Help!! Polar FT4 vs. Garmin vivofit

molson55
molson55 Posts: 59 Member
edited November 9 in Fitness and Exercise
My parents got me both for Christmas and said I could pick one. Which one should I keep?

Replies

  • PinkNinjaLaura
    PinkNinjaLaura Posts: 3,202 Member
    The Vivofit will track your steps, plus you can buy a HRM chest strap to use with it, so that would probably do more.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Polar - Will help determine calorie burns during workouts

    VivoFit - Track steps, helps determine total daily calorie burn (BMR + daily activity + exercise), tracks sleep, can be synced with MFP (although that's not working correctly at the moment...MFP is working on it though) and can be linked with a Garmin HRM for workouts (about $35 on amazon)

    Both are great tools. It just depends on what you want.

  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    edited December 2014
    auntrhon66 wrote: »
    Laura6887 wrote: »
    The Vivofit will track your steps, plus you can buy a HRM chest strap to use with it, so that would probably do more.

    why...Fitbit has a new version that has a HRM on it...go figure....

    Because the accuracy of the new Fitbits hasn't been determined ... optical HRMs without sufficient side shielding and width of band tend to give poor readings ... but why let science get in the way of buying the newest toy.

  • molson55
    molson55 Posts: 59 Member
    Haha well I don't have the option of a fitbit...I have to pick between the two sooooo....I went with the Garmin! Thanks everyone
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    auntrhon66 wrote: »
    Fitbit Flex...

    Why would you recommend an inferior product that's not one of the options?
  • Kevalicious99
    Kevalicious99 Posts: 1,131 Member
    Given the 2 choices above .. the Vivofit is a better product. But for some reason the Polar HRM's seem to have a cult like following here, even though they are often quite inaccurate when it comes to the calorie counts.
  • PinkNinjaLaura
    PinkNinjaLaura Posts: 3,202 Member
    edited December 2014
    auntrhon66 wrote: »
    Laura6887 wrote: »
    The Vivofit will track your steps, plus you can buy a HRM chest strap to use with it, so that would probably do more.

    why...Fitbit has a new version that has a HRM on it...go figure....

    Yes, and I have one. But it's $250 and that's not one of the options the OP's parents bought for her to choose from.

  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    Kevalicious99 wrote: »
    Given the 2 choices above .. the Vivofit is a better product. But for some reason the Polar HRM's seem to have a cult like following here, even though they are often quite inaccurate when it comes to the calorie counts.

    Polar make very good HRMs.

    HRMs aren't designed for measuring calorie expenditure, they're designed to measure heart rate. They use HR as a proxy for calorie expenditure, and that assumes that the user is participating in training in a way that's equivalent to the research that led to the algorithms that they use; steady state in the aerobic range. In that usage they're pretty comparable to anything else.

    USe them for something they're not designed for, like resistance training or prancing around in front of a DVD and the calorie expenditure approximations will be unreliable.

  • 20yearsyounger
    20yearsyounger Posts: 1,630 Member
    Now that you are an owner, there is a group that is hard to find since the group search feature in no longer working. Here is the link

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/21248-vivofit
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
    is there also a group for Polar owners? Thanks in advantage
  • 20yearsyounger
    20yearsyounger Posts: 1,630 Member
    I am sure there is
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