HRM vs. FitBit

airforcewife1007

I've been debating this for about a week or so, and I wanted to get some opinions on whether a HRM or the FitBit (or other device) is better to have. I already have a HRM, and I like it, but I'm really interested in the Fitbit because it tracks sleep, or so I've heard. Any recommendations? Comments? Thanks! :happy:

jlahorn

Prefaced by saying that I love FitBits for many reasons...

Either I had a defective unit, or the sleep tracker is completely unreliable. I didn't even want that feature, so I'd take off the FitBit at night, leave it on my dresser, and FitBit would register that I'd woken up 8 times during the night. I don't live in an earthquake zone and don't let pets in the bedroom at night. No reason for it to record any movement at all.

The stairs tracker is also completely unreliable in many environments. It was ok in a interior hotel stairway, but outdoors, the counts are all over the map. My husband and I would take the same hike at the same time, both wearing Ones, and one of us would register 52 floors while the other would have 78. It also registered steps taken on the second floor of a building as stairs climbed.

However, I have had a great experience with the step and calorie counters and with the charts and graphs built into the web site. When I'm good about tracking my food, the projected weight loss matches right up over time (not necessarily week by week, but definitely month by month.) Their customer service is also fantastic if you lose or damage a unit. I've had multiple units survive trips through the washing machine, too.

Between the two of us, my husband and I have gone through 3 Ones and a Zip, and due to the unreliability of the special features for the One plus the fact that the One seems to make regular breaks for freedom when worn clipped to my bra, I prefer and recommend the Zip.

blt0087

Either I had a defective unit, or the sleep tracker is completely unreliable. I didn't even want that feature, so I'd take off the FitBit at night, leave it on my dresser, and FitBit would register that I'd woken up 8 times during the night. I don't live in an earthquake zone and don't let pets in the bedroom at night. No reason for it to record any movement at all.

Maybe you have a ghost who is trying to live a healthy "life"style :indifferent: :laugh:

lina011

i own a fitbit now but a zip one, i could not careless about sleep lol but overall i find it really motivating to see how many steps i take and the calorie burn also ,i own a HRM tooo so ive gone all out !! its very interesting too see when you sync both MFP with Fitbit your overall calorie burn throughout the day, ive only had it for 3 days and it goood so far. however fitbit seems a little high for calorie burn

cwolfman13

It depends on your goals. They serve completely different purposes. A FitBit does a reasonably good job estimating your calorie burn throughout the day...a HRM isn't going to do that. A FitBit isn't however going to tell you what HR zone you're in for training purposes.

A HRM is excellent when you're training and your training requires you to be in different zones for different aspects of said training...they also give you a reasonable estimate of calories burned during an aerobic event. Outside of an aerobic event however and a HRM is virtually useless for estimating calorie burn...

Monica342

I love my fitbit flex so far Jordan! It doesn't track your heart rate so I guess that is one of the biggies. I mainly like it for the calories burned feature:) It seems to be pretty accurate on its tracking abilities so far, I like to think so at least considering the price of it!