FITBIT vs. STRIIV?

Options
carolemack
carolemack Posts: 1,276 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Has anyone used both? I think that the STRIIV is fairly new so maybe people don't have a lot of experience with it yet. I am thinking of buying one or the other and I don't know how to make the decision. They both cost the same so I can't even use that as a deciding factor.

Does anyone have any comments that might be helpful in making the decision?

Thanks.
«1

Replies

  • carolemack
    carolemack Posts: 1,276 Member
    Options
    Trying again. Does anyone have any experience with the STRIIV?
  • macgeekgrl
    macgeekgrl Posts: 3
    Options
    Hi, Carole!!

    I got my Striiv 2 days ago, and I absolutely love it. I just replied to someone else about it, so forgive me for copying and pasting!! This is what I wrote in the other post:

    "I've been using my Striiv for 2 days now, and I'm absolutely loving it. I've walked more in the past 2 days than I have in almost any day in recent memory. I love having not only the raw data feedback (both on the device, and on my Dashboard online) but the equivalents. Knowing I walked 1.7 miles is one thing, but knowing that it's the equivalent of The Golden Gate Bridge gives me some serious real-world perspective. I love getting the different challenges throughout the day - they're pushing me to walk more, to take the stairs instead of the elevator. And I love getting energy for new items on MyLand. But the coolest thing for me, I think, is knowing that my steps will be converted into charitable donations. I've already walked enough to donate 2 days worth of water for one child. I'm not just walking for my own health, I'm walking for others. It might sound cheesy, but that means a lot to me.

    I've noticed that it's really accurate at tracking my steps, and it doesn't calculate movement from the car or subway, unlike the pedometer I was using. Plus it's tiny - clip it on my belt or drop it in my pocket, and forget about it until I go to check my progress or sync it. Seriously, this is the best gadget, and I really think it's going to help me out big time."

    I had trouble deciding, too, between both of these, but I'm super glad I went with Striiv. The only major thing the FitBit seems to offer that Striiv doesn't, is the ability to monitor your sleep, but for me that was outweighed by the charity and motivational aspects of the Striiv.

    I hope this helps!!
  • vypeters
    vypeters Posts: 475 Member
    Options
    I replied to someone else on this. Hope you don't mind if I copy and paste...

    I have a Striiv (my daughter and husband each have one as well). Not a lot of people have them yet, but OMG does it work for motivating me.

    The basics: tracks steps and stairs, adjusts calorie burn based on cadence (it knows when you're running). Reports steps, stairs, minutes in activity, distance and calories. Tracks all time totals.

    Now the coolness factor that made me choose it - the motivation. The Striiv has multiple ways to motivate you:

    *Donations - if you sync your Striiv, you can earn donations just by walking to buy clean water for a child, buy vaccines or save a patch of rainforest. It's like your own daily mini-walkathon (and there's no cost to you, no membership or anything like that).

    *Instant feedback and challenges - the Striiv constantly puts challenges on the screen to beat your personal best in some category, to beat yesterday's totals, or to walk xxx more steps or stairs in the next yyy minutes. Example: right now I have one minute to walk to hit 5 hours this week and a 10 minute challenge just popped up to do 3 more minutes of activity in the next 10 minutes. You get bonuses for these things so if you enjoy the feedback of accomplishments that's very motivating (I would have said I didn't - turns out I do).

    *There's a nifty little "Myland" game built in. I was drawn to this for my teenage daughter, but again I love it. You use points earned through walking to build or plant on an island, unlock more islands, win or attract animals. Just a fun little thing for odd moments, but I've become addicted.

    So to me the big, big standout is the different ways the Striiv acts to motivate you to keep moving!
  • MsBaby117
    MsBaby117 Posts: 201 Member
    Options
    Never heard of the Striiv so I googled it...I have had my FitBit about a week and I absolutely LOVE it...I love that it links with MFP and I love that it's so small and lightweight...I clip mine in the middle of my bra and forget that I have it on! It's very accurate and I love that it monitors my sleep along with everything else! I always knew I was a bad sleeper but now I have actual data to take with me on my next doctor's visit...:flowerforyou:
  • Amber82479
    Amber82479 Posts: 629 Member
    Options
    I have the FitBit and love it! here is what I sent to friends here in a recent review I typed up. I can email you the one with the screen prints if you message me your email address.

    Here’s what I love:

     I love that it tracks steps – accurately

     I love that there isn’t a monthly membership cost. The website is free, unless you subscribe to the Premium package, which is $79/year.

     I love that it tracks each revolution on the bike as a step, reflecting the amount of effort I put into it to show how fast I was pedaling

     I love that it judges the intensity of my activities

     I love that it syncs both with MFP and with the website that we’re using at work as part of a fitness competition. It makes life a lot easier! I can log everything I eat and my workouts at MFP and it will pull into FitBit.com and my work website. It even pulls in my weight! (But doesn’t pull my measurements, unfortunately)

     I love the “Calories Burned” graph that shows how active you are based on color coded bars in 5 minute increments. I love seeing how active I am and challenging myself to see more pink bars (very active).

