Fitbit Charge HR
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I am suuuuuper annoyed today. I live in Canada and my mom pre-ordered the Charge HR for me for Christmas from Best Buy. It was supposed to ship out to me on the 23rd but she received an email this morning saying it won't be available until the 30th now! I'm not impressed
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So I got my Charge HR a couple days ago and in my first day, which included a few trips up some stairs and about 1 mile of low intensity walking it claims I've burned over 4,000 calories. I find this very hard to believe. I have the device on my non dominant arm and set it to "dominant" mid day when I sensed that it was over estimating my caloric output. Any thoughts?
I also feel like my adjustment is too much. I switched over from using an Up 24 along with an HRM. I would someone from FitBit would address this issue.0 -
I have the Charge HR. The heart Rate works fine on the wrist, though I usually wear it with the buckle on the outside and the sensors on the inside of my wrist directly over my radial artery.0
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So I got my Charge HR a couple days ago and in my first day, which included a few trips up some stairs and about 1 mile of low intensity walking it claims I've burned over 4,000 calories. I find this very hard to believe. I have the device on my non dominant arm and set it to "dominant" mid day when I sensed that it was over estimating my caloric output. Any thoughts?
I also feel like my adjustment is too much. I switched over from using an Up 24 along with an HRM. I would someone from FitBit would address this issue.
What issue?
And pretty sure Fitbit doesn't read these forums.
Feeling that something is high isn't an issue without some concrete data to know if it actually is or not. How would you know the UP24 was more accurate?
Your prior HRM could have been cheaper Polar and making some bad assumptions and reading 30% off or worse. Shoot, could have been a nicer Polar with self-measured stats that was off by that much.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/459580-polar-hrm-calorie-burn-estimate-accuracy-study
The UP could have been missing many steps through the day and underestimating calorie burn.
Because we have no stats from above comment yet. A purposeful 1 mile of walking (if the Fitbit even saw that much) doesn't account for the other 23 hrs of the day, where the majority of calories is burned.
4000 could easily be accurate for mass and BMR being talked about.
And I have no idea how much digging you might have done in to prior device to decide it was decently accurate.0 -
Can anyone tell me how the HR would work on a treadmill and holding the railings while walking fairly briskly..... my one works perfect but am curious if the HR would need the arms swinging to get an accurate step count??0
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It's more like the Flex than the One and would need the arm motions.0
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I have the Charge HR. Regarding the heart rate monitor: I wear mine like a watch with the sensors on the top of the wrist. I go to cardio rehab for a heart attack I had recently, and I've compared the numbers on the HR with the montors that I'm hooked up to at rehab, and the bpm have been within 1 or 2 beats of each other. Regarding the arms swinging to get an accurate step: Many times I've (been lazy) just walked in place in my living room holding onto a chair with the arm that has the HR and counted my steps, and it's been pretty closed. I've counted up to about 200 steps and my HR has been 195 steps, so to me, that's pretty accurate. As a matter of fact I mentioned to my husband how strange it is that it can count steps when I'm holding onto something!0
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As far as heart rate monitoring goes the chest strap is always better and more accurate. However if you don't like wearing chest strap this is a great alternative just understand its not completely accurate since it takes a while for heart rate to go down to the arm and still with room for error. But if just helpful guidance is all you need its pretty fun to still be able to log everything in and have that kind of information. It may say its water proof however its more water resistant. Hope this helps0
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I'm upgrading from the One to the Charge HR. Its being delivered tomorrow. Its been handy reading this to make me aware of potential errors before I start. My biggest reason for wanting to upgrade is the HR. I have a Polar FT7 and have barely used it as its a faff. Hoping this one is much more straightforward as it will already be on my wrist and ready to go.0
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I have a Fitbit Surge and a Garmin 610 with chest strap HRM. I have found a slight difference between HRs during running workouts (-10), but a major difference (- 30) between high intensity interval training. I've been wearing the Surge since early December (I purchased one during an early release) and I think the wrist HRM is definitely not as effective as a chest strap. I also notice that during rest, the Surge seems to register a higher HR. My aunt, who is a nurse, was watching me scroll through the screens just this past Friday while we were sitting at a diner about to have a meal, and she laughed when she saw my HR on the Surge saying that was too high. She took my pulse right there and said it was 10 beats lower than what the Surge was indicating. At rest! Probably why some have experienced the higher calorie burn while wearing their Charge HR/Surge as compared to older models.
