Really need to decide on a step tracking device... ( sorry for a repeat thread )!

What do you use? What have you used?

Price point, pros/cons?

I want it to count steps, stairs, have a watch but it's not necessary to have things for my phone. If it's water resistance / proof that's a bonus. If it tracks laps that's an extra extra bonus.

Thank you!

Ps - what did you have for breakfast today?

Replies

  • maxit
    maxit Posts: 880 Member
    Fitbit One that I inherited (not water resistant), and I haven't bothered using anything beyond simple step counting & flights of stairs climbed. All exercise is logged on Fitbit site and transferred to MFP - so the automatic synch is handy. I like that I can clip it on my bra and not have to worry about a wrist band. Breakfast:

    Fresh Blueberries - Blue Berries, 149 gram 84 21 0 0 5
    Coffee - Brewed from grounds, 4 cup (8 fl oz) 9 0 0 1 0
    Kirkland - Greek Yogurt - Plain Nonfat, 227 g 130 10 0 23 1
    Alpine Valley - Multigrain Bread With Omega-3 Organic 7/14, 1 slice (37g) 100 17 1 5 3
    Total: 323 48 1 29 9

    Usually I have more fat grams in the morning but I was running behind schedule :)
  • RMCottonRPh
    RMCottonRPh Posts: 41 Member
    I have a fitibt charge HR and love, love, love it!
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,393 Member
    As I've previously stated, the fitbit zip gives you 90% of what Fitbit can do for 25% of the price.

    Yes, i have a charge hr. Yes I like it. Yes if you walk enough (over an hour a day) the increased inaccuracy of the charge hr's writs based step mis-counting will not matter. But the zip counts your steps more accurately for less money.

    But it has HR you say.

    But it is 'just ok' hr, I say, and the hr is irrelevant for a whole whack of activities people think it is relevant for. So no, hr won't give you a better indication of how many calories you burned doing push ups as compared to looking up in MFP what 15 minutes of push ups burned. HR adds accuracy only for "steady state" activities. And the steady state activities the fitbit counts (walking and running) are extremely well researched and fitbit can figure out all it needs from the ZIP's accelerometer. About the only thing where HR might help you with is cycling. The fitbit apps sucks compared to more cycling dedicated apps like Strava. And the fitbit HR (unless you buy the surge) cannot be used in other apps. And the Surge can only be used with Strava.

    But I want FLOORS you say. Yes, but the floor information is not used in any of the caloric calculations. So you get floors for your own motivation, which is a fine reason to have them! But don't expect the floors to make a difference in terms of the accuracy of your caloric calculation.

    But I want sleep you say. Most of these devices are barely able to tell you when you landed in your bed and when you left it. They don't really know whether you were sleeping or reading. They do show you some basic information about whether you tossed and turned. All in all: interesting if you have the money. Not that important in any shape or form in the big scheme of things.

    But I want GPS you say. Gen 1 is all I reply. It work-ishes. It cost-ishes. Wait for Gen 2

    Get whichever from a store you can return it to. Play with it. Decide if you like. 10 days later make a decision whether you want more or less balanced against your budget.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,953 Member
    I have a Fitbit Charge HR and love it. I wanted the HR bit because I do Taekwondo and a regular step counter wouldn't account for that.
  • airbent
    airbent Posts: 150 Member
    Absolutely crazy about my Fitbit charge HR so far, only been about a week and a half but it is so freeing knowing how much I can really eat in a day and still lose, as long as I stay moving. It does two things--gives you your TDEE on a day by day basis, and pushes you to move more. You want to get those steps to beat your own benchmarks, keep up with your friends, earn extra steps. It's also made me really into turning all my little gauges green for the day: steps, distance, active minutes, oz of water drank, etc. this is where the design of the app is FANTASTIC.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,393 Member
    edited August 2015
    I wanted the HR bit because I do Taekwondo and a regular step counter wouldn't account for that.
    airbent wrote: »
    it is so freeing knowing how much I can really eat in a day and still lose, as long as I stay moving. It does two things--gives you your TDEE on a day by day basis, and pushes you to move more.

    In a steady state exercise activity, one predicts calories burned based on amount of oxygen used. And the amount of oxygen used (assuming we know a person's VO2max thresh-hold, which Fitbit doesn't other than by using the very inaccurate 220-age maximum heart rate formula) is based on your heart rate as a proxy for your oxygen consumption.

    But while heart rate is a good proxy for oxygen consumption during a steady state activity, if the heart rate is elevated because of stress, sudden movement, fright, heat, etc, the increased heart rate does not reflect increased oxygen consumption.

