Activity Trackers

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mandi5596
mandi5596 Posts: 12 Member
in Getting Started
Hey guys! I've been thinking about investing in an activity trackers. Which one would you guys suggest?
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  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
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    I am happy with the FitBit blaze but there are many to choose from. I would determine the activities you will be doing and hit the reviews. I must admit it is very motivating for me. I got the 10,000 step vibration at 5:30 AM this morning.
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,339 Member
    edited June 2016
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    I love my Fitbit Flex...Changed my life, completely. My activity level has gone from sedentary in December right up to "lightly active" to "active". My sleep patterns have gone from 4-5 hours a night with 30ish wakeups, to 7-8 hours a night, with THREE wakeups. And my steps have increased from a measly 7000 a day, to over 13000 most days, while hardly ever leaving my house! (I work from home)
    Obviously, I could have accomplished these things without a tracker, but I find being able to see my data, seeing the daily/weekly/monthly trends, has motivated me far more than my own self could do.
  • racheljonel
    racheljonel Posts: 400 Member
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    I went from a fitbit, which i loved, to an apple watch, which I also love so far...I've only had it about 2 weeks. I think they're a great tool for motivation, but none of the data should be taken as the gospel truth as to what you burn/how you move. For example, I noticed with my fitbit that standing at the sink doing dishes I racked up hundreds of steps....when I wasn't stepping anywhere at all. The apple watch doesn't seem to be as sensitive to arm movements so far.
  • vczK2t
    vczK2t Posts: 309 Member
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    I was not happy with FitBit. i had 3 different ones and they all quit working within 6 months of getting them. I have a Jawbone Up2 and I LOVE it.
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,339 Member
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    racheljonel wrote: »
    I went from a fitbit, which i loved, to an apple watch, which I also love so far...I've only had it about 2 weeks. I think they're a great tool for motivation, but none of the data should be taken as the gospel truth as to what you burn/how you move. For example, I noticed with my fitbit that standing at the sink doing dishes I racked up hundreds of steps....when I wasn't stepping anywhere at all. The apple watch doesn't seem to be as sensitive to arm movements so far.

    I wonder what setting you had it at, and what arm you wore your Fitbit on? Mine doesn't give me big calories when I'm doing hardly anything, but I don't have it on sensitive, and it's not on my dominant hand? You will burn calories doing dishes, truth there, but not hundreds..lol! My daughters Charge gave her loads of calories just sitting still, turned out the Charge was the issue...she got a new one, and no issues since. Good to hear you love your Apple watch, I'm in the market to buy "up", anything you can tell me about it?
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
    edited June 2016
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    racheljonel wrote: »
    I went from a fitbit, which i loved, to an apple watch, which I also love so far...I've only had it about 2 weeks. I think they're a great tool for motivation, but none of the data should be taken as the gospel truth as to what you burn/how you move. For example, I noticed with my fitbit that standing at the sink doing dishes I racked up hundreds of steps....when I wasn't stepping anywhere at all. The apple watch doesn't seem to be as sensitive to arm movements so far.

    @racheljonel WOW, I just want to say, I'm impressed by that workout! Perhaps you were mentally taking steps and didn't even realize it!! :D It's highly possible you can also bend spoons... ;)

    Of course I'm teasing but for some reason I read this and a few seconds later giggled .. sorry.

    Well I'm glad you've now found one that's the right fit! :smiley:
  • racheljonel
    racheljonel Posts: 400 Member
    edited June 2016
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    JustMissTracy wrote: »
    racheljonel wrote: »
    I went from a fitbit, which i loved, to an apple watch, which I also love so far...I've only had it about 2 weeks. I think they're a great tool for motivation, but none of the data should be taken as the gospel truth as to what you burn/how you move. For example, I noticed with my fitbit that standing at the sink doing dishes I racked up hundreds of steps....when I wasn't stepping anywhere at all. The apple watch doesn't seem to be as sensitive to arm movements so far.

    I wonder what setting you had it at, and what arm you wore your Fitbit on? Mine doesn't give me big calories when I'm doing hardly anything, but I don't have it on sensitive, and it's not on my dominant hand? You will burn calories doing dishes, truth there, but not hundreds..lol! My daughters Charge gave her loads of calories just sitting still, turned out the Charge was the issue...she got a new one, and no issues since. Good to hear you love your Apple watch, I'm in the market to buy "up", anything you can tell me about it?


    Yeah I had it on my non-dominant hand and not set to sensitive. It wasn't really an issue with calories...it was more the extra steps counting when I wasn't stepping anywhere. I noticed it did that with any activity where I moved my arms a lot (dishes, laundry, etc). Also I would rack up flights of stairs while drying my hair? lol. Like I said, not a big deal because any activity tracker is just a guide/motivator in my book.

