JAWBONE, FITBIT FLEX OR BODY MEDIA?

wibutterflymagic · February 2014

I've been wanting a monitoring system for some time but not sure what one to get. Does anyone have any experience with any of these?

TribeHokie · February 2014

I've got a fitbit flex (christmas present) and I love it. It is basically a glorified pedometer, but I have been very impressed with the accuracy and the ease of use of the associated apps. I use the fitbit app on my samsung galaxy to sync and view my dashboard and I have actually been faithfully logging my food/exercise/water intake with this app whereas I never could stick with logging on MFP. Downsides are that it is not an HRM so you don't get accurate calorie estimates for non-cardio workouts (though it does have a database of exercises like MFP so you can log), and also that if you want to sync with MFP you have to log everything through MFP instead of the fitbit app. That may or may not be a downside for you based on your preferences but like I said I find the fitbit app a lot easier and more convenient to log with than MFP.

If you are looking for a bit more functionality I would strongly advocate for the new fitbit force, though I cannot speak to the jawbone or body media products. At the end of the day I definitely recommend getting SOMETHING if you are committed to using it as a fitness tool (ex. I am challenging myself to 10,000 steps every day in february and reaping excellent results in the process!)

wibutterflymagic · February 2014

Thanks for the input.

kingmmmy · February 2014

If you want a fitbit I have a flex I would sell you I only wore it twice, found out I don't like wearing stuff around my wrists

SolitudesMuse · February 2014

I love my BodyMedia since I don't have to log my activity with the link between MFP and BodyMedia.

katierrt · February 2014

I have the clip on fit bit, totally enjoying it!!

editorgrrl · February 2014

I have a Jawbone UP24 (and before that an UP) and a Fitbit Flex. The UP app is way better—it has a more robust social aspect, it issues guided challenges like "drink 8 glasses of water" or "go to bed at x p.m.," and it offers insights based on your data (for example, I'm in the top 40% for steps, and my longest idle time last week was 2h 24m (car trip)).

But Fitbit has much better customer service. And they make non-band activity trackers that can be put in a picket or clipped to a bra.

Fitbit Users group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/1307-fitbit-users

Jawbone UP Bracelet group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/13370-jawbone-up-bracelet

If you want to sync with MFP you have to log everything through MFP instead of the fitbit app. That may or may not be a downside for you based on your preferences but like I said I find the fitbit app a lot easier and more convenient to log with than MFP.

Wrong. Do not log step based activity—the tracker does that for you. Log non-step workouts either in the tracker or in MFP. If you choose MFP you're asked for start & end times and MFP overrides your step data during your workout. I find the UP & Fitbit burns to be way more accurate than MFP's one-size-fits-all guesstimates.

chrysanthis · February 2014

Please don't get a Fitbit Flex. I have already had THREE of them and they were all eventually returned. Two of them wouldn't go into sleep mode no matter what I did. The other worked for sleep but was way off for steps & distance (even though I set my stride accurately). I was super bummed having been so excited initially to get one. On top of all that, I saw something in the paper just today saying Fitbit is voluntarily recalling its wrist devices due to overwhelming complaints of skin irritation.

I don't have any direct experience with the other two brands, but my brother's girlfriend has a Jawbone and adores it. At the end of the day though, the Jawbone and Fitbit are just fancy pedometers and pricey ones at that. Body Media (who was recently acquired by Jawbone) is likely a better option if you don't mind wearing an armband all the time. Personally, that would bother me. So ultimately I'd recommend a heart rate monitor to more accurately reflect calories burned.

knra_grl · February 2014

I have a Polar Loop and so far I like it. User friendly. It doesn't sync with MFP though.

wibutterflymagic · February 2014

The main thing that I want is to be able to track my calorie burn so I can better manage my meals and exercise routines.

Edit. I just saw that it's the Fitbit Force that they are recalling and not selling at the moment although it's a very small % of people that have had issues.

editorgrrl · February 2014

Please don't get a Fitbit Flex. I have already had THREE of them and they were all eventually returned. Two of them wouldn't go into sleep mode no matter what I did. The other worked for sleep but was way off for steps & distance (even though I set my stride accurately). I was super bummed having been so excited initially to get one. On top of all that, I saw something in the paper just today saying Fitbit is voluntarily recalling its wrist devices due to overwhelming complaints of skin irritation.

Fitbit recalled the Force. The Flex and the non-band trackers are fine.

I'm on my third Flex _and_ my third UP. They're tiny computers you wear on your wrist, even in the shower. They break, and the company replaces them. It's helpful to buy a tracker directly from the manufacturer. (Click the "Apps" tab at the top if this page.) Fitbit was way more helpful about arranging for replacements.

wibutterflymagic · February 2014

Any other opinions??