    Takewondo is not a steady state exercise activity. Your heart rate only loosely corresponds to the amount of effort you're putting out. For example, it could be high for several minutes after you fight a bout. Are you actually expending an increased amount of energy during that time?

    The guess by your HR is no more accurate than the guess of manually entering in the Fitbit app: "1 hour taekwondo practice".

    Thus the cheap ZIP is able to calculate your 24 hour TDEE just as ably, and accurately, as the more expensive Charge HR/Surge HR.

    And yes, it is a great tool for improving your TDEE calculation AND for motivating you to move more.

    Similarly all the other fitness bands though Fitbit seems to be more able than most to not over-estimate your TDEE, or not grossly under-estimate it like a couple of others
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    I love my Fitbit Zip. It measures my steps more accurately than any cheap or expensive pedometer I've had in the past, has the best clip ever, and it's amazing that it all shows up online. At first it overestimated terribly, but within a couple of days, it calmed down. Darn!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
    Jawbone 24 up.
  • tabl_23
    tabl_23 Posts: 46 Member
    I have the Garmin Vivofit....and I love it. It came with a heart monitor....which I am also impressed with. Everything transfers into MFP accurately. My reason for picking the Vivofit was:
    1) waterproof
    2) no charging (it runs off a small watch battery....so lasts a couple years)
    3) heart monitor included
    4) gps capability (although I've never used it)
    5) sleep monitoring (which seems pretty accurate....if not accurate it is pretty interesting)
    6) good price

    I had my thrive shake for breakfast. :)
  • danequin
    danequin Posts: 20 Member
    I use pacer to track steps on my phone
  • Blueseraphchaos
    Blueseraphchaos Posts: 843 Member
    i have a fitbit one. i had a zip but lost it, and it didn't track quite everything i wanted it to track.

    breakfast: half of a dole caesar salad with chicken, lol. yeah......
  • dinsfamily
    dinsfamily Posts: 84 Member
    I like my Garmin Vivofit2 also. I had a Fitbit Flex last year and hated charging it every 4-5 days. After the charger broke for the 2nd time in 30 days, I stopped wearing it.

    I never take my Vivofit2 off since it is waterproof. Didn't get many steps at the pool last weekend, but I knew what time it was. :smile: The display is great and I can't wait to get some prettier bands for it.
  • sugarpeas
    sugarpeas Posts: 56 Member
    Good information! Thank you

    I found that I slept worse when I used my fitbit to track my sleep...not sure why..
    maybe I was so stressed out about getting a good sleep or something.

    I mainly want it waterproof because I work in a deli and washing dishes comes with the job. Don't want to have to take it off because I will forget to put it back on and I walk a ton at work.
  • airbent
    airbent Posts: 150 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    I wanted the HR bit because I do Taekwondo and a regular step counter wouldn't account for that.
    airbent wrote: »
    it is so freeing knowing how much I can really eat in a day and still lose, as long as I stay moving. It does two things--gives you your TDEE on a day by day basis, and pushes you to move more.

    In a steady state exercise activity, one predicts calories burned based on amount of oxygen used. And the amount of oxygen used (assuming we know a person's VO2max thresh-hold, which Fitbit doesn't other than by using the very inaccurate 220-age maximum heart rate formula) is based on your heart rate as a proxy for your oxygen consumption.

    But while heart rate is a good proxy for oxygen consumption during a steady state activity, if the heart rate is elevated because of stress, sudden movement, fright, heat, etc, the increased heart rate does not reflect increased oxygen consumption.

    Takewondo is not a steady state exercise activity. Your heart rate only loosely corresponds to the amount of effort you're putting out. For example, it could be high for several minutes after you fight a bout. Are you actually expending an increased amount of energy during that time?

    The guess by your HR is no more accurate than the guess of manually entering in the Fitbit app: "1 hour taekwondo practice".

    Thus the cheap ZIP is able to calculate your 24 hour TDEE just as ably, and accurately, as the more expensive Charge HR/Surge HR.

    And yes, it is a great tool for improving your TDEE calculation AND for motivating you to move more.

    Similarly all the other fitness bands though Fitbit seems to be more able than most to not over-estimate your TDEE, or not grossly under-estimate it like a couple of others

    I agree it doesn't need to be a charge hr, that just happens to be the one I have. At this point I'd swear by any Fitbit model lol. The app is the same no matter what. If it's waterproof she needs and she wants it on her arm, the Fitbit flex might be the ticket