Fitbit dilemma

Buy a Fitbit at a store near you, keep the receipt, and return it if you don't like it.

When you connect your accounts and enable negative calorie adjustments, MFP adjusts your daily calorie goal to TDEE minus deficit. Fitbit challenges are great motivation—and fun.

You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

I have a Garmin VivoSmart. If I'm honest I don't see a compelling reason, as it doesn't tell me anything I didn't know aready. I'm a little more active than I thought I was, I spend a lot of time sitting in meetings and my walking time is concentrated.

On running days the figures are radically skewed by the training, and on cycling days I don't get credit from it for the time I spend training.

I have a Basis Peak, which is waterproof. I enjoy the challenges to develop the habits. It has a heart rate monitor and is supposed to be comparable with the fitbit.

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I was skeptic about buying a fitbit.. I bought fitbit charge hr from walmart with coverage for 2 years.
I said to myself I probably will return it.. and they are not very hard on returning stuff.. so why not trying it..
and ever since, fitbit is pushing me to move more, walk more, eat better .. I added many friends from fitbit and many added me.. we challenges each other and it's fun really .. it's fun and motivating ..Buying the fitbit charge hr in july was the best decision I have made this summer and it worth the money..

I think you should buy it and try it for a week. you can always return it it wasn't good for you
my advice is to buy either charge hr or the other one surge ... as they are more advanced and tell you about heart rate.. and how much calories you actually burned..
Also fitbit is really good in monitoring my sleep .which is helpful too.

Note: I don't know about other users. but my fitbit is so far accurate.
I wear mine all the time except when I shower so I can leave it there to charge using my laptop

karyabc wrote: »

I spend hours and hours driving in my daily routine, and I can not begin to tell you how inaccurate thousand steps it gives me every day, it makes sad considering the amount of money I spend on it.

I do a lot of driving but I check my Fitbit and my steps are the same as when I got in the car as I do when I get out the car so not sure what's up with your one. X

karyabc wrote: »

I spend hours and hours driving in my daily routine, and I can not begin to tell you how inaccurate thousand steps it gives me every day, it makes sad considering the amount of money I spend on it.

The relevant point from this is that the most appropriate device is very dependent on lifestyle. For some people in jobs where the arms move around a lot and that doesn't represent body movement, a wrist worn device isn't appropriate. Similarly those in healthcare for whom nothing can be worn below the elbows. A body mount would be more suitable. I saw a checkout assistant in the supermarket with one a couple of weeks ago, she'd have a lot of steps counted from moving stuff through the scanner. Equally I'll not have measured all the steps I tok as I was pushing a trolley so my wrist wouldn't move much.

That said, I'm sceptical of the over-read reported here. I'll pick up perhaps 100 steps in a couple of hours of driving.

It's merely a source of data, that needs to be interpreted in light of your own understanding of your lifestyle, recognising the weaknesses of how the data is collected.

Note that HR measurement is broadly meaningless in most situations - Resting Heart Rate trends over time are useful

I'd also observe that I have seen some reporting suggesting that the proportion of users who actually stick with it for more than a couple of months is quite low. So the numbers of people who've drunk the kool-aid is far lower than the uncritical recommendations on every thread that this is discussed. People who have stopped using them wouldn't tend to comment.

karyabc wrote: »

I spend hours and hours driving in my daily routine, and I can not begin to tell you how inaccurate thousand steps it gives me every day, it makes sad considering the amount of money I spend on it.

You can log it as driving: http://support.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/How-does-my-tracker-work-while-I-m-driving-in-a-car

But the first step whenever you have a problem with your Fitbit is to reset it: http://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/How-do-I-restart-my-tracker

And if your tracker is broken, Fitbit will replace it.

MeanderingMammal wrote: »

karyabc wrote: »

I spend hours and hours driving in my daily routine, and I can not begin to tell you how inaccurate thousand steps it gives me every day, it makes sad considering the amount of money I spend on it.

The relevant point from this is that the most appropriate device is very dependent on lifestyle. For some people in jobs where the arms move around a lot and that doesn't represent body movement, a wrist worn device isn't appropriate. Similarly those in healthcare for whom nothing can be worn below the elbows. A body mount would be more suitable. I saw a checkout assistant in the supermarket with one a couple of weeks ago, she'd have a lot of steps counted from moving stuff through the scanner. Equally I'll not have measured all the steps I tok as I was pushing a trolley so my wrist wouldn't move much.

That said, I'm sceptical of the over-read reported here. I'll pick up perhaps 100 steps in a couple of hours of driving.

It's merely a source of data, that needs to be interpreted in light of your own understanding of your lifestyle, recognising the weaknesses of how the data is collected.

Note that HR measurement is broadly meaningless in most situations - Resting Heart Rate trends over time are useful

I'd also observe that I have seen some reporting suggesting that the proportion of users who actually stick with it for more than a couple of months is quite low. So the numbers of people who've drunk the kool-aid is far lower than the uncritical recommendations on every thread that this is discussed. People who have stopped using them wouldn't tend to comment.

I got nothing against the fitibit, of course it works for the majority of people or it wouldn't be as popular as it is, I just gave my very honest and humble opinion of what's happening to me, it may be because I actually drive a very old cargo van and not any kind of modern car that pick so much movement.

Of course it is absolutely without doubt inaccurate in my particular case because on days that are practically non walking days and all I do is drive it gives me 6000+ steps.

And yes it makes me sad cause I actually live in a very tight budget and I spend 94 dollars on something that's not working for me , and no, I never said anything about stopping using the device.

Again op ask , I share with her my own personal experience.

karyabc wrote: »

I spend hours and hours driving in my daily routine, and I can not begin to tell you how inaccurate thousand steps it gives me every day, it makes sad considering the amount of money I spend on it.

What are you using, I've had a polar loop, and now a v800, and if I spend over and hour driving all it get is inactivity alerts, I had to turn the vibration alert off because of this.

I have the up3 and I love it. I've been wearing a jawbone product for almost two years. I don't think I can ever go back to not wearing one.