Using MFP + Fitbit Zip + Garmin vivosmart?

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whatshewants
whatshewants Posts: 30 Member
edited June 2015 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone, currently using the Fitbit Zip to track steps and jogging. I'm thinking of purchasing a Garmin vivosmart as well - using the vivosmart with HRM during workouts, and the Fibit Zip when I'm not exercising. Exercise is about 4+ times a week.

Are there other people doing something similar with two different products? My main reason for this is that I don't really need 24/7 HRM going on and I like that the Zip is discreet. Would rather only wear the band + HRM strap while working out. I'm sedentary most of the day (desk job) and only really care about the steps.

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  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited June 2015
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    You don't wear the HRM with the vivosmart 24/7. You only wear it when you workout. The rest of the time it works like one of the more expensive Fitbit models (without the 24/7 HR monitoring). I'm not sure how it would work to have both linked to MFP because they are both full day activity trackers.

    If you just want to add in something for HR during workouts, why not just purchase a HRM? You can then log your activity with the calories burned (or a portion of them) from the HRM. It would probably be cheaper. I used a Pyle Sports HRM ($30 on amazon) for awhile to do just this. It worked great when I used the Zip/Flex models of Fitbit. Polar is a highly popular HRM brand around here (looks like they start around $55 on amazon).
  • whatshewants
    whatshewants Posts: 30 Member
    edited June 2015
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    shadow2soul wrote: »
    You don't wear the HRM with the vivosmart 24/7. You only wear it when you workout. The rest of the time it works like one of the more expensive Fitbit models (without the 24/7 HR monitoring). I'm not sure how it would work to have both linked to MFP because the are both full day activity trackers.

    Right, my desire to only wear the vivosmart while working out is because I don't want a wrist tracker outside of work out times. The Zip is more discreet and can get clipped to my bra or my waist, tracking steps. I'd really like to use both of these if possible.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited June 2015
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    whatshewants wrote: »
    shadow2soul wrote: »
    You don't wear the HRM with the vivosmart 24/7. You only wear it when you workout. The rest of the time it works like one of the more expensive Fitbit models (without the 24/7 HR monitoring). I'm not sure how it would work to have both linked to MFP because the are both full day activity trackers.

    Right, my desire to only wear the vivosmart while working out is because I don't want a wrist tracker outside of work out times. The Zip is more discreet and can get clipped to my bra or my waist, tracking steps. I'd really like to use both of these if possible.

    I'm not sure it would be possible. Again for the simple fact that they are both supposed to be full day trackers. I did edit my post above to suggest just a simple HRM for workouts.

    What I can see happening:
    Fitbit giving you an adjustment for your daily activity
    Garmin transfering over workout logs
    Garmin taking away calories for no daily activity outside of your workout


    I guess an option if you really wanted to go that route would be to keep MFP + Fitbit linked and manually log the activity from Garmin. Similar to what I edited my above post about doing with a regular HRM.
  • whatshewants
    whatshewants Posts: 30 Member
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    shadow2soul wrote: »

    I'm not sure it would be possible. Again for the simple fact that they are both supposed to be full day trackers. I did edit my post above to suggest just a simple HRM for workouts.

    What I can see happening:
    Fitbit giving you an adjustment for your daily activity
    Garmin transfering over workout logs
    Garmin taking away calories for no daily activity outside of your workout

    Yeah, this is what I was curious about as well.

    A simple HRM sounds like a good idea - I'm going to look further into those suggestions. Can you break down a bit further how logging the activity and tracking through MFP worked when you had your Zip + HRM? I think I sort of understand based on your description but would appreciate more details. Were there basically 2 apps talking to MFP, with the exercise logged through the HRM -> MFP or something?
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    I typically would log my workouts in Fitbit, but it doesn't matter which site you use when they are linked.

    Log exercise with start time, duration, & manually edit the calories burned with those reported by the HRM. Fitbit would then adjust it's calorie burn to reflect what I had put in.

    (I have the Fitbit Surge now, which is why I'm no longer doing this)
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    What type of training activity do you do, and what do you want from the HR monitoring?

    The Vivoactive may be more appropriate than the Vivosmart, as it's essentially a watch. Notwithstanding that it may be that an HRM isn't useful to you at all.
  • whatshewants
    whatshewants Posts: 30 Member
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    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    What type of training activity do you do, and what do you want from the HR monitoring?

    The Vivoactive may be more appropriate than the Vivosmart, as it's essentially a watch. Notwithstanding that it may be that an HRM isn't useful to you at all.

    I'd like it to help with logging activity that can't be tracked with the Zip. Basically, I jog 3x a week and then another 2-3x a week is spent doing something else like rollerblading, cycling, or some strength training. In the past, I used an HRM (got misplaced when I moved) and found it helpful for watching the heart rate to ensuring that I'm not overexerting or underexerting myself. So I thought that it would be good to have a device with this capability sync'd with MFP to track those activities.

    I thought the vivoactive would be overkill for me since I'm not a serious athelete.

  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    OK, that helps. So other than the weight training, where an HRM doesn't provide useful data, the others would probably benefit from something that gives you a record of your HR. Measuring moment to moment isn't particularly useful, and unless you have a medical condition then staying below a threshold isn't going to deliver any useful effect.

    The Vivoactive will give you the ability to compare HR with GPS data, so mapping your runs, cycling and roller blading. That's where HR data becomes meaningful, looking at how your average HR reduces over time, or how it reacts to changes. Indeed you can also look at your recovery rates and things like that as well.

    The Vivosmart definetly doesn't give you what you need, and for me the devices that give you real time HR in isolation of anything else are useless. There are too many things that affect your HR, so it's a waste of time.
  • whatshewants
    whatshewants Posts: 30 Member
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    Just wanted to update this. Ended up picking up the vivoactive after your feedback and doing a lot more research. I'm really happy with it and am just using it throughout the day - it's less conspicuous than I thought. Thanks for the help guys!

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