Fitness watches?

fitnessregan
fitnessregan Posts: 19 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone! I am planning on getting a new fitness watch and I don't really know too much about them. I was wondering which one is better/more accurate, the Garmin FR70 or the Polar FT7? I just need it to show heart rate and how many calories I am burning and I'm hoping to find one relatively simple to use.

Any suggestions?? Also, if there is another brand or type of fitness watch you have had good experience with please do not hesitate to share!

Replies

  • mayfrayy
    mayfrayy Posts: 198 Member
    i would wait till apple's wearable products start coming out to see if they cover what you need. A lot is gonna change in wearable tech soon.

    Out of those i'd get the polar.
  • fitnessregan
    fitnessregan Posts: 19 Member
    Thanks! I had no idea about apple coming out with wearable products. Do you know how soon that will be?
  • mayfrayy
    mayfrayy Posts: 198 Member
    probably around sep-oct, but who knows how long it will be until you can get a hrm attachment. if you want one now the polar isn't to expensive and is pretty good.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Activity trackers like Fitbit or Jawbone UP show you your TDEE—way more accurately than any online calculator.

    UP requires a cellphone or tablet. Fitbits can sync with a computer, and include non-band styles that clip to your clothes or go in a pocket.
  • Cjill1120
    Cjill1120 Posts: 1
    I recently got the Garmin Forerunner 10 and I love it!!
  • fitnessregan
    fitnessregan Posts: 19 Member
    Activity trackers like Fitbit or Jawbone UP show you your TDEE—way more accurately than any online calculator.

    UP requires a cellphone or tablet. Fitbits can sync with a computer, and include non-band styles that clip to your clothes or go in a pocket.


    What is your TDEE? I'm new to all of this! haha and I will definitely look into the Fitbits!
  • mayfrayy
    mayfrayy Posts: 198 Member
    tdee is total daily energy expenditure.

    fitbit is really good for this. instead of putting "lightly active" or "active" you would put sedentary, then the fitbit would calculate steps and give you a -more- accurate tdee.

    it wont give you accurate readings for weight training or incline/resistance cardio.
  • fitnessregan
    fitnessregan Posts: 19 Member
    tdee is total daily energy expenditure.

    fitbit is really good for this. instead of putting "lightly active" or "active" you would put sedentary, then the fitbit would calculate steps and give you a -more- accurate tdee.

    it wont give you accurate readings for weight training or incline/resistance cardio.


    Does it measure heart rate at all or just the amount of steps you take?
  • fitnessregan
    fitnessregan Posts: 19 Member
    I recently got the Garmin Forerunner 10 and I love it!!


    Does it have a chest strap to measure heart rate? And your calories burned have seemed pretty accurate?
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Heart-rate monitors measure your burn during cardio. Activity trackers measure your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) 24/7. Your MFP calorie goal is your activity level minus your deficit. When you connect an activity tracker, you get adjustments so that your daily calorie goal is your TDEE minus your deficit.

    I wasn't losing much weight at all until I got an activity tracker. I logged non-step exercise in the tracker rather than MFP, ate back my adjustments, and lost weight.
  • fitnessregan
    fitnessregan Posts: 19 Member
    Heart-rate monitors measure your burn during cardio. Activity trackers measure your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) 24/7. Your MFP calorie goal is your activity level minus your deficit. When you connect an activity tracker, you get adjustments so that your daily calorie goal is your TDEE minus your deficit.

    I wasn't losing much weight at all until I got an activity tracker. I logged non-step exercise in the tracker rather than MFP, ate back my adjustments, and lost weight.

    So a fitbit would measure what I burn during strength training as well as cardio?
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Activity trackers measure step-based activity. Non-step activity (like swimming or spinning) can be logged either in the tracker or in MFP. I find UP & Fitbit's burns to be way more accurate than MFP's one-size-fits-all guesstimates.

