Fitbits.. is it worth the hype?

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  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    watcher1600 wrote: »
    I have the fitbit chargehr and it is inaccurate on a windy day it said i climed 57 steps when i only walked 20 min on a flat surface, it overestimates calories burned and overestimates steps by 5000.

    Checkout the fitbit forumsthere are posts about the inaccuracies of this tracker.

    see I found the opposite.

    I shovelled snow for 45mins...fitbit gave me 6 active minutes.... :/ jawbone covered it the entire time
  • LadyGauche
    LadyGauche Posts: 36 Member
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    I've heard the Garmin activity trackers are a good alternative :smile:
  • Lathandria
    Lathandria Posts: 42 Member
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    I just got my fit bit about 2 weeks ago (Fitbit Flex) and I absolutely love it. As others have said it is a HUGE motivator. The challenges keep me wanting to "win" so it helps me stay active. My hubby has one also so we can battle throughout the day and it keeps being active fun! I haven't had any issues with my steps being inaccurate but the calorie estimate is way off so I just don't look at that part of it. I also don't eat back any of my calories so even if it syncs incorrectly with mfp it doesn't affect me.
  • kaylajane11
    kaylajane11 Posts: 313 Member
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    I have the Charge HR and I love it. I eat back most of the extra calories it gives me and have continued to lose weight at about the rate I expected. The community is great too. I have a lot of friends with Fitbits and the challenges really do keep you motivated to move more. Even if I have already worked out, I often will get up off the couch to get the rest of my steps in, where in the past I would have just been lazy for the rest of the night.
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
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    None of the pricey GPRS exercise watches are really worth it given that they do a lot more than you usually need and you can get cheaper, second hand alternatives in good condition... almost always...
  • ubermofish
    ubermofish Posts: 102 Member
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    I have the charge HR and I can say that the heart rate monitor part is pretty useless for when you're actually exercising, it was reporting 135bpm this morning on the elliptical and then when I used the grip-HR monitor thing on the elliptical it posted me at 160bpm. As a step tracker it's cool though, and I like that it measures floors climbed, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. I know I definitely haven't gone up 31 floors today, more like 6 so far. Other days it has been spot on.
  • GYATagain
    GYATagain Posts: 141 Member
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    I have the Charge HR - upgraded from the Flex a few months ago. Accurate? Not always - but, that is ok. My aim is to try and match or better my movement on any given day since I have a desk job. I do not eat back the calories it gives me - sometimes maybe a small percentage. Such as Sunday it gave me an extra 1200 calories from working my tail off, weeding, raking winter stuff up, hand mowing, walking dogs - did not eat those back. Tracks my exercise and active minutes without having to tell it to. - not to the very second and sometimes it says I was playing badminton -- hahaha. You can go in and start and stop exercise times also.
    I use it for my silent alarm through the week. It is my watch now and it also tells me who is calling on my phone so I don't have to dig that out or run into the other room. Also, I had used a Polar HR for a long time, now just my Charge. So, overall I have had a positive experience with my FitBit.
  • cookielover_96
    cookielover_96 Posts: 177 Member
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    It's a fad, I'm healthy without it...
  • ndraughn
    ndraughn Posts: 15 Member
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    I have a garim one and though it is not super accurate it helps motivate me to be more active Isn't that the point of it.
  • Colorscheme
    Colorscheme Posts: 1,179 Member
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    ubermofish wrote: »
    I have the charge HR and I can say that the heart rate monitor part is pretty useless for when you're actually exercising, it was reporting 135bpm this morning on the elliptical and then when I used the grip-HR monitor thing on the elliptical it posted me at 160bpm. As a step tracker it's cool though, and I like that it measures floors climbed, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. I know I definitely haven't gone up 31 floors today, more like 6 so far. Other days it has been spot on.

    Arent the HRM and calories burned functions on exercise equipment useless though?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    DaphneSW wrote: »
    My friend got a fitbit recently and it turns out the MFP calorie recommendation was causing her to severely undereat as fitbit was reflecting much higher calorie usage ..

    What are people's thoughts on fitbit? After syncing to MFP have you been 'allowed' to eat more with the same calorie deficit? Are you still seeing results?

    I'm considering buying one but they are reasonably pricey

    Likely your friend's issue to begin with was not properly setting her activity level...people do this all the time...they're not honest with their activity level and just default to sedentary which is going to give one a pretty low calorie target. On top of that, they don't understand the whole "eat back" calories thing and why one would do that. In this case, a fitbit might be worth it because it gives people a realistic picture of what they're really burning.

