FITBIT or FITBUG - which one?

aNEWmarcus

Hoping to get some advice if possible..

I am currently looking at purchasing either a FITBIT (now links to MFP) or a FITBUG - both are available in the UK and seem similar, but I was wondering if anyone else has either or these or knows of them both and could recommend either?

Many thanks in advance MFPers for any advice..

aNEWmarcus

Wow not one response - I do find that unusual, but fair enough.. I'll google more and just decide from there..

princessjarvis

Let me know how you get on as i need a new HRM but really cant decide :-\

oswaldbowser

I wouldnt use either, I would use the Ki-fit as it uses skin sensors to measure calories burnt etc

boelyn

Hi

I have a Fitbit and it is excellent, it is really interesting to see how much you move naturally during the day, it also allows you to work out how much exercise you need to do to hit your goal.

I've purchased the premium package on the fitbit site and that is setting me a training (number of activity calories to burn) schedule each week so I find that really helpful.

I don't know about the fit bug, but the fact that the fitbit synch's with this site makes it all the more user friendly to me.

Hope that helps a bit

B

princessjarvis

Also the fit bit is on two easy payments on the Ideal World website, meaning £40 now and £39 on 29/02/2012 (if this helps)

ianrookb

I too have the Fitbit and would totally agree that it makes you really think about how much you move around. I've even found myself parking further from the entrance to supermarket to try and get some more steps in. How sad am I?

marianne_s

I have a question... can you wear FitBit during any other exercise like kick-boxing, etc.?

Because you can only clip it to your trousers and it doesn't come with a wrist strap or anything..

DanFromTheInternet

I haven't tried fitbit but I've got a fitbug and I know that fitbug has been around since 2005. They've had more time to hone their member experience and their stuff just works better. Also it looks like they're offering a two year membership for 50ukpounds or $50 if you live stateside. Hope this helps.
Dan

paulamarsden

ive got a fitbit, i got it on launch day in the Uk and i love it, it integrates here, has helped me increase my steps already and improve my sleep efficiency, it comes with a belt clip, and wrist strap for night times, in the gym i hook it to the neck of my vest top.

i REALLY like it.

epurucker82

I was going back and forth on which one to buy and I ended up getting the Fitbit and I love it. It's just that little push you need to get you moving and meeting your daily goals.

princessjarvis

ive got a fitbit, i got it on launch day in the Uk and i love it, it integrates here, has helped me increase my steps already and improve my sleep efficiency, it comes with a belt clip, and wrist strap for night times, in the gym i hook it to the neck of my vest top.

i REALLY like it.

Do you find it tracks what you burn whilst exercising correctly??

I aim to but 700 cals a session but im alwas sceptical that my calorie burns are accurate x

paulamarsden

ive got a fitbit, i got it on launch day in the Uk and i love it, it integrates here, has helped me increase my steps already and improve my sleep efficiency, it comes with a belt clip, and wrist strap for night times, in the gym i hook it to the neck of my vest top.

i REALLY like it.

Do you find it tracks what you burn whilst exercising correctly??

I aim to but 700 cals a session but im alwas sceptical that my calorie burns are accurate x

hmm this is a toughy really... i get a calorie adjustment most days from it as i have my MFP set as sendentary however my work days vary depending on whether im in the office or out and about.

i eat roughly half my exercise cals back, but the fitbit only measures overall burn, not specific activities because when linked to MFP you put your food and activity in here, not fitbits dashboard.

one example is weight training, i cant really measure it in either so it sjust on top, that way if it is overestimating then ive got some wiggle room.

hope that makes sense?

karenlesley47

I have a Fitbug but to be honest im not over impressed, the bug works fine but is just a pedometer & nothing more, the site its self is ok but the food & exercise lists are very limited no where near as extensive as MFP. You can add your own food onto your profile but its a bit long winded. All I tend to do now is load my steps & extra non bug activity on.

princessjarvis

ive got a fitbit, i got it on launch day in the Uk and i love it, it integrates here, has helped me increase my steps already and improve my sleep efficiency, it comes with a belt clip, and wrist strap for night times, in the gym i hook it to the neck of my vest top.

i REALLY like it.

Do you find it tracks what you burn whilst exercising correctly??

