Is a Fitbit worth it?

My suggestion would be to buy just one to start and give it to him. See if it "takes" or not, whether or not he gets any use out of it, and if it so buy a second one otherwise take it from him for you to use and then get him something else for his birthday. Just a thought

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I got a Fitbit Flex for Christmas - best gift ever! It helps keep you motivated to move, links up ith my fitness pal, and a few other apps. mine also links with my smartphone. The wristband style is awesome, you can wear it anywhere. I like the Flex because it's more water resistant than the Force, but the Force has an awesome display and a longer battery life.

Great explanation thanks.

So I assume people using a Fitbit along with the MFP calories calculations have to set their activity level as Sedentary as the Fitbit will then factor in every movement you make (within reason, i'd be impressed if it counted the amount of time I spent picking my nose!)

Yup, that's what I do. Then MFP becomes the TDEE-minus-whatever method, which I actually prefer, since I've had days in recent memory where my TDEE was nearly double my BMR, and also days where it was basically identical. And it's nice to see your allotted daily calories go up sharply after a run

It's a fun gadget that is especially good for people who don't regularly follow a vigorous exercise plan. I've had two that were gifts. The problem for me is that the Fitbits that clip on are easily lost. I currently can't find mine (currently, the Fitbit One). If I were to buy one I'd get the version that's worn on the wrist that syncs wirelessly.

i lost mine and i wasn't pleased with the website. i have a sparkpeople activity tracker (need to have a sparkpeople account to get full use of tracker) that i haven't lost yet, and i can swim with.

I'm a huge fan of my Fitbit Flex (had it 6 months now). I would love to get a Force but I can't justify replacing a unit that works fine.

It is more for motivation (as people have suggested) than a true weight loss tool, in my opinion, but I'm OK with that. And, to be fair, it has helped me calculate my actual TDEE, which I found was somewhat inaccurate from the MFP website.

I sync the unit to my phone (better have Apple gear, however, most Android devices won't sync with the One, Zip or Flex and I don't know if any of them will sync to Blackberry). I have MFP and Fitbit linked and always enter exercise into Fitbit and food into MFP. Fitbit's website does allow meal entry (like MFP) but frankly the database isn't very well populated, you can't set up meals or recipes, and the data entry is somewhat kludgy (again, my opinion).

I typically get about 5 days to a charge, which takes about 2-3 hours. The charging is the worst part right now, as my Flex has started having trouble charging (I have to jam it into the charger in just the right way, sometimes sticking in a little piece of paper to hold it in the right spot, then arrange the charger so that it is either flat or pointed upward...something about the contacts slipping away from the charge port). When it stops charging, I'm going to exchange it (it came with a 1 year retail warranty), I just don't want to do without it for the 3+ weeks it will take to mail it back and get a new one!

I know this isn't what you asked, but I love my BodyMedia arm band. It was about $150 for the equipment and it's about $60/yr for the subscription, but I love it. It syncs with MFP and tells you exactly how many calories you burn every day.

SueLegal,
Lumo started taking pre-orders for their new sensor at a discounted price ($69). There are a few hundred units left at the moment. I just ordered mine.

I have a HRM I use when I exercise, so I am wondering if a fitbit would really be worth it for me....

I have an HRM too, and I wear it during workouts. The Fitbit measures your activity over the course of the rest of the day. Before I got mine, I would work out for an hour in the AM and then go on with my day. Until I got my Fitbit, I never realized how sedentary I was during the rest of the day. I was only logging 5k steps or less, including my workout! So, I added a walk after both lunch and dinner, and I now log 12-13k steps a day! It has also made me more conscious of not sitting for too long a period without getting up and moving around, standing when it's possible to do so rather than sitting, making extra trips to other floors to get things, etc.

It is a huge motivator to be as active as possible all day, not just during workout time.

Personally, I got myself a Fitbit but have given it to my daughter. Difficulty I had was stressing over 10,000 steps a day. Today I ran 7 miles, so tomorrow will be a take it easy day but when I wore my Fitbit I got hooked up on constantly checking to make sure I'd walked the requisite number of steps. I would say that it is a great tool for helping you become more active unless you are already active, in which case, it may not be all that useful. For me, its MFP and my Garmin Forerunner - certainly I'd be lost without MFP, its helped me lose 2 stone and kept it off for over a year now.

someone gave me one and I have not instructions on how to use it. help