However, despite the inaccurate HRs, the Surge still impresses me since I can get my texts and incoming calls on it, which is good on runs where my phone is packed tight in a pocket. I just can't use the watch to respond. I also like that it automatically tracks my sleep; I don't have to tell it when I go to bed and when I get up like I did with my old Flex. Is it worth the $250? IMO, absolutely not.0 -
dougpconnell219 wrote: »Today was my first day with the hr. I am kind of concerned that it is giving me a huge calorie adjustment. I never got an adjustment with the regular charge...
This is my concern as well. NO WAY did I burn 1200 extra calories, having not hit my 10k step goal that same day
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I was thinking about getting the Charge HR but it looks really UGLY !!0
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I just got my Charge HR from bestbuy.com. FItbit site raised the price from $149 to $199. Best Buy was still charging $149. No showering or swimming in it. I'm still trying to understand how to track things through MFP to the Charge HR. Good luck!
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I have the Charge HR. Regarding the heart rate monitor: I wear mine like a watch with the sensors on the top of the wrist. I go to cardio rehab for a heart attack I had recently, and I've compared the numbers on the HR with the montors that I'm hooked up to at rehab, and the bpm have been within 1 or 2 beats of each other. Regarding the arms swinging to get an accurate step: Many times I've (been lazy) just walked in place in my living room holding onto a chair with the arm that has the HR and counted my steps, and it's been pretty closed. I've counted up to about 200 steps and my HR has been 195 steps, so to me, that's pretty accurate. As a matter of fact I mentioned to my husband how strange it is that it can count steps when I'm holding onto something!
Ya, it's a misconception it's using arm swings for basis of step counts.
It's actually trying to read the step impacts despite the arm swings - which isn't hard to do if you walk/run with average arm swing motions.
I'll bet if you had death grip on chair, with wrist not moving at all, you would have gotten less steps.
Also, it likely did interfere with the ability to see how hard the impact of those steps, so seeing lighter impacts means shorter stride means shorter distance means less calorie burn. Even if steps is accurate.0 -
I was thinking about getting the polar fit instead of the Charge HR for the reason of the chest strap. I think it would be hard to get your accurate HR off the wrist, especially if its not worn tight enough to feel it. I'm leaning towards the Polar fit.
I have a polar loop.... and it's so damn boring!
I hate it, the app is absolutely insignificant, no food tracking, no to any kind of motivation...
so I'd like to buy a charge hr... anything about its comfort? is it ok on your wrist for all the day?
thank you!
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Has anyone come up with a good solution for getting a more accurate reading during high intensity circuit training?0
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I opted for the Charge and to date I love it. I do take it off before showering and doing dishes. I love the sleep tracker. I've thought for years I slept horrible and now when I go see the MD I can see LOOK! Already down 4 pounds. Keeps me moving and the charts are great. I personally prefer My Fitness Pals Food diary, so now the two can sync.0
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Wore my ChargeHR for the first day today. I set my Flex up for my husband last night, but just for today I wore them both on the same hand to see how they compared. They were within less than 100 steps of each other. I was happy to see that. I am enjoying the extra information that the Charge gives. I was also happy to watch on our local news channel that the Flex was rated as one of the most accurate of Fitness Trackers!
I'm hoping since my ChargeHR was about the same steps that this will rate just as accurate as well. 0 -
Wore my ChargeHR for the first day today. I set my Flex up for my husband last night, but just for today I wore them both on the same hand to see how they compared. They were within less than 100 steps of each other. I was happy to see that. I am enjoying the extra information that the Charge gives. I was also happy to watch on our local news channel that the Flex was rated as one of the most accurate of Fitness Trackers! I'm hoping since my ChargeHR was about the same steps that this will rate just as accurate as well.
Glad to hear that ... i currently have a One and am thinking about getting the ChargeHR. Reading all the comments to see how well it works. Thanks for posting and if you have time can you review it once in awhile. Much appreciated!!0 -
Has anyone come up with a good solution for getting a more accurate reading during high intensity circuit training?
More accurate than ....?
Studies that have been done, using people doing the workouts in a chamber measuring expired oxygen and CO2, are the basis for most of the entries in the database that Fitbit uses based on METS, or resting metabolism x a factor.
Circuit training, meaning reps of 15-20, rests of 1 min or less, and several circuits of same lifts, heavy for the person, was 8 METS.
That's the most accurate you'll get.
Because based on steps is useless, as it's not walking level calorie burn. How many steps doing squats for 1 min?
