vivofit have I just wasted 100 quid?

edonald774
edonald774 Posts: 92 Member
edited November 20 in Fitness and Exercise
I bought the vivofit 2 thinking i could use it with the heart rate monitor when I cycle to see calories burned.

It doesn't seem to do this?

Am i just being dumb?

Replies

  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    It collects your HR data and uploads it on completion of your session.

    It sounds like a Forerunner of some kind would have been more appropraite, unless you specifically want the step counter, in which case a VivoActive would work.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    edonald774 wrote: »
    I bought the vivofit 2 thinking i could use it with the heart rate monitor when I cycle to see calories burned.

    It doesn't seem to do this?

    Am i just being dumb?

    Did you buy the separate heart rate monitor or just the Vivofit2 unit?

  • iofred
    iofred Posts: 488 Member
    You need to switch to Heartrate on your Vivofit for it to pick up your heartrate monitor on the device. Once it has picked it up you will see your heart rate on the device. You need to do that every time, as it not automatically picks up you HR Monitor
  • edonald774
    edonald774 Posts: 92 Member
    Thanks, I used the hrm today and just went for a walk for an hour just to see. It's showing a 12 min run. Not sure of this so might take some experimenting.
    I noticed during the walk that it stopped showing the heart rate screen and switched to the steps screen. Does that disconnected the hrm?
  • iofred
    iofred Posts: 488 Member
    I have noticed as well that it disconnected after an x-amount of time when exercising, so I have swapped devices. Great step counter, also great for interaction with MFP (as it provides a much more realistic calorie-count than my new Fitbit Surge (which I absolutely love, and has an onboard HRM|||), not that great for HRM ... sorry
  • edonald774
    edonald774 Posts: 92 Member
    Hmm, I'll give it a try on the bike later and see how it does. I have a polar heart rate monitor I was using before so if I need to I can always put this on ebay and go back to my polar.

    I was just hoping to be able to have one device to use for actual excercise and the motivation thing to stop me just sitting on my backside for too long :)
  • iofred
    iofred Posts: 488 Member
    The biggest advantage is that the Vivofit does not need recharging. For motivation (if you can afford it) try the Fitbit Surge. It is the best piece of kit for motivation, with the only drawback that it does not like getting wet. It is splash proof, but not water proof. It has cycle mode, run mode (indoor and outdoor), and loads more cool stuff, including a HRM in the unit itself, so does not require a strap anymore.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    If your intended use is as a calorie counter, then all of the devices mentioned in this thread so far are wastes of money if you want accuracy. Under ideal circumstances, HRMs only approach accuracy for a narrow band of activities and conditions. Using pedometers to track cycling calories, even with HR data, simply fails to account for far too many variables to get close with caloric estimates.
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 609 Member
    edonald774 wrote: »
    Hmm, I'll give it a try on the bike later and see how it does. I have a polar heart rate monitor I was using before so if I need to I can always put this on ebay and go back to my polar.

    I was just hoping to be able to have one device to use for actual excercise and the motivation thing to stop me just sitting on my backside for too long :)

    If you have one device that you like, why change to another brand. Polar has activity monitors that do the same thing, only difference is you don't get all day heart monitoring, they use your activity and BRM to monitor when not wearing the sensor.

  • edonald774
    edonald774 Posts: 92 Member
    ah well... I managed to get it to record my cycle this morning (with it disconnecting from the HRM three times) - however what tosh! 40 minute cycle at not much of a pace and it's claiming over 400 calories (my HRM and MFP consistently say around the 250 mark).

    I think it's probably a good thing if you just want something to motivate you to get off the couch and maybe give you a rough count of steps (I got 250 for drying my hair). But to be honest, to track activity/exercise not much use.

    I think I will keep it on this week to see if the motivation thing helps me any but go back to my polar HRM for cycling. I wish I'd been able to give this a try before I actually coughed up the money.
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 609 Member
    How long have you had it, you're not able to return it?
  • edonald774
    edonald774 Posts: 92 Member
    Nah it's been used scubasteve. Like I say, let's see how it works as a motivational tool. You never know it might earn it's keep just for that.
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 609 Member
    edonald774 wrote: »
    Nah it's been used scubasteve. Like I say, let's see how it works as a motivational tool. You never know it might earn it's keep just for that.

    Oh okay, that's the only draw back to having it on your arm. I have a pedometer on my side, and today my Polar is about 2300 steps behind, this happens when I use the Precor EFX elliptical, but when I use the Lifefitness elliptical it's usually about 1000 over, so it all balances out.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    edonald774 wrote: »
    40 minute cycle at not much of a pace and it's claiming over 400 calories (my HRM and MFP consistently say around the 250 mark).

    That sounds odd. I had a 35 minute ride last night, average of 20kph through London, maxed at 35kph, and my Garmin gives me 200cals for that. Mind you, that's after post processing, rather than the on board calculation, and it's a Tri watch, rather than the activity logger.

    The false positive level on my Vivosmart is pretty low, to the extent that I'd anticipate that you may have a defective unit.
  • nam985
    nam985 Posts: 140 Member
    I love my vivofit, and it seems to be fairly accurate in terms of recording kcal burn when used with the HRM. I had to play around a bit with where I placed the strap in order for it to record properly (I found tucking it up under my boobs was the best spot lol).
  • iofred
    iofred Posts: 488 Member
    I have tested the FB Surge now against the Garmin Forerunner for my running, and my Edge for the cycling, and noticed that with running my HR recorded on the Surge is 20 - 30 higher than with the Garmin, but cycling the Surge is actually extremely accurate, both with HRM as well as with Calorie count against the Garmin. The advantage being not to need the strap anymore. Love it, I think (and I have tried a lot) this is the best one on the market yet
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    edonald774 wrote: »
    Nah it's been used scubasteve.

    Depending on where you bought it, most will still give a refund within 30 days of purchase, even if used. Just make sure you have the receipt. Keeping the original packaging until you know you will be keeping an item is helpful too.

This discussion has been closed.

Categories