Fitbit: Is it worth $100?

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  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    Today is my second day with the Fitbit and so far I consider it worth the money - but then again, I like gadgets and love numbers. If you're not a gadget/numbers person, it may not have the same appeal. The web-based "dashboard" shows you a lot of numbers and statistics and it interfaces with MFP, showing your calorie intake from your MFP entries along with your caloric expenditure according to the Fitbit. The sleep function is interesting, although not particularly useful for much other than to see what your night's sleep looks like in terms of motion. The pedometer aspect motivates me to get up off my butt and move more, which I think is the most useful aspect of it. It tracks motion-based exercises very well (walking, running), but I find it much less useful for things like weight training...I wore it during my workout last night and it showed me as "slightly active" even though I was working much harder than I would have been if I was walking. The accelerometer senses motion very well, but it can't sense effort/exertion from picking up heavy things when you're basically standing still.

    I wear a HRM for cardio-based exercises and I trust its calorie count more than the Fitbit because it's actually monitoring my level of exertion according to my heart rate rather than just calculating it from the speed/distance of movement and my age/height/weight. With that said, I think the Fitbit is useful in the sense that you can wear it all day long to get an idea of your TDEE - it's much more convenient and less obtrusive than a HRM, and HRMs generally aren't as accurate at recording calorie burns when you don't have your heart rate in the training zone.

    tl;dr - I find the Fitbit useful and worth the money, but I wouldn't want to be without a HRM either.
  • andreamkelly
    andreamkelly Posts: 169
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    I absolutely love mine. My only issues are user oriented. I forget to charge it. When I remember to charge it, I forget it's on the charger. And last but not least I forgot to take it off before I got in the pool. But on the upside of that, the customer service at Fitbit is beyond compare and when their solutions (place in rice for 24 hours and reset) didn't work, they replaced the unit at no charge to me. I almost want to buy a second just to have on hand in case of future screwups....
  • SueMizZou
    SueMizZou Posts: 146 Member
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    I love fitbit. I've worn it almost every day since October 6,2011. It is amazingly motivating and really keeps me moving. i used to use their website but find that MFP is far superior and syncs well with fitbit. I have never had a problem with it falling off.

    I had an omeron pedometer that I liked pretty well but it was big and bulky relative to fitbit. I wear mine on my bra except when I'm exercising. Then I use the clip that comes with it to attach to my gym clothes. I sweat a lot and didn't want the device resting on my skin where it could get wet.

    I would definitely recommend it and it is easily worth the money.
  • jallison12
    jallison12 Posts: 83
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    I don't think I would have bought it. But I was sent it as a gift from my uncle who got one for himself. I love mine and find it very motivating and rewarding.
    I got it a few months ago, the spring. I got an email from fitbit Friday that I had earned my 250 mile lifetime walking badge!! I myself find that extremely cool!
    My public fitbit url http://www.fitbit.com/user/22WYR9
  • beatnik236
    beatnik236 Posts: 120 Member
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    I have a fit bit and I love it. I have had it about 6 months. I like that it tracks all my activity for the day. The one caveat is I work out in an gym with no a/c and on one of these 100 degree days I sweat so much the display doesn't show. I did put it in rice and it still works and syncs properly but I can't see the display on the actual device which doesn't matter much to me b/c I can see it on the computer after it syncs.
    I would like see how accurate the "very active" function in the fit bit is. I do a very intense boot camp and it measures me as "very active" for way less time then I believe I do. I have not looked into though.
    I will say that now that I have wore my fitbit for a while that for the most part my calorie expenditure is about the same every day + 300 calories on very high intense workout days.
  • Barbwire60
    Barbwire60 Posts: 9
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    I'm so loving my fitbit, worth every penny. Then again I'm 62, retired & not all that familiar with the Iphone or apps & such, I like simple, I got simple :flowerforyou:
  • greenbaymichk
    greenbaymichk Posts: 85 Member
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    I have had one for several weeks and love it!
    I would suggest buying a "leash" for it - I wear mine on my waistband, and it will occasionally fall off. Some folks like to wear them in their bra, but it is too hot and sweaty for that, IMHO
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    ...I would like see how accurate the "very active" function in the fit bit is. I do a very intense boot camp and it measures me as "very active" for way less time then I believe I do. I have not looked into though.
    According to a user either here on MFP in the Fitbit group or on FB's own forums (don't remember which one I read it in), Fitbit measures "very active" as when you're moving over 3.8 mph. I believe they said they got the information from Fitbit support. That would be consistent with your experience in boot camp fitness - although the workouts can be intense with all the calisthenics and whatnot, you don't spend most/all of your time moving at over 3.8 mph, so the accelerometer in the Fitbit assumes you're just on a nice leisurely walk. :) That's one of those situations where a HRM would more accurately reflect your workout.
  • Ambition00
    Ambition00 Posts: 37 Member
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    You are going to get plenty of mixed reviews on here. :-) Here's mine to add to the bunch...

