fitness tracker

I just bought the Garmin Vivofit today. I did a lot of research before choosing. I picked this one because it has a real heart rate monitor (chest strap) for running, biking, etc., it does not have have to be recharged every few days (inexpensive batteries replaced every 9 months or so), and it's waterproof for swimming.

The cons of the Vivofit are that it doesn't not sync with Android phones except for the newest models (so when I upgrade, it will be fine) and it doesn't sync with MFP, plus it doesn't have a backlight, but I don't think that will really be an issue.

My other choice was a Polar Loop because I did not want just a glorified pedometer counting steps. I want HRM integrated.

Now I'm going to take my Vivofit and my old Polar HRM to the gym to test it's accuracy before I decide if I'm keeping it.

I use Fitbit one and love it.

I've had the Fitbit Flex for almost a year and love it. It's gotten me to hit the 10K step mark almost every day. I wear it 24/7 except for charging (once a week) and when my bird wants to sit on that arm since it freaks him out a bit. It syncs here. The alarm is great - it vibrates and is a much nicer way to wake up, than with a blaring alarm clock. It was definitely a good investment.

Sadly the best Fitbit has been recalled. The Force was a great product and I use mine daily. But it does have a faulty strap design but that can be fixed. Too bad it is not waterproof .. or it would be just about perfect. Well .. a HRM feature would be nice like some of the Samsung models which I understand do not need a chest strap.

Also have a Fitbit Flex .. but it sucks. Total piece of crap compared to the other models out there. It sits in a drawer where it will eventually die a painful death.

There are some really nice products from Garmin and Samsung in particular now. Do your research .. but this market will continue to grow.

I had the flex which was a good product - except I had the problem the Force was recalled for (a rash when I wore it). The Vivofit is promising with battery life but as of right now does not interface to MFP. Fitbit and Wirthings have clip ons that work well and interface. I have the Gear Fit (doesn't interface to MFP - but it does to my S4 phone). It is really all how much you want to spend and do you want to manually log on MFP. Whatever you get - it is a tool or motivator depending how you use it.

i have a vivofit and love it. you have to get it with the heart rate monitor to track exercise activity with it, as otherwise its really just a pedometer. But combined with the heart rate monitor, it's great.

Doesn't sync with MFP (though there's been talk that it will,) but i find it easy to go to garmin connect, get my calorie burn from the activity, then add it to MFP.

It's waterproof, battery lasts a year, easy to take on/off but strap stays secure (it's never once fallen off.) Has sleep monitoring too which I'm not really bothering with but I know some people like (mostly just tracks movement as you sleep to give you an idea of how much you move around in the night.)

I just bought the Garmin Vivofit today. I did a lot of research before choosing. I picked this one because it has a real heart rate monitor (chest strap) for running, biking, etc., it does not have have to be recharged every few days (inexpensive batteries replaced every 9 months or so), and it's waterproof for swimming.

The cons of the Vivofit are that it doesn't not sync with Android phones except for the newest models (so when I upgrade, it will be fine) and it doesn't sync with MFP, plus it doesn't have a backlight, but I don't think that will really be an issue.

My other choice was a Polar Loop because I did not want just a glorified pedometer counting steps. I want HRM integrated.

Now I'm going to take my Vivofit and my old Polar HRM to the gym to test it's accuracy before I decide if I'm keeping it.

After all my research this was what I think I'm going to buy... how did the two compare?

After testing the Vivofit for a day, I took it back.

First, the whole point in getting it instead of a Fitbit was the integration of heart rate monitoring. However, during the actual workout, it was impossible to get to the heart rate monitoring info...namely, zones, calories burned, etc. Also, to get calories burned during the whole workout, you basically had to remember the total calories before the workout, and subtract that from the calories after the workout. The wrist unit didn't give much info at all...you had to wait to sync it with the website or app. Even then, it was merely ok. And the calories burned was way off.

I'm giving the Polar Loop a try, and if I don't like it, I may just replace my old HRM with a newer one which communicates with my phone and possibly get a Fitbit of some sort.

I'm eyeballing the Amiigo which is coming out later this year, so if the Polar Loop doesn't make me happy, I might just wait a while.

I have the fitbit flex. i love it. i never take it off except to charge it. I feel like it has been key to my losing 40 pounds as I am big on goals and love seeing all green smiley faces at the end of the day. My only problem with it is that for the last little bit it is not syncing automatically with MFP. I have to connect and reconnect it every night for my exercise calories to show up. I also have a Polar Ft HRM. I have found that when running my flex does pretty good with being close on calories, but if I am washing/grooming riding horses or doing things like gardening, my HRM is more accurate.

I just bought the Garmin Vivofit today. I did a lot of research before choosing. I picked this one because it has a real heart rate monitor (chest strap) for running, biking, etc., it does not have have to be recharged every few days (inexpensive batteries replaced every 9 months or so), and it's waterproof for swimming.

The cons of the Vivofit are that it doesn't not sync with Android phones except for the newest models (so when I upgrade, it will be fine) and it doesn't sync with MFP, plus it doesn't have a backlight, but I don't think that will really be an issue.

My other choice was a Polar Loop because I did not want just a glorified pedometer counting steps. I want HRM integrated.

Now I'm going to take my Vivofit and my old Polar HRM to the gym to test it's accuracy before I decide if I'm keeping it.

After all my research this was what I think I'm going to buy... how did the two compare?

After testing the Vivofit for a day, I took it back.

First, the whole point in getting it instead of a Fitbit was the integration of heart rate monitoring. However, during the actual workout, it was impossible to get to the heart rate monitoring info...namely, zones, calories burned, etc. Also, to get calories burned during the whole workout, you basically had to remember the total calories before the workout, and subtract that from the calories after the workout. The wrist unit didn't give much info at all...you had to wait to sync it with the website or app. Even then, it was merely ok. And the calories burned was way off.

I'm giving the Polar Loop a try, and if I don't like it, I may just replace my old HRM with a newer one which communicates with my phone and possibly get a Fitbit of some sort.

I'm eyeballing the Amiigo which is coming out later this year, so if the Polar Loop doesn't make me happy, I might just wait a while.

Would you let me know how the polar loop stacks up? It was between that and the vivofit for me, so I'm interested to know.

Thank you.