    The apple watch is fantastic. I think it's a lot more accurate with steps and it is definitely more accurate with flights of stairs. I love the variety of activities it gives you to choose from when starting a workout...which was one of my biggest gripes about the Charge HR. I wore the apple watch with my polar Ft7 with the chest strap the first time I worked out and the calorie burn was very similar (apple watch was a little lower). The HRM is not 100% reliable all the time...sometimes I'll look down and my heartrate will be 40 during a workout, but I think that goes for any wrist-worn HRM. I don't think it has a sleep feature (it might, I'm still learning about it) but I didn't really pay much attention to that feature on my fitbit so nbd for me. So all in all I'm pleased with the fitness features and that combined with all of the other super cool stuff/apps the Apple Watch offers I am totally happy with this upgrade.

    edited to add: The thing with the fitbit calories is that it counts TDEE, so the fact that your daughter was racking up calories sitting still is perfectly normal....that's what fitbit does. Because you are burning calories sitting still.
  • racheljonel
    racheljonel Posts: 400 Member
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    Hearts_2015 wrote: »
    racheljonel wrote: »
    I went from a fitbit, which i loved, to an apple watch, which I also love so far...I've only had it about 2 weeks. I think they're a great tool for motivation, but none of the data should be taken as the gospel truth as to what you burn/how you move. For example, I noticed with my fitbit that standing at the sink doing dishes I racked up hundreds of steps....when I wasn't stepping anywhere at all. The apple watch doesn't seem to be as sensitive to arm movements so far.

    @racheljonel WOW, I just want to say, I'm impressed by that workout! Perhaps you were mentally taking steps and didn't even realize it!! :D It's highly possible you can also bend spoons... ;)

    Of course I'm teasing but for some reason I read this and a few seconds later giggled .. sorry.

    Well I'm glad you've now found one that's the right fit! :smiley:

    lol no it's all good I laughed too every time it happened!
  • shinycrazy
    shinycrazy Posts: 1,081 Member
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    I like my garmin vivofit 2 (though the 3 is out I think it's got a few more features). It's waterproof for swimming and it runs on a watch battery so no charging. No charging was a big deal for me! Does everything I need it to. It was $100 when I got it, but I think it's less now that the 3 is out. Good luck!
  • TheDraya23
    TheDraya23 Posts: 3 Member
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    I have a Garmin Vivofit2 and I love it! I don't have to charge it (ever,) will just need to change the batteries in about a year. I had a Fitbit, but the one I had sucked. I wore it for about 3 weeks, and I had to constantly charge it and half of the time it just quit for no reason. I'm not saying all Fitbits are like that, but I didn't care for it. the Garmin syncs with Myfitnesspal and I can view all my stats online or on an app. I have had it since February and have had no problems.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    I had a fitbit charge the band tore up on me on three different ones.

    Garmim vivosmart excellent and has option to wear HR strap (loved the soft srap).. I now use a forerunner25 and use this for running and my activity tracker both. love love this watch for what you get and for the $$$$.
  • SimonCypher
    SimonCypher Posts: 254 Member
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    For me, it's all dependant on what you're actually looking for in an activity tracker and you're long term visions. I was intrigued by the whole trackers and decided I'd treat myself to a FitBit Charge.

    Initially it was to try and encourage me to walk more places, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenges with other people and as I'm normally competitive I always wanted to win which meant I would need to walk more. I found tracking my sleep pattern interesting also. Unfortunately for FitBit, I decided to take up running and this particular device wasn't really aimed at runners.

    Therefore I moved to a Garmin Forerunner 225 and wouldn't move back. I love it for running, the stats I receive from Garmin Connect are spot on, the days I'm not out running I'm always trying to hit my 10k steps.

    I would highly recommend getting one, but which one is up to you. I personally enjoyed my FitBit so would recommend this brand, however not having used any other brand it's hard to compare really.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    Let me add to my post, my husband uses a fitbit alta. there is no hr option with this, but it does do the exact same thing as the fitbit charge (non hr) and no issues with hardware (band tearing up, my husband had to wear his charge taped up for quite some time before he got the alta. It is very good so far.
  • jkrunner80
    jkrunner80 Posts: 80 Member
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    I love my Apple Watch for my general day to day tracking, but I wear my Garmin Forerunner 620 for runs. The accuracy of the Forerunner was much better than the apps I had on my Apple Watch. I actually wear both when I run because I like to make sure all my steps get counted haha.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    racheljonel wrote: »
    I went from a fitbit, which i loved, to an apple watch, which I also love so far...I've only had it about 2 weeks. I think they're a great tool for motivation, but none of the data should be taken as the gospel truth as to what you burn/how you move. For example, I noticed with my fitbit that standing at the sink doing dishes I racked up hundreds of steps....when I wasn't stepping anywhere at all. The apple watch doesn't seem to be as sensitive to arm movements so far.

