Fitness WATCH and what they do

JayZ1488

So I was looking to get a fitness watch. Fitbit, apple, Oshen, etc.

Two things I’d want if I bought one

Would it know when your exercising?

#1
For example I know it counts steps, but let’s say I’m in a Zumba class for an hour doing more intense movements. I’m sure the watch won’t register and say “hey he’s doing Zumba” but would it somewhat accurately count calories burned.

#2
I have an iPhone and it tracks steps. I also landscape for a living. Sometimes I’m walking a lawn with a 15-25lb weed eater or leaf blower. I’m just walking but I’m sure burning a bit more then just a walk.

Also and this is THE BIG ONE....when I ride on my stand on mower. It sometimes tracks me as walking, and after a half acre lawn I’ll see my steps jumped up a couple thousand steps which I didn’t do and it throws off my steps. I’d like it to know I’m riding my machine not walking with the mower.
I’m doing great on my weight loss journey and thought a watch may be cool to have but only if it would be accurate to the exercise and work I do and not count steps like when I’m on my mower!

Any advice is appreciated

janejellyroll

When people are talking about what exercise watches can and can't do, I find it useful to understand specifically what model they're talking about. I have a Fitbit Charge 4.

My Fitbit will detect when I'm doing sustained activity and make a guess as to what that activity is. For the range of activities that I do (running, walking, elliptical trainer), it is almost always correct. On the occasions that I dance or do other more general aerobic movements, it makes an entry for aerobics, so I'm guess that it what it would pick up if I was doing something like Zumba. Would the calories be accurate? I have no idea, since I don't do it very often. I have found that is accurate for the activities I do regularly.

The Fitbit will not -- to my knowledge -- be able to tell when you are riding on a mower. It occasionally picks up steps when I drive, but it seems like the company has gotten better at this than it used to be (I've been using various Fitbits since about 2015). If you're walking with a heavier load, it will detect your heart rate. So if you are working hard during these time, it would show up in your calories burnt.

springlering62

With an Apple Watch, you actually start and end an exercise. You choose the type (yoga, running, walking, Pilates, etc) and it tracks your heartbeat, elevation changes while waking or running, etc and calculates the calories.

I’m a bit OCD and often count my steps and compare them to the watch, finding it to be pretty accurate. I’m guessing there’s some kind of algorithm where it “learns” you and becomes more accurate with time.

I don’t think it would record your standing mower as steps. It does, however, record certain arm or wrist movement as steps. I once worked on some crochet on an international flight and arrived home with 40,000 steps logged.

Within MFP, you set your activity level. I have mine set at highly active. I don’t record things like walks to the yoga studio or gym because their part of my activity. I have my watch set not to record calories to MFP for that reason.

I do start/stop intentional walks and runs that are outside my usual activity so I get calories credited for those.

I do not do this for weight training sessions, because they are so stop and start, and generallythe watch only records 20-30 calories for those- same as if I was just walking around the hiuse. So, no, if you don’t specifically start an exercise, it won’t record it as one.

However..... sometimes when I’ve walked to the store or up to the Square, it will ask me “do you want me to start a walking exercise?” I just dismiss it because that’s part of my usual activity.

By the same token, if I forgot to stop n exercise and it senses I’m no longer exerting, it will ask me if I want to stop the session.

But to keep it short, the best method is to touch the watch to start an exercise and likewise to end it when your done.

kamaboko1

I've recently spent far too much time researching fitness watches and have come to the conclusion that the output is the result of a lot of guess work. It doesn't matter who manufactures the watch. I currently own a Fitbit Versa 1. I can stand in one spot, swing my arms back and forth and it will start counting steps. I can be seated and have a heart rate of 150bpm. I can be exercising my *kitten* off and have a heart rate of 70bpm. Sometimes no heart rate at all. I've worn the watch in numerous suggested locations along my forearm. It made no difference. IMO we are ten years out from having an 'accurate' fitness watch.

yirara

No watch would know that you're carrying a heavy blower when walking. How would that be possible? Your heartrate might be a bit higher working than just walking casually because of it. Thus maybe you get somewhat higher calorie burns. You can start activities on all watches, like Zumba classes, and some detect those kind of things automatically. How well depends on the watch itself, but also on you. My Garmin watch has the annoying habit of double tracking a run sometimes. I start a run with GPS and all, end it, save it. Then realize I need to go to the supermarket, sweaty and all. Thus quick dip into my flat for money and shopping bag, and then a walk to the supermarket. My heartrate still high. This is the moment my watch realizes I might still be running, and thus ads an auto-detected run with the same start time as the one I already tracked, but with the end time when I'm back at my flat. I just delete this double dipped annoyance.

If you want to have a watch then you need to know what you're looking for. Would you be annoyed if you needed to charge it every day? Do you want specific features? Link with MFP (I don't do that as I get crazy workout calories due to that)? Maybe have a look at the DCrainmaker website. He has some fab reviews and tests.

kamaboko1

Yes, DC Rainmaker and DesFit have great reviews.