Garmin Vivofit

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  • 20yearsyounger
    20yearsyounger Posts: 1,643 Member
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    I saw somewhere that it takes 10 mins for it to count as an activity. @mhankosk, are you sure that's impacting your calories? Usually mine just tracks the steps for the activity, but the total calorie count at the bottom for the steps doesn't include the calories from the activities.
  • jcalleniii
    jcalleniii Posts: 1
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    I've had a Vivofit for nearly a year now (I waitlisted to get one of the first ones) and my original batteries are still going strong. I use it in combination with the Wahoo Tickr Run HRM since it is both ANT+ as well as Smart BT. I really like the fact that my Garmin Connect data syncs with all of my other metrics tracking apps (My Fitness Pal, Apple Health, etc).

    I use mine more as a passive tracking device than an active motivator. I went into settings and disabled the red bars, my display shows only time/date, steps, distance and HR. The sleep tracker is my only gripe as I wish they would make it more granular and give some indication of what "less active" and "more active" relates to for a baseline. I see the recorded movements but that doesn't really tell me anything other than I moved my hand.

    I'm also right handed and wear mine on my right wrist since I also wear an actual, analog watch on the left. I've switched it between the two wrists and noticed no discernible variance in step data. My sleep data got more consistent switching to the right wrist since I typically sleep on my right side.

    My primary activity type is cycling so I use the Garmin Edge as the main device for logging workouts. I'm advcyclist at Garmin Connect.
  • CarrieCans
    CarrieCans Posts: 381 Member
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    donna710 wrote: »
    I got the Vivofit for Christmas also. I haven't used the heart rate monitor yet and not sure how the sleep thing works. I mostly use it to track my steps, miles and calories. My phone isn't the right Android 4.6 so I can't sync it with my phone, ugh. I also feel I'm not using it to it's potential yet.

    Set it to sleep at night when you lay down and wake it up in the morning when you get out of bed. it will tell you how long you sleep and the charts will show you how much you move around. It might not be the most useful tool but it could have a good purpose.

    In my case i discovered what i suspected. I don't get enough hours of sleep. I toss and turn rather then just wiggle around. My BF basically wakes me up every night when he gets up for work. I also noticed that the days where i am more active, i get better sleep.

    It showed me proof that sleep is something i really need to work on.
  • mhankosk
    mhankosk Posts: 535 Member
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    20yearsyounger wrote: »
    I saw somewhere that it takes 10 mins for it to count as an activity. @mhankosk, are you sure that's impacting your calories? Usually mine just tracks the steps for the activity, but the total calorie count at the bottom for the steps doesn't include the calories from the activities.

    I'm not "sure" that it is double counting. It just seems that the daily calories burned (neglecting activities) is more on days that I am doing cardio. I know that activity section is working properly, because I am using the HRM and you tell it when to start and stop, but I do think it is adding "steps" when I am just jumping around which is impacting the daily burn from steps.
  • 20yearsyounger
    20yearsyounger Posts: 1,643 Member
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    The sleep isn't as intuitive as other interfaces I've seen but I use it to help me personally. When I fall below the 2nd line from the bottom then I hit my good sleep. When I rise above it and stay above it for a while then I'm up. Is it the best indicator? Probably not, but it stops me from suffering on my workouts the next day. Not enough time under that 2nd line from the bottom, need to lower my intensity and focus on a good night's rest.
  • dimeda78
    dimeda78 Posts: 44 Member
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    I have one and I love it!!! It was a Christmas gift from my hubby. I find that I am much more active. Using the Garmin Vivofit and MFP have really kept me on my toes and makes this journey so much fun.
  • CarrieCans
    CarrieCans Posts: 381 Member
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    mhankosk wrote: »
    CarrieCans wrote: »
    mhankosk wrote: »
    CarrieCans wrote: »
    I have my first major gripe about it.

    The heart rate monitor has yet to work right. It works but there are tons of drops every time i use it. You would think i had a ton of heart attacks by looking at that.

    This is every single time i've used it. Right from the beginning. Ive tried repositioning it, spitting on it, moving it around, wetting it with a washcloth, switched the shirt i was wearing. I am running out of ideas. If it's static then i'm pretty much screwed because i live in a dry heat house and it's too cold to ride topless lmao

    5p4jv94ar4ib.jpg

    Might have to change the battery. Same thing happened to me. Once I replaced that battery, it started working fine. :)

    I thought about that one. I haven't been anywhere near a store that has anything other than hearing aid batteries. I have a button battery shopping list that is growing rather quickly.

    Internet... :)

    Small town i live in so whenever possible i try to buy things local and hold off on the internet shopping.
  • 20yearsyounger
    20yearsyounger Posts: 1,643 Member
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    Shouldn't it add steps when you are jumping around? I use mine more to make sure that I had enough activity for the day. If my steps are at my goal, then I don't need to do more cardio. If it isn't, then I didn't do enough today.

    I find that the calories Garmin calculates are low (maybe because of the net versus gross) and I haven't seen an impact on my weight loss.
  • mhankosk
    mhankosk Posts: 535 Member
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    20yearsyounger wrote: »
    Shouldn't it add steps when you are jumping around? I use mine more to make sure that I had enough activity for the day. If my steps are at my goal, then I don't need to do more cardio. If it isn't, then I didn't do enough today.

