how beneficial are fitness trackers?

I use a Fitbit Blaze. It looks like a sporty watch rather then a fitness band. I appreciate that. As for benefits, I like knowing how much sleep I'm getting every week. Seeing improvements in my resting heart rate is good motivation for sticking with my fitness regimen. I walk a lot at work and I'm always first in my group of friends for most steps taken. It motivates me to stick with things more than anything.

The HR monitors with straps are cumbersome and a pain in the butt IMO. I had a polar that I wound up selling. The Blaze is just second nature to wear for me.

Heart rate monitors (as a whole at this point in time) do not do well with HIIT and weight lifting.

mom2kateRH wrote: »

I run ~2-3 days

GPS is more reliable than anything else here.

do HIIT 2-3 days, strength training mixed in there too.

HR is meaningless for this, as is step counting.

Personally I use a Forerunner 735XT, and would judge that the step counting side of things is interesting, but of little material value.

It just depends on what you want it for. I lost over 100 pounds without one. My husband bought me a tomtom spark music for my birthday and I love it because it lets me see the progress I'm making on my runs (pace, stride rate, distance). I personally think it's a little step-happy but I love that I can put music on it and don't have to take my phone when I run. So get one if you want. It's just another tool in the box, but it's helpful for some people.

I sit at a desk all day.

SO, I Like the reminder to get up and move.

And it's a garmin with GPS, so it lets me work on improving my pace/time/cadence.

I think that fitness trackers are great for people who love technology, data, and fitness.

I have a Garmin Fenix 3 HR, and it tracks my continuous HR, steps, miles, stairs ascended, sleep, and exercise metrics. It is also a watch, altimeter, barometer, compass, has GPS capabilities, and tells me when the sun will next rise and set. It is waterproof and has a sapphire face that makes it extremely difficult to scratch or break. I have multiple customizable watch faces available as well as watch bands that I can swap out; I use the silicone one for running and a titanium one for work (it goes nicely with business attire.) No, I don’t work for Garmin, I just love their products

Having a fitness tracker provides actionable data to allow me to make better fitness decisions (Vo2 max, step cadence, BMR, etc.) IMO, consistency is the most important aspect of fitness. Sometimes the daily pursuit of consistency gets boring and having a fitness tracker tends to make it more interesting.

I have Garmin Forerunner 35 and I love it. As well as tracking my runs (via GPS) it also lets me track my various classes and workouts and gives me a pretty good idea of how many "extra" Calories I've burnt in a day. I also have a Fitbit Flex 2 on my other wrist for challenges and sites that reward steps, personally I think that the Garmin is more sensible with the calories it gives me than the Flex 2 (and Charge HR and Surge I had previously).

I'm something of a Luddite in this respect and see no need for hrms or smart watches or even smart phones. I take at face value the calorie burns the machines give me and eat back as much of those calories as I want. For non-machine exercises, I use various web sites which purport to calculate my burn for that activity. Again, I eat back as many of those calories as I wish. There have been a couple of times when I analysed my net calorie deficit over time and compared the mathematically predicted weight change with the actually measured weight change I did experience. The numbers agreed.

I have a Garmin Forerunner 235 that has wrist-based HR monitor, activity tracker, etc. I run 3-4 days/week and strength train 2-3 days/week. All the bells and whistles aren't necessary, but kind of fun and motivational. For example, I compete in "challenges" through Garmin, such as weekly steps. I also like that the calorie burn is more accurate than if I were to estimate.

Bry_Lander wrote: »

I think that fitness trackers are great for people who love technology, data, and fitness.

I have a Garmin Fenix 3 HR, and it tracks my continuous HR, steps, miles, stairs ascended, sleep, and exercise metrics. It is also a watch, altimeter, barometer, compass, has GPS capabilities, and tells me when the sun will next rise and set. It is waterproof and has a sapphire face that makes it extremely difficult to scratch or break. I have multiple customizable watch faces available as well as watch bands that I can swap out; I use the silicone one for running and a titanium one for work (it goes nicely with business attire.) No, I don’t work for Garmin, I just love their products

Having a fitness tracker provides actionable data to allow me to make better fitness decisions (Vo2 max, step cadence, BMR, etc.) IMO, consistency is the most important aspect of fitness. Sometimes the daily pursuit of consistency gets boring and having a fitness tracker tends to make it more interesting.

I use my Garmin Vivosmart HR+ religiously! Seriously agree with the above info. It becomes a living part of your personality--tracking sleep, all activity, HR, workouts--nearly every aspect of your life! I had a Fitbit Charge HR and it was like a toy in comparison. And you couldn't read the screen outside in the sunlight!

As stated above, actionable data is valuable! Additionally, the new Garmin Connect site for your mobile and your laptop provides you with an overabundance of information about you and your activity history! More than you could ever need! I do NOT work for Garmin either!

Buy one, you will love it!

I say if you have the money - do your research and treat yourself to the best one. But you can reach your goals without a fitness tracker. It's been done before and there's no reason we can't do it now. I have one simply to confirm that I had a killer workout... but I don't track the calories burned. So it seems like a waste of money but for me it's not. It was a gift to myself and makes me happy knowing I had an active day!