Overwhelmed by fitness bands

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samhooah
samhooah Posts: 4
in Fitness and Exercise
Fitbit Flex - Jawbone UP - Bodymedia FIT - Nike Fuel

I'm super interested in getting one of these and promised myself i would once I passed the 20lb mark... Well, it's here and now I just dont know what to get!
Is anyone using any of these? What are your favorite and least favorite characteristics about the one you're using?

Replies

  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    I think the wrist is by its nature a poor place to measure activity.

    I use and recommend the Fitbit One. The torso is a much more accurate place to keep track of overall body movement.
  • coolraul07
    coolraul07 Posts: 1,606 Member
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    I think the wrist is by its nature a poor place to measure activity.

    I use and recommend the Fitbit One. The torso is a much more accurate place to keep track of overall body movement.
    ^^THIS 1000%! There's a FitBit users group on MFP as well. Join and read up on the pros/cons, etc.
  • badmoose
    badmoose Posts: 25
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    I've used the Fitbit One and the Flex. They track pretty closely. so one doesn't seem much better or worse than the other. What I like about the Flex is that I don't have to take it off. Charge it up, put it on, and forget you're wearing it. No accidentally leaving it clipped to your pants when they head to the wash, for forgetting to clip it on in the morning.

    The One counts flights of stairs, which the flex doesn't, but I never found the stair count very accurate. I can go up and down stairs at home all day and nothing. And at work, it counts them sometimes, sometimes not, and may even count elevator trips. Not a very useful function, IMHO.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    FWIW, I take stairs all the time. My Fitbit is very accurate in that regard. I get 10 floors going from floors 1 to 9 in my office building, day in and day out. I get 2 going from 1 to 3 at home. It does not log elevator rides (it shouldn't; it knows when you're walking vs when you're not).
  • jaz050465
    jaz050465 Posts: 3,508 Member
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    BMF is the most accurate.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    i'm told the BMF is good and the back of arm location is most accurate. not that i would ever own one. And if i was successfully losing weight the way the OP is, I don't see why I would spend the money on one of these things.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    The BMF is nice but problematic. It's large and cumbersome to have strapped on your arm all the time. There's also a thread here with people complaining that wearing it long term had left large semipermanent dimples on the arm at the sensor location. I also see no reason it would really be any more accurate either. Temperature and sweat sensors don't mean much IMO.
  • jyska
    jyska Posts: 728 Member
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    BMF is the most accurate for daily TDEE numbers (it is better at recognizing after-burn effect and such).

    Pedometer based gizmos (like fitbit) tend to be off a bit when it comes to tdee but are good if you just want to motivate yourself to move.

    HRM are best for determining Cal burn during a specific workout.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    I'm a gadget guy... I have 2 HRMs, a BM Fit, and a FB Flex.

    The HRMs serve a very specific purpose, and I don't think they fit into this conversation, especially considering you didn't ask about them.

    Both the BMF and the Flex were, to me, surprisingly accurate. I stopped using the Fit a year or so ago because it required a paid account to use their site and see your data. The Flex has basic data views available for free, or you can pay for more advanced reporting.

    The flex is also far more convenient/comfortable to wear (IMO). It's only slightly larger than the yellow livestrong band I'm used to wearing, and after about an hour I didn't notice it. I've worn it swimming, biking, running, playing basketball, and during typical life. It's never gotten in the way and never come undone.

    Both have worked well for me, both are surprisingly accurate (for me), but IMO, the Flex is a far better option - more comfortable/convenient to wear and free to use.
  • alisonsurf
    alisonsurf Posts: 92 Member
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    I love my fitbit one; I wear it on my bra strap so I can obsessively check it throughout the day. The only time I notice it recording stairs erroneously is when you drive uphill on a bumpy road - I get 3-5 flights on my way to the farmers market!! And when I accidentally brought it SUPing with me and stuck it in the waterproof tube at the front of the board it recorded 5 flights.

    I read in a review (on the Fitbit user boards) that if you talk with your hands you can rack up a lot of steps with the Flex while eating lunch so I guess you need to consider your habits with either model.
  • samhooah
    samhooah Posts: 4
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    That's a good point! I'm in comm. wedding dress sales and am on my feet all day, as well as talking with my hands, lifting dresses up and down repeatedly. I just wanted a way to track how my days at work were mainly.
  • samhooah
    samhooah Posts: 4
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    I haven't heard of HRM's? I wanted a way to track my calories burned more accurately, I thought the fitness bands were as close as I could get?
  • RetiredAndLovingIt
    RetiredAndLovingIt Posts: 1,394 Member
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    I really like my Fitbit One, I think accurate on steps taken. But i have had trouble with it not recording stairs.
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,834 Member
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    I don't like anything that requires me to sing up for a simple website to track my data.

    I use the Motorola MOTOACTV, which isn't in production anymore. I am thinking the FITbit Flex though.

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