Fitbit v. Vivofit v. Nike Fuel v. Whatever else

I have fitbit flex, and I love the tracking steps, calories burned etc. It syncs with Myfitnesspal, so I can add exercise and food as needed. I saw they are coming out with new fitbits, and I would wait for one of those. The ChargeHR tracks your heart rate all day, which is helpful for accurate calorie counting. I like using a HR monitor when I workout tho, so it fits in my train of thought. I know people who own the vivofit and like it but I am not sure what they like/dislike about it.

Only dislikes I have for the flex, is if you wear it in your sleep it is uncomfortable and seems to suck battery pretty quick (I charge it 2 times a week or more).

Good luck!

I'm on my third fitness tracker; I'll give you some pros and cons for each.

I started with a Fitbit One.

Pros:
1) Great user community (seriously, so many of my friends have Fitbits, and I miss them)
2) Syncs with a bunch of different services, including MFP and TrendWeight (even though I don't have a Fitbit anymore, I still log my weight on the website so I can use TrendWeight)
3) Has a web interface as well as the phone app (I appreciate this much more since I've been having issues with my Jawbone UP24)

Cons:
1) The stair-count got less accurate over time—after I'd had it a little over a year, it was regularly logging dozens of flights of stairs I hadn't climbed, even on a still day.
2) This one's a bit silly, but it only gives you badges the first time you achieve one of its goals—so you get a badge the first time you hit 20,000 steps in a day, but the next time you do that, it just shrugs.
3) I started getting tired of swapping the One between the clip (which I would have needed to replace—the rubber started disintegrating after about a year) and the sleep band (which I also needed to replace—the Velcro was wearing out).

I nearly got the Fitbit Force next, because it also tracked stairs, but then it was recalled, and I could tell I'd break the band on the Flex. I found the Jawbone UP24, and if you'd asked me about it two weeks ago, I would have told you I loved it.

Pros:
1) The software. This is the primary reason I switched from Fitbit to Jawbone. It syncs with MFP and other apps, and it starts to learn your habits, so it can give you personalized suggestions. It also congratulates you every time you hit a milestone, and pushes you to do just a little bit more. ("You've averaged 15,043 steps over the past seven days. Could 15,000 be your new goal?")
2) The customer service. When my band started to warp—the rubber came unglued from the band and started to stretch over the button, and one of the arms got a bit wobbly—they sent the replacement band in the same package with the return envelope.
3) The battery life. The most recent firmware update extended the battery life to 14 days.

Cons:
1) The software. About two weeks ago, there was a software update that made my band almost unusable. It was using up to 20 percent of my phone battery, meaning I couldn't make it through a full day without recharging the phone, as well as losing or duplicating my steps, sleep records, and custom exercises... I uninstalled the app a week ago and the band's been sitting on my bookshelf since.
2) The customer service. The company hasn't publicly acknowledged the problem with the 4.0 software update, despite the forums, Facebook page, Twitter stream, and App Store being full of unhappy customers. If there isn't a fix soon, I'll sell my band to someone with more patience than I have—and I might do that even if they do fix it. I won't hold a bad app update against the company, but I'm very disappointed in the lack of public response.
3) Band quality. Other than the warping issue I mentioned above, I haven't had any problems with the hardware, and that was mainly cosmetic. However, there are plenty of Jawbone UP24 users who are on their 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th... bands. The company keeps replacing them, but it's still a significant problem.

And what's on my wrist now is the Misfit Flash, which I bought as soon as it came out, and wore alongside the Jawbone for several weeks. (I nearly bought the Shine instead of the Jawbone, back in February, but it didn't integrate with other apps back then, or have any kind of a social layer.)

Pros:
1) Water-resistant! I can swim in it, instead of just adding a swim workout to the software later. (The Flash isn't as water-resistant as the Shine, and there are some Amazon reviews from people who've had it drown, but I haven't had any issues with it.)
2) The price. It's $50, and the only difference in function between it and the Shine is the material—it's made of plastic instead of aluminum.
3) The software. It's pretty basic, but the information display is very clean and easy to read.
4) The customer service. I got a customer survey about a week after I bought the Flash, and since then, I've exchanged several emails with a customer service rep. Misfit seems very interested in finding out what its customers need and want.

