Fitbit review -- with pros and cons

I got a Fitbit Ultra a few weeks ago, and my friends have been asking for a review. So here ya go, for anyone who's interested:

In a nutshell: I love it!! It's not perfect (what is?), but it does what I want it to do for the most part and it's tons of fun!

What it is: It's a small pedometer-like device that tracks steps, distance, stairs (in flights of stairs), sleep (based on movement), calories burned (based on movement -- mostly steps). After you buy the device, there is no monthly fee for the software, etc., although you can pay $50 a year for a "premium" service that gives you more analysis and compares your activity with others.
What it's not: A heart-rate monitor.

See www.Fitbit.com for more info/photos about the Fitbit itself. I bought mine from the website, although it's also available on Amazon and eBay (I found the reviews on Amazon very helpful, btw). I decided to get mine from the website, though, just in case something went wrong with it and I needed/wanted a replacement.

PROS:
* Size -- It's small and inconspicuous (about the size of most flash drives). I can wear it on my waistband without looking like I'm wearing a pedometer. It can also be worn at the center of a bra or in a pocket.
* Tight clip -- It's a very tight clip (also a con; see below), so I don't really worry about it falling off my waistband, even when using the restroom. I'm conscious of it, but so far it hasn't been an issue.
* Fun -- I'm a sucker for this stuff, but I love the little flower that grows the more active you are. And I love that when I climb a lot of stairs, the info on the site tells me I've climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa. And I love that it cheers me on from time to time (in writing -- no, it doesn't actually talk, thank God ... how annoying would that be?! ). It also inspires me to move more. I'm actually excited to use stairs more now and sometimes just go up and down the stairs at home to get more activity in my day (the cats think I'm crazy now :laugh: ).
* Graphs -- The graphs on the Fitbit site (my "dashboard" that shows me my activity for the day) are fascinating to me. Who knew that I burned 8 calories just getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom? And when I do interval training, I can see the exact minutes where I was really going at it hard.
* It tracks all activity (stairs, etc.) -- I love that it tracks stairs, too. I like getting credit for the calorie burn days when I don't necessarily get a lot of steps in, but use the stairs a lot (like laundry day in our two-story house).
* Sleep monitoring -- It's interesting to see how I am sleeping and to track how many hours of sleep I actually get.

CONS:
* Tight clip -- It's a very tight clip (also a pro; see above), and won't clamp onto thicker fabrics/areas without using the plastic holder they give you for those instances. It doesn't have a springy/lever thingy (yes, that is the proper term ) to open it wider like most pedometers do. I'm guessing that would add to the size of it, though (I'm no engineer, obviously). So I am a little worried I will break it if I try to open it too wide sometime; I just try to be extra careful with it.
* Sleep monitoring based on movement -- The sleep monitoring really just tracks movement. So if you set the timer to tell it you're going to sleep, and then lie there in bed, motionless but not asleep for an hour, it will think you are sleeping. So unless you fall asleep super-fast or wave your arm around before you fall asleep, it's not going to be 100% accurate.
* Calorie burn for less "active" exercise -- As I said above, it's not heart-rate monitor. I still use my HRM for my workouts. When I jog, the Fitbit and my HRM are within 20 calories of one another in terms of calorie burn. But if I do a Jillian workout or kickboxing (where I'm not constantly stepping or "moving" my lower body as much), the Fitbit calorie burn is much lower than my HRM.
* "Fitbit adjustment" lag time with MFP -- Once synced with MFP, if I have an active day just walking and using stairs, etc., it will show up as a "Fitbit adjustment" in my exercise diary, showing that I was more active in my everyday life than MFP had predicted for that day (I have a desk job, so I'm set at sedentary on MFP). However, there is a bit of lag time between when you sync the Fitbit and it shows up on your MFP diary. As a result, I had a 300-calorie deficit yesterday (more than I usually like to have), but I didn't realize it until I woke up this morning.

Connecting with MFP:
This works well so far. You log everything through MFP still (food, water, workouts), and they transfer over to your Fitbit "dashboard." The only thing you have to update on the Fitbit site is your weight loss (or, ahem, gain ...)
When I do a workout (wearing both the Fitbit and my HRM -- yes, I love my gadgets), I note the time I am starting and start the timer on the Fitbit and my HRM. I stop both after the workout (duh). Then I usually compare the calorie burn on both just for fun. Then I log my HRM calorie burn (most accurate, I think) into MFP, using the starting time and duration (MFP gives you a place to put the starting time once you first connect your MFP and Fitbit accounts). That bascially tells Fitbit to disregard the calorie burn from that time period and replace it with the calorie burn you put into MFP.
I'm guessing that if you don't have an HRM, you can just let the Fitbit record of your workout stand as is. I'm not sure about that, but maybe other Fitbit users can chime on that here.

Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to be thorough! Hope this is helpful and informative to at least some people! :flowerforyou:

~ Ann

P.S. I have a Polar FT4 HRM, for those who might want to know. I love it -- still the best $$ I spent on my health/fitness. I got it on eBay, new, for about $80.