Fitness bands opinions

khalikhoopri · January 2016

I want to purchase a fitness band. I am looking for possibly water resistant, something that has a watch as well and works with myfitnesspal. Your opinions and pros n cons would be highly appreciated!
Thanks in advance

eganita · January 2016

I've been happy with the Fitbit Charge HR. It's water resistant, has a watch, and syncs well with MFP. I import my calories burned via my Fitbit into MFP and use MFP for my food calories. I like that the Fitbit can monitor more than just steps - heart rate and calories burned. Of course, since it's worn on the wrist, the heart rate monitor may not be 100% accurate. It's accurate enough for me. I find it motivating as well. I also like some of the social features on the Fitbit app - you can participate in challenges with friends.

Warchortle · January 2016

I'm wary of fitness bands especially when syncing it to MFP. I don't like that it subtracts calories if you exercise (or at least it used to). I would just use fitness trackers as peace of mind, but not rely on it to modify your food intake. Calories burned is too much of an estimate to reliably modify daily TDEE. I feel like keeping calories the same day to day is better unless you're experienced or have someone coaching you.

RSnygg88 · January 2016

I also use a fitbit Charge HR and I love it. Yes, it does subtract calories for calories burned, but for weight loss you want to make sure you're at a deficit anyway. If you don't like that it subtracts, MFP still tracks overall food calories anyway.

AshleyMFitness16 · January 2016

I second the Charge HR. Pretty much everything eganita stated above, it's just great! I wish it was water proof though, would be nice to be able to wear it swimming and stuff. Plus, Fitbit is really awesome to work with. If you break it or anything, they'll usually send you a new one at no charge. Also the challenges you can do with friends are really awesome and get me moving way more than I usually would!

Jocgaye0724 · January 2016

I have a garmin vivofit 2 and I love it ! I wanted a Fitbit but I read a lot of reviews about them having battery issues

burns429 · January 2016

all of the fitbits are water resistant (not water proof, i.e. no swimming, no showering).

But I have a flex. I'm a numbers/data person. Looking at daily burn vs daily food over the entire year and beginning of year weight vs end of year weight, I was off by 10 calorie a day (with a 75 calorie/day adjustment in my food diary to account for a larger difference mid year). basically, it's very close for me/I've figured out how to make it more accurate. I successfully maintained the same 6 pound range all of 2015.

mnichols3871 · January 2016

Well I will chime in with my experience. I had a Jawbone Up band (original band) since this past September. Recently switched from Up to the Fitbit Charge HR because I wanted to upgrade to heartrate tracking. I thought I was in love with the Up app, but the Fitbit app is 100 times better if you like lots of data. If you want simple then Up may be enough for you too. Both sync with MFP easily. I did try the Up3 with heartrate tracking by Jawbone since I was already familiar with Up, but my phone wasn't compatible. I never had any issues with the sync between Up and MFP. Although my experience with Jawbone is that their app would frequently not allow my band to sync (mine isn't Bluetooth so it wasn't my phone or band having issues) because of their server issues. It was particularly bad a few weeks ago around Christmas and was still acting up yesterday. I made the switch from Up to Fitbit today.

I also tried the Polar Loop tracker but I found their app difficult to understand. It just didn't present the activity data in a way that I could easily see how much movement I was doing each day. Heartrate tracking the the BEST in Polar products, but it is chest strap based and not wrist based (which is why it's much more accurate). I had the Polar Loop for about a week and decided that although I liked the look and fit of the Loop, the app drove me nuts trying to decipher the data.

In response to Warchortle, you have the option in MFP to NOT subtract calories due to inactivity. In fact, I believe the default setting is to not allow negative adjustments. You would need to check the box that allows neg. adjustments if that's what you want.

turtlesoup1957 · January 2016

I have a Garmin vivofit and like it. It's waterproof aan a watch. The only thing I didn't like was manual was useless. Had to play around with it to figure out all the features. Really happy with it . Also have the heart rate monitor for it.

mbaker566 · January 2016

i like Garmin products. they are waterproof. I have a vivosmart and it has a watch feature. I think the vivofit 2 do as well. and then the vivoactives or running watches.
they work with mfp. the negative calorie thing is optional but helps you better track your calorie intake

tiggerlove · January 2016

I have the Polar A360 and I'm very pleased with it. Its waterproof si I can swim with it..tracks steps..calories..sleep etc. You can use it with or without the chest band. Do your research before buying.

jdhcm2006 · January 2016

I have both a Garmin Vivofit and a Fitbit Charge HR. I wear the HR daily and for most workouts, but I use my Vivofit for when I do my pole exercising b/c I don't want to take the chance of the HR scratching my pole. Both are solid tracking devices.

lisax037 · January 2016

I have just recently for a Fitbit and this along with MFP is the best motivation I have had to loose weight. Lost 3lbs in 5 days! I like the way it links into MFP and love the fact you can compete against friends. I have started walking more and it also can register particlar exercises which is a great motivator in itself. But of a addict now between Fitbit and MFP

khalikhoopri · January 2016

Thanks everyone for your opinions! Really appreciate your help!

Fitness bands opinions

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