     I love that I can use it to see what’s happening when I sleep. I push and hold the button when I get into bed and again when I get out of bed and it shows me how active I am in the night. They reflect this as how many times you wake up, though it could just be that you were restless. It’s interesting to see how many hours of sleep I get and I can definitely tell when I’ve had a bad nights sleep and it always coincides with nights when I’ve been tossing and turning.

     I love that it has the training coach that helps you set goals to meet your weight goals and gives you estimates as to when it anticipates that you’ll reach your weight goal.

     I love that it shows me what distance I’ve travelled. I’d imagine this is fairly accurate, since you can actually determine your stride length and enter that into your profile.

     I like that the website shows my battery level, so I know when I need to recharge

     I love that it doesn’t take batteries, but is rechargeable

     I love the wrist pouch for sleeping and that it comes with a clip for pants if you don’t want to slide it on there. I put mine in the coin pocket on my jeans and forget it’s even there.

     In the “Premium” part of the package, I love the food breakdown that shows my percentage breakdown between protein, fat and carbs and gives me an in depth breakdown of my food for the week.

     Also in the “Premium” section, I love that you can export data to Excel, though I haven’t done much with this yet, I plan to in the future.

     I love that it has a glucose and A1c tracking feature, though I’ve been too lazy to use it yet. You can even add your own custom tracking fields.

     The weekly status update email – gives me a good summary of how my week went


    What I’m not so excited about:

     I think the “Active Score” is silliness and completely useless. The flower on your display is supposed to grow depending on how active you are, but I haven’t found any value in this feature.

     I don’t think the “Premium” package is worth the money as of right now. Maybe that will change once I start getting into exporting my data through reporting, but I just don’t get much out of it.

     I hate that I have to take it off to charge it once a week, however, I love that I don’t have to waste money on batteries, so it’s a trade off 

     I love that it pulls in my food information from MFP, but wish that it would pull in each line item I enter, instead of just the total calories, carbs, etc… for each meal I enter in MFP. A small complaint, since I’m thrilled I don’t have to do any double logging.

     My measurements entered in MFP do not sync into the FitBit

    My suggestion to anyone who decides to purchase one would be to go to amazon.com and pick one up – I got mine there for $86 instead of the $100 they charge on the website.
    If you have questions, feel free to send me an email!
    A day in the life of my FitBit:

     In the morning when I wake up, I press and hold the button on my FitBit for a few seconds to tell it that I’m done with my time in bed.

     When I get dressed, I slip my FitBit into the coin pocket on my jeans (or I put it in the holster on my waistband or pocket)

     When I get home and put on my workout clothes, I slip the FitBit into the holster that comes with it and clip it onto my workout pants.

     After I shower post workout, I clip the FitBit to whatever I’m wearing.

     At bedtime, I slide the FitBit into the pouch wrist band that’s provided with it. I Velcro the wrist band on, climb into bed, press the button for a few seconds until the sleep timer starts and that’s it!

     Once a week, I charge my FitBit during a time when I’m going to be inactive.
  • Marvalm3
    Marvalm3 Posts: 31 Member
    Options
    I've been using the Fitbit for a few months now, and I am totally addicted. There hasn't been a day that I've been without it!
    It is super small, and I clip it on my bra strap.
    I like using the sleep function but I often tell myself that I will turn it on the sleep mode when I think I'm going to fall asleep and not when I'm just laying in bed and I end up falling asleep before I put it on sleep mode ;)

    When I first got it, I couldn't believe that a typical day would be 2,000 - 3,000 since I sometimes get driven to work and I have a desk job. Now that I am constantly aware of my steps throughout the day, I make sure I use the bathroom in the basement of our building (taking the stairs to get there, of course!) and go for a lunchtime walk even if it's just around the block. Unless I am really not feeling well or spending the day with my family, I never ever go below 10,000 steps in a day. There are many evenings that I am jogging in place in front of the tv to get there and meet my mileage goal and calories burned goal for the day.

    The Fitbit doesn't give real world comparisons for mileage, but it does for stairs climed. As of right now, I climbed 31 stairs which is the equivalent of the tallest sailboat mast. Love the trivia!

    The one thing that is less than perfect for the fitbit is that I have to wait until I get home for it to sync to the base. Until then, you can see your steps, mileage, calories burned, and stairs on the fitbit itself... but I prefer to see my Dashboard online.

    As far as I can tell, it is pretty accurate and doesn't calculate when I'm in the car or on the bus or even swiveling in my office chair.

    It's made worlds of difference in how much I move!
    Oh yeah... and I have it linked to my mfp account and it gives me a line chart showing cals burned vs intake for week/month/year. :)
  • carolemack
    carolemack Posts: 1,276 Member
    Options
    Thank you all for your responses! It seems that whichever device you use, you love it! It doesn't make my decision any easier, does it? :laugh:

    I live in Canada so I have to go down to the States to pick one up...luckily I live very close to the Border so it is not too big a drive. My daughter says she will take me at the end of the month. Hopefully by then I will have made up my mind on which one. :smile:
  • jamies76
    jamies76 Posts: 30 Member
    Options
    I've only seen the Striiv--no first-hand experience with one.

