Fitbits - waste or worth it?

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Replies

  • KonaKat
    KonaKat Posts: 3,411 Member
    edited July 2017
    I have a FitBit Alta HR. Unlike many of you, I bought it specifically to be able to track my heart rate 24 hours a day via graph or instantly by glancing at my wrist. I have a heart situation that requires heart rate monitoring and this does it well. I can take my blood pressure and the pulse rate on it will be within 2 points of the Fitbit. I can see changes or trends on the app graph. There have been those who after wearing the HR versions discovered they had unusually high heart rates but no symptoms. When checked by a doctor and with use of an EKG, they found they had Atrial Fibrillation or AFib which can result in a 5 times increased risk of stroke.
  • hhebert01
    hhebert01 Posts: 5 Member
    What about Privacy concerns? How does FitBit and Garmin store your data? Is it default at Public? Any hack/security issues ot vulnerabilities in terms of location or account data breaches?
    Always a concern of mine for "syncable" things.
  • MsHarryWinston
    MsHarryWinston Posts: 1,027 Member
    To those of you with HR monitor devices, do you keep the HR monitoring switched on all day, or do you turn it on only when you exercise?

    I wear it 24/7 unless I'm showering. When I sleep I wear it REALLY loose but don't take it off.

    What i meant was, i thought there was an option to turn the HR monitoring on and off. For example, during normal daily activities you just use the step counter, no hr monitoring, then say you go for a run/purposeful exercise wherein you switch the HR monitor on to record your heart rate during your exercise, then when you're finished exercising you turn off the hr monitoring and revert back to a regular tracker.

    I guess my question pertains to what is the point of recording your Heart rate when you're not exercising.

    Am i being as clear as mud? :lol:

    Oh! Gotcha. One reason I wear my monitor all the time is because I'm trying to lower my resting heart rate, it's way too high. So as I do more cardio and my cardio vascular health gets stronger, my resting heart rate will lower = better heart health.
  • InkAndApples
    InkAndApples Posts: 201 Member
    My Fitbit is definitely worth it for me. I have wildly varying activity levels (anywhere from 20K to under 1000 steps on some days. No really.) so it helps me keep on track as far as making sure I'm not over/under eating. If my lifestyle was more consistent I don't think I'd "need" one, but they're still nice to have.