    A few hundred out of ten thousand isn't such a big deal. And all of them will either have false positives like you saw, or miss some real ones. The other night I was several hundred steps below my goal when we went to bed, but I hit it before I fell asleep. :blush:
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
    edited June 2016
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    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    Let me add to my post, my husband uses a fitbit alta. there is no hr option with this, but it does do the exact same thing as the fitbit charge (non hr) and no issues with hardware (band tearing up, my husband had to wear his charge taped up for quite some time before he got the alta. It is very good so far.

    @RoxieDawn

    So glad to hear this about the Fitbit Alta! I've seen some posts on several similar threads about it and have been thinking strongly on purchasing one... It's great to hear yet one more positive on it! :) Currently I have a Polar HRM FT7 which I can use in the water which I spend a lot of my time in at the gym. But I find myself not using as often.

    I wonder if having one that I can leave on all the time (except the pool or are there any that are water resistant that are good ones?), sleeping as well would likely motivate me even more.

    Pondering the idea and the price. : :D
    shinycrazy wrote: »
    I like my garmin vivofit 2 (though the 3 is out I think it's got a few more features). It's waterproof for swimming and it runs on a watch battery so no charging. No charging was a big deal for me! Does everything I need it to. It was $100 when I got it, but I think it's less now that the 3 is out. Good luck!


    @shinycrazy

    Tell me more, tell me more! :wink: You can use it in the pool then? :p What other features does this fun workout toy boast? Do you use to run or is good for any activity? I'm not a runner but more a pool person but also classes and individual workouts and such.

    Looks like I'll be Googling a bit this afternoon... lol
    Hearts_2015 wrote: »
    racheljonel wrote: »
    I went from a fitbit, which i loved, to an apple watch, which I also love so far...I've only had it about 2 weeks. I think they're a great tool for motivation, but none of the data should be taken as the gospel truth as to what you burn/how you move. For example, I noticed with my fitbit that standing at the sink doing dishes I racked up hundreds of steps....when I wasn't stepping anywhere at all. The apple watch doesn't seem to be as sensitive to arm movements so far.

    @racheljonel WOW, I just want to say, I'm impressed by that workout! Perhaps you were mentally taking steps and didn't even realize it!! :D It's highly possible you can also bend spoons... ;)

    Of course I'm teasing but for some reason I read this and a few seconds later giggled .. sorry.

    Well I'm glad you've now found one that's the right fit! :smiley:

    @racheljonel

    Oh my Goodness! I misread part of your post Rachel, for some reason I thought you had said you had set it on the sink while you were doing dishes. So that was what I based my silly post on. I apparently read your post too quickly. :blush: I apologize! :smiley:
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
    edited June 2016
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    ,
  • shinycrazy
    shinycrazy Posts: 1,081 Member
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    @Hearts_2015
    I don't swim properly, basically I'm good at not drowning and that's about it. So I don't know if it will track laps or anything like that. It can tell the difference between walking and jogging. You can also reclassify an activity after the fact, which I do when I'm on the elliptical, which it thinks is walking. Supposedly the 3 can tell the difference. It does track sleep. The instructions say you need to put it in sleep mode to track sleep, but I think there was an update because my sleep is tracked without me selecting that mode. You do have to sync it to your phone manually, but I think that is part of the battery saving, so I find it worthwhile. The screen shows the time, miles walked, steps, calorie burn. It's customizable to what the wristband shows. I only take it off when grocery shopping or pushing my son in his stroller since it won't count steps when you are pushing something or holding onot the treadmill etc. It also syncs with MFP of course. I bought the one with the chest strap heart rate monitor because they are more accurate for cardio. I can't have my phone playing music at the same time or it doesn't work properly. Very annoying and I wouldn't recommend it. Very happy with my purchase overall. My hubs also has one and he's happy with it as well.
  • jessiferrrb
    jessiferrrb Posts: 1,758 Member
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    you would think that i'm trying to solve the major problems of the world with all the energy i've been putting into trying to decide what kind of tracker / hrm to get. each seems to have a few highlights and a fatal flaw. i wish you could test drive them like cars.
  • brilliantlycrazy
    brilliantlycrazy Posts: 7 Member
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    I LOVE my Microsoft Band 2!

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