Fitness Trackers

smit7633 · February 2016

I want to know who's wearing one, which one, what you love about it, what you hate about it, and which features you wish it had?! And GO!

hotasfire36 · February 2016

Fitbit Charge HR. I love it. I love that it count my steps and activity during day. I can even track a workout to get stats from that individual exercise. It has all the features i need.

RebekahRN83 · February 2016

Fit Bit Flex ($100)
Pros: counts steps, keeps track of minutes when you're extra active, let's me know how much sleep I'm getting each night and how restless I was, syncs easily with MFP to adjust my calorie allowance, has a count down on the app that tells me how many pounds I have left to loose (which is currently a larger number than pounds I have lost, so I like seeing the bigger number of FitBit go down), has a silent alarm that vibrates on my wrist which is nice for mornings or a reminder during the day for things, it's slim compared to most, the band comes in lots of colors and if you change sizes of bands you don't have to buy a whole new device

Cons: you have to charge it every 5 days (doesn't take long though), it doesn't have a display screen on the device so you have to sync it to the app to see anything (the device just has 5 lights on it so you can see an approximation of what % of steps you have until your goal, it serves no other purpose than as an exercise device (i.e. not a watch), some would say it's not overly attractive, water resistant but not water proof so not really supposed to wear in the pool (although many of my friends do and haven't had an issue).

I've had my Flex for 2 years (it did just start having some issues getting it to charge) and am excited to be upgrading to the new one coming out in March. I think it's called FitBit Blaze. It looks like a watch, has a screen that shows everything, has a built in HR monitor, and some other upgrades

rebelriesling_ · February 2016

I love my FitBit, too! I'm using the Charge HR and think it's the bees knees. The heart rate function allows for more accurate calorie burn readings which is always helpful! I find it gives me motivation to reach my step goal and reminds me to stay hydrated.

smit7633 · February 2016

Thanks for your posts ladies. Rebekah I'm also considering the fitbit Blaze, lots of great new features, but I'm so disappointed that fitbit still hasn't come out with a waterproof tracker!

pichiPurinsesu · February 2016

i have a moov now and i wear an FT4 with hrm. thinking on upgrading the ft4 though

moov Now pros: water proof, built in coach, can be used for swimming, running, walking, has built in workouts like boxing or 7 minute work out, maps daily cal burn and activity, tracks sleep.

cons: you can't see how much you've burnt on workouts that are not 'hosted' on the moov. (for example, cize. it wouldn't tell you the burn for it. Does not have a pedometer if that's what you're after

shinycrazy · February 2016

Garmin Vivofit 2. ($80, amazon or best buy)
Pros: water proof to 5atm, 1 year battery life (uses watch batteries ), tracks calories burned, steps, sleep, shows the time. Syncs with mfp. Can customize what data you see on the tracker. Has an optional chest strap hrm for more accurate cardiovascular heart rate tracking (see cons)
Cons: App is only meh. Does not sync on its own, you have to open the app and press a button on the tracker, must also press button to track sleep. HRM isn't great. Could be me but it doesn't track as well as my 10 year old polar hrm. You can get it without the monitor.

nadiadelpilar · February 2016

I use Paser and it is awesome.

smit7633 · February 2016

My friend is letting me borrow her charge hr for a week to see how I like it before I buy one. I do find wearing it more motivating, but I really wish it was waterproof. Also the little screen scratches up easily, she had it for less than a month and it's already scuffed up. I'm leaning toward the activite pop, it's water proof and looks just like a regular watch, and doesn't need to be charged. The downside is that I have heard the app isn't too great, no hr monitoring and the price is a little high considering all the features it doesn't have compared to other trackers in the same price range.

