Thoughts On Fitbit Ultra Tracker?

sarahharmintx

I have it. Love it. Its a great motivator. Message me if you have specific questions.

christamt

using since about jan. i LOVE LOVE LOVE this machine. you will be addicted to it and use it all the time. its inspiring and awesome at the same time!!

mywlewis68

I've had one for a few months now. I like it a lot, especially since it syncs with my My Fitness Pal account to credit calories burned throughout the day; however, this week I've noticed that it's not syncing, so I'm not getting credit for calories burned. This is very disappointing.

alfpalmer

oops - didn't quote the girl i was answering...

t2kburl

I love the fitbit and have not had the problems others have reported with driving.
I lost one and they replaced it for free

TOPSrainee

Love my Fitbit! Got mine new on eBay for $70.

StrawberrySuzyQ

I have one and got one for my mom. I don't completely believe all of the calorie info, so an actual heart rate monitor might be better for that. I do like that it is easier to use than a traditional pedometer and keeps track of my steps, distance walked as well as flights of stairs.

Mom likes hers and it keeps her on her toes to make sure that she is getting some steps in every day. (She is almost 74 and had heart surgery May of 2011.) I don't think she has used hers to track sleep, although I try to use mine every night.

It has been TOO hot to go walking here so she hasn't tried hers when we walk, but I use mine to track how much activity I do while at work (waitress) and also when I go for runs, walks and workout.

I LOVE it, even though it is small, but it is really accurate as far as a pedometer. My sis-in-law has a HRM, although I don't remember which one she got. She prefers that, so it all depends on what you are really looking for.

Check out eBay before buying elsewhere. That is where I got both of mine and FITBIT even replaced my mom's for free!!

mariezimmerle

I love mine! I have it on me all day, everyday. It really makes me aware of how active I've been during the day.. and I like that it also monitors my sleep. $99 was totally worth it imo.

alfpalmer

Can you put it on before a workout to get an accurate idea of how many calories you've burned?

you could but another option is to wear it all day and then if you hold the button down until it shows a stopwatch type timer going, that is the start of a walk or workout that you want to track separately. Something like a trip meter in your car. Well sort of... for instance, if i want to know how many steps, distance, cals burned, etc on say a particular route i take or want to burn for the day, i hold the button down, start that route and when i get done - hold the button down again and it will tell you the info for that particular trip, continue to hold it until it reads STOP and it will add those steps, cals, etc to your daily total.

I've had mine for two and a half years - its the best $99 I've ever spent on myself. About 2 months ago, it cracked and i emailed because i had heard they offered a discount for returning customers, who would have guessed it was 100% discount - super easy, super nice - they had me email a few pics showing the cracked unit and within a day, they emailed saying they were replacing it. Best customer service ever.
NOTE - if you get one or those that have one - don't use the belt clip - just throw that part away - i've seen way too many people that have lost theirs from that and don't realize it. I keep mine in my pocket all the time - no pockets? clip it on your bra

nnylee

In a word, POLAR! The fitbit is a bit of a toy tracking probably more tham you need to know -- like sleep patterns. If that is important to you and want to seriously track your sleep, your calories and things other than your heart rate while doing exercise, go for the Body Bugg.

Also, if the Fitbit (i believe) doesn't come with an HRM chest strap then it is going to be dishonest with you about calorie burns. The only way to accurately know is when your heart beats against the monitor on the strap (in humorous lay terms).

I have the Polar FT4, which I use during exercise and I pair it with the fitbit for when I'm not exercising. It's pretty much awesome.

candctaber

I LOVE my Fitbit!!! I was worried about the price, but it is worth so much more than what I paid! I only take it off to shower.

AshleysAwesomeness

I have one and also a job that requires me to drive 1500+ miles a week and I haven't had an issue with it really miscounting my car rides as steps but if I do go up a big hill it will tell me that I have climbed up flights of stairs. This doesn't bother me because I don't worry about how many flights of stairs I walk up a day. But there is a way to keep it from happening and that is logging driving as an activity on the fitbit site. I did it today just to see what it would do and it took all my flights away.

