Fitness trackers
kinkyslinky16
Posts: 1,469 Member
Ok so I lost all of my weight using the Bodymedia Fit (BMF).. Best device in the entire world. Of course, it was bought out by Jawbone, and they destroyed the BMF. I've used Fitbit, Jawbone, and Microsoft Band and nothing comes even close to the accuracy of the BMF.
Do any of you have recommendations for a fitness tracker that uses the same type of sensors as the BMF? I'm super discouraged at this point.
Oh yeah, these are the sensors BMF had:
-- Skin temperature sensor
-- Heat flux sensor
-- Perspiration sensor (galvanic response sensor)
-- 3-axis accelerometer
Do any of you have recommendations for a fitness tracker that uses the same type of sensors as the BMF? I'm super discouraged at this point.
Oh yeah, these are the sensors BMF had:
-- Skin temperature sensor
-- Heat flux sensor
-- Perspiration sensor (galvanic response sensor)
-- 3-axis accelerometer
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if you lost your weight what does it matter the tracker now?
and others lose/gain/maintain weight without trackers all the time...they are not a requirement.
it's a trial and error thing.
I have a tracker...and don't expect it to be "totally accurate" but I did take a look at the body media one and ick...no way.
not sure how you managed to wear that thing all the time...1 -
I understand fitness trackers are not a requirement for weight loss or maintenance, but clearly I prefer to have one or I wouldn't have posted asking for recommendations.
As far as wearing the BMF, it wasn't noticeable at all to me. I forgot I had it on most of the time. And once you see how awesome Bodymedia Fit is with regards to data, it is exceptionally difficult to appreciate any other tracker. I was hoping someone around here, probably a fellow BMF lover, would have found something somewhat comparable at this point.
Ugh! Why did you make such a douchey move, Jawbone? They should have improved upon the BMF. No wonder Jawbone is struggling.4 -
kinkyslinky16 wrote: »I understand fitness trackers are not a requirement for weight loss or maintenance, but clearly I prefer to have one or I wouldn't have posted asking for recommendations.
As far as wearing the BMF, it wasn't noticeable at all to me. I forgot I had it on most of the time. And once you see how awesome Bodymedia Fit is with regards to data, it is exceptionally difficult to appreciate any other tracker. I was hoping someone around here, probably a fellow BMF lover, would have found something somewhat comparable at this point.
Ugh! Why did you make such a douchey move, Jawbone? They should have improved upon the BMF. No wonder Jawbone is struggling.
Jawbone is done actually...moving into medical wearables only.
<<<former jawbone owner.
As for the BMF have you tried looking on ebay or something. I have a fitbit charge2 and I know it's not totally accurate and understand their draw and appeal...but given the lack of accuracy in most of them my post was more about picking the least objectionable but knowing it is not going to be what you are used to.
Trial and error with them seems to be required.1 -
Great a bike with a direct force power meter. Maximum error for calories of 5%, if you just take the kJ it reports and treat them as calories you'll be right in the middle of that range so up to 2.5% in either direction.0
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kinkyslinky16 wrote: »I understand fitness trackers are not a requirement for weight loss or maintenance, but clearly I prefer to have one or I wouldn't have posted asking for recommendations.
As far as wearing the BMF, it wasn't noticeable at all to me. I forgot I had it on most of the time. And once you see how awesome Bodymedia Fit is with regards to data, it is exceptionally difficult to appreciate any other tracker. I was hoping someone around here, probably a fellow BMF lover, would have found something somewhat comparable at this point.
Ugh! Why did you make such a douchey move, Jawbone? They should have improved upon the BMF. No wonder Jawbone is struggling.
Jawbone is done actually...moving into medical wearables only.
<<<former jawbone owner.
As for the BMF have you tried looking on ebay or something. I have a fitbit charge2 and I know it's not totally accurate and understand their draw and appeal...but given the lack of accuracy in most of them my post was more about picking the least objectionable but knowing it is not going to be what you are used to.
Trial and error with them seems to be required.
You can still purchase BMFs but there's no way to access your data, unfortunately. So they're completely useless
I haven't tried the Fitbit charge2 yet. I was looking into it but the Flex sucks so bad and the Surge is a joke (I'd say more inaccurate than the Flex and the band broke every 6-8 months or so) so I am hesitant in trying yet another Fitbit product.
I had high hopes for the Microsoft Band 2 but it is super clunky and uncomfortable to wear. It probably is the closest to the BMF though.0 -
kinkyslinky16 wrote: »kinkyslinky16 wrote: »I understand fitness trackers are not a requirement for weight loss or maintenance, but clearly I prefer to have one or I wouldn't have posted asking for recommendations.
As far as wearing the BMF, it wasn't noticeable at all to me. I forgot I had it on most of the time. And once you see how awesome Bodymedia Fit is with regards to data, it is exceptionally difficult to appreciate any other tracker. I was hoping someone around here, probably a fellow BMF lover, would have found something somewhat comparable at this point.
Ugh! Why did you make such a douchey move, Jawbone? They should have improved upon the BMF. No wonder Jawbone is struggling.
Jawbone is done actually...moving into medical wearables only.
<<<former jawbone owner.