Psychgrrl · February 2016

Garmin Vivoactive Watch w/ Chest Strap

Pros:
* gets phone notifications (texts, whatever)
* Different settings for indoor/outdoor exercises
* Great battery life--burns more battery when using chest strap, but only need to charge every couple of weeks.
* Tracks sleep
* Color display
* Can download different watch faces and applications
* Displays can be simple or complicated--my current one shows daily steps taken towards goal, weekly step average, calories burned, time, date, day, Bluetooth connectivity.
* Nudges me to move every 45 minutes. Must actually take steps to appease Garmin, no getting around it by waving your arms.
* Syncs with MFP.
* Good phone app
* Good website
* Pretty fire works display when you hit your steps goal for the day
*

Cons
* no optical (wrist) hrm. This was not a con for me. I only care about hr when training and believe the research I've read saying the chest straps are more accurate.

Sandiki2Point0 · February 2016

Amazon sells screen protectors.

smit7633 wrote: »

My friend is letting me borrow her charge hr for a week to see how I like it before I buy one. I do find wearing it more motivating, but I really wish it was waterproof. Also the little screen scratches up easily, she had it for less than a month and it's already scuffed up. I'm leaning toward the activite pop, it's water proof and looks just like a regular watch, and doesn't need to be charged. The downside is that I have heard the app isn't too great, no hr monitoring and the price is a little high considering all the features it doesn't have compared to other trackers in the same price range.

FrugalMomsRock75 · February 2016

I have my fitbit one that I wear in my pocket, and I just upgraded my Polar RCX3 HRM to a Polar M400 fitness tracker. It came with a chest strap with blue tooth, it has GPS for when I walk, run, or ride bike. I love it!!! Polar is the best HRM, imo, so when I saw they came out with the fitness tracker and it was time for a new HRM, I just had to get it. I do wish it would keep constant bluetooth connection with my phone, but that is the only qualm I have with it.

MrsSylvie · February 2016

basis peak fitness and sleep tracker

love mostly everything about it! it constantly tracks my heart-rate and has only been off by 1-2 beats max on occassion (was dead on when at docs). love that it automatically switches/knows when i walk, run, go to sleep, etc. and i don't have to remember to turn anything on or off.. Battery life is outstanding, i get 6-7 days of battery life when i don't turn on notifications, about 4 days when i keep notifications on. The sleep tracking part is my favorite of all (about 95% accurate) and the calories burned feature is my second favorite part. after first 2-3 days of Basis learning my ways, it started calculating my total burned calories (resting and active) pretty much on the nose, i have not gained a pound since eating at or closer to what it says i burned (which is more than what calculators/mfp says my maintenance cals should be). I also like that it has a notification feature on it so i can see who texts or calls me while working out without having to stop and go check my phone. Also like i can replace band with any non basis 23mm band i want and i like that i will not have to buy another watch when they introduce new updates/features in future (hopefully alarm clock being one soon).

con: no alarm feature yet, it is not great for indoor steps since i don't always swing my arms when i walk around my house but, worse thing about Basis, is they still have not made it useable with mfp!

smit7633 · February 2016

Sylvie does the basis peak start tracking your activity right away? I have done some research on the basis peak as it definitely has all the things I'm looking for and more. I've read that the app is kind of worthless as far interpreting your data and that it can sometimes take up to 15 minutes to recognize that you are doing an activity. What do you think?

smit7633 · February 2016

FrugalMom, since I've been test driving the charge hr I'm steadily liking the idea of a wearable that doesn't go on your wrist more and more. The charge hr really irritates my wrist at night, as I do move around a lot during sleep, by morning my wrist is aching. Also I walk on the treadmill a lot and I don't like to swing my arms, I like to hold on and that causes the wrist tracker not to count my steps. How do you like the fitbit one? Does the fitbit app sync with polarbfor HR monitoring or so you have to sync them to each other through MFP?

brianpperkins · February 2016

A different approach would be figure out what data points you want to track, what activities you do (or plan on doing), then seeing which trackers do a good job of meeting those criteria. The question as asked is begging for confirmation bias.