    I find that the calories Garmin calculates are low (maybe because of the net versus gross) and I haven't seen an impact on my weight loss.

    I don't hate that it counts them as steps. It is just causing the calories to be double counted. Once in the "activity" and once in the 2000 steps I get when doing that activity.
  • 20yearsyounger
    20yearsyounger Posts: 1,643 Member
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    These are just watch batteries right? You can get them anywhere. I get mine from the pharmacy down the street.
  • 20yearsyounger
    20yearsyounger Posts: 1,643 Member
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    Honestly I don't even set it to sleep anymore. The next morning I just going in and look at the chart and set the time to when I actually went to sleep and when I woke up.
  • vanessa40
    vanessa40 Posts: 328 Member
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    Hi Everyone i ordered the Vivosmart yesterday. I also got the soft strap HR monitor. I have a Jawbone now but wanted something new and since i already have the Forerunner 220 i thought i would keep it in the Garmin family.
  • BuddhaMom74
    BuddhaMom74 Posts: 147
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    I got my Vivofit last Aug (with HRM) and a Forerunner 15 last Oct. Love the products but the regular and reoccurring syncing issues make the products not worth a nickle.

    For those of you who recently obtained the Vivofit, the fact that the Garmin Connect site stops working approximately every two weeks for a few days at a time, may not bother you now, but after a few months, the fact that Garmin won't do anything to address the issue starts to wear thin.

    I would NEVER buy another Garmin product ever, and I would NEVER recommend a Garmin product to anyone.
  • 20yearsyounger
    20yearsyounger Posts: 1,643 Member
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    mhankosk wrote: »
    20yearsyounger wrote: »
    Shouldn't it add steps when you are jumping around? I use mine more to make sure that I had enough activity for the day. If my steps are at my goal, then I don't need to do more cardio. If it isn't, then I didn't do enough today.

    I find that the calories Garmin calculates are low (maybe because of the net versus gross) and I haven't seen an impact on my weight loss.

    I don't hate that it counts them as steps. It is just causing the calories to be double counted. Once in the "activity" and once in the 2000 steps I get when doing that activity.

    I guess I don't fully understand what you mean by double counting. I thought that most of systems basically calculate your BMR activity and give you a standard burn for doing nothing, and then based on the specific time your activity occurred, it overwrites the calories based on the activity. So yes, it would include steps in that activity, but it would not count those steps as part of the calories burned for the Daily steps. For instance, when I go to the activity breakdown view, I can see the steps for my activity and I can see the Daily steps without the steps in that activity and a very low calorie count. I know that's what fitbit does. Not sure about here.
  • 20yearsyounger
    20yearsyounger Posts: 1,643 Member
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    mhankosk, I think I may understand now. I'm using my heart rate strap so it does all that. I'll have to check and see what it actually did when I entered my activities manually.
  • klwells08
    klwells08 Posts: 158 Member
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    mhankosk wrote: »
    20yearsyounger wrote: »
    Shouldn't it add steps when you are jumping around? I use mine more to make sure that I had enough activity for the day. If my steps are at my goal, then I don't need to do more cardio. If it isn't, then I didn't do enough today.

    I find that the calories Garmin calculates are low (maybe because of the net versus gross) and I haven't seen an impact on my weight loss.

    I don't hate that it counts them as steps. It is just causing the calories to be double counted. Once in the "activity" and once in the 2000 steps I get when doing that activity.

    I'm having this issue as well, it is driving me bonkers. I'll get 300+ calories added from a run logged as an activity from the HRM. It will show up as an activity in MFP. Then I will get another 300+ that shows up in MFP as a garmin adjustment. I know I didn't earn 600 calories with a short run. With a small deficit set in MFP, this can really screw up my losses if I don't pay enough attention.
  • 20yearsyounger
    20yearsyounger Posts: 1,643 Member
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    Beats me. I don't get those type of adjustments in MFP. I set all of my activity at sedentary and only use garmin for my exercise logging.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    mhankosk wrote: »
    I don't hate that it counts them as steps. It is just causing the calories to be double counted. Once in the "activity" and once in the 2000 steps I get when doing that activity.

    It's likely that there is a level of accounting for extra steps, and that the HRM will be overestimating calorie expenditure because the algorithms aren't designed to account for the type of activity being described.

    HRMs will always overestimate resistance training and DVD type activities.
  • Luv2Munch
    Luv2Munch Posts: 22 Member
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    Hi all, got mine Vivofit for Christmas - absolutely love, love love it!. have been on the 125 challenge board as rustyboo. Maybe will see you guys on that board. I find it definitely motivates me to keep moving. As an aside, I found an awesome app to sync with the vivo - it's called Icardio - its a free app that measures your pace/calories burned etc and it will sync to mfp so that you don't have to manually add your exercise to mfp. Icardio will also summarize your workouts, how many you did, how many hours, how many calories etc. what your best times were. there is an edit function for the workouts so that you can say what the weather was like etc. love that app. take care and happy monday. p.s. re: syncing issues, have only experienced them 2-3 times since december and so, since i know that it is going to get fixed quickly can look past that. had a fitbit flex that NEVER synced, piece of junk was so mad was going to throw the stupid thing out. right now it's gathering dust in my drawer. take care all!
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
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    I got mine for Christmas too and I have the HRM chest strap. I like it and think it works. I've lost 5lbs in January and had been stalled, so it is doing its job.

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