Step Tracker & GPS Watch Question

Ataraxia81 wrote: »

So I just recently bought GPS watch (Garmin Forerunner 15). I have had and been using daily a Fitbit for years. I guess my question is, should I wear both at the same time or just one at a time? My concern is that both are linked to my fitness pal account and I don't want them to "double" my exercise calories unnecessarily.

If you feed both to MFP you're going to be double accounting.

I'd just retire the Fitbit, and import the historic data to Garmin Connect if you really want to retain it.

Your other option is to disconnect Fitbit from MFP, but you're ten using two devices to tell you the same thing, which seems a bit pointless to me.

The more hops between the device and MFP, as is being suggested above, the more likely you are to inject errors. I send my Garmin Data to MFP, Strava, Endomondo and Runkeeper and can get a very broad spread of calorie estimates, so I'd strongly recommend going as simple as possible Garmin Connect -> MFP

malkelly789 wrote: »

New studies show fitbit and other non gps devices are misleading in calories burned as it counts everytime your arm moves so eating fries or drinking pints of beer qould count as burnung calories so beware

What new studies?

I can't think of anything that's demonstrated that the false positive rate is particularly unreasonable.

In practice the level of false positives does depend on the design of the device, and whether it's used as designed. a body worn device like a Fitbit One will have a more realistic step count, but depends on being worn on the body, so clipped to clothing. A wrist worn device like a Charge or VivoSmart will be calibrated for wrist wearing, if someone puts it on their belt, or ankle then the step count will be inaccurate.

As ever, it's about recognising the strengths and weaknesses of a device and considering the information that it provides with a degree of thought, rather than slavishly accepting it.

malkelly789 wrote: »

New studies show fitbit and other non gps devices are misleading in calories burned as it counts everytime your arm moves so eating fries or drinking pints of beer qould count as burnung calories so beware

If you put on your none dominate arm you get less false positives. IE: If I'm right handed, it's likely that I'm eating fries, or drinking that pint of beer with my right hand. But I'm wearing my activity tracker on my left arm.

I use an activity monitor that connects to MFP, and a pedometer for a program where I work. They are usually plus 1000 to minus 1500 between the 2, but this all depends on what cardio equipment I use when I work out. When it come to just counting steps, they may be off by 100 +/-