Which is better? fitbit or polar loop

ShannonBaylor
ShannonBaylor Posts: 1
in Fitness and Exercise
We are looking at buying the fitbit or the Polar Loop? My husband and I are trying to figure out which is the better one of the two. If we buy the Polar Loop we will be buying the Bluetooth heart rate sensor as well. We aren't worried about the cost of either just which one works better in the end for keeping track on everything, including sleep if possible.

We both plan on wearing which ever one we get 24/7 for the most part. I don't know if the type of workouts we do make a difference on which one would be better. If it does my husband is in the Army so he does PT 5 days a week for about an hour and a half each day, plus he runs daily after work, does push ups and sit ups at home and uses our Elliptical daily. I workout daily as well kettle bell workouts, the Elliptical, Zumba, barbells, and my ad coaster maxx daily, oh and I also run stairs at the stadium on post at least 3 times a week and then run stairs the other 4 days a week at home. Then we both go on to main post and do the optical course at least once a week though sometimes twice.

Replies

  • spg71
    spg71 Posts: 179 Member
    The loop is very good, had mine a month or so now and works with the polar HRM fine and the build quality is excellent. What lets it down imo is the software its very confusing and lacks alot of basic features.

    It is still in beta but i did expect better from POLAR, i guess it will improve over time. But its in a bad way atm.
  • Suezyq47
    Suezyq47 Posts: 199 Member
    I have the Fitbit flex and liked it, but I bought the Polar Loop and H7 heart rate monitor yesterday. From what I see it works better that my Fitbit flex for tracking sleep and calories burned. I just did a 94 min training session at the gym (elliptical and strength training) and it tracked my heart rate and calories burned very well. I will be using the Polar Loop instead of the Fitbit flex now. I don't like that Polar Loop doesn't sync with MFP, but I added a custome exercise on MFP "Polar Loop Adjust" and added my calories burned and time of workout. This will work just fine for me. The software "Polar Flow" is not that great but it's in beta mode, so I am sure it will be improved over time. The Polar Flow app that I use on my iPhone is good.

    Overall I like the Polar Loop over the Fitbit flex.
  • restless_monk
    restless_monk Posts: 7 Member
    I am currently looking to buy an activity tracker and looked through reviews on quite a few of them. Polar gives you more than fitbit, but garmin vivofit gives you even more. I am currently deciding between the two, since they are the only two trackers that integrate heart rate transmitter and these brands are the only two brands, HR transmitters of which are understood by most gym equipment. And without HR measurements you're really just messing about :) Only HR can give you accurate energy measurements.

    You can link data from Garmin connect via at least two 3d party apps, apparently. HR strap on garmin looks/feels neater than Polar's H7, much more like older Polar T31. Garmin works with Android and iOS, but the Loop works only with iOS at the moment, thought Android app is on the way too. The Loop is heavier and the button is a pain, apparently. Also you'll need to cut the band to size yourself.

    I gravitated toward the Polar Loop after looking through fitbug orb, fitbit flex, jawbone up, nike + fuelband, misfit shine until I saw reviews on Garmin vivofit and now I am really not sure which one to go for :) Hope it helps :) vivofit looks really good and is comparable price to the loop if not cheaper, with the HR strap.... decisions decisions ...
  • OverDoIt
    OverDoIt Posts: 332 Member
    My wife has a polar loop and it is dead on accurate without a strap around your chest. The battery lasts about 7 days, and I have confirmed the accuracy with 3 different tests. Good value for $100 .
  • blings2
    blings2 Posts: 1
    I have a Fitbit Flex which I had for Christmas, so I have been using it for a couple of months. I think that the info that you can obtain from it is good, but more in a general sense. It will monitor how many steps that you take a day, and convert that to kms/miles once you sync it to laptop/iPad. It will tell you how many active minutes that you have had each day, this seems to be a more general indication, I have not been able to find out exactly how this is monitored, but I have found it to be pretty accurate in indicating for how long my heart rate was higher. After a workout session, and after playing golf the number of active minutes seem to fit in with what I would expect. This will not suit if you want a HR monitor that gives you exact information, which I think you probably do.

    The Fitbit is very easy to wear, comes with a couple of bands so you can get the right size. It syncs very easily with the app on iPad wirelessly. The battery life is good, I have to recharge every 6 days, so either overnight or during the evening when I don't want to record any activity.