    For myself, I find it pretty easy to be honest with any one of these calculators...I know and understand that I burn a lot of calories just being alive and more in my day to day...I'm not "scared" to properly set my activity level accordingly and then watch to see what's going on and make adjustments as necessary. For myself, a fitbit would be a total waste of money and completely unnecessary.
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,668 Member
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    I don't understand the hype personally. I suppose if you're not very active in other ways, it's helpful to have the motivation to get in your 10,000 steps for the day.
  • kaylajane11
    kaylajane11 Posts: 313 Member
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    GYATagain wrote: »
    I have the Charge HR - upgraded from the Flex a few months ago. Accurate? Not always - but, that is ok. My aim is to try and match or better my movement on any given day since I have a desk job. I do not eat back the calories it gives me - sometimes maybe a small percentage. Such as Sunday it gave me an extra 1200 calories from working my tail off, weeding, raking winter stuff up, hand mowing, walking dogs - did not eat those back. Tracks my exercise and active minutes without having to tell it to. - not to the very second and sometimes it says I was playing badminton -- hahaha. You can go in and start and stop exercise times also.
    I use it for my silent alarm through the week. It is my watch now and it also tells me who is calling on my phone so I don't have to dig that out or run into the other room. Also, I had used a Polar HR for a long time, now just my Charge. So, overall I have had a positive experience with my FitBit.

    If you burn an additional 1,200 calories you definitely should be eating at least some of those back. I imagine your net calories for that day were very low.
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
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    I love mine. Been using it for the past two years off and on.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    cookielover_96 wrote: »
    It's a fad, I'm healthy without it...

    I wouldn't call it a fad per say. I was healthy without mine and I debated for months but it's not just about tracking steps, mine tracks my sleep as well which is a good indicator if my workouts are not going well.

    I have had mine for over a year now (almost 2) and find it is a motivator and a reminder if I get busy at my desk.
  • ubermofish
    ubermofish Posts: 102 Member
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    Colorscheme wrote: »
    ubermofish wrote: »
    I have the charge HR and I can say that the heart rate monitor part is pretty useless for when you're actually exercising, it was reporting 135bpm this morning on the elliptical and then when I used the grip-HR monitor thing on the elliptical it posted me at 160bpm. As a step tracker it's cool though, and I like that it measures floors climbed, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. I know I definitely haven't gone up 31 floors today, more like 6 so far. Other days it has been spot on.

    Arent the HRM and calories burned functions on exercise equipment useless though?

    They're not perfect but comparing to manual checks the precor ones at my gym are usually +- 10bpm. I've done manual checks and comparisons vs my fitbit in the past as well and found that it gets less accurate the higher your heart rate.
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
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    I'm surprised to hear so many negatives. I love my Charge HR and find it to be very accurate. I've worn it at the same time as my HR monitor with a chest strep and it was always within a beat or two. I've also worn it while walking on the treadmill and the steps always match up to the distance that I've walked. Honestly, for those of you that are having so many issues with inaccuracy, I would contact FitBit and then maybe they can walk you through some troubleshooting steps.

    When I noticed that my Charge HR wasn't counting my steps accurately (after nearly a year of working fine) I contacted FitBit, we did some troubleshooting when they determined that mine was actually broken and they sent me a new one for free.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    michelle172415 wrote: »
    I'm surprised to hear so many negatives. I love my Charge HR and find it to be very accurate. I've worn it at the same time as my HR monitor with a chest strep and it was always within a beat or two. I've also worn it while walking on the treadmill and the steps always match up to the distance that I've walked. Honestly, for those of you that are having so many issues with inaccuracy, I would contact FitBit and then maybe they can walk you through some troubleshooting steps.

    When I noticed that my Charge HR wasn't counting my steps accurately (after nearly a year of working fine) I contacted FitBit, we did some troubleshooting when they determined that mine was actually broken and they sent me a new one for free.

    Lots of people don't understand HRM to be honest.

    HRM are good if setup correctly, have a chest strap and only used for steady state cardio.

    Machines are known to be inaccurate (manufacturers admitted it)

  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
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    I got one from someone else who didn't like all the bother of synching and going to the web page.
    I didn't find it helped me at all. It was a deluxe model, even had an alarm clock. It was inacurate in steps and I felt sorta like I had someone, I dunno, was being watched for calories, walks, just everthing I did was being counted and alarmed etc.

    I'd never get one if I had to pay for it. My husband threw it in the garbage and I didn't bother digging it out.

  • yesimpson
    yesimpson Posts: 1,372 Member
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    I like my Flex, but then I am motivated by gadgets and data. I find it reasonably accurate, and I like joining the challenges with my friends (because 9/10 I win, and I am childish like that).

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