    I have owned a lot of fitness devices. Mainly because I'm the must have it when it's new and techie type. i had a fitbit when it first came out and then i asked myself what does this think do that a regular tri-axial pedometer can not? other than tracking your sleep I didn't see the difference.

    To me the feature of a fitbit and a reg. pedometer with features to track steps, distance is all that you need, while i think the fitbit slight benefit over a reg pedometer is the daily calories burned feature, When I had mine it was off quite a bit. as some have mentioned, if not on here then in multiple other post on MFP, it miscalculates when riding in a car, doesn't work on certain exercise machines, and as i added is miscalculates cal burned...i.e. one day i have say 20000 steps and 2300 calories burned vs another day I have 15000 steps and 2400 cals burned for the day...if the Fitbit had a HR feature then I can say the increase in the cals on a day i took less steps maybe it would make sense, but it doesn't, so how did it come up with that number?

    The Fitbit one feature that you can't find on another pedometer is the sleep feature, but then you're asking yourself do I want to spend $100 for a sleep monitor? if you're experiencing sleep difficulties and it's unruly then certainly invest in the money.

    FYI i just bought a $23 pedometer by omron that is just as small and while it may not tell me how many calories I have burned in the entire day, I use nutritiondata.com as it allows you to gauge your activity level for the day based on how many steps you've taken and I have to say when compared to the data i collected from my body bugg when I had it, it was right on most days, on the days that I was closer to the end of the range that Nutritiondata provides I would be off by 100 or so.

    Anyways it's a cheaper method.
  • CLynch309
    CLynch309 Posts: 34 Member
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    LOVE MY FITBIT! Been wearing mine religiously for the past eight months. It was worth every penny to me because it helped make me move in a way that a traditional, inexpensive pedometer never did; probably because of the automatic sync-ing, logging and tracking all my data.having the numbers tie in to MFP and knowing how much I can eat just plain works for me. How well? Well, I've gone from a tight size 12 to a loose size 4. Don't know if I would have done that without the FitBit.
  • prny9
    prny9 Posts: 12
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    I too love my fitbit. I love easy gadgets and data, so this is right up my alley. I bought mine Memorial Day weekend. About 3 weeks later, the battery started having issues. The fitbit customer support sent me a replacement.

    It motivates me to get in those extra steps and flights -- that is one of the features that is a surprise winner for me. I have 3 flights of steps in my house, and I'm going up and down all the time. No more multi-tasking when it comes to the stairs!

    I have had pedometers in the past too, and they went into my dresser drawer after a short time. The fitbit is with me all the time except when I'm showering. And I love the sleep function.
  • ashbosity
    ashbosity Posts: 20
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    I am the OP of this topic. I decided to go ahead and buy one yesterday. Amazon does have the plum ones for $88 and change. I reasoned that I decided to try MFP before signing back up for Weight Watchers where I had not been so successful lately. WW is over $40 a month, so I've already half paid for the Fitbit since joining MFP. Although I already know that I walk about 8.5 miles on a work day as a server, slow season is coming and I'm hoping this will help keep me in check when I'm not so busy. There does seem to be a pretty big resale market on Ebay, so if I stop using it after a few months, I might be able to resell it. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback. I truly appreciate it and it is a testament to the support feature of MFP. :)
  • jinglett
    jinglett Posts: 69
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    I have only had mine for a week--I found it's calorie burn matched that of my treadmill withing 10 calories. As goofy and crazy as fitbit's little gimmicky reward badges are I find they must matter to me in the end because I have upped my stairs and steps. Both fitbit & mfp sites talk to each other--calories logged are transferred to fitbit's dashboard, my sleep is recorded in my check in site on mfp--didn't even know that was there until I logged my weight for today at mfp. Exercise is logged at both places and if you use the stopwatch feature and tell fitbit what that exercise was they adjust the calories burned on that activity for that time frame. I clip mine to my bra because I have lost way too many pedometers through the years that were clipped to my waist. I have worn it under my dress clothes and no one knows except for me that it is there. The crazy flower grows with activity and shrinks with inactivity through out the day. Yep, it's 100 dollars (cheaper at amazon) but I love it!
  • SusanCotter21
    SusanCotter21 Posts: 26 Member
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    I have had mine since February, and I think you are going to love it. You will be surprised at how often you find yourself checking it to see where you are at, find yourself marching in place to gain extra steps, etc. It is a great little motivator and well worth the money in my opinion, especially with the integration it has to MFP.
  • Dgangaware
    Dgangaware Posts: 24 Member
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    This is a great answer and right on target! Knowledge IS power! I also was underestimating my caloric burn and underrating. Now I am not hungry, feeling great AND losing weight. Fit bit has been a huge help!
  • Kitship
    Kitship Posts: 579 Member
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    Absolutely. Hell, it was worth $130 for the Force. :love:
  • vanessa5580
    vanessa5580 Posts: 6
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    Love it! Love it! Love it!

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