I aim to but 700 cals a session but im alwas sceptical that my calorie burns are accurate x

hmm this is a toughy really... i get a calorie adjustment most days from it as i have my MFP set as sendentary however my work days vary depending on whether im in the office or out and about.

i eat roughly half my exercise cals back, but the fitbit only measures overall burn, not specific activities because when linked to MFP you put your food and activity in here, not fitbits dashboard.

one example is weight training, i cant really measure it in either so it sjust on top, that way if it is overestimating then ive got some wiggle room.

hope that makes sense?

Yeah that makes sense see i always have my MFP set to maintainence as i go off my BMR - 600 cals a day and burn an extra 3500 through exercise so im looking at 2lbs a week loss as 1200 cals is no go for me im too moody without food ha ha x

cygnetpro

I got the FITBIT about a week ago and LOVE it! It's pretty accurate on stairs. Not positive about steps taken. Calorie count seems pretty good, too. Love the sleep measurement feature, which I believe is also accurate.

It's easy and fast to sync.

One disappointment is the food logging-- far fewer choices than MFP has. It's a pain to log food. I've been hesitant to sync with MFP because I don't log miscellaneous walking on MFP. The only exercise I log here is REAL exercise. But Fitbit clocks everything you do. I don't want MFP to give me an inflated activity level.

Good luck with your choice!

Ginni22

You can hoot it to your sports bra, and I am pretty sure you can buy something to keep it on also!

WTJoyce

I got the FITBIT about a week ago and LOVE it! It's pretty accurate on stairs. Not positive about steps taken. Calorie count seems pretty good, too. Love the sleep measurement feature, which I believe is also accurate.

It's easy and fast to sync.

One disappointment is the food logging-- far fewer choices than MFP has. It's a pain to log food. I've been hesitant to sync with MFP because I don't log miscellaneous walking on MFP. The only exercise I log here is REAL exercise. But Fitbit clocks everything you do. I don't want MFP to give me an inflated activity level.

Good luck with your choice!

You can link up Fitbit and MFP now, so much easier.

I use MFP for food and it sends the calories over to Fitbit Dashboard and let Fibit Dashboard feed my calorie burn back to here.

Joyja1075

I got a fitbit but am not too familiar with the fitbug. But from what I can read on the website, the fit bit may be a better choice. I love that the fitbit can clip on to anything (personally I clip it to my bra). Also, to sync it with my PC, i don't need to plug it into anything. It does it wirelessly and the batter last about 10 days before it needs to be recharged. Even that only takes about an hour to bring it back up.

I've checked my fitbit against the Wii Zumba program and the calories burn are quite inline with each other which leads me to believe that fitbit is quite accurate.

I am very happy with mine and I love it that MFP integrates so seamlessly with it.

sarahmaryfearnley

I'm unconvinced on the FitBit, having some positive and some negative experiences. I got it for free when we purchased a Kinect after Christmas and I thought it was pretty cool. 3 days later, when the cover popped off and I had to engineer it back together with some tape, I was glad I did not spend $100 on it.

I did like the activity level measurement. I have my MFP settings at lightly active and that's always concerned me. Am I really lightly active? FitBit has confirmed that I am; some days even truely active.

My favorite feature on the FitBit is the sleep efficiency measurement. I am not a very efficient sleeper and have been trying different things to improve that. It's nice to have a concrete way to measure.

I do not like that FitBit is really only a motion sensor so it cannot meaure activity from small movements like weight training, crunches, push ups, planks, etc. I sometimes do ballet exercises and it doesn't measure that well either.

The FitBit website overestimates your optimal calorie intake. There is a FitBit Users Group on MFP and that's a major complaint. If you set your goals on MFP to 1lb loss/week, you need to set your goals on FitBit to ~1.5lb loss per week to get the same calorie estimation.

I tried the FitBit Trainer program free for a week and would definately not spend money on that. All the program did was set higher and higher activity goals without really giving concrete ways to do that.

For the price, I think you can get a good HRM that will be more efficient at estimating your calorie burn through out the day. It is a pretty cool little gadget but not worth the $$ IMO.

WTJoyce

I got mine free, so I guess that makes it seem more attractive to me.

aNEWmarcus

Well thank you call for the advice and recommendations..

I think after a bit more thinking and reviewing FitBit seems to the be way, so have ordered this today..

I'll post some more info and update once I get it and use it for a short while..

Thanks all!!

CovertBazinga

I'm curious to know what you thought about your fitbit purchase. I am thinking about getting one!