    The Fitbit is awesome in that it registers movement in three different directions, as opposed to only typical up-down you get with other pedometers. It also accurately registers movement even when you wear it in several different places that aren't visible, such as your bra strap.

    There is a free website called earndit.com that can link to a variety of different devices such as Fitbit, Body Media armband, heart rate monitors, etc... You earn reward points for activity, but they also recently added a charity section where you can donate your points instead, which is what I do most of the time. That and the fact that I could use the Fitbit for my Humana Vitality program is what made me decide on the Fitbit instead of the Striiv.
  • carlarochin
    carlarochin Posts: 1 Member
    Options
    I LOVE LOVE LOVE THE STRIIV! Bought it on HSN, 3 easy payments. Bought one for myself and one for my husband for our 25th wedding anniversary. For me, I have problems reading the Fitbit. The Striiv is larger and so much fun as well as motivational. Not only are you giving to yourself with the workouts, you are contributing to the world with their charity donation.

    The My Land feature is fun too!

    HANDS DOWN, 100% the STRIIV. By the way, their customer service is awesome, you can actually talk to a human being, the Fitbit, you have to email and wait for a reply. For me, I prefer talking to someone. I hope Striiv continues to expand what their product can do. Whoever created this baby is a genius.
  • cab12010
    cab12010 Posts: 2 Member
    Options
    I had a fitbit and loved it. Loved the sync with MFP. After 30 days I lost it... It fell off my jeans. I wasn't going to buy another device because they are not cheap. But, I found I really excel with tracking. It's very motivational for me.
    So... I purchased the striive and love it too. It's a little larger I'm hoping I don't loose it too. The tracking on both are very accurate.
    I wish MFP synced. I'm not sure how to enter my activity manually .
  • msindependent_ang
    msindependent_ang Posts: 2
    Options
    Does anyone know if there is a monthly fee for the Stiiv and is it compatable w/ MFP? :smile:
  • msindependent_ang
    msindependent_ang Posts: 2
    Options
    Do you know if the Striiv is linked to MFP and is there a monthly charge for service?
  • jabberjaws77
    jabberjaws77 Posts: 72 Member
    Options
    I just got a striiv today. I don't think it is linked to mfp but it still gives you calories burned so I'm happy with that. There is no monthly fee & I must say after using it all day, I LOVE IT!!! I think this will definitely help keep me motivated. I've had problems losing but I don't think I was eating enough. I just increased my calories this week & bought the strive, so time will tell. I can definitely see how this little gadget will make things more interesting & the little challenges throughout the day are a lot of fun. I would highly recommend this to anyone! I got mine off of craigslist too so it was a lot cheaper. I think they retail for around $129 & I got this one for $50.00 so it's definitely worth it to shop around.
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
    Options
    If you do other 'sporty' stuff, consider a motoactv.
    Works with HRM, bike cadence sensor and other ANT+ (ie foot and power meter).
    Will work as a pedometer, though not intended as that.
  • jabberjaws77
    jabberjaws77 Posts: 72 Member
    Options
    I can't wait until my weight-loss ticker says what yours does...lol
  • bethiejude
    bethiejude Posts: 10 Member
    Options
    I have had a Fitbit for about 9 months. It's great, but it does have its limitations, like everything. If its a windy day it will credit you with loads of stairs you haven't done - makes tracking stairs a bit pointless. My current problem with it is that from time to time it refuses to sync on the main computer. When I finally got it to do so (by uninstalling and then reinstalling - sigh!) it had lost the last few days activities! Not impressed! SO ..... I downloaded the Striiv on my 'phone! Fantastic! It is very motivational, and I find it simpler, therefore less problematic, than Fitbit. I never found the 'sleep facility' of much use; if I sleep or don't sleep I know it myself and don't need Fitbit to tell me! Ok I don't have the real Striiv (would love one, but they don't sell them in UK yet, so would have to do it online and wait!), but I plan to get one. I think their games are great and the plus of giving to charity (which I checked out and IS genuine) is great. Striiv for me!
  • XXXMinnieXXX
    XXXMinnieXXX Posts: 3,459 Member
    Options
    The charity thin on the striiv sounds wonderful. I'm not loving the Fitbit website on syncing features right now to be honest! It served its purpose and got me active again after major surgery. Please take note if you go for a Fitbit make sure you get the one, not the ultra! Ultra is not sweat or water proof and I've killed 3 through heavy gym use and rain. I must say their customer service is great though! X
  • LeanneCutrara
    LeanneCutrara Posts: 31 Member
    Options
    I have a Fitbit and truly love it. Its small, I clip it to my bra each day and just walk. I like that it tracks the stairs and every step during the day. I strive to do more each day and it really helps to keep me alittle more motativated!

    Either one I'm sure will be good to help us stay more on track!
  • jaz050465
    jaz050465 Posts: 3,508 Member
    Options
    Also look at the new BASIS. Like. A bodymediafit but worn on the wrist.
  • jaz050465
    jaz050465 Posts: 3,508 Member
    Options
    If you link Fitbit to the Earndit website you can also donate to charity.

Categories