Does anyone know if Jawbone or Fitbit track your calorie burn. I want a more accurate reading on my BMR and TDEE. I've researched the sites and I just don't get a clear picture of their capabilities.

chelso0o · February 2014

Garmin Vivofit-- heart rate information! :-D

MLR930 · February 2014

Garmin Vivofit-- heart rate information! :-D

and you can wear it in the pool! I can't wait for it to come out. March 31st feels like a lifetime away.

sjaykay13 · February 2014

I use a BodyMedia armband and it's the same as everything else: Up, FitBit, etc.

BodyMedia tracks calories burned via a few sensors on the armband, it does NOT track heart rate. It syncs with MFP which makes logging food and activity easy between the two apps.

I've had my armband for 2 months now and really love it. The only downside is that it's starting to make an indent in my arm because I'm supposed to wear it 24/7.

editorgrrl · February 2014

Does anyone know if Jawbone or Fitbit track your calorie burn. I want a more accurate reading on my BMR and TDEE. I've researched the sites and I just don't get a clear picture of their capabilities.

They both send your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) to MFP, and MFP adjusts your calorie goal accordingly.

allbarrett · February 2014

I have a Fitbit Flex, my husband has a Jawbone UP, and I researched a number of different units before buying anything.

Fitbit Flex:
Terrific website, acceptable app.
Will sync with MFP.
Lousy food database (better to use MFPs) but very good (I find) at estimating daily average calorie burn (TDEE) - better than MFP's "one size fits all" approach.
The Fitbit won't sync to Android devices (or, I should say, will only sync with one or two very specific ones).
Fitbits will sync via bluetooth.
Great customer service.
Has a light bar on the face that will tell you roughly what % of your step goal you've reached (it is in 20% increments), so if your goal is 10,000 steps, you get one extra light for every 2000 steps. Very motivating on the go.
You have to pay to get your stats in comparison to other users (number of steps, amount of sleep, etc.).
Has a SIGNIFICANT design defect in that the device itself doesn't always sit in the recharge cradle properly, so it won't charge. I returned the first one. The second one isn't quite so bad; a small piece of paper can be used to jam the thing in properly. However, this is extremely irritating (I'm "fixing" my $100 toy with a piece of scrap paper, for 3 hours every 5 days).

Jawbone:

The Jawbone works fine with most Android devices.
Will sync with MFP, LoseIt and others
You have to plug the Jawbone into your headphone jack to sync (no bluetooth option yet).
Better app than Fitbit, website offers nothing extra though (and isn't as good as Fitbit's).
Jawbone plugs into a charger with a jack (no charging issues). The cap for the jack is, however, extremely easy to lose and the company won't replace them for free any more.
No face display, you MUST plug it into your phone in order to see where you are for the day.
Will give you your stats compared to all Jawbone users (number of steps, amount of sleep, calories, whatever).

We tested our devices against each other and found that the step counts were within acceptable margins of error (a few % or less, one day we were within 50 steps!). Both recharge completely in about 3 hours, and you get about 5 days out of a charge.

I've looked at a number of other devices but decided to stick with my Fitbit for now. Polar Loop won't yet sync with anything else (though they keep promising to open it up). Garmin watches (some of which have similar functionality) also won't sync. Nike+ doesn't really track calories but offers their own "points" which seems silly to me. The BodyMedia stuff looks interesting but it is larger, heavier, and would be noticeable under my shirts (since it straps around your arm).

I find my Fitbit to be motivational, and it makes me think about getting up and moving around regularly during the day (I work a desk job, so this is a very good thing). They all track step-based exercise quite well, how well (or if) they track other exercise is debatable...so you will still be logging some exercise somewhere.

Overall, these are all really "toys". So, my advice is: pick one that you can afford and has whatever feature set appeals to you. There is no best one.

WakkoW · February 2014

Any other opinions??

Does anyone know if Jawbone or Fitbit track your calorie burn. I want a more accurate reading on my BMR and TDEE. I've researched the sites and I just don't get a clear picture of their capabilities.

Part of the reason I bought the Fitbit was to track my TDEE.

Turns out, the Fitbit calculates pretty much the same as all the other methods I tried. But it's nice not to have to do the math.

I am really addicted to knowing my steps now. I have had mine since July, and it really does motivate me to walk more. I was already really good about going to the gym, running and lifting weights, but was basically a slug between workouts.

janapirtle · February 2014

I have a Body Media Link and it's awesome. It's very motivating to watch the calorie burn in real time during a work out. It keeps track of just about everything. It's comfortable enough to forget that I'm wearing it even in my sleep. I would highly recommend it.

nut4crew · February 2014

I have a Fitbit Flex, my husband has a Jawbone UP, and I researched a number of different units before buying anything.

