fit bit charge or fitbit charge hr?

mikejdeleon85
mikejdeleon85 Posts: 81 Member
edited February 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
so I recently had a jawbone up24 I really liked it but my issue was it would roll up my arm at times and wasn't secure on my wrist due to its built.

well recently it went out after 6 months so now im looking into a fitbit just not sure which one.

ive heard stories that the fit bit hr is pretty inaccurate when it comes to the hrm so I was lloking for insight on current users of both devices.

im 5'11''
285lbs
mainly do cardio and basketball as activities
work as a warehouse manager so im moving pretty much here and there through out my days
not much weight lifting

thanks in advance
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Replies

  • jeepinshawn
    jeepinshawn Posts: 642 Member
    I am very satisfied with my charge, I don't see any need to add the HR, but thats just me.
  • PlantBasedRnr
    PlantBasedRnr Posts: 129 Member
    I got the Charge HR and from what I can tell the HR is pretty accurate - I also have a Polar M400 that I use for running and it matches up pretty closely with that. I got the Charge HR because I wanted to be able to monitor my HR throughout the day during various activities - pretty much up to you, I am very pleased with mine and like being able to glance down and see what my HR is doing at various points during the day... but then again I am kind of a gadget geek that likes to keep track of all sorts of things. Best of luck, you won't be disappointed either way.
  • merryberry99
    merryberry99 Posts: 350 Member
    I love my Charge, but I also have no need for a HR. I have a HRM that uses a chest strap for (more) accurate results when I actually workout. I've always heard that a HRM applied to the wrist is not accurate and that a chest strap is the way to go. However, I cannot tell you that this is 100% true. Like Jeepinshawn, I like my Charge and have no need for the added HR.
  • shrcpr
    shrcpr Posts: 885 Member
    I recently got a Charge HR and have been testing it against my Polar HRM and it's tracking HR really close. Calories are skewing just a bit higher but I don't eat back all calories and it's a pretty negligible difference.
  • hiyomi
    hiyomi Posts: 906 Member
    The Fitbit Alta is coming out in less than two weeks! It doesn't have a HRM but it looks very nice and stylish and does everything I need! :0
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    I have used a Fitbit Zip and then a One for the past couple of years, and had a chest strap HRM for workouts and running. The HRM finally bit the dust a couple of months ago, so I looked into the Charge HR. As a couple of others have said, when comparing it to the numbers I had from my old HRM, it matches up pretty well, and I'm happy with it.

    I did have a problem when I first got it - tracking some of my non-step movements as steps. So I wear it on my non-dominant hand, but in the settings have it set to dominant, so it won't track those arm movements as much. Seems to have done the trick.

    Overall, I'm happy with it.
  • haviegirl
    haviegirl Posts: 230 Member
    AmyRhubarb, I have my Charge HR "dominance" settings set the same as you. I'd rather walk 1000 steps and get credit for 975 than the other way around.

    I'm happy with my Charge HR, and find the heart rate to be mostly accurate. I'm interested in the daily HR trend, as I'm back into exercise now after several years of relative inactivity. It's cool to see that my daily average is starting to trend downward as I become more fit.
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
    Charge HR. Just for the better clasp.
  • Jonna13
    Jonna13 Posts: 288 Member
    I have a Fitbit charge and I love it! I find it accurate at calorie burns and I've been consistently losing 1-2lbs per week. I heard the Fitbit charge HR wasn't as accurate which is why I decided to just go with the charge.
  • Danimri84
    Danimri84 Posts: 262 Member
    I have the HR and as stated by several posters already, the HR is pretty darned accurate.
  • Rdsgoal16
    Rdsgoal16 Posts: 302 Member
    I have the surge (HR abilities) it is almost dead on with the treadmill and the recumbent bikes hr monitor. I think HR types are better due to calorie expenditure tracking.
  • gilbyfc
    gilbyfc Posts: 28 Member
    I have the HR and I'm very happy with it. I really like that it tells me my resting heart rate and I can see it going down as my cardio improves.
  • jeepinshawn
    jeepinshawn Posts: 642 Member
    Rdsgoal16 wrote: »
    I have the surge (HR abilities) it is almost dead on with the treadmill and the recumbent bikes hr monitor. I think HR types are better due to calorie expenditure tracking.

