is more intuitive to use. I also don't wear mine to sleep as I find it annoying.

Then I love the new update they just did, with a wrist flick you get the time which is really minor but I find convenient!

editorgrrl

Bacchants wrote: »

Then I love the new update they just did, with a wrist flick you get the time which is really minor but I find convenient!

I hate it—so distracting! I preferred hitting the button to see the time.

thankyou4thevenom

DvlDwnInGA wrote: »

thankyou4thevenom wrote: »

DvlDwnInGA wrote: »

I wouldn't set your TDEE by it. It is a neat motivator though.

Ummm that's entirely what the fitbit is designed to measure.

I know, it is not accurate is what I am saying.

There are quite literally thousands of people who would disagree with you.

ThatLadyFromMN

I've had mine since March and LOVE IT! Yeah it has it's kinks but it's first gen. I find myself wanting to be much more active because I like too work week and weekend step challenges. It's fun! I was in a weight loss plateau for like 6 months but now I'm starting to lose again. I have to clean up my diet more if I want to see big losses though. Lol.

I bought the smaller size based on my wrist measurement, at first I was bummed I didn't get the bigger size but it loosened up real quick when I started losing again.

I've had the dash marks before where it wasn't reading my HR, but I just took it off real quick and wiped off the sweat from my arm and the fit bit, or I shove my shirt between the fitbit and my arm to get rid of my sweat. It still pretty accurately tracks your workout though, it just kind of averages your HR between when it was disrupted and when it picks up the HR again. It's usually only a matter of seconds anyways.

DvlDwnInGA

Cost of admission I would imagine has swayed more than a few. Look, I am not saying they can't be accurate, though last Thursday mine told me I burned 4725 calories, Friday I burned 4241 Calories, Saturday I burned 3921 Calories, Sunday I burned 3892 Calories, etc. etc. I understand these get more accurate over time, but I can tell you that if I were to eat at 500 calorie deficit daily and went by what my fitbit told me I burned, I would not be losing a pound a week.

editorgrrl

DvlDwnInGA wrote: »

I can tell you that if I were to eat at 500 calorie deficit daily and went by what my fitbit told me I burned, I would not be losing a pound a week.

The less you have to lose, the more slowly it comes off. That's just the way the human body works. If you're less than 50 lbs. overweight, you probably can't lose 1 lb. per week—with or without a Fitbit.

Set your goal to .5 lb. for every 25 lbs. you're overweight, enable negative calorie adjustments, and be patient.

DvlDwnInGA

editorgrrl wrote: »

DvlDwnInGA wrote: »

I can tell you that if I were to eat at 500 calorie deficit daily and went by what my fitbit told me I burned, I would not be losing a pound a week.

The less you have to lose, the more slowly it comes off. That's just the way the human body works. If you're less than 50 lbs. overweight, you probably can't lose 1 lb. per week—with or without a Fitbit.

Set your goal to .5 lb. for every 25 lbs. you're overweight, enable negative calorie adjustments, and be patient.

Thanks, I have lost over 60 pounds using this sight and been an logging for a long time. I don't log my workouts, don't worry about how many calories I burned so I can eat more daily, I eat the same calories daily whether I burn 500 cals in the gym or sit on the couch watching tv.

I will stand by my original comment that I would be careful setting your tdee using a fitbit of any kind. Last year I had my fitbit and this site linked. It did not take me long to realize that was a bad idea.

Just giving another side to the fitbit argument for this thread, as everyone else here seems to think they work great. I personally have seen some of their limitations and I am just saying use caution.

editorgrrl

DvlDwnInGA wrote: »

Last year I had my fitbit and this site linked. It did not take me long to realize that was a bad idea.

Just giving another side to the fitbit argument for this thread, as everyone else here seems to think they work great. I personally have seen some of their limitations and I am just saying use caution.

I agree. That's why I said "trust your Fitbit for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress." All the burns & calorie counts are nothing but estimates, so it takes a whole lot of trial & error to find what works for each of us.

BitterSweetWinter

You guys are awesome! Thank you so much for your thoughts. I purchased one. I was lucky the sales lady had one and let me try hers on to see if the large fit. Now off the the gym..... hope I do this right.