Stuart5646

I have a fitbug but am looking to move over to the fitbit; I first went on FITBUG a 3 years ago when I was on an NHS referral, I found the nutritional database sparse, but as I hadn't paid I felt in no position to complain about the poor support and poor website;

Having now paid for the use and not seen anything change I feel now that I can;

There were promises that the website would improve and a mobile app be launched, neither of these have materialised.

The question really is a monthly fee after the initial purchase year with Fitbug to have a buggy and poor nutritional database or be able to use a free service like MFP which has mobile support and excellent nutritional database?

If there are any users who have used both but think I should stick with fitbug I would be grateful of the feedback in case I am seeing greener grass!

Kind regards

Stuart

PurpleTina

Stuart, I have had a Fitbug for the past two years, but got completely fed up with the lack of updates on the nutrition side of things. Came here a couple of weeks ago and I know which I prefer; have cancelled my Fitbug membership! They kept on promising new things, but nothing ever materialised.

For a non-active person, Fitbug is good in terms of encouraging you to get more active and walk. I'm guessing that Fitbit does the same though. Now that I do a lot more exercise, MFP is much easier to use, in that I can input calories burned accurately into the exercise log, rather than trying to convert it into 'steps'.

Also, I exercise 5 days a week. Fitbug doesn't recognise that rest days are important, and so my progress was looking as though I had somehow 'failed' on those two days, which I didn't find encouraging.

If I was starting my journey here I would get a Fitbit. As someone who now has an established exercise regime, I would say a decent HRM is more useful.

paulaann67

Check out the Epulse2 HRM it's the first strapless HRM & I love it. I had Fitbit but had to return it because it didn't sync well w MFP.

LivingInPuglia

I too have the Fitbit and would totally agree that it makes you really think about how much you move around. I've even found myself parking further from the entrance to supermarket to try and get some more steps in. How sad am I?

Me too, and it's not sad ... it's great if it gets you moving more

1fitnessplanner

Does anyone use a fit if now that it syncs with MFP and can cross over? I have a fitbit but I'm being given a fit bug by life insurance and I get a premiums reduction based on my activity levels so wondered people's experience?

marra501

I got a fitbug orb today and been playing with it this evening. I had the pedometer fitbug go but lost two of them! I got it for £30 as I'm a pru health member and it links my steps with certain targets that can along with gym attendance (half price virgin active membership); reduce my pru health premium.
As for the Orb and Mfp linking I'm using mfp as my main dashboard for everything. The fitbug dash is nice but I just use it to aim for number of steps to gain points with pru health and I'm going to check out the sleep tracking function tonight )I should be asleep now!).
For calories burned I'm using runkeeper with mfp to add calories from walking / running and using mfp to estimate calories from weight training. I use jefit for weight sessions and just input the session length in mfp (cardiovascular > strength training). As I and many others have posted before I'm hoping that mfp and jefit will link soon.
I have no idea how the fitbug calorie adjustment / negative calories work but I only read the thread earlier and I'm tired! So until I understand it I'm ignoring this bit.
I'm not sure why the fitbug doesn't add in calories from steps though I may be missing something and again have only had it a few hours!
If the fitbug measured calories from steps I could do away with runkeeper and just have the fitbug measuring all cardio.

fitnessguru121

FITBUG/FITBIT REVIEW:

I have both and have compared results and have found Fitbug to be more accurate.. a lot more. Also Fitbug have been around for about 7 years longer so have mastered the app and technology, including the ability to recharge itself.

Fitbit fraudulently copied Fitbug and bought it to the market in the USA. Fitbit are being taken to court in February and could seize to exist. The evidence for copying Fitbug is substantial and they haven't really got a leg to stand on as it was copied in practically everyway, right down to the logo and similar slogan.

Technically speaking I prefer the Fitbug as it is more user friendly and is adaptable to the clothes and way you would like to secure to your person. Also I know it will continue to serve me as a customer whilst Fitbit's future is uncertain.

fitnessguru000

re:fitnessguru121-fitbug/fitbit review
I see that he has already decided the outcome of court case by stating that Fitbit has fraudulently copied Fitbug. How would he know this prior to the court's decision? I suspect that he works for Fitbug and all his comments should be disregarded. Maybe he should end up in court himself for defamation. By the way I am an airconditioning engineer NOT a fitness guru or even pretending to be one[/i]