maddiey

The fitbit is great! I love it. It's small, and clips to your clothes anywhere. I usually clip mine to my bra so no one sees I'm wearing it. Just it is NOT a heart rate monitor. Probably the only thing I don't like about my fitbit. It only tracks movements. So if you're doing a really intense strength exercise where you are not moving much, it will not count it as high calorie burn. It really counts things like running, walking, etc.
Basically how fitbit works with MFP is that on MFP you have your approximate daily calorie burn, suggested by your activity level, and then fitbit gets that information from MFP. Fitbit counts all your steps/calories for the day and if you have burned OVER your approximate burn, or fitbit and MFP THINK you will burn over that amount (because let's say, all day you're really active, they will guess you will burn over, even though the day is not done yet). then the calories burned over your daily normal counts as a "fitbit calorie adjustment". Example, I'm guessed to burn about 2030 calories everyday, but today I had enough activity that Fitbit counted 2127 (it's 9:30 where i'm at) I now have an adjustment that i've burned more than normal.

I hope that makes sense! What I really like about the fitbit is the timer function. you can set it so it does a stop watch like action and records for just within that time. LIke if you go jogging for an hour, the timer will show exactly how long, how many steps, how many cals or whatever. That's my favorite part. And that shows up on fitbit's website, not MFP. It doesn't change your exercise calories on MFP either, it just gets added to your daily total.

I hope I'm not too confusing!!

Some people love fitbit just for the sleep activity.... to me it's like, yeah, I slept. Cool. lol

maddiey

OH! I also got mine on Ebay, new, for 80. Check out ebay first!!

mdj1501

I ve only been on MFP a week or two and i love this site.
I Just saw the fitbit ultra tracker.
Has anyone got it? Is it worth the money?

I never take a step without mine. It's worth double the price!

^^^THIS^^^

dreamshadows

I loved my fitbit, until the battery failed. :sad: After a bit of hoop jumping, I'm getting a replacement FREE! I only wish I could have called them instead of waiting several days for an email reply.

EnterFitness

Oh my goodness, I LOVE mine waaaay more than I expected. I got it about 10 days ago. There is NOTHING more motivating or more exciting than when it adds Fitbit exercise calories automatically for you, depending on how active you've been throughout the day!!!

PS got mine on amazon, $99, free shipping no tax

But are you wearing a HRM chest strap to monitor your heart rate? You may be moving but the Fitbit has no idea what your heart rate is which calculates the real calories burned. Most HRMs or devices without chest straps calculate a Cooke cutter calorie count built into them; possibly 6.8-calories per minute. There is not point in logging 500-calories burned when if you wore an HRM with a chest strap that amount may well be, only 380.

Just sayin' as food for thought

mmmyotwnz

Bump

karen0214

I'm glad to read all of these positive posts. I'm hoping to get one soon.

mcarter99

Oh my goodness, I LOVE mine waaaay more than I expected. I got it about 10 days ago. There is NOTHING more motivating or more exciting than when it adds Fitbit exercise calories automatically for you, depending on how active you've been throughout the day!!!

PS got mine on amazon, $99, free shipping no tax

But are you wearing a HRM chest strap to monitor your heart rate? You may be moving but the Fitbit has no idea what your heart rate is which calculates the real calories burned. Most HRMs or devices without chest straps calculate a Cooke cutter calorie count built into them; possibly 6.8-calories per minute. There is not point in logging 500-calories burned when if you wore an HRM with a chest strap that amount may well be, only 380.

Just sayin' as food for thought

The "real calories burned" isn't something we can ever measure. Both the Fitbit and a HRM make estimates. A HRM looks at your HR data and applies a multiplier to get a calories estimate. It's based on averages from lab tests. The Fibit does about the same thing but it looks at the motion of your torso and predicts what you're doing and applies a multiplier factor to BMR to estimate calories burned.

I've had a Fitbit for 2.5 years and worn it while counting every bite I eat for over 8 months. My scale losses are pretty much what my deficits suggest, so for me it's accurate.

A HRM is good for getting a calorie estimate for a workout that the Fitbit doesn't measure well, so something not steps-based. A HRM doesn't give you an 'all day calories burned' estimate like a Fitbit does. In that respect they're made for different uses.

PK95

Yes and Yes!! This was one of the best purchases I have made for my health. If this thing breaks I will run out to buy another one....Although I hear they have great customer service.

LosingMyMarbles

I am considering getting one. However, I do a lot of in-place walking in the living room. Would it accurately track this since I'm not moving forward? If it uses Wii technology, I would think so... I do Wii Walk It Out.

ccdeeley

Yes, I do a lot of workout dvds at home, and it tracks the steps I take.