Cons:
1) There's no real community layer—you can follow other users, and it'll give you notifications when one of them scores more points than you do, but there doesn't seem to be any way to encourage other users or send messages. (On the plus side, this means that if you accept friend requests from people you don't really know, they get very little information about you!)
2) The selection of exercises is very limited—it tracks steps, and has a few options like running, swimming, yoga, and soccer, but it doesn't have an option to track weightlifting, for instance, or rowing.
3) The calorie count seems high—though once I dropped my MFP activity level to "sedentary," it seems to give me about the same estimate that my Jawbone did when I had it set to "moderately active," so it might just have a different approach to calculating it.

Obviously, I like my gadgets (I have my eye on the Fitbit Charge HR, too), but I haven't found "the one" that does everything I'd like it to do. I think it comes down to figuring out which features are most important to you, and realizing that your needs may change.

I wouldn't bother with the Nike Fuelband as Nike have apparently discontinued the product.

The current Fitbit units work well but are very basic. If all you need is step tracking they work fine and the software is good. The new Fitbit units scheduled to hit the market in early 2015 look very promising, offering builtin heart rate monitoring, info displays and text/email notifications if that floats your boat. We don't know how well the HR portion works yet so that is a question mark IMO.

I have had a Vivofit on my arm since late May and am very happy with it. I frequently see it on sale for under $80 now which is a bargain. It has some significant pros for me.

1 year battery life: This is one of the most important things for me as I leave it on 24/7. Most other devices only last 2-7 days before needing recharge.

It is waterproof so I can wear it in the shower/bath or swimming.

The Garmin Connect software is smart enough to know that when I upload the data from Edge cycle computer after a ride or Forerunner data after a run, it ignores any calorie data from the Vivofit. Pretty much any other device will double count calories.

Garmin connect syncs automatically with MFP and Strava

Vivofit, Forerunner and Edge all can use the same HR strap

Vivofit has a red bar that shows you that you need to get off your *kitten* if you've been sitting too much

Yearly should say monthly.

I have had the Withings Pulse which I really liked, but I accidentally drowned it twice and it was acting a little goofy. I received the Polar Loop for my birthday about 6 weeks ago and I love it, but I like Polar products.

Withings: I liked that it synced with my phone and MFP. It measured sleep quality, steps taken, and calories burned. Comes with a strap that you can put the device in to wear as an arm or ankle bracelet. Stayed charged for a week or more before it needed to be charged again.

I disliked wearing the band on my arm as it would get sweaty and stick to my skin. The device is really small and easy to lose. It is not waterproof! I was wearing it on the beach around my ankle as a BIG wave came in and messed it up. After a couple of weeks of drying it out, the device started working again but then I took a shower with it on and ruined it again.

Polar Loop: Syncs to my phone or I can use the charging cord to upload my results to their website. I prefer this method because I can charge my device at the same time. Charge lasts about three days. It is waterproof! You can customize the fit of the device and wear on either wrist. Can use the Loop with a Polar HRM to get a more accurate idea of your calorie burn during exercise. Comes in several different colors and the display is easy to see. Touch screen spot on the device to toggle through the other settings. Tracks calories burned, sleep quality, steps taken, and displays the time. You earn a fireworks show when you reach your activity goal, and you receive inactivity alerts when you have been sitting too long to get you up and moving. You can get some awesome information from their website after you have synced your data about your steps, calories, sleep, and exercise zones if you are using a HRM.

I don't have anything negative to say other than sometimes my Samsung Galaxy 4 doesn't like to cooperate with it at times. I think that is more of the phone though because the last update has it doing crazy stuff.

You may want to check in store and Amazon to see where you can get the better deal on whatever device you decide to use.