FitBit

I have a fitbit flex and it helps motivate me to get in my steps. I love how it syncs to mfp and automatically puts in any extra calories I've gained walking throughout the day. It is however just a fancy pedometer so it won't track other exercises like biking and swimming.

Are they any good? I think so. I would love to get one.

Are they worth the money? How much money do you have to spend on one?

I just went and bought a basic pedometer because I don't have he money for a true fitness tracker right now.

I was using an app on my phone, except there was one major flaw with doing so:

For a fitness tracker to be accurate, it needs to be on your body 24/7 (or as much as possible). My phone spends most of its time in my hand or plugged into a charger. It's not going to track my fitness very well over there.

If you are looking to use a heart rate monitor in the future, then I would suggest getting a Garmin Vivofit ($150 w/o HRM strap, $190 w/HRM strap) (http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/03/garmin-vivofit-review.html) or a Polar Loop ($100 w/o HRM strap)(http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/12/polar-depth-review.html). They are very similar, but have slightly different features. Read the reviews, see what you like, go check the out and buy one.

If you aren't planning on using a heart rate monitor, and you have a large budget ($100) I would suggest the Withings Pulse. (http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/11/withings-depth-review.html)

If you just want something basic for less ($60) then the Fitbit Zip is your best choice. (http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/10/fitbit-depth-review.html)

Read through the reviews, and make your own decision. If you want to check out the other fitness traackers, they're all on that site. Every single one.

Just a side note: As far as i'm aware, you can sync every single on of those fitness trackers with MFP except for the Polar Loop.

All fitness trackers are very consistent with each other in tracking the number of steps you have take. Also, I read various other articles on the devices and they are all relatively accurate for tracking calories in steady-state, low intensity activity.Tthey were all within 10% of what the subject actually burned.

They only way to get more accurate with higher levels of activity are with an HRM.

My personal favourite and the one I wish to get is the Garmin Vivofit - mostly because it has the 'red bar of guilt' that reminds you to get up and be active every hour you have been inactive and its battery lasts an entire year.

I absolutly love my fitbit and think it is worth the money. It keeps me motivated everyday and helps me set goals and reach them. It just had a great update and I'm sure there are more to come. Get one!

I`m still using my fitbit Ultra ( the older version ) and Love it if it ever dies I`ll replace it so Yes IMO its worth it

I have only had mine for 4 days and I am very tech challenged so it took me a while to figure out how it all syncs with my laptop and my phone. For months I have known that I needed to add cardio to strength training and have not been able to motivate myself to get up in the early a.m. to walk. But I did it this morning, just so I could come home and see how many steps I added to my fitbit dashboard. So I guess it's working so far :happy:

I have the One and it is absolutely worth it to me. I don't want to see that I have less than 10K steps on any given day - to the point that I will be out walking around the block at 11:00 PM (like last night) if I am short on steps or active minutes. It is like my little conscience. If I lost it, I would buy another tomorrow. I have a HRM too, but I haven't had to use that yet as all of my exercise to date has been hiking, walking or jogging.

I got my FitBit One for Christmas and I love it. I often don't get enough sleep and I am terrible at exercising so this really keeps me honest. I will often push myself because of it (for example in the first month I would run up and down stairs as it counts floors! You can set your own targets on the online dashboard and I have the app on my phone and tablet which means I can check the dashboard whenever I want to.

It's small and discrete enough to wear clipped to my bra strap every day and it comes with a soft wrist strap so I can sleep with it on so with the exception of the shower I wear it all the time (to the point when I feel naked without it!)

Go for it!

I downloaded the Pedometer ++ app on my IPhone5s and keep the phone in a small over the shoulder "purse." Due to an achilles injury, I'm not walking for miles every day but it works when I go cycling too! Adds the steps, etc., directly to MFP. It's enough for me and the app was free. But, someday, I'd really like to try a Fitbit and see what it's like. All the testimonials you've received are positive proof that it works.

Yes!

I love my FitBit Flex. I used the Jawbone UP for about a year, which I also loved and I did prefer the sleep tracking on the UP but there are a few glitches with the UP and had to buy 2 within a year. I just started using the FitBit last Friday after too much frustration with my UP not syncing properly. Like the other user, I think it does give you too much extra calories for the exercise. With the UP, if I had a 15,000 step day, I would maybe get 200-300 extra calories but with the FitBit, I get 1200. I did eat my extra calories for 3 days because I was on vacation and did not lose any extra weight so I have decided I will not be eating them. Other than that, it syncs great with MFP and is very comfortable and the bracelet does not get caught on things like my UP did.