Comparing Fitbit One and Vivofit 2
trisha1298
Posts: 51 Member
Hi everyone- I have been a long user of the fitbit one clip on activity tracker (around 2 years, using it all the time and linked with MFP), and I recently got the Garmin vivofit 2 in an effort to take my fitness to the next level. When I was searching for a product, I didn't find much on the forums here so I thought I'd give some info on my first week comparing the two devices.
I use my activity tracker for daily steps, mostly for incentive to get more steps throughout the day. I run 3-4 times per week, and I recently started a boot camp class. I was very happy with the fitbit one for daily activity tracking and for my runs and found the distance and calorie burns predicted by fitbit to be pretty consistent with my Runtastic app. My biggest complaint was that my battery has been dying after only a day of use, but I think I fixed that through disabling background sync with my phone.
I wanted to find a new device that would incorporate heart rate. The Garmin Vivofit 2 has the option of buying a heart rate strap to pair with it. I opted for this over the Fitbit Charge HR because I read that the HR tracking is more accurate with the strap, and I really only want it for during workouts. Also, the Vivofit 2 + HR strap is $130 and the Charge HR is $150, so I thought I'd try to save a buck first.
Here are the pros and cons as I found between the Fitbit One and the Garmin Vivofit 2:
Fitbit One: Pros
Clip on under clothes so it is hidden
Fitbit website is great
Fitbit customer service is great (replaced mine under warranty with no problem)
Accurate step count
Many of my friends use fitbit so the social integration is extra motivation.
Sleep tracking visualization makes sense to me/provides useful info
Tracks stairs climbed
Pairs with MFP
Vibrating alarm
Fitbit One: Cons
Battery life is limited. I get around a week, (though at one point was dying every 24 hours or so-- may have fixed that by disabling background sync)
Not waterproof and not sweatproof (it is advertised as sweatproof but mine died after a long hike)
Difficult to check stats during the day if it's clipped on my bra like usual
The sleeve that you can put it in and wear on your wrist for sleeping often falls off in the night
No heart rate info
Garmin Vivofit 2 Pros:
Battery life long. Like a year. Runs on a replaceable watch battery
Waterproof- no need to take it off when showering or washing dishes.
Can pair with heart rate strap, easy to do
Display is easy to read throughout the day and during a workout. Backlight can be turned on for at night.
Easy to sync manually (no auto-sync available)
Pairs with MFP
You can display different information in normal mode and activity mode, shows timer of the length of your workout so far
Garmin Vivofit 2 Cons:
Red bar appears after you've been inactive for an hour. I thought I would like this, but I didn't. I think you can disable it, but I haven't.
Heart rate strap is really uncomfortable
Sleep tracking is basically worthless. It gives you a plot of movement vs. time, and it mostly a squiggly line that means nothing to me. I can't pick out spots on the display and say, oh yeah I woke up at that time, or anything like that.
I found it very uncomfortable on my wrist. Took about 4 days to get used to.
Website and app are both difficult to navigate. I can never seem to find the information I am looking for.
I think it's ugly (though no one else thinks it's too bad)
I compared the total daily calories and step count for the two over seven days.
The Garmin tended to record 5% more steps than the fitbit, and that was pretty consistent. But the total daily calorie burns were all over the place. There was no simple correlation between the two. Generally, Garmin tended to calculate fewer calories. On a day when I ran 8 miles, Garmin calculated 300 calories less. On a day when I hiked 6 miles with lots of hills, it calculated 1000 calories less (no altitude info recorded on the vivofit 2 and did not wear HR band). I don't think these daily calorie calculations are all that accurate to begin with, but I was surprised at how different they were between the two.
Ultimately, I am going to return the Garmin vivofit 2 and stick with my old fitbit one. I think the user experience is much better with the fitbit. Although I could get HR info with the vivofit 2, the chest strap was uncomfortable enough that I opted to not wear it.
Maybe I will upgrade to the charge HR when my fitbit one dies, but for now I'll sit tight.
I use my activity tracker for daily steps, mostly for incentive to get more steps throughout the day. I run 3-4 times per week, and I recently started a boot camp class. I was very happy with the fitbit one for daily activity tracking and for my runs and found the distance and calorie burns predicted by fitbit to be pretty consistent with my Runtastic app. My biggest complaint was that my battery has been dying after only a day of use, but I think I fixed that through disabling background sync with my phone.
