Fitbit

Depends on what you want out of it.
I got it and I'm addicted! It definately spurs me to park farther away, take the stairs, walk more. I started walking after work to hit my steps per day, and then said, heck no I can job this - and now I've registered for 5 races!

It is not as accurate as I would like. I did a 4.3 mile run the other day and used the stop watch feature - and it came up as 3.8 miles. I live in a flat area (I mean no elevation change at all) and it will register flights of stairs when I clearly haven't logged any. For tracking my race training - it is not the tool I need. I have ordered a Garmin runners watch and when it comes in I am going to test them side by side and see what the differences are.

I do like the linking between fitbit and MFP. MFP has a better food diary. Do not log in both places! I log food in MFP and let fitbit track it over. Do not manually enter any exercise you've done while wearing your fitbit. If you do then you are double counting your calories.

I don't like the sleep tracker. I use it only to keep track of that time and not have it counted as sedentary.

I also got the aria wireless scale - only for the body fat tracking. I do not know how accurate it is. I have noticed that when I'm retaining water and bloated, it seems to up my body fat quite a bit - seems like it is counting the water weight as fat.

Overall, I love the fitbit. Love chcking in everyday and seeing if I've met my goals or got any badges for the day.

PM me if you have any questions or want more info.

Check here to get an idea of what kind of information you get from it
http://www.fitbit.com/user/23B5ZC

If you want a little more motivation, it's worth it. I didn't want to buy one, instead got it for my birthday. Liking it so far!

I too have a FitBit Ultra and I am totally in love with it! Since I connected it with MFP i've had to adjust some things, and I dont' double log my excercise/food. I do my food in MFP and let fit bit adjust my workouts....

I would DEFINITELY recommend it.... for someone like me who needs/wants that constant motivation, and is a gamer.... it's fun and it's working well.

I find my fitbit (ultra) to be pretty accurate steps and distance-wise. I live in a hilly area, so I appreciate getting flights credit for those--I'm not sure how accurate that portion is, but it definitely gets my apartment stairs right. I think it's motivating when I'm in the right frame of mind. An annoying reminder of how sedentary my natural life is when I'm not in the mood to get out and walk.

If you don't care about the sleep tracker piece, order the new FitBit zip -- its only $60 and does all the other stuff -- just no sleep tracking.

It is not as accurate as I would like. I did a 4.3 mile run the other day and used the stop watch feature - and it came up as 3.8 miles.

All this means is that you need to figure out what your personal stride length is for walking vs. running and input it into your information on your fitbit settings - obviously yours is longer than the default one, but it's an easy fix

No. That does not solve the problem. I do the same route every day and it got the distance right on sunday but then deleted all my data for it - the thing that shows now is the time. Some of my fitbit groups have also reported that it is off by up to a half mile at times. So for a running trainer, I would not recommend it.

My fitbit died 2 weeks ago while on holiday. Until then I did not know I was an addict. The thing is amazing, it makes me get up and walk, just because the number changes. Occasionally I'll see at 3 in the afternoon on a lazy Sunday that I've not yet done 1000 steps and that for me is reason enough to get outside and walk. I notice immediately that now it's broken I'm not getting in as many steps. Luckily I'm expecting a free replacement one by the end of the week.

Just be clear on what it does. It measure steps and 'floors'. It doesn't yell at you to get off the couch. It will only help you if you're the type of person that's motivated by numbers or colourful statistics.

I also got mine two months ago and love it as well , including the sleep tracker part

If you wear it during an exercise class will it also tell you how many calories you've burned? Even though you're not technically "going" anywhere? Does it measure your heart rate also?

Fitbit is not a HR montior.

I think mine has been pretty acurate for measuring cals burned during my runs. Can't say if it would be accurate in a fitness class.

I LOVE mine! I have it linked to my MFP account and it does a fitbit caloried adjustment under then exercise section of MFP and when you manually enter exercise into MFP (if you use a HRM and know how many calories you burned) it readjusts the fitbit calorie adjustment. I have found that it has been pretty accurate....except for stairs sometimes. Somedays I'm pretty sure that I haven't done as many sets of stairs at work that it says that I've done. LOL

I bought one and loved it. Then it died. Totally and completely. I did everything tech support (once they bothered to respond) said to revive it - no luck. It was within the first 90 days warranty, so they sent me a new one. Repeat this 3 more times. I haven't bothered to unbox the last one they sent me. I do miss its functionality and found their website to be helpful, but I got tired of getting defected product after defective product.

Sorry, no offense...(it's become an obligatory question for me)...but you think your Fitbit has been pretty accurate for measuring calories burned during your runs based on what standard?

I'm not saying it is or isn't, but I don't understand on what you are basing this.

(ETA: And for what it's worth, my wife and I are ordering "his and hers" Fitbits soon.)

Based on comparison to other burn calcuations - it's been pretty accurate. Every calculator will give you something different - they will never be more then an estimate, but some estimates are better then others.

Amazon.com has them cheapest for new. I got mine on Craigslist for $50 bucks.

The other thing it does is let you compete with friends.... I have a bunch of girls from the gym where we can see each others progress and it does push you to move more.

PS I still wear my Polar FT60 HRM during cardio classes because I like a more accurate calorie count and I watch my heart rate zones and other things.

FYI....there is a new Fitbit model (THE ONE) being released on Oct. 25/12.
Here is the info..... http://www.amazon.com/Fitbit-FB103BY-Wireless-Activity-Burgundy/dp/B0095PZHYU
Cheers, Jo