Fitness Tracker users!

JuneGem6471

I am looking at some of the Fitbits and the Garmin and I want the most bang for my buck. Please give me some feedback of your experiences.
I want it to monitor sleep and heartrate are the 2 most important things aside from the actual fitness tracking.

I appreciate the feedback!!

kedrel

Great post topic!
I would love to hear what others think and have experienced.
So far my experience is that "trackers" are either really good at daily activities, but lack accuracy or durability when it comes to dedicated workouts like running,cycling, And vice versa (not wearing a heart rate strap to work . Currently I decided tracking heart rate with a high accuracy was the most important so I use a Heart Rate strap for working out but just a casual tracker (moto 360 watch) for daily info. Admittedly a fitbit or garmin would probably be better but i love the tech.
I would love to find the holy grail of device that has the high accuracy and can be used daily.

autumnblade75

I bought a Fitbit Charge HR because my phone lacks the capacity to sync with a HRM chest strap via bluetooth. I find it to work very well at monitoring my heart rate during the day, and during a run - but there are articles that would indicate it doesn't work well for everyone. It also monitors my sleep habits, but I haven't been paying attention to that data, as I don't really have any interest in those numbers. The alarm feature is fantastic, though.

JuneGem6471

I like a lot of the features of the Garmin, and it has great reviews. @kedrel how comfortable is the chest strap? Does it stay put? What is it made of? I'm very curious about all the options. I really want to use this for as much as I can.
I have a medical condition that affects my sleep and take medication for it so I'm very curious as to my quality of sleep as well.

WordWhisperer

Don't rule out the Jawbone Up3. I get more detailed sleep info than the Fitbit friends I have compared with, as my sleep is broken into three categories, not two.

I forget what Fitbit calls them, but for Jawbone, I get to see light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. This is important for me because I feel physically better on days when I have significant amounts of deep sleep, and also because I get way more REM than recommended, and it makes me miserable, so monitoring these two categories allows me to tweak things and learn what is effective and what is not.

As for heart rate, my coach told me that since I love the math behind weight loss and fitness, if I wanted to do myself a favor, I would purchase a separate heart rate monitor and revel in the wildly better accuracy.

I would marry my Jawbone if I could. Which sounds weird both literally and otherwise.

kedrel

I have have seen the Jawbone UP3 and like the style of it. If your going to wear something during the day to work i think that would be a nice option!

@WordWhisperer I love the line "math behind weight loss and fitness" Funny. The Data I get from my Chest Strap paired up with my Phone gives me crazy data which has only gotten better over time. Altitude, Heart Rate, Pace (also yelling at me in the headphones when i fall behind a pace)

@JuneGem6471 The Strap I use is made by Zephyr and its a Bluetooth version (more pricey than some but connects to my phone) The Strap itself is.... well a strap. It is elastic and can be adjusted and i think fits well enough (can only speak how it fits a guy). Does not slide down or move at all. My personal experience is that cycling or spinning work great for it. Long running sessions over say 40 min can begin to rub a bit just behind the sensor. I usually stick 1st aid paper tape to the back of it to mitigate the rubbing and it works great. I have used this strap and one by Polar a while ago and found most of the behaviors the same. I wish they had ones you can rent to try... but after a few workouts you don't want anyone else's But Oooooo The fun data you get from it.