What's the best fitness tracker?
kitkat6382155
Posts: 8 Member
Hi, I am at the beginning of my journey and I would like to invest in a fitness tracker, but I do not have $200 to spend on one. I want to get the best bang for my buck, so to say! I have looked at the Nike, Garmin, and FitBit, but I didn't know which was best, or is there a better one out there? I glanced at the Jawbone(?) which was pretty cheap compared to the others... so I wonder, is it worth it?
Thanks in advance,
Kimber
Thanks in advance,
Kimber
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Replies
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It depends on what you want to track...steps, stairs, heart rate, etc. There is a reason for price differences. You can get a basic no-frills pedometer to count your steps for $20 to $30 at any place like Academy Sports or Dick's Sporting Goods. The entry level Fitbit is only $60 or you can spend $250 for the top of the line model.0
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www@sportsdistancecalculater.com I nice site to track how far you walk around town, and it will tell you how many calories you burn.0
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www.Sportdistancecalculator.com0
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Pacer pedometer on your phone. The rest is up to your budget and gadget fondness.
Yamax pedometers have really good reviews for accuracy vs money. Jawbone provides the best entry-level priced combination of hardware and web / app support package. The Fitbit Zip folows within $10. The Mio Fuse has the most accurate heart rate monitor without a strap, but doesn't have the complete web / app support package Fitbit provides. The new Vivofit with long battery life (and an optional strap based HRM monitor ) should be launching any day now, the Fitbit Charge is an extremely popular choice due to its capabilities and pricing. Don't expect great accuracy and you will be as happy as I am
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All I wanted to know was how many steps, km's and calories I've burned. I don't need all the other bells and whistles. So I opted for the fitbit zip0
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Don't waste your money on a Fitbit. Mine broke with very little use...0
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I have a Jawbone Up and I really like it. I picked the non-bluetooth one because I feel weird about wearing bluetooth 24/7 (yes, I know we are surrounded by wifi, but I still felt weird about it.) I believe they have stopped making those in favor of the new ones, so you can get my kind on clearance for about $40. The good news is the customer service is excellent, they have a great warranty and send out a replacement if anything goes wrong. My guess is once they run out of the cheapest one, they will reolace with the next level up at no additional cost.
The bracelet has a sleep tracker and vibrates if you set alarms or want to be notified if you're inactive too long. The app is really great too. I've worn my everyday since September and I believe it's been a major motivatior towards helping me lose the 50lbs I've lost. One caveat, it's not nearly as popular as Fitbit, so if you want the social networking aspect, you should go with Fitbit.0 -
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I'm curious to see if the heart rate monitor on the Jawbone Up3 works better than the Charge, it's a different technology.0
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We've been going back on forth on the Garmin and Polar Loop as we both swim. Polar loop is only good to 20m, Garmin to 80m. Garmin also doesn't have to be charged. Ended up with the Garmin...Amazon $590
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I have the UP24, love it.0
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If youre just wanting to track steps the vivofit is good, i like mine, it doesnt do much else though0
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What specifically do you want the "fitness tracker" to do for you?0
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Ok, bummer, I like the way it looks. It was supposed to be waterproof, but I guess it isn't so I'll probably pass.
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christinev297 wrote: »
I've been using a Fitbit since Feb 2013 and have had no issues. I love it. I have a Fitbit One0 -
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I have a fitbit Surge, which I like very much. Fitbit has an excellent website. We've had three fitbit's in the house, so I guess you could say we are fans!0
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I have a Fitbit One that I like a lot for tracking my steps, sleep, etc. The nice thing about the Fitbit is that you can add friends and do challenges so it's a good motivator. I also have a Polar FT4 to track my heart rate and calorie burn during workouts. It's nice for things like swimming and weight lifting that you can't necessarily track using a pedometer-type tracker.0
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Thanks everyone for the input... I'm back and forth between the Garmin and FitBit.0
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kitkat6382155 wrote: »
Unfortunately, you're not going to get anything resembling accurate estimates for activity like that, from any current device.
The best way to get the estimate is to go out and walk as fast as you can, for the length of time the class lasts (I'm assuming you can't run that long). Cover as much distance as you can. Then use...
body weight in pounds * miles walked * 0.3 -> net calorie burn
It won't be perfect, but it'll be close. And most importantly, it won't be a the kind of big over-estimate that turns into weight loss disappointment when eaten back.
Good luck!
:drinker:
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I like Pacer app on my IPhone. I am tracking the steps I take and if I get other exercise I use MFP to track it.0
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I love my fitbit Flex, but I don't rely on it to calculate burns. I use it for motivation because it encourages me to move more apart from my scheduled exercise. I also love the sleep function and alarm. I don't love that this model doesn't keep track of stairs because on my old Fitbit One it would tell me how many flights per day I'd climbed and that helped with motivating me to go up and down stairs whenever possible. I need a lot of motivation, obviously. Lol.
Everyone in my family has some sort of Fitbit and even though a few of us have had a problem with their devices, Fitbit was really good about helping us out and sending us a new one. (Just keep your receipt!)
I was really curious about a few of my activities so I got a Polar HRM and that was helpfulI just to get a general sense of some of my activities that seemed either too low or too high by MFP's calculation, but it was mostly to satisfy my curiosity and not essential I think. Perhaps that is because I don't eat back my exercise calories, though. I use the TDEE method so my exercise is already figured into my daily calories.