0. I know I burned more than sleeping calorie burn doing my squats and deadlifts.
Based on HR is inaccurate too, as inflated HR isn't for providing more O2 for fat/carb burning, not at the level it's at anyway. And when it slowly comes down from anaerobic level back to lower HR, it's inflated that whole time for just standing there.
So that ends up being inflated by HRM calculations.
Lifting weights, reps 5-15, sets and rests of 1-3 minutes with full body lifts, is METS of 3.5.0 -
Today, I tried using the HR on my dominant hand, instead of my non-dominant hand, during my workout, and the heart rate readings were more in line with my chest strap HRM (my vivofit). At times they had the same number or the HR was a about 5 heart beats below my vivofit. There were still times that the HR was 20+ beats lower than the vivofit, but it was much less frequent. I still had issues with the double lines (--) showing up on the HR b/c it wasn't able to get a reading, but again it was much less than usual.
I'm very happy with these results. I'd post the pic, but for some reason my Fitbit app isn't showing the workout right now (it's on my computer's dashboard, but not the app, I'm sure it will pop up later).
Next time, I'll try the dominate hand with the HR on the inside of the wrist to see what happens there.0 -
I was thinking about getting the polar fit instead of the Charge HR for the reason of the chest strap. I think it would be hard to get your accurate HR off the wrist, especially if its not worn tight enough to feel it. I'm leaning towards the Polar fit.
I have a polar loop.... and it's so damn boring!
I hate it, the app is absolutely insignificant, no food tracking, no to any kind of motivation...
so I'd like to buy a charge hr... anything about its comfort? is it ok on your wrist for all the day?
thank you!
I only have the Fitbit flex. I wear it on my wrist. It doesn't bother me. This particular one does not have the HR monitor built in. I use my polar fit for that. I wear the chest strap which hasn't bothered me either.0 -
@karen11g - I am interested to see how it performs in spin class too, since I spin 5x week using my Polar FT4. I was hoping it would make the HRM with the yucky chest strap obsolete. I received my Charge HR last night so this morning was my first time using it for exercise. I wore the Polar and the Charge HR simultaneously. As I checked it throughout class I noticed that it did not pick up my heart rate as accurately as my Polar; it was always a few beats under. My calorie burn was also accordingly lower. It counted a bunch of steps (tells me I walked 2.3 miles) during class which of course I'll have to delete if I can figure out how many steps that works out to.
I'm giving it a week to see if I want to keep it. I'm switching from using the Fitbit One so I'm also wondering if step counts will be slightly different since I'm wearing the device on my wrist now.
Here are my stats from today:
Polar HRM: 90 mins, 544 calories, avg hr 135, max hr 158, time in zone 1:16
Charge HR dashboard report: 520 calories, avg hr 131, max hr 152, time in zones broken down: 16 mins in fat burn, 56 mins in cardio, 18 minutes in peak
I kinda love the detailed chart, but the sweat factor during spin class makes getting the device to stay in exactly the right place a challenge.
I also love the sleep alarm - it worked a charm this morning.
We'll see. 0 -
I have just worn both for a 50 minute yoga class. The chest strap reported about twice as many calories burnt than the Charge HR. Yoga's not exactly cardio, of course, although my heart rate does get high with some of the more rigorous stretches!
I'll use both again on Sunday when I do spin.0 -
HRM calorie burn is invalid use during yoga. Not aerobic, even if HR is elevated, so inflated calorie burn.
Charge HR probably saw no to little steps and so knew you weren't doing a workout that the HRM should be used on. Smart if they did that.0 -
Just got mine Monday and I love it and the Fitbit site which is completely compatible with MFP. IT IS NOT SHOWER SAFE!!!0
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I tried the Fitbit Charge HR and wore it with my Polar chest strap. The bpm were off between 10-30 beats and the calories off around 20. When my heart rate exceeded the recommended range, the Charge HR stopped monitoring and all it displayed were dashes. My Polar 4FT was working just fine the entire time. I returned the Fitbit Charge HR and opted for the Fitbit Charge. Also, you have to wear it uncomfortably tight and higher above your wrist to track the most "accurate" reading. My chest strap during exercise is more comfortable.0
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just got mine as well - does anyone know if your heart rate will sync with the machine you are using i.e. spin bike. MY Polar chest strap syncs with the bike and wondered if this will as well?0
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bought my ChargeHR yesterday _ previously owned the ONE which served me really well.. so far i like it knowing that the heart rate monitor is not totally accurate but serves my purpose just fine.... steps are in line with my ONE... i like the idea of total burn throughout the day rather than just steps... only time will tell.... will update in a couple of weeks0
