FITBIT OR HRM

Depends on what you want to use it for. They are totally different things. FitBit for tracking all day activity. HRM for tracking workouts with an elevated heart rate. I have both but I really only use the FitBit.

If your 'workout' is running, walking, dancing or something else steps-based, the Fitbit tracks it. If you mean resistance, swimming, yoga or the like then no, you'd need to manually track that to add it to your total daily burn.

Two totally different tools made for different purposes, like was said above. If you want your workout calorie burn and to do HR zone work, use a HRM. If you want a good estimate of your total daily burn based on how much you move around the other 23 hours, use a Fitbit.

For older products, the Body Media Fit from my own personal research is what I would go with (when compared to Jawbone, Fitbit, etc.). I personally did not purchase a BMF due to the subscription fees though. I am considering purchasing a Polar Loop.

Polar has come out with their own tracking device that can incorporate both normal daily activity and exercise (e.g. it is a combo of a daily tracking device and a HRM). It is the first to try and combine these two aspects. It is also waterPROOF (so you can wear it while swimming, etc.), which no other devices are. Since it is new, I have not been able to locate much data about it though.

http://www.polarloop.com/us-en/

Here is a discussion about it on MFP: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1128827-polar-loop-reviews-to-buy-or-not

NOTE: I do already own a Polar FT7 and it is AWESOME. However, it is a HRM only and not an "activity tracker." I love my Polar products and would feel comfortable purchasing another.

Edited to Add: HRMs are for tracking steady state cardio only. It is important to note that HRMs are not accurate for weight lifting and will not give you an accurate burn. They are also not meant for HIIT. Temperature extremes and daily burn tracking (e.g. I wear it all day to find out what I should be taking in) are also inaccurate. HRMs are for steady state aerobic exercise only! Hence why the Loop seems so great!

This is a helpful blog post for understanding HRMs:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

The Ultra is actually one of the older Fitbit products. I believe the One, Zip, Flex and Force are all newer. They do track sleep. Well, I'm not sure if the Zip does. Just like it does in the daytime, it makes assumptions about your nighttime movements and gives you graphs of time spent asleep, restless, etc.

I use an HRM. I prefer it for a more accurate burn because it depends on your heart rate. To me it's much closer to a true calorie burn.

Right now I use a Fitbit Flex synced with MFP...I log cardio workouts on MFP (which Fitbit accounts for by negating from it's calorie burn estimate) and let my Fitbit figure out calorie burn/distance/steps on it's own throughout the rest of the day. At the end of the week, Fitbit's Calories In/Out estimate is usually pretty consistent with how much weight I actually lose that week. Not perfect (so many variables come into play with weight loss), but close.

I think anything will be better than what I have now, which is nothing! LOL! i am really interested in seeing a more accurate calorie burn. All i have right now is an app on my phone, where you input weight, minutes, and the exercise you did. then I shave 100-200 calories off of that because i know it's not accurate. I know i"m burning, but just don't know how many.

I've used about all the toys and I find for me that if you just need something to visually SEE your lack of activity staring you in the face to motivate you to move more, the Fitbit is pretty good for that. It has nice graphs of calories in vs. out and that sort of thing, too. They motivate me.

To be honest, if you just want to estimate your total daily calorie burn, the online calculators do about the same thing, you just have to be really honest about your activity level. Plus if you're really, really good at tracking all your calories and can wait for a month or so to do some averages, your own weight loss is the best indicator of what you burn in an average week. E.g., if you intake an average of 2000 calories a day and lose 5 lbs. per month on average, you know you burn about (3500*5)/30 = 580 more than you eat, or 2580 calories a day. That type of math is not going to be useful day to day or even week to week due to weight not being so linear, but over months, it should work out.

it is not an OR it is an AND - esp if you want everything.

if you want every day movement = fitbit, if you want exercise = HRM.

i have both and together they are a great motivator!!

I find HRM annoying. I can never be bothered putting it on and its not that accurate anyway\

I LOVE my fitbit!