    If you log in MFP you're asked for start & end times, and MFP overrides your step data during that time. So there's never any double dipping of calories.
  • simplydelish2
    simplydelish2 Posts: 726 Member
    Note - Fitbits do NOT track heart beats - only steps and calories burned (based on an algorithm of weight and steps). I love my flex - but I don't think that is what you are looking for.
  • fitnessregan
    fitnessregan Posts: 19 Member
    Note - Fitbits do NOT track heart beats - only steps and calories burned (based on an algorithm of weight and steps). I love my flex - but I don't think that is what you are looking for.

    Thanks! Since it doesn't track your heart rate does it still seem to be fairly accurate?
  • midnight419
    midnight419 Posts: 77 Member
    I'd go with Garmin.
  • las_6664
    las_6664 Posts: 7 Member
    I have a Garmin vivofit, switched to it after my Fitbit Force was recalled. It is similar to the Fitbit and calculates TDEE but also works with a heart rate strap for activities. They just recently added syncing with MFP which has been a huge benefit, that was the biggest thing I missed from my Fitbit.
  • runforestrun35
    runforestrun35 Posts: 480 Member
    I love my gatmin forerunner and it does have a chest heart rate strap.... Amazon gave the best price and I have been using it for 3+ years!!!
  • Sivangj
    Sivangj Posts: 182 Member
    Im getting my Samsung S5 cell phone soon and with that a wearable product that can be used as a fitness watch. Meture heart beat and can be used together with the apps you have on your phone.
    Have got great reviews. Looking so much forward to try it out
  • sabified
    sabified Posts: 1,035 Member
    I have a Garmin vivofit, switched to it after my Fitbit Force was recalled. It is similar to the Fitbit and calculates TDEE but also works with a heart rate strap for activities. They just recently added syncing with MFP which has been a huge benefit, that was the biggest thing I missed from my Fitbit.

    I was strongly considering getting a Polar FT4, it's the model below the FT7 and has fewer bells and whistles... I think FT7 has online tracking on their own site... but since it didn't connect with MFP I wasn't really interested. So that's really interesting to know about the Vivofit! I'll definitely check in to that :)
  • emmaxbon
    emmaxbon Posts: 123 Member
    I recently got the Garmin Forerunner 10 and I love it!!

    Getting one of these for my birthday on Saturday :D
  • serohde29
    serohde29 Posts: 3 Member
    I have the Polar FT4. So far, I've been very happy with it. I've been using it for about two weeks when I work out. Price was reasonable and all of the reviews were positive. Set up is super easy. I had thought about getting a Fitbit Flex, but read too many mixed reviews. Honestly I just wanted something that would just measure my HR, didn't need all of the other bells and whistles.
  • jessilee119
    jessilee119 Posts: 444 Member
    I have the Fitbit and I love it. As far as accuracy, it's pretty accurate even though it doesn't have a heart rate monitor. It asks for your gender, weight, height and it factors all of those things in. When I used a heart rate monitor and then used a calories burned calculator, the calories burned according to my Fitbit were the closest to the number calculated. My elliptical doubled the number of calories burned and MFP was 1.5 times higher than what I calculated.

    Fitbit also tracks sleep if you're interested in that as well. I am pleased with it...in fact I'm upset that I don't have it on right now...forgot to charge it :ohwell:

    Good luck with whatever product you choose to get :flowerforyou:
  • crepes_
    crepes_ Posts: 583 Member
    I have the Polary FT4 HRM and it's wonderful. I'd recommend it to anyone.
  • jessilee119
    jessilee119 Posts: 444 Member
    Funny I was looking to see if there was any news of when Fitbit was going to come out with the next product in their line and I saw an article about how Garmin wants to catch up with a similar product to Fitbit. It tracks steps, sleep, heart rate, and more. It's called Vivofit. Here's the link if you want to check it out:

    https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/prod143405.html
  • aarnwine2013
    aarnwine2013 Posts: 317 Member
    I just ordered my Viofit and it should be in today. I'm excited to see how it works and sync it with MFP. I did massive research and I'm hoping that this one lives up to what the reviews say.

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