Fitbit Flex:
Terrific website, acceptable app.
Will sync with MFP.
Lousy food database (better to use MFPs) but very good (I find) at estimating daily average calorie burn (TDEE) - better than MFP's "one size fits all" approach.
The Fitbit won't sync to Android devices (or, I should say, will only sync with one or two very specific ones).
Fitbits will sync via bluetooth.
Great customer service.
Has a light bar on the face that will tell you roughly what % of your step goal you've reached (it is in 20% increments), so if your goal is 10,000 steps, you get one extra light for every 2000 steps. Very motivating on the go.
You have to pay to get your stats in comparison to other users (number of steps, amount of sleep, etc.).
Has a SIGNIFICANT design defect in that the device itself doesn't always sit in the recharge cradle properly, so it won't charge. I returned the first one. The second one isn't quite so bad; a small piece of paper can be used to jam the thing in properly. However, this is extremely irritating (I'm "fixing" my $100 toy with a piece of scrap paper, for 3 hours every 5 days).

Jawbone:

The Jawbone works fine with most Android devices.
Will sync with MFP, LoseIt and others
You have to plug the Jawbone into your headphone jack to sync (no bluetooth option yet).
Better app than Fitbit, website offers nothing extra though (and isn't as good as Fitbit's).
Jawbone plugs into a charger with a jack (no charging issues). The cap for the jack is, however, extremely easy to lose and the company won't replace them for free any more.
No face display, you MUST plug it into your phone in order to see where you are for the day.
Will give you your stats compared to all Jawbone users (number of steps, amount of sleep, calories, whatever).

We tested our devices against each other and found that the step counts were within acceptable margins of error (a few % or less, one day we were within 50 steps!). Both recharge completely in about 3 hours, and you get about 5 days out of a charge.

I've looked at a number of other devices but decided to stick with my Fitbit for now. Polar Loop won't yet sync with anything else (though they keep promising to open it up). Garmin watches (some of which have similar functionality) also won't sync. Nike+ doesn't really track calories but offers their own "points" which seems silly to me. The BodyMedia stuff looks interesting but it is larger, heavier, and would be noticeable under my shirts (since it straps around your arm).

I find my Fitbit to be motivational, and it makes me think about getting up and moving around regularly during the day (I work a desk job, so this is a very good thing). They all track step-based exercise quite well, how well (or if) they track other exercise is debatable...so you will still be logging some exercise somewhere.

Overall, these are all really "toys". So, my advice is: pick one that you can afford and has whatever feature set appeals to you. There is no best one.

In addition to the above excellent points, there is also an inactivity alarm and the timer available on the Jawbone UP. I now have a Fitbit Flex, and miss those two features greatly. I forget to look at a clock to start and stop my workouts, but remembered to start/stop the timer using the UP, dunno why. And I had my inactivity alarm set to go off every 50 minutes, to boot me out from behind my desk.

snootmaster · February 2014

I have the Body Media Link armband right now and I like it-I really like the interface with MFP and it seems to do a pretty accurate job of tracking activity. At first it was a little awkward wearing the band around my arm but I have gotten used to it in fairly short order. I previously owned a fitbit flex-it was fine, but I do not feel that it captured the "essence" of a hard workout as well but really the big problem with it was that it is easy to lose (my husband lost his after about 2 weeks) and easy to wash and destroy (which I did after a couple of months). If I were in the market to buy one over the other it would definitely be the Body Media.

19TaraLynn84 · February 2014

I am absolutely loving my Fitbit Flex! It adjusts my calorie goal throughout the day by syncing with the meals I log on MFP and the amount of calories I burn throughout the day. The sleep tracker is great. Not having to worry about it getting wet is great. I don't know anything about the other products, so I can do any comparisons for you.

wibutterflymagic · February 2014

Fabulous. Thank you all for the info.

Lil_Lanie · February 2014

I've had the fitbit one for about a week and finding it's pretty accurate.

looneytunes32 · February 2014

Fitbit Flex:
Terrific website, acceptable app.

You have to pay to get your stats in comparison to other users (number of steps, amount of sleep, etc.).

How much do you have to pay for this info?

Thanks..

kittybenn · March 2014

Really happy with my Fitbit Zip. Pretty cheap ($60 when last I checked). I had the Fitbit One but all the bells and whistles just didn't end up mattering to me. I just need to know steps/miles/time. Of course, I lost it, so downgraded to the Zip, but am very happy with it.

JAWBONE, FITBIT FLEX OR BODY MEDIA?

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