Fitness tracker recommendations

Okohme

When I started out I was desperately out of shape and overweight. After 8 months of dieting and regular exercise I am very close to goal weight and am getting into decent shape. I began with a fitbit alta and quickly upgraded to a Charge HR to track heart rate. It did okay for a while but through daily use fell apart. The replacement they sent me never worked right, and the second replacement didn't either. So I am currently with a tracker that is somewhat useful, I can still do all of my nutritional tracking through the app on my phone, but the HR tracker not working is irritating as hell, but also pretty useless for me now that I actually attempting to sort of train.
I will thusly soon be in the market for a new one but have no idea what to try. My initial investigations into the Fitbit indicated it was a decent device but my experience has not been so. I am looking for personal recommendations with specifics as to what you like about the device. I am not a serious or professional athlete but having no good athletic experience so far, I could use a little guidance as I am attempting to train towards a 10k, maybe, eventually, beyond.

lizandrashaw

I love my Polar watch. I got my first one in 2000 and it lasted until this year when I bought a second one.

ferrellrc

My charge HR is still working.. keeping my fingers crossed with fitness pal. I just synced my tracker to fitness pal but I don't understand why it subtracts calories from the total like I ate those calories... what am I missing in this calorie math?

Okohme

ferrellrc wrote: »

My charge HR is still working.. keeping my fingers crossed with fitness pal. I just synced my tracker to fitness pal but I don't understand why it subtracts calories from the total like I ate those calories... what am I missing in this calorie math?

Wish I could help with that. I haven't synced to Myfitnesspal yet so I could not begin to tell you

singletrackmtbr

Anything made by Garmin. Waterproof, more durable, better battery life than Fitbits, and built in GPS on some units. I love my Fenix 3 HR but would also do the Vivoactive HR at a lower price point.

singletrackmtbr

ferrellrc wrote: »

My charge HR is still working.. keeping my fingers crossed with fitness pal. I just synced my tracker to fitness pal but I don't understand why it subtracts calories from the total like I ate those calories... what am I missing in this calorie math?

If you are synced with MFP and have negative adjustments on, Fitbit will look at the calories it calculates you actually burned, and the calories MFP thinks you would typically burn based upon your information about age, height, weight, and activity level.

The difference between these two numbers is added (or subtracted) to your MFP daily allowance. This number will change throughout the day whenever you sync.

MiniMansell1964

i had 4 fitbits,all broke, and all where replaced free, on the 4th break i decided there was a generic problem with the make and moved away from fitbit
i now have a tomtom spark cardio and could not be happier.
waterproof. gps. Hr

VegasFit

My boyfriend's Charge HR and my vivosmart died at about the one year mark. I didn't replace through Fitbit or Garmin as I didn't want refurbished although speaking as to Garmin only I've had good experience with their customer service. I currently have the Vivoactive HR and so far I'm very happy with it. It definitely has more features than I need. Dcrainmaker.com is a good site with breakdowns of all the trackers

Tacklewasher

singletrackmtbr wrote: »

Anything made by Garmin. Waterproof, more durable, better battery life than Fitbits, and built in GPS on some units. I love my Fenix 3 HR but would also do the Vivoactive HR at a lower price point.

I have to disagree with the "anything from Garmin" comment. I have a Vivosmart HR and not sure if it is just because it is Garmins entry level unit or what, but I'm ready to ditch it. Support has been terrible with updates breaking functionality and new updates ignoring issues for for new features. I'm past the point I can return it, but am very disapointed and looking for something else.

I can't use activities on it or it double counts calories. It won't let the HR screen stay on. Stairs are useless (but I think that is a common problem). HR when exercising is way off compared to a Polar band (it isn't even close half the time).

Don't want a Fitbit as I need waterproof for fishing, but looking at the Polar stuff. Just hate losing the data I've already accumulated. I also want HR. Not sure about GPS, but it may be a nice upgrade if I can afford it.

RoxieDawn

I am going to get right on the Garmin bandwagon cause I got off the Fitbit wagon.. My fitbit charges were junk (sorry)..

eta I use a forerunner now, but I really did like my vivosmart (with HR chest strap), I just needed a running watch with GPS and HM capability. the vivosmart to me is a good beginner tracker.

NorthCascades

Okohme wrote: »

I will thusly soon be in the market for a new one but have no idea what to try. My initial investigations into the Fitbit indicated it was a decent device but my experience has not been so. I am looking for personal recommendations with specifics as to what you like about the device. I am not a serious or professional athlete but having no good athletic experience so far, I could use a little guidance as I am attempting to train towards a 10k, maybe, eventually, beyond.

Get a basic Forerunner.

Tacklewasher

RoxieDawn wrote: »

I am going to get right on the Garmin bandwagon cause I got off the Fitbit wagon.. My fitbit charges were junk (sorry)..

eta I use a forerunner now, but I really did like my vivosmart (with HR chest strap), I just needed a running watch with GPS and HM capability. the vivosmart to me is a good beginner tracker.

Make sure it is a Garmin HS. The Vivosmart won't talk to any other brand.

singletrackmtbr

grmckenzie wrote: »

singletrackmtbr wrote: »

Anything made by Garmin. Waterproof, more durable, better battery life than Fitbits, and built in GPS on some units. I love my Fenix 3 HR but would also do the Vivoactive HR at a lower price point.

I have to disagree with the "anything from Garmin" comment. I have a Vivosmart HR and not sure if it is just because it is Garmins entry level unit or what, but I'm ready to ditch it. Support has been terrible with updates breaking functionality and new updates ignoring issues for for new features. I'm past the point I can return it, but am very disapointed and looking for something else.

I can't use activities on it or it double counts calories. It won't let the HR screen stay on. Stairs are useless (but I think that is a common problem). HR when exercising is way off compared to a Polar band (it isn't even close half the time).

Don't want a Fitbit as I need waterproof for fishing, but looking at the Polar stuff. Just hate losing the data I've already accumulated. I also want HR. Not sure about GPS, but it may be a nice upgrade if I can afford it.

Sorry for all the your issues. I certainly have had growing pains with my Garmin but for the past four months it's been working and syncing like a champ with no issues. There certainly are just as many (likely more) issues with Fitbit if you check the forums here.

I will say it's pretty well known that a wrist based monitor will not give the same accuracy as a chest strap for certain types of exercise, so that complaint is somewhat unfounded.

I haven't heard much good or bad about Polar, but they have been in this business for a long time. I am guessing if their product is significantly better than Garmin or Fitbit they would have a much larger market share than they do.

I stand by my Garmin recommendation. I couldn't be happier with my Fenix 3 HR.

Tacklewasher

Anyone interested can read the forum https://forums.garmin.com/forumdisplay.php?556-vivosmart-HR-HR on the issues with the Vivosmart.