Wait for Apple Watch or Fitbit...?

Nadene75
Nadene75 Posts: 54 Member
edited November 17 in Health and Weight Loss
Should I get the Fitbit to track my actual calories burned or wait until next month when the Apple watch is released in Ireland....? I strength train and do circuits for cardio so not the usual running, swimming or cycling etc so it's much harder to figure out calories burned. Thank you, your thoughts on this are appreciated :)

Replies

  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    I can't fathom buying a watch that doesn't hold a charge for a full day.
  • peterjens
    peterjens Posts: 235 Member
    You must have an iPhone to use the iWatch. Do you have an iPhone?
  • dondotwinks
    dondotwinks Posts: 93 Member
    I'm thinking getting the apple watch too seems a better option , currently i use garmin vivofit, it's good but having had a trial of the apple watch, I think that would be better :)
    It has to be pre-ordered too and isn't going to be available in apple shop so they told me, so waiting till june to order for july
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    http://www.shufflerun.com/garmin/10-differences-garmin-vivoactive-vs-apple-watch-sport/

    Right now the Apple Watch is essentially a iPod nano with a strap and optical HRM (with minimal side shielding meaning likely issues when trying to use it to monitor HR during things like running) ... it doesn't have a GPS so you still need your phone (iPhone only) for that type of activity tracking. It's showing about 18 hour life in testing.

    There is potential, but the Apple has a long way to go as a fitness/sports device.
  • geotrice
    geotrice Posts: 274 Member
    With Apple it is usually better to wait until second generation. So for now go with the FitBit.
  • Blazing_Brunette
    Blazing_Brunette Posts: 217 Member
    I agree.. Improvements will be made to them after the first round of phones come out....
  • ndskies
    ndskies Posts: 6 Member
    I ordered my iwatch the day they were released. The order status says "preparing to ship", so I should have it pretty soon. I didn't see a Myfitnesspal app for the iwatch yet. I have been using my fitbit flex and Aria scale with Myfitnesspal, and really like the way it automatically adjusts my calories when I excersise enough. I'm thinking I will probably use both the iwatch and fitbit until the iwatch develops a MFP app. There is a diet tracker for the iwatch, but MFP is really perfect for me. I don't want to start all over with a new program after using MFP for more than 2 years!
  • davidyaches
    davidyaches Posts: 7 Member
    A few points since i actually have the watch:

    1) Battery life (unless you check the thing every few minutes) will last you a whole day even with a good hour workout. If you don't mind charging it every night, battery life is not an issue for daily use
    2) The HR monitor -- so far after 4 different workouts -- seems to work well. I am using sport band which allows you to keep it nice and tight against your skin. Compared to my HR strap it has been very close in 3 workouts (4th was playing ball and didnt wear the chest strap)
    3) No apps have access to watch hardware so they cannot use the HR sensor. All this means is that you will have to leverage the Health app as your conduit between other apps. It also means that unless you are using apples workout app, you will need to phone as well if you want to use apps like run keeper, etc. BUT
    4) You do not need the phone to track HR and steps and distance. The phone enables the watch to use GPS and so provide a more accurate account of distances run. However, the watch supposedly uses these GPS runs to fund tune your steps (stride, etc) so it becomes more accurate tracking steps without GPS. I can't tell you if this is true since i have had the watch for only 2 days.
    5) Keep in mind that as of now, MFP does not integrate with the Apple Watch so it will not do the calories adjustment. You will have to either 1) enter manually every night as an exercise and/or 2) record workouts in the apple workout app which will write to Health and which MFP will auto import as an exercise. But MFP does not pull in steps and calories from Health, yet, although it really should be an option. It has permissions to do so as a source in Health but i have not found a way to import this data into MFP automatically.

    As an aside, i thought i would like the watch when i ordered it. And so far, I do. Many 3rd party apps are buggy and its clear its a 1.0 product. But it is an amazing 1.0 product. I have been surprised how much works well and how ambitious Apple was with this product, and it mostly delivers. For me as a fitbit user (not a garmin user or serious runner), it easily replaces my fitbit and does a heck of a lot more. Just my two cents for you.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Nadene75 wrote: »
    Should I get the Fitbit to track my actual calories burned or wait until next month when the Apple watch is released in Ireland....? I strength train and do circuits for cardio so not the usual running, swimming or cycling etc so it's much harder to figure out calories burned. Thank you, your thoughts on this are appreciated :)

    Unless you have a heart condition there is little point in monitoring your heart rate over the day

    The estimated calorie burn formulae from heart rate can only really be relevant for the steady state cardio part I assume the rest is a height/age/pedometer calculation

    Cardio you do isn't steady state so probably 60-70% accuracy from an HRM...strength training less

    The fitbit would track your steps across the day

    Personally I use a fitbit zip for activity and a Polar FT4 HRM for gym workouts but don't take all the calories from the read out

    The apple watch is a marketing dream...but I'm doubtful it is a functional calorie burn counter ...I feel the same about the fitbit charge HRM tbh
  • jddnw
    jddnw Posts: 319 Member
    Neither of them actually tracks "actual" calories burned. The technology is just estimating your calories burned and the estimates are far from perfect. That said, I have a simple Fitbit One and I'm very happy with it as a step counter.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    I plan to get the Apple watch eventually. The activity tracker technology is still in beta acrosse the board and there are issues with the first release of the Apple watch that has me waiting for the second one. 1) it's not waterproof and I'm an Aqua fit/Aqua Zumba instructor, 2) the face is a bit clunky and the buzz is that it will be slimmed down for the next release.

    All the reviews suggest waiting. I'm usually an early adopter, but I'm waiting on this. For the amount it costs and having to upgrade when they make the changes, it's not worth jumping into it.

    The Fitbit has its limitations for the same technology issues.

    I've started using the motion detector on my iPhone to track my steps and reverted back to using my Polar HRM to log my workouts. Better to be accurate than foolishly efficient.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    geotrice wrote: »
    With Apple it is usually better to wait until second generation. So for now go with the FitBit.

    With Apple it is usually better to wait for the competition to release a similar product and use it instead.
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