I wanted to find a new device that would incorporate heart rate. The Garmin Vivofit 2 has the option of buying a heart rate strap to pair with it. I opted for this over the Fitbit Charge HR because I read that the HR tracking is more accurate with the strap, and I really only want it for during workouts. Also, the Vivofit 2 + HR strap is $130 and the Charge HR is $150, so I thought I'd try to save a buck first.
Here are the pros and cons as I found between the Fitbit One and the Garmin Vivofit 2:
Fitbit One: Pros
Clip on under clothes so it is hidden
Fitbit website is great
Fitbit customer service is great (replaced mine under warranty with no problem)
Accurate step count
Many of my friends use fitbit so the social integration is extra motivation.
Sleep tracking visualization makes sense to me/provides useful info
Tracks stairs climbed
Pairs with MFP
Vibrating alarm
Fitbit One: Cons
Battery life is limited. I get around a week, (though at one point was dying every 24 hours or so-- may have fixed that by disabling background sync)
Not waterproof and not sweatproof (it is advertised as sweatproof but mine died after a long hike)
Difficult to check stats during the day if it's clipped on my bra like usual
The sleeve that you can put it in and wear on your wrist for sleeping often falls off in the night
No heart rate info
Garmin Vivofit 2 Pros:
Battery life long. Like a year. Runs on a replaceable watch battery
Waterproof- no need to take it off when showering or washing dishes.
Can pair with heart rate strap, easy to do
Display is easy to read throughout the day and during a workout. Backlight can be turned on for at night.
Easy to sync manually (no auto-sync available)
Pairs with MFP
You can display different information in normal mode and activity mode, shows timer of the length of your workout so far
Garmin Vivofit 2 Cons:
Red bar appears after you've been inactive for an hour. I thought I would like this, but I didn't. I think you can disable it, but I haven't.
Heart rate strap is really uncomfortable
Sleep tracking is basically worthless. It gives you a plot of movement vs. time, and it mostly a squiggly line that means nothing to me. I can't pick out spots on the display and say, oh yeah I woke up at that time, or anything like that.
I found it very uncomfortable on my wrist. Took about 4 days to get used to.
Website and app are both difficult to navigate. I can never seem to find the information I am looking for.
I think it's ugly (though no one else thinks it's too bad)
I compared the total daily calories and step count for the two over seven days.
The Garmin tended to record 5% more steps than the fitbit, and that was pretty consistent. But the total daily calorie burns were all over the place. There was no simple correlation between the two. Generally, Garmin tended to calculate fewer calories. On a day when I ran 8 miles, Garmin calculated 300 calories less. On a day when I hiked 6 miles with lots of hills, it calculated 1000 calories less (no altitude info recorded on the vivofit 2 and did not wear HR band). I don't think these daily calorie calculations are all that accurate to begin with, but I was surprised at how different they were between the two.
Ultimately, I am going to return the Garmin vivofit 2 and stick with my old fitbit one. I think the user experience is much better with the fitbit. Although I could get HR info with the vivofit 2, the chest strap was uncomfortable enough that I opted to not wear it.
Maybe I will upgrade to the charge HR when my fitbit one dies, but for now I'll sit tight.
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Replies
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Interesting. I have a Garmin running watch and its calorie estimate is generally lower than most apps and what other people my size and weight have reported from devices like the Fitbit.
I like that.
My feeling is the Garmin is the more accurate estimate, at least for running.
Re the heart rate strap, I forget it's on while running or cycling. I wouldn't use it for anything else though. For me it is a training aid, not a necessary component of a calorie burn equation.0 -
Why do you dislike the activity bar? That was the main reason I got my Vivofit and I would actually call it the most important feature it has.0
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I guess a personal preference. I tend to do my activity in large chunks, like a long run in the morning or a long hike. When we were in the car for an hour+ driving back from a 3 hour hike and the activity bar chirped at me, it seemed unnecessary. But, I bet if I worked at a desk job it would be a good reminder to get up and walk around a bit.0
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I'm sort of learning to half-ignore/half-acknowledge the red bar. I can't do any meaningful walking (or even much of a meaningless walk) while studying/working at home. I have taken to doing some push-ups and squats when the bar increases but tough luck if I don't walk enough to reset it once it's full.
