I'd be interested in answers about this too. I thought about getting one, but I am notoriously bad about resenting any piece of equipment that nags me, and I figured I might get annoyed one day and just back the car over it.

do you need to have a smartphone to link in the fitbit? I have a laptop computer and an android tablet, but no smartphone. I don't have a fitbit yet, but I'm thinking about it, and wondering which type to get. I swim a lot, so I would need one that is water resistant.

I got a Fitbit Flex for Christmas and have linked it to MFP. I really like the auto tracking of exercise throughout my day. When I work really hard it seems to document it accurately and it adds calories needed to my daily consumption allotment. In fact this week I recorded 5 dots on my activity level and I was really tired at the end of the day. It ended up adding over 600 cals to my allotment to consume - which was pretty much impossible to eat at that point of my day.

i linked mine to get an accurate calroe burn with no exercise and then i can see if i still have sufficient deficit to lose weight

I linked mine. It freed me from having to record anything beyond my food intake. Fitbit knows how much I eat and MFP knows how much I've exercised. I also use Fitbit's idea of how many calories I have left .. It's more stringent that MFP and when I used it I was better with my intake

Getting the fitbit One turned the tide for me. Seeing when I got credit for active minutes helped me guage the quality of the 10000 steps. It helped me learn what it takes to burn more efficiently. Linking it to mfp was the other big help.
My husband got me the Charge HR for my birthday. I'm really liking it, as I always wear a watch anyway.
I use fitbit to track all walking-based activity. I enter calisthenics-type exercise separately. Once i log calisthenics, MFP deletes the calories burned that fitbit sends over. For example, MFP will show 300 calories burned from fitbit steps. Then I enter a Skimble Workout, or Sworkit will send over the burn from a workout completed. The fitbit burn is lessened to accommodate the workouts. As the day goes on, the fitbit step burn credit increases again as I walk more.
I link Sworkit and Map my Walk to MFP, as well as Fitbit. I rarely use Mapmywalk, because I jog fast in place while my dog sniffs around or waters the bushes, and it was throwing off the speed.
The HR is showing more burn for my walks than the One did. It is showing about the same burn for hilly walks without dog as Mapmywalk did. My walks outside have become brisk as I got fitter, and we are walking on steeeeeep hills and the One does not credit burn for altitude change. The HR shows about the same burn for tennis as the manually entered tennis on MFP.
I feel the calorie burn numbers MFP is crediting from the HR for general living activity (housework, cooking, laundry) are too high so I'm disregarding them if my activity is equivalent to what MFP and Fitbit One showed.

My replacement fitbit arrived in the mail yesterday! Unfortunately, my computer is not yet hooked up and I am using my husbands until his new desk arrives! But soon I will have it back and am looking forward to it!

I went through two Fitbit Zips last year, and then when my last one started eating battery life like batteries were free (they aren't) I asked Santa for a Fitbit One (rechargeable battery). He delivered

I credit the Fitbit for a huge part in my weight loss effort because it challenges me to get and keep moving. I don't belong to a Fitbit community, nor do I compete against anyone other than myself. I sync it with MFP - it syncs to Fitbit.com through a 'dongle' (fits in your USB drive on your PC & I just leave mine plugged in) and/or your smartphone via bluetooth, and then automatically does the calorie adjustments with MFP.

I have noticed that the Fitbit One is giving me less 'credit' for the same activity than the Zip did primarily due to a difference in 'active' minutes.

One of the things I appreciate is that MFP will show what the Fitbit is estimating for my daily calorie burn. I base most of my calorie intake decisions off of that, aiming for at least 1000 calories less daily. My exercise is almost exclusively walking, so the Fitbit is perfect. Just about anything else (Zumba, strength, aerobic) you'll need to enter manually. Fitbit One does record sleep habits, but I quit messing with that after two nights. It's not waterproof. What few nags there are on mine (it goes in my pocket so I don't have to look at it unless I want to, and even then don't have to pay attention to any 'nags') are sent via smartphone notifications, which can be turned off. Fitbit nags are more motivational than nagging (Only xxx steps until you reach your daily goal! or Overachiever! You've exceeded your goal by xxxx steps today!). And YOU set your goals.

In case you can't tell, I my Fitbit!

Wow, sousiechef that's great! Mine didn't stand up like that and I assumed it was the water since that was when it quit. I actually looked and it does say up to 10 meters deep so it must have been another problem with mine. I just took water resistant to not mean waterproof, but I would call that waterproof! It does say that even though it is water resistant that it does not accurately log swimming calories so you still have to log swimming, right?

I have started using the silent alarm on my Charge in the last week. I like that feature and when I got it, didn't think I would have any use for it!

Now to further this discussion, does anyone use the Aria and, except for the wireless feature, any other advantages?

GMCharlie, does your Charge have the heart rate monitor function, I got offered a deal I couldn't refuse, so I ordered the Charge with HRM. Just wondering if others have tried that one.

Since I don't swim regularly, the water proof factor wasn't important to me. But remembering to use my HRM strap was, I have gone to work outs and forgotten to wear it.

Here I am, back from ROAD TRIP! Here is a too-long Interim report on Charge HR. My calorie burn report climbed sudpiciously high and dramatically the first days I wore it, but Fitbit or MFP seem to have adjusted things so it's more in line with my actual burn. I'm really liking the device, and as much as I loved my One, I appreciate the automatic sleep mode and HRM..
Fitbit HR reports Peak, Cardio, Fat Burn charts by total minutes and squiggly line graphs on the phone and computer. The wrist band thingy is easy enough to toggle through so I can check my heart rate while exercising and walking. You can't hold onto the bar on a treadmill and log steps. You don't have to move your arm for it to log steps. It doesn't add steps or floors when traveling (neither does the One).
It has features I'm not using, like caller ID and being able to set it to log an exercise period.
If I have pain, or am going up steep hills, my heart rate climbs, and the burn reported increases. I don't know yet if that's a real calorie burn, so I ignore the calorie burn report for now. I really wanted to be able to see if I were exercising in the right "zone" but didn't want to wear a strap. It does that.
There can be a short lag between your heart rate and what it's reporting, but not much. I'm not using the calorie burn report to determine how much to eat, as my doctor said not to eat back calories burned.
It changes the time display on the wrist band based on your time zone, automatically.
Report concluded.

Learned today that you can link up to Walgreens and earn points on your Balance Rewards card, just link myfitnesspal or fitbit accounts to your account there. You can earn points for steps, staying within calories etc. If that is your drug store, it is a good deal. The apps talk to each other so no extra logging.

The Charge isn't on the device list but select Flex and it will work just fine. My steps came over with no issues.