Garmin Vivofit

Hi. So it looks like the vivofit has the old Fitbit problem of only sending information one way. On Garmin connect it syncs and shows my updated calories (which it grabs from MFP), but MFP does not get the activity data from Garmin connect to adjust the calories on MFP.

Hopefully its sorted out soon. Hate to return this.

There is a mfp setting that you must check, to allow negative entries. When you check it, it'll all work.

You'll find it in the Diary Settings, for negative adjustments.

I wrote a review on the Vivofit on my blog - http://www.hamptonrunner.com/blog/2014/7/10/farewell-to-my-fitbit-friends
Now I'm looking for new stepping friends since I'm not on the FitBit Flex anymore.

My profile name is erichunley

Hope to see some of you!

Thanks!

When I do a cardiovascular activity, such as walk, the vivofit isn't picking up on it and adding it to my activities. It's supposed to start recording an activity after ten minutes of consecutive activity.

I think this only happens when ur wearing the heartstrap and set the VF band to the heart setting, then it begins it almost immediately. If there is another way, I haven't yet tried it and would love to know.

I just got my vivofit yesterday and so far I love it except I'm a little confused (forgive me if this is repetitive question). How do I determine my cals burned that is over what I'm allotted on MFP?

I just got my vivofit yesterday and so far I love it except I'm a little confused (forgive me if this is repetitive question). How do I determine my cals burned that is over what I'm allotted on MFP?

hmf7997, your question is a little unclear but let me give it a shot. MFP is optimized for recording what you eat. The Vivofit and Garmin Connect are optimized for recording what you burn. Once you have linked the two together you can look either place to see how you are doing on balance. MFP tells Garmin what you ate and Garmin tells MFP what you expended. I recommend that you tell MFP that you are sedentary whether you are or not. There is no use having MFP trying to estimate a caloric expenditure that Vivofit is fairly accurately measuring.

I just bought the Vivofit at Costco yesterday, just to check it out. I'm taking it back.

The main reason is that it's basically just a glorified pedometer. I don't need to spend $150 on a step counter. It does other stuff, but basically, I find it overwhelming at this stage of my game. I'm just starting my transformation (a week in) and I'm finding it enough of a challenge just counting calories and trying to exercise more. I know myself well enough to know that if I go overboard, too much too fast, I'll get overwhelmed and quit. Baby steps.

I don't like the "inactivity monitor." I understand the idea behind it and I know it's good to move around more, but I guess I'm rebellious against a machine telling me what to do and when to do it. Using my phone calendar to tell myself when to do stuff is bad enough, I don't want some AI being in charge of my schedule.

I had no problem connecting it straight away to my phone (Nexus 5) and using the software, but then I was unable to delete the device from the app when I decided I wanted to return it. I also wasn't able to connect it to my husband's phone after that. So it seems that once you buy it, it's "yours" for life, you can't sell it, and no one else can buy it after it's returned. So that's wasteful.

I run Linux at home and there's no support for that, so it would be phone only. If it's anything like MFP, the app is good for when you're on the move, but lacks features that the full software package would have. Just assumption on my part.

Bottom line, I find it's overpriced for what it does. I also found it to be inaccurate. It counted 84 steps before I even got out of bed this morning, and that I'd burned 894 calories between going to bed and making my morning coffee. That's over half my calculated BMR from 8 hours of sleeping? I don't think so.

ETA: I also think it's obscene that after spending $150 on a device, Garmin wants to nickel-and-dime me for functionality beyond the basic Connect app. I just dropped a lot of cash for a glorified pedometer, and still you want more?

I have owned both a Fitbit Force (that was recalled) and a Vivofit. If I had to do it over again I would have bought another Fitbit.

Why?

Garmin's software is terrible. When I first got my Vivofit I could sync it with my phone after an update I could no longer sync from my phone just my PC. Garmin took over a month to fix it.

Most of my friends own Fitbits. Since Garmin's software does not allow you to sync your steps with other apps, you lose out competing with you friends on steps.

It is a shame that the software is so bad because I really like the device.

I wish the band had a stop watch or at least displayed seconds on the watch display so I could use it to time my rest periods.

sooooooo this!!!


I wish I could button scroll to a timer when in heart mode to see how long a run has been, and I WISH I could see seconds to time 60 second rests between sets. I hate craning my neck trying to squint to see one of the gym clocks b/c half the time I can't see it or somebody gets in the way and thinks I'm checking them out. Lol. When I switched from my watch to this, I thought I'd miss my watch's light, but it's actually the seconds/timer that I miss the most. Otherwise I love my Vivofit.

Just got a Vivofit w/HRM last weekend. Love it so far... Can't compare as this is my first Activity Monitor. Its taken a few days to figure out the integration between MFP and Garmin Connect, but it gives me the Info I can use to monitor calories in and out.

Anybody know of other apps that work with the Vivofit? Just wondering if anything has been developed to compete with Garmin Connect?

Not for anyone in particular but I have been using the Vivofit for 8 days now & one quirk I can't figure out is why the estimate the app gives for daily BMR calories varies so much. What little I know about BMR leads me to believe it is a factor determined by height, weight, age & gender so on a daily basis I thought it would be more consistent. I am seeing daily differences of around 17% in the BMR calorie estimate which has me stumped?

hi mari7a, sorry I lost track of this & never saw your response. I wasn't comparing the two (MFP vs Garmin Connect), I was just commenting that the daily BMR estimate on Garmin Connect seemed to vary an awful lot. Based on what I have read on the subject, your daily BMR should not change (unless of course you input a change of gender, height, weight, age, etc.). So the fact that mine varied so much on a daily basis had me stumped because I never changed any of those settings!