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I have a Samsung gear fit, its a watch, a heart monitor, and it calculates your steps and exercise, I got mine on sale for $99, it doesnt sync with my fitness pal, but it does with my phone and s health, it has been worth it.0
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I have a Fitbit One (LOVE IT!!!!) and have had it almost two years with no issues. I do not want to wear it on my wrist, I clip it onto my bra in between on the front. My DH wears his clipped into the watch pocket on his jeans. I don't care about heart rate, etc. The steps and the ability to sync well with MFP and my iPhone apps were what was most important to me.0
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When I was deciding whether I should wait for Jawbone to figure out the delays that have prevented them from shipping out the UP3, and after noticing that it was talking about "resting heart rate" and "on demand heart rate' but never about "continuous heart rate during exercise", I looked into the bioimpedance technology that the UP is supposed to be using to measure heart rate.
I found zero articles supporting the use of bioimpedance to measure heart rate during exercise. I found one or two saying that it was extremely hard to do for a variety of reasons.
I have been impressed by some of the articles put out by Jawbones' chief scientist, and confident that if any one company can manage to get bioimpedance to work it will be Jawbone, especially after they bought BodyMedia.
Nevertheless, on balance, I decided that given the general silence of Jawbone in terms of presenting the UP3 as an "all day" or "exercise" HRM, based on the technological challenges it faces before bioimpedance can be used to measure HRM during exercise, and based on the generally vaporware nature of the product to date... yes, it is going to work "less well even, at least when it comes to exercise".
Do you have any reason to suspect otherwise?0 -
The best way to get the estimate is to go out and walk as fast as you can, for the length of time the class lasts (I'm assuming you can't run that long). Cover as much distance as you can. Then use...
body weight in pounds * miles walked * 0.3 -> net calorie burn
It won't be perfect, but it'll be close. And most importantly, it won't be a the kind of big over-estimate that turns into weight loss disappointment when eaten back.
Good luck!
:drinker:
Or, you can benefit from the hard work of hundreds of researchers and volunteers who have accumulated a surprising array of information for your Googling pleasure.
I refer you, of course, to an obscure publication called the Compendium of Physical Activities that I recall mentioning to you on at least one other occasion.
But I forget, you trust a formula pulled out of runner's world article more. A formula for walking that doesn't even account for the speed you walk at, because, you know, walking on an incline at 4mph is exactly the same effort as walking downhill at 1.5mph, only the distance matters!
However, if the OP would like to find out what dancing is likely to burn for them (and enter it as a custom activity in both MFP and Fitbit or anywhere else), they can look at:
https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories/dancing
Then they can use a MET to calorie calculator:
http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/MetsCaloriesCalculator/MetsCaloriesCalculator.htm
Do subtract 1 MET if you want your NET burn.
Want to play so more? Your can even "correct" your METs!
https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/corrected-mets0 -
The best way to get the estimate is to go out and walk as fast as you can, for the length of time the class lasts (I'm assuming you can't run that long). Cover as much distance as you can. Then use...
body weight in pounds * miles walked * 0.3 -> net calorie burn
It won't be perfect, but it'll be close. And most importantly, it won't be a the kind of big over-estimate that turns into weight loss disappointment when eaten back.
Good luck!
:drinker:
Or, you can benefit from the hard work of hundreds of researchers and volunteers who have accumulated a surprising array of information for your Googling pleasure.
I refer you, of course, to an obscure publication called the Compendium of Physical Activities that I recall mentioning to you on at least one other occasion.
But I forget, you trust a formula pulled out of a runner's world article more. A formula for walking that doesn't even account for the speed you walk at, because, you know, walking on an incline at 4mph is exactly the same effort as walking downhill at 1.5mph, only the distance matters!
However, if the poster you were responding to would like to find out what dancing is likely to burn for them (and enter it as a custom activity in both MFP and Fitbit or anywhere else), they can look at:
https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories/dancing
Then they can use a MET to calorie calculator:
http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/MetsCaloriesCalculator/MetsCaloriesCalculator.htm
Do subtract 1 MET if you want your NET burn.
Want to play some more? Your can even "correct" your METs!
https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/corrected-mets-1 -
The best way to get the estimate is to go out and walk as fast as you can, for the length of time the class lasts (I'm assuming you can't run that long). Cover as much distance as you can. Then use...
body weight in pounds * miles walked * 0.3 -> net calorie burn
It won't be perfect, but it'll be close. And most importantly, it won't be a the kind of big over-estimate that turns into weight loss disappointment when eaten back.
Good luck!
:drinker:
Or, you can benefit from the hard work of hundreds of researchers and volunteers who have accumulated a surprising array of information for your Googling pleasure.
I refer you, of course, to an obscure publication called the Compendium of Physical Activities that I recall mentioning to you on at least one other occasion.
But I forget, you trust a formula pulled out of runner's world article more. A formula for walking that doesn't even account for the speed you walk at, because, you know, walking on an incline at 4mph is exactly the same effort as walking downhill at 1.5mph, only the distance matters!
However, if the OP would like to find out what dancing is likely to burn for them (and enter it as a custom activity in both MFP and Fitbit or anywhere else), they can look at:
https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories/dancing
Then they can use a MET to calorie calculator:
I am very familiar with the MET encylclopedia and use it for myself, but it is inappropriate for use in this case because the MET entries imply a known fitness level, which doesn't exist here. Which is why it is necessary to first map the OP's dancing effort to a known activity, such as walking or running.
The astute observer will notice that once the mapping is done, the OP's activity is now in effect correlated with a listed activity.
But I do appreciate the lovely attempt at maximizing the passive-aggressive nature of your post - well done! :drinker:
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