Fitbit? Polar Ft?

I own and religiously wear the fitbit flex. I would say it's as accurate as possible without wearing the heart rate strap. It pinpoints my exercises (running, lifting, elliptical, jumping around, whatever) and accurately counts the calories burned. I would definitely suggest investing in one!

I have both a fitbit zip and polar heart rate monitor (FT4). I use them both because I don't think fitbit is as accurate for workouts. So Fitbit syncs my all day activity and then i manually add in my exercise calories (from my HRM) on MFP. Then both sync together and I think it gives me a really accurate count for the day. I recently allowed negative calorie adjustments, where fitbit will change my calorie amount depending on my activity for the day and I think this works best for me. It makes me want to exercise to get more calories and I feel like I'm eating the right amount depending on the day.

I am interested in getting something to help me figure out how many calories I am actually burning. I've looked at both the Fitbit and the Polar FT4 (I think it was the 4). It looks like the Fitbit monitors calories burned all day, whereas the FT4 is for workouts. It also looks like the FT4 would be more accurate. Is this an accurate picture of the two?

Neither of them measure calories, they both provide an estimate based on how they measure your activity.

Fitbit is, as you say, a overenthusiastic pedometer that counts steps and estimates a calorie burn based on that.

A Heart Rate Monitor tracks your HR and estimates a calorie burn based on that, and metrics that you programme it with; height, build, weight, gender etc.

Clearly a fitbit looks at all of your activity, whereas an HRM is generally used in exercise. Some people advocate using both, as they are in theory complementary.

The value really depends on what type of exercise you're doing. If you're doing something like zumba, or body pump classes you're not going to have a realistic measure from either, fitbit won't have an accurate step count and an HRM algorithm is less accurate when HR isn't consistent.

If you're cycling or rowing or something then fitbit isn't going to be able to assess what youre doing, and an HRM is far more accurate and realistic.

If you're running they'll both give you a judgement, although their errors occur in different ways. I have seen reports on here saying that they're pretty consistent, but they are both subject to error in some circumstances.

Personally speaking I use an HRM when I train, I don't really see a pedometer as useful to me the rest of the time

I LOVED my Fitbit Force, but they recalled it, because the charger attachment on the inside of the band was giving skin irritation. I switched it for the Fitbit Flex which I also LOVE. It's very accurate, tracks sleep patterns, I do not realize I'm wearing it, and no skin irritation. When they fix the Force I will be switching back, because it tracks stair count as well. I have not looked into Nike.

I have heard about a new product called GOBE, tracks calories in and out without logging a thing. It sounds amazing, but I'm not sure how accurate it will be. After it's been on the market for a while, if it really works like they say it will, I will be getting one, but I do have some serious doubts.

I've owned various fitbit models and Polars (i'm a number and electronic junkie) and both are great! I do like the fitbit because it syncs automatically with mfp and automatically adjusts the amount of cals you should eat that day and is fun to wear and motivating to see how active you throughout the day but i "grew out" of it as my workouts got more advanced. A huge drawback is that it'll only give you workout readouts if you're doing something where you are taking steps such as running. Riding a bike, swimming, rowing, any type of weight training etc will not be as accurate. You have to go back and log what type of workout you did which is basically the same as if you would simply plug it in on here. While a polar (i think i have the ft7) you can wear and get an accurate reading for any type of workout and with the newer ones you can change the battery out yourself so theoretically if you wanted to wear it all day to get an idea of what youre burning, i guess you could. I find that i quickly got used to the strap. /i did find though that wearing both during running that they were very close to each other in the calorie estimate that i burned.

Don't get a Fitbit Force until they figure out how to make it NOT burn you

I would look at the Polar FT7. I liked the stats on it better. (its getting to my doorstep nowish)

I just bought a fitbit flex and this is day 3 of me wearing it. My only regret is that I didn't buy it sooner! Go get one - you'll be glad you did!

Love my fitbit flex wear it all the time. Plus it is waterproof so you can shower with it on.