Quite happy with the calories it calculates - I'm not sure whether the Garmin connect platform is doing something significant with them, but over the past few weeks they seem to have gotten closer to the range my Forerunner watch calculates... not sure if the site is doing some sort of learning or it's just some general calibration.
Aren't 1000+ calories for hiking 6 miles way too much though, even with hills. But yeah, even if that's close to what you burned, without the HRM to reflect exertion it's all just steps to the vivofit.
And Garmin could really stepping up their site/app game... especially the app.0 -
I got my Garmin Vivofit 2 + HRM last week. The step count was off a little at first, however, after calibrating the steps in settings on Garmin connect, it is pretty much spot on with my step count and miles traveled throughout the day. Also, the chest strap was a little bit tough getting used to coming from my Polar HRM chest strap. After a few days with it for running and a few other activities I don't even know that it is on while I'm working out.
The Garmin connect app is ok for my needs since I only mainly use it to look at Steps taken, miles, Activities. I do look at the sleep time as well which I like better than Fitbit because it actually does record my sleep pattern every night. I don't need to know the exact times that I am restless or get up during the night. My Fitbit would only record my sleep half of the time and if I got up for more than 10 minutes, it didn't record the first 2 hours of sleep and started my counting from the time I went back to bed. My Vivofit 2 will stay in sleep mode longer unless I press the button on the side first telling it that I'm up and ready to start my day.
I don't count calories so that aspect of my device doesn't matter as much for my needs. However, for the first few days I did sync it with the MFP App and do a calorie count with it as a test. While synced with MFP the calorie intake was correct as was the number of calories burned doing other activities with it while wearing the HRM. As far as calories burned while going about my daily steps throughout the day, it doesn't seem too far off, but who knows. As I said, I don't normally count calories and was only using this feature as a test.
Overall, I like my Vivofit 2 much better than the Fitbit's that I used before (Flex, Charge, Charge HR) and have decided to keep it.
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i have a fitbit zip and was trying to decide between getting a Fitbit Charge HR (but i've read things about it causing irritation/rashes and also pain for some?? also not sure how much i like the idea of green pulsing lights directly on my skin 24/7...) and the Vivofit 2. i like the fact the vivofit 2 is waterproof because i do like swimming (and showering! lol) and it would be nice to not have to take it off...0
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i have a fitbit zip and was trying to decide between getting a Fitbit Charge HR (but i've read things about it causing irritation/rashes and also pain for some?? also not sure how much i like the idea of green pulsing lights directly on my skin 24/7...) and the Vivofit 2. i like the fact the vivofit 2 is waterproof because i do like swimming (and showering! lol) and it would be nice to not have to take it off...
I never got a rash from my Charge HR. But I did end up returning it because I couldn't stand the pressure on my arm from the sensor and I wasn't finding the HR function very accurate at all. My Vivofit 2 and Polar FT 7 with the chest strap are more accurate from my tests.0 -
Thanks for sharing your experience if the fitbit charge hr vs. The vivo fit 2. Interesting to hear you found the Charge very uncomfortable, which is think would be a common flaw. I run, so I'm just wondering how accurate vivofit2 is with step tracking? (Tho I use run keeper to track my runs anyway ). I think I'm definitely leaning towards the Garmin vivofit2! 0
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trisha1298 wrote: »Hi everyone- I have been a long user of the fitbit one clip on activity tracker (around 2 years, using it all the time and linked with MFP), and I recently got the Garmin vivofit 2 in an effort to take my fitness to the next level. When I was searching for a product, I didn't find much on the forums here so I thought I'd give some info on my first week comparing the two devices.
Some useful analysis, although I'd suggest there are some second order questions that would be useful to explore. How many of the differences were as a result of comparing a torso worn device with a wrist worn device, and how many were down to the different processing used by Garmin vs Fitbit?
As far as step count accuracy is concerned, I do see some false positives from a wrist mount, but in the grand scheme of things they're trivial. I use a Vivosmart which has a much neater form factor than the VivoFit, far more discrete.
