Shoul I get a Fitbit or HRM?

I personally would recommend a HRM. I have the Polar FT7 and LOVE it. I think, and someone will correct me if I'm wrong (I am sure), but the FitBit is better for stairs and walking, but not as accurate for cardio/harder workouts. That's just my 2 cents. LOVE my polar!!

Bumping so I can see answers

I personally would recommend a HRM. I have the Polar FT7 and LOVE it. I think, and someone will correct me if I'm wrong (I am sure), but the FitBit is better for stairs and walking, but not as accurate for cardio/harder workouts. That's just my 2 cents. LOVE my polar!!

You are absolutely correct ) I have both and prefer a HRM I have an older Polar f4

hrm for sure!

I have both and honestly, I prefer my HRM. I LOVED my Fitbit at first and it is a lot of fun to use, but as I lost weight I found that the HRM was better able to track my cardio workouts.

I suppose it all depends greatly on what you intend to do. If you plan on doing mostly walking for exercise try the Fitbit. On the other hand, if you plan on doing Zumba, going biking, etc the HRM would be the way to go.

The fitbit was super appealing to me, it's so pretty and syncs with MFP! But I went with a HRM in the end. The fitbit really only tracks steps from what I understand, and won't be good at estimating calories burned for other types of exercise (lifting weights, biking, etc.)

For my purposes, a heart rate monitor is the essential tool. I don't care about my routine day. I know it's highly active. I have a very physical job so I have my profile set to highly active. What I need to know is the calories I burn when running and other cardio workouts. For this type of information nothing can ever be as accurate as a HRM. Many tools, such as a fitbit, can give you estimates based upon the results. However, the heart rate monitor actually measures the effort required to achieve those results.

Fitbit is good for incidental exercise as it counts your steps for the whole day, rather than just the 'workout' time. If you want something to count your actual burn during a workout a HRM is your best bet. If you can afford both, go for the combo (you can manually enter activities to override with your HRM burn numbers on the fitbit website) so that you get more accuracy. If you can only afford one, I'd go for the HRM. I do love my fitbit though as it reminds me to get up from my desk and move!!

I have both, love them both. I only use my HRM for cardio, the Fitbit is much better at getting an accurate picture of my day.

Same here. I actually have Two HRMs. One with GPS for my outdoor rides and one for indoor exercise. The fitbit is used when not working out to give an accurate account of steps and activity levels.

I have a Polar FT4, have only been using it for a week but i love it.

I have the Body Media Fit Link and I absolutely LOVE IT, I have a HRM but dont wear it anymore since I got the body media. Good luck.

I have both and would agree that the HRM is the way to go for tracking Major effort BUT what most fail to mention is that you can easily wear a FB all day and get a good estimate of your TDEE. Assuming that you enter your exercise that FB doesn't measure well from your HRM. So they both work well together. A PP mentioned the body media fit / body bugg, both of these would be closer to the accuracy of a HRM but you wear it all day like a FB. They cost more and also have a monthly fee for the website you need so a HRM and a FB is a cheap choice. The HRM is not a good measure of calories for strength training as you are working only limited muscles at a time and the logarithms used by most HRM are for large muscle work like aerobics, cardio, etc. Circuit style resistance can be close because it is more working the whole body at the same time so your HR is more reflective of the effort.

I highly recommend both. I love love love my fitbit, I wear it all day. You become so addicted to it and it really makes me want to move more so I can get those extra steps in before midnight! 30 minutes ago I was at 3.94 miles and I literally ran up and down the hallway to get to that 4.00! Then I use my HRM for elliptical, badminton, tennis, bike, boxing etc. I have the Polar ft4 and I got it off amazon-really good deal and I really love it. I had a new balance one before but I hated it. I wanted to throw it against the wall ><
but anyways, like I said, I highly recommend both. I don't know what I would do without my fitbit!

I love my fitbit. I have found that it gets me moving and I try and beat my steps from the previous day. I find it kinda addictive and although it doesnt calculate your calories burned when lifting weights, it does track sleep, calories burned, stairs climbed,and miles walked!! Its sincs with MFP and then I get to eat more. Ive had it since the middle of July and my weight is coming off. I'd go with the fitbit!! I LOVE IT!!!!

if you want to track calories id lean towards a HRM, and like alot of posters here have a POLAR FT7. to accurately track calories you need height, weight, heart rate and VO2 Max to get a decently accurate measure.

HRM doesnt track VO2 Max, but it tracks heart rate which a fitbit i believe doesnt. so it wont be super accurate, but at least moreso. you can offset this somewhat by logging your weight slightly lower than what you are and also rounding down if you want to take that step further (i do for both).

fitbt however does look appealing, and considering the investment.