FitBit vs HRM

mmstgr

Has anyone tried both?
I'm looking into getting a heart rate monitor and have seen the fitbit too. I'd like to know which would be more accurate so I know what would be best for me and not a waste of money.
Thanks.

mmstgr

bump?

wolfchild59

It depends completely on your needs. If you want something that will track your daily calorie burn (along with steps, sleep and activity) then you want a FitBit.

But if you only want to track the calories that you burn during a dedicated work out, all you need is an HRM.

The FitBit will show you the calories you burned for a specific period of time, so if you worked out for an hour, you could narrow it down to just that hour and extract the caloric burn for the workout from the overall calories. But an HRM is designed ONLY to track calories during times that the heart rate is elevated to around 125-130 (the range stated on the guide for my HRM).

OsiViper

I got the forgot recently and love it. While it doesn't track calories burned if you do strength training or what not but it tracks walking, running, etc. and it helps motivate me to try and go further than I did the day before

mywise

fitbit is great if you do a lot of walking,stair climbing .... I used mine for a week and then got me a heart rate monitor (mine shows calories burned at all times) not just a certain target zone. IMO the fitbit is a waste of money unless you walk alot. Mine just sits in a drawer now. :-(

wolfchild59

fitbit is great if you do a lot of walking,stair climbing .... I used mine for a week and then got me a heart rate monitor (mine shows calories burned at all times) not just a certain target zone. IMO the fitbit is a waste of money unless you walk alot. Mine just sits in a drawer now. :-(

An HRM will show calories burned if you wear it 24 hours a day, but that doesn't mean it's an accurate measurement of those calories burned since that's not what an HRM was designed to measure. I'm actually curious what brand you have if it states that it can be used for daily tracking since none of the ones I looked into back when I bought mine indicated that. (I own a Polar)

mywise

Id rather rely on a heart monitor all day to track then a fitbit.... My reason is: where I work I stand in one spot lifting 2-5 pd pcs. of metal (forgings if you know what that is) 3 times a piece for at least 1500-2,000 plus pcs. a day. BTW i'm female and the only female in this dept. this is extremely hard on the body for a man let alone a woman(but hey I wanted day shift hrs. so I accepted lol). The fitbit does not track these movements nor does it track my heart rate or even come CLOSE to what my heart rate monitor would be calorie wise, the fitbit shows i don't do crap for 8 hrs unless of course I walk a short distance to use the bathroom.. LOL The point is depending on your job and what you do, u need to find what works for you. I have burned more in 8 hrs of working based off my heat rate monitor then what fitbit gives me in 16 hrs.of the day just because i'm not taking a step.. BTW mine is a POLAR (mine ticks off the calories even when I'm sitting, just as a fitbit guesstimates while your sleeping etc.), i I realize a HR monitor is not 100% accurate, but the fitbit is a joke in my case....


I see nothing in my manual that says my heart rate has to be over a certain amount to work. The last 3 ive owned never have.....so I'm a bit confused... urs only works after its above a certain rate???