    The hr is really only good for steady state cardio, but the flip side of that is that the non hr charge is programmed to give you the average heartrate for a person your size and weight taking x amount of steps /min. About the only use I can see for it would be nonstep based exercise such as intense bike riding.
  • Jozzmenia
    Jozzmenia Posts: 252 Member
    I have the HR, but I don't feel like the hr is accurate enough to be worth it. I would suggest just the charge and a separate hr monitor if you really feel the need to track.
  • jrline
    jrline Posts: 2,353 Member
    Heart Rate can be a great benefit
  • DaniJeanine
    DaniJeanine Posts: 473 Member
    edited March 2016
    I really like my Charge, but if HR is something you typically measure during rest of exercise, you may want to go for that option. Also, the watch-style band really is way better that the traditional clasp.
  • loved1
    loved1 Posts: 206 Member
    I have the Charge HR but the short battery life is a deal breaker. It has to be charged every other day. I am going to return it. The Charge HR at Costco comes with 2 chargers. Sometimes it doesn't show HR when I need it most like running on the treadmill or running outside. The One was much more accurate in terms of steps but I wanted the HR monitor so I could get my HR up at points throughout the day when I exercise in short bursts by climbing the stairs or fast walking on my lunch break.
  • Wikked1323
    Wikked1323 Posts: 7 Member
    I have the charge, my bff has the HR. The only difference is the heart rate monitor. nothing else. And it's like 100 cheaper
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    I have the fitbit charge HR. I have noticed that the heart rate part at least for me is off by 5-10 BPM just sitting around(I know this because I checked manually). and its like 20BPM different than my polar FT7 when exercising. also the mileage is way off as well. says I walked 3.35 miles today when I walked more than 5. the battery life sucks and the issues going on with them are getting out of hand as well. sometimes It wont sync,others it takes me 5-10 tries to get it to sync properly and I have factory reset it and updated the firmware they just came out with. Fitbit is still having issue. so I would probably look into another brand if it were me.But thats my opinion. This is my second charge HR as well(they had to replace the first one because of issues)
  • mikejdeleon85
    mikejdeleon85 Posts: 81 Member
    I just picked up a fit bit charge and I noticed some of the calories burned or steps to me seem off cause on days I know I wasn't that active so now i,m kinda skeptical on the fitbit and how in the app every mourning it reads i've burnt calories already .

    I switched from a jawbone up 24 and that seemed a bit more accurate and my mourning reading all started at 0 and through out my day it changed.

    it may just be my band or maybe I didn't set up correctly .

    anyone else have this type of issue with there fitbit?
  • fvtfan
    fvtfan Posts: 126 Member
    I just picked up a fit bit charge and I noticed some of the calories burned or steps to me seem off cause on days I know I wasn't that active so now i,m kinda skeptical on the fitbit and how in the app every mourning it reads i've burnt calories already .

    I switched from a jawbone up 24 and that seemed a bit more accurate and my mourning reading all started at 0 and through out my day it changed.

    it may just be my band or maybe I didn't set up correctly .

    anyone else have this type of issue with there fitbit?

    The reason your fitbit shows you burned calories when you get up is because you DO burn calories when you are sleeping, it is just adding up calories based on the information you input when you set it up. If you don't wear it at all, at the end of the day it will show what your estimated BMR is....
  • mikejdeleon85
    mikejdeleon85 Posts: 81 Member
    fvtfan wrote: »
    I just picked up a fit bit charge and I noticed some of the calories burned or steps to me seem off cause on days I know I wasn't that active so now i,m kinda skeptical on the fitbit and how in the app every mourning it reads i've burnt calories already .