KristinaJeanPhD · February 2016

I have had a Fitbit zip, one, flex, and charge hr. I returned both the flex and the charge hr to to the store within a couple of weeks, and my one collects dust on my dresser. All the bells and whistles are fun for a few days, but having to charge the thing is a huge no for me. And I don't like wearing it on my wrist. I have a beautiful watch that I like to wear, and I just think fitness trackers look ugly. They also irritate my wrist- the flex not so much, but the charge hr really did. I like that the zip tells me what I need to know to get more active, but I can just clip it to my bra and forget about it. All IMHO, of course.

tifftaffy · February 2016

smit7633 wrote: »

Thanks for your posts ladies. Rebekah I'm also considering the fitbit Blaze, lots of great new features, but I'm so disappointed that fitbit still hasn't come out with a waterproof tracker!

I have a Surge but I'm going to be getting the Blaze (can't wait to get it!). I love tracking the heart rate, sleep patterns, and the ability to just start a workout on it and it will tell me at the end of it how many calories i burned, based on my heartrate. I realize it's approximate, but I love that feature. I enjoy trying to get my daily steps in, that i can participate in challenges with friends on fitbit, and how it syncs to MFP and to WW.

I don't know if it'd be overkill, but i hear that Misfit (which I hear also tracks to WW, but not sure about MFP) has a waterproof tracker, so I suppose on days that you need to go swimming with a tracker, you could put that on instead of fitbit

dragon_girl26 · February 2016

FrugalMomsRock75 wrote: »

I have my fitbit one that I wear in my pocket, and I just upgraded my Polar RCX3 HRM to a Polar M400 fitness tracker. It came with a chest strap with blue tooth, it has GPS for when I walk, run, or ride bike. I love it!!! Polar is the best HRM, imo, so when I saw they came out with the fitness tracker and it was time for a new HRM, I just had to get it. I do wish it would keep constant bluetooth connection with my phone, but that is the only qualm I have with it.

I just bought the Polar M400 too...I've had it about three weeks and I. Love. It. The little bar at the bottom of the watch face motivates me each day because I can't stand the idea of not seeing my goal met, haha! I've only ever owned Polar and even my friends with Fitbits like the look and functionality of this one better. My one annoyance is that the Polar Flow app doesn't sync with MFP if you have Android. Aside from that, it's great!

MrsSylvie · February 2016

smit7633 wrote: »

Sylvie does the basis peak start tracking your activity right away? I have done some research on the basis peak as it definitely has all the things I'm looking for and more. I've read that the app is kind of worthless as far interpreting your data and that it can sometimes take up to 15 minutes to recognize that you are doing an activity. What do you think?

the app itself is pretty basic in info/data, i only use it to sync watch and do a quick look at basic info. The website is where the data is broken down for you really well IMO. you can see each activity you did on there and see what your heart rate/temps/perspiration/calories burned were during each activity.

i have never had watch take more than 5mins max to recoginzed i am doing an activity. 1 1/2 mins is about the average it usually takes on me. the up to 15min thing happens to some with certain activities that don't involve much arm movement. Personally i strap it a little above my ankle with certain activities (step aerobics/threadmill), it recognizes these activities well this way although the heartrate readings are not that accurate on ankle and it can be off on steps a tad bit (lower end).
It can take up to 15mins before the sleep tracking part will officially consider you awake when you wake up though, i wake up in slow mode so at first it did take about 10-15mins for it to log me as awake, after i realized this, i automatically started turning watch light on and swiping between screens and making sure to move my arm when i walked down to kitchen after i get out of bed.

two things you may not like about watch btw, is how tightly you may have to wear it to get accurate sleep data. it bothered me at first but, not so much after i got a $20 non peak watch band that was softer. the second thing you may not like is the bulkiness look of the watch if you are a on the low medium or smaller frame female.

Also other than its great sleep tracker, the basis peak is made more for walking, running and outdoor biking activities (more if you can get a band to fit on your ankle though).. And it is indeed waterproof but, if you don't take it off and dry it off, you can end up with a yuck rash on your wrist!

smit7633 · February 2016

Thanks for your reply Sylvie and everyone else who posted a comment. I love getting all his in depth information about all the different trackers! It's all going to help me a lot going forward!

Fitness Trackers

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