I guess the nag factor is a personal preference thing. When I'm sitting in a two hour meeting it doesn't tell me anything useful, but when I'm sitting at my desk it's a useful prompt to get away from the screen for a couple of minutes. It can be a bit irritating when there is no option. I did a long session on my turbo trainer a week or so ago, and after 30kms of hard riding my device started buzzing at me to move. Believe me, I was dripping so wasn't too worried about whether I was moving enough.
As far as the chest strap monitor is concerned, I'd agree they're rarely comfortable. Equally wrist fit have lots of issues as well, and from a running perspective I'd rather wear my Forerunner on the outside of cold/ wet weather gear so that I can see it. That means I'd lose the option for HR if I was using a wrist worn monitor.
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Thanks for sharing your experience if the fitbit charge hr vs. The vivo fit 2. Interesting to hear you found the Charge very uncomfortable, which is think would be a common flaw. I run, so I'm just wondering how accurate vivofit2 is with step tracking? (Tho I use run keeper to track my runs anyway ). I think I'm definitely leaning towards the Garmin vivofit2!
Like you, I also run ( not every day) and I can tell you that out of the box the Vivofit 2 was about 1/4 mile off of my running step. This was easy to correct by using an app on my iPhone called (map my fitness) to track my running steps for 1 mile. Then I simply input how many steps it took me to run a mile in the Garmin Connect website. Since I did that, it tracks every mile I do with the correct step count. As far as the above poster saying the Smartfit being far more discrete, I would have to disagree. Since there are so many bracelet like bands for the Vivofit that can easily blend it in with an outfit. You can't change the band on the Smartfit as far as I know. Also, the Vivofit 2 has a battery life of one year. The Smartfit will need to be taken off to charge.0 -
As far as the above poster saying the Smartfit being far more discrete, I would have to disagree.
The VivoSmart is about half the width of the Vivofit, it's black and has no distinguishing marks unless it activates, or I tap it to light it up. Realistically it looks like a leather bracelet.
I'm currently wearing a french cuff, it sits under there neatly so isn't visible. It sits behind my watch, which is a Citizen dive watch, and is half the width of the strap, and the same colour.
I can see some circumstances where one would want to chop and change the bracelet, but personally it works for me. YMMV, particularly where one wears much in the way of jewellery. I limit it to cufflinks and a watch.
If I'm running I'll wear the VivoSmart and my Forerunner. With negative adjustments set up it doesn't double account for the expenditure.
It takes about 15 minutes to charge and is good for well over a week, longer with background sync disabled.0 -
Question new to MFP and vivofit do I still enter my workouts into MFP ?
Thank you also read all comments and learnt a lot of useful information.0 -
mummystimeout wrote: »Question new to MFP and vivofit do I still enter my workouts into MFP ?
Thank you also read all comments and learnt a lot of useful information.
I enter my workouts on Garmin connect which will then send over the info on MFP.0 -
mummystimeout wrote: »Question new to MFP and vivofit do I still enter my workouts into MFP ?
Thank you also read all comments and learnt a lot of useful information.
It depends on the session you do. For some that are largely step based you probably don't need to, for things like swimming or cycling then I would log them.
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Thanks for all the great feedback everyone- I'm still using my fitbit one and keeping an eye open for the next device I will buy when this dies. I am interested in the Garmin Forerunner 225, which serves as a GPS running watch and activity tracker, and has built in wrist HR sensors. But it's pretty big, and really ugly in my opinion. I guess I didn't realize how much appearance means to me, but it is the main reason I haven't gone out to buy one yet. I still like to have my fitbit one clipped discretely under my clothes.0
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trisha1298 wrote: »Thanks for all the great feedback everyone- I'm still using my fitbit one and keeping an eye open for the next device I will buy when this dies. I am interested in the Garmin Forerunner 225, which serves as a GPS running watch and activity tracker, and has built in wrist HR sensors. But it's pretty big, and really ugly in my opinion. I guess I didn't realize how much appearance means to me, but it is the main reason I haven't gone out to buy one yet. I still like to have my fitbit one clipped discretely under my clothes.
Good luck with your decision. The Fitbit one is nice also, since it is easily hidden under your clothing.0
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