    I switched from a jawbone up 24 and that seemed a bit more accurate and my mourning reading all started at 0 and through out my day it changed.

    it may just be my band or maybe I didn't set up correctly .

    anyone else have this type of issue with there fitbit?

    The reason your fitbit shows you burned calories when you get up is because you DO burn calories when you are sleeping, it is just adding up calories based on the information you input when you set it up. If you don't wear it at all, at the end of the day it will show what your estimated BMR is....

    oh ok thanks for the info I was confused due to the fat the jawbone 24 would start me every mourning at 0 thanks
  • lemonychild
    lemonychild Posts: 654 Member
    I have the HR and while I love it for step counting, the HR is NOT accurate for anything besides steady rate cardio. IWhen going between sprints or sprint/ run 9/10 when I look for HR I cant calucuate it, it's bunch of lines ....
  • ASKyle
    ASKyle Posts: 1,475 Member
    HR if only so you have the watch-like band vs the one the Charge comes with.
  • watcher1600
    watcher1600 Posts: 11 Member
    I just picked up a fit bit charge and I noticed some of the calories burned or steps to me seem off cause on days I know I wasn't that active so now i,m kinda skeptical on the fitbit and how in the app every mourning it reads i've burnt calories already .

    I switched from a jawbone up 24 and that seemed a bit more accurate and my mourning reading all started at 0 and through out my day it changed.

    it may just be my band or maybe I didn't set up correctly .

    anyone else have this type of issue with there fitbit?

    I had the same issue i got rid of my fitbit and bought the garmin vivosmarthr and i love it, the step count is more accurate. You might want to check out this link
    http://www.wthr.com/story/31285468/sometimes-your-fitness-tracker-lies-a-lot-fitbit-jawbone-garmin-ifit-misfit-accuracy
  • Microscopes
    Microscopes Posts: 92 Member
    I have the HR and while I love it for step counting, the HR is NOT accurate for anything besides steady rate cardio. IWhen going between sprints or sprint/ run 9/10 when I look for HR I cant calucuate it, it's bunch of lines ....

    You might want to contact Fitbit for a replacement.

    Mine is very accurate.
  • Colorscheme
    Colorscheme Posts: 1,179 Member
    I don't know about the Charge HR, but mine fell apart so I decided to not get another Charge, I went with the Alta instead. I had already gotten a replacement once for my Charge and I didn't think I'd be able to get another one so I just bought a different model.
  • fvtfan
    fvtfan Posts: 126 Member
    fvtfan wrote: »
    I just picked up a fit bit charge and I noticed some of the calories burned or steps to me seem off cause on days I know I wasn't that active so now i,m kinda skeptical on the fitbit and how in the app every mourning it reads i've burnt calories already .

    I switched from a jawbone up 24 and that seemed a bit more accurate and my mourning reading all started at 0 and through out my day it changed.

    it may just be my band or maybe I didn't set up correctly .

    anyone else have this type of issue with there fitbit?

    The reason your fitbit shows you burned calories when you get up is because you DO burn calories when you are sleeping, it is just adding up calories based on the information you input when you set it up. If you don't wear it at all, at the end of the day it will show what your estimated BMR is....

    oh ok thanks for the info I was confused due to the fat the jawbone 24 would start me every mourning at 0 thanks

    Fitbit resets at midnight
  • jeepinshawn
    jeepinshawn Posts: 642 Member
    I don't know about the Charge HR, but mine fell apart so I decided to not get another Charge, I went with the Alta instead. I had already gotten a replacement once for my Charge and I didn't think I'd be able to get another one so I just bought a different model.

    They would have sent you another. I'm on my 3rd one. First one I broke by having it on to tight doing burpees, that replacement had a battery issue and that ones replacement has been perfect,
  • DaisyHamilton
    DaisyHamilton Posts: 575 Member
    I have Charge HR because I wanted a more accurate count of my calories burned. In my opinion it's pretty accurate, and honestly I think looking at the heart rate changes on the app. The HR also has a little diagram that says whether or not you're in your max heart range or not.