    I think it is motivational in the fact that it does give you an idea of where you are at on the days that you are not doing anything. The days I play golf, or have a workout session I know that I have had enough activity for the day. On the other days when I am desk bound I am trying to make sure that I walk 10,000 steps (for me approx 8km). You can tap the monitor to find out how far you are into your goal at any time during the day. The wristband vibrates when you hit your goal, which you can set to whatever level you like.

    The food database is no substitute for MyFitnessPal and I have not used it at all, so this works alongside other fitness information apps/websites. It will monitor how you sleep as well, which was interesting to start with, but I have found that I haven't bothered with this recently, as I put it into sleep mode, and then I would forget to take it out of sleep mode sometimes and so my activity was not registered in the right way. If you have real problems sleeping then it may be useful.

    My opinion is that for a general indication of activity it is great, but if you require specific HR info to pinpoint your training then this is not for you. Certainly would recommend for people that have a very unactive lifestyle to motivate them to move more.
  • lucasmoten
    lucasmoten Posts: 143 Member
    Between the fitbit and the loop, I would take the loop.

    The advantage of the fitbit is going to be integration though, so if you want to use its default data and have it talk to MFP then this is likely what you want. This was a big deal to me when I first got on MFP, but since all the calories for activities are out of whack and I find myself having to edit everything anyways to convert to net calorie burns all it does is say "here's an activity to edit".

    The advantage of the loop however is waterproofness. More so then the fitbit. Should be able to be out in the rain no problem. Maybe even dunking in water and swimming.

    I haven't picked one up yet as I have strange requirements, but if I was going to get one of the common types out there, I'd likely lean towards the garmin vivofit. In large part this is because I have another garmin, and HRM strap already that would be compatible and the vivofit lasts longer (1 year vs a few days between charges).
  • SJCon
    SJCon Posts: 224
    Had all three and would only consider the Garmin Vivofit now. I received mine a few days ago and it works completely as advertised. Paired and synced flawlessly. Connected and worked well with the heart rate chest strap. Steps are comparable to my BodyMedia fit.
    Couple of advantages. The movement reminder bar does not go away if you just walk a little, You have to walk more the longer you have sat, so if watching TV a dash to the Fridge will not be enough to reset it unlike the others. Polar's never really worked correctly and you had to have your phone with you to see it. The Website supporting it has as much information as Fitbit's but it does not sync to MFP. It may in the future but the peanut buttering of your daily calories by fitbit caused me to not link them anyway so who know. The website info for Loop is pathetic.

    Very happy with the Garmin and would highly recommend it if you want a wrist worn unit.
  • RoseTears143
    RoseTears143 Posts: 1,121 Member
    I have the Fitbit flex and liked it, but I bought the Polar Loop and H7 heart rate monitor yesterday. From what I see it works better that my Fitbit flex for tracking sleep and calories burned. I just did a 94 min training session at the gym (elliptical and strength training) and it tracked my heart rate and calories burned very well. I will be using the Polar Loop instead of the Fitbit flex now. I don't like that Polar Loop doesn't sync with MFP, but I added a custome exercise on MFP "Polar Loop Adjust" and added my calories burned and time of workout. This will work just fine for me. The software "Polar Flow" is not that great but it's in beta mode, so I am sure it will be improved over time. The Polar Flow app that I use on my iPhone is good.

    Overall I like the Polar Loop over the Fitbit flex.

    So I was searching threads last week because I was looking at opinions and info on the Nike Fuel Band. I had never even heard of the Polar Loop, but had the H7 HRM already and had been loving that. Based onwhat you had said I looked at the Loop more.

    Well, I decided to get this instead of ordering the Nike Fuel band and am really impressed so far. It tracks my calroies burnt when exercising when I wore my HRM this morning for my first workout using it WAY more accurately than the app I had on my iPod tracked my calories via the HRM. I love that it tracked how much I slept lastnight, and is showing my activity level, and that it's waterproof...I just love this thing already. Hopefully it continues to impress me!

    But anyway, thanks for sharing this info! :flowerforyou:
  • arijaycomet
    arijaycomet Posts: 21
    I think the Fitbit is the way to go, as I wrote in my review here:
    http://arijaycomet.com/2013/12/10/battle-fitbit-force-vs-polar-loop/

    I think the Garmin is a good option and I'd take it over the loop, as I wrote here:
    http://arijaycomet.com/2014/03/13/battle-garmin-vivofit-vs-fitbit-force-vs-fitbit-flex/

    But in the end... I still think Fitbit's products are the best quality, best software, best experience-- and they integrate with MFP best too!

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