Can't decide on a FitBit or an HRM? READ THIS!

I’ve seen a lot of people question whether they should get a fitbit or an HRM lately as if they’re interchangeable. I have both a FitBit One and a Polar FT4 - I like both, and although some aspects are similar, they're made to do completely different things. Deciding which one you want to get depends on what your specific needs are.

A heart rate monitor (HRM) has two parts - you wear the computer on your wrist like a watch and the sensor around your chest using a chest strap, and they communicate between each other wirelessly. You can wear the watch all day if you want, but it doesn’t really do anything without the chest strap. You wear both the watch and chest strap during the workout only and they measure your heart rate between a defined start and end point (which is your workout). Based on your heart rate, and certain metrics that you plug into the watch during setup, it calculates how many calories you've burned during that workout only. It’s very accurate because it’s factoring in your actual heart rate when it calculates those burnt calories. If you’re looking to make your workouts more efficient, get an accurate reading of your heart rate at a given moment (resting, normal, or pre and post workout), or get an accurate measure of calories that you burn during your workouts, then get an HRM.

A FitBit (or any other activity monitor), is one piece that you wear on your wrist or clip on to yourself somewhere. These are made to be worn all day. At its most basic, you can think of these as super-pedometers. They track how many steps you’ve taken throughout the day, and depending on what kind you have, will also track how many stairs you’ve climbed, how well you sleep, and various other activities. It takes all of that information, including the time it senses that you’re just sitting there doing nothing (or not wearing it at all) (which is sometimes known as “inactive calorie burning”), factors in the metrics that you plugged into it during setup, and gives you an ongoing tally of how many calories you’re burning throughout the day. These have various degrees of accuracy in regards to steps taken and calories burnt, although reviews generally place the fitbit force and the fitbit one at the top of the list in both categories. Depending on where you wear them though, they may not be accurate at all - if you wear a FitBit Force on your wrist, don't expect it to calculate calories burnt while you're pedaling away on an exercise bike. If you’re looking for something to track your activity and how much you move around throughout the day, get an approximate measure of daily calories burnt, motivate you to hit certain goals (ie. 10,000 steps), then get an activity tracker.

Hope that helps eliminate some of the confusion!