As for the BMF have you tried looking on ebay or something. I have a fitbit charge2 and I know it's not totally accurate and understand their draw and appeal...but given the lack of accuracy in most of them my post was more about picking the least objectionable but knowing it is not going to be what you are used to.
Trial and error with them seems to be required.
You can still purchase BMFs but there's no way to access your data, unfortunately. So they're completely useless
I haven't tried the Fitbit charge2 yet. I was looking into it but the Flex sucks so bad and the Surge is a joke (I'd say more inaccurate than the Flex and the band broke every 6-8 months or so) so I am hesitant in trying yet another Fitbit product.
I had high hopes for the Microsoft Band 2 but it is super clunky and uncomfortable to wear. It probably is the closest to the BMF though.
Fitbit has a new Iionic (I think it's called that) that reminds me of an apple watch...haven't checked it much.
The charge 2 seems okay...not great...honestly speaking.0 -
kinkyslinky16 wrote: »kinkyslinky16 wrote: »I understand fitness trackers are not a requirement for weight loss or maintenance, but clearly I prefer to have one or I wouldn't have posted asking for recommendations.
As far as wearing the BMF, it wasn't noticeable at all to me. I forgot I had it on most of the time. And once you see how awesome Bodymedia Fit is with regards to data, it is exceptionally difficult to appreciate any other tracker. I was hoping someone around here, probably a fellow BMF lover, would have found something somewhat comparable at this point.
Ugh! Why did you make such a douchey move, Jawbone? They should have improved upon the BMF. No wonder Jawbone is struggling.
Jawbone is done actually...moving into medical wearables only.
<<<former jawbone owner.
As for the BMF have you tried looking on ebay or something. I have a fitbit charge2 and I know it's not totally accurate and understand their draw and appeal...but given the lack of accuracy in most of them my post was more about picking the least objectionable but knowing it is not going to be what you are used to.
Trial and error with them seems to be required.
You can still purchase BMFs but there's no way to access your data, unfortunately. So they're completely useless
I haven't tried the Fitbit charge2 yet. I was looking into it but the Flex sucks so bad and the Surge is a joke (I'd say more inaccurate than the Flex and the band broke every 6-8 months or so) so I am hesitant in trying yet another Fitbit product.
I had high hopes for the Microsoft Band 2 but it is super clunky and uncomfortable to wear. It probably is the closest to the BMF though.
Fitbit has a new Iionic (I think it's called that) that reminds me of an apple watch...haven't checked it much.
The charge 2 seems okay...not great...honestly speaking.
Oh, I haven't seen this new Fitbit. I'll have to take a look. Thank you!!!0 -
kinkyslinky16 wrote: »Ok so I lost all of my weight using the Bodymedia Fit (BMF).. Best device in the entire world. Of course, it was bought out by Jawbone, and they destroyed the BMF. I've used Fitbit, Jawbone, and Microsoft Band and nothing comes even close to the accuracy of the BMF.
Do any of you have recommendations for a fitness tracker that uses the same type of sensors as the BMF? I'm super discouraged at this point.
Oh yeah, these are the sensors BMF had:
-- Skin temperature sensor
-- Heat flux sensor
-- Perspiration sensor (galvanic response sensor)
-- 3-axis accelerometer
I have a Garmin Fenix 3 HR and love it. It has a continuous HRM and calculates calories burned 24 hours per day and calculates performance metrics, counts steps and stairs ascended, has GPS, tracks sleep, has an altimeter, barometer, and temp sensor, is waterproof to 100m so you can track swims, integrates with your phone through Bluetooth, and a lot of other functions. It has a long battery life and the associated phone app is easy to use. It also has customizable watch faces and you can change watch bands so it can coordinate with pretty much anything you wear (at work, social events, etc.)
Out of curiosity, what did you do with the perspiration sensor information?2 -
Iionic is about $300.00 so it is pricy. I have a blaze and like it. I don't really need GPS because I use my phone apps to track my runs so I use it only for Sleep, activity and heart rate monitoring.0
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Iionic is about $300.00 so it is pricy. I have a blaze and like it. I don't really need GPS because I use my phone apps to track my runs so I use it only for Sleep, activity and heart rate monitoring.
but the Charge2 does all that for less cost than the blaze...the only thing the blaze has is on screen workouts...smh....which to me seems stupid.0 -
Most consumer units will have the same heart rate monitoring sensors/functions. Some of the newer consumer models use a three-light system which is supposed to be more accurate than a two-light system (it looks like the BMF product uses a two light).
Likewise 3-way accelerometers. This is fairly standard and some consumer models will couple this with GPS capabilities for movement/mapping/step functions.
I don't believe I've seen any other consumer units that track skin or body temperature. Same with skin moisture. These features will pop up on a device occasionally but they're not generally part of the market 'standard'. My Garmin doesn't include them and I can't think of a case where the data would be really helpful given how I use my watch.
In terms of accuracy, I don't think I can call any consumer unit truly accurate (though I don't know if they're less accurate than the product you've been using). That said, they tend to be accurate enough to get the job done given user needs.3 -
Bry_Lander wrote: »kinkyslinky16 wrote: »Ok so I lost all of my weight using the Bodymedia Fit (BMF).. Best device in the entire world. Of course, it was bought out by Jawbone, and they destroyed the BMF. I've used Fitbit, Jawbone, and Microsoft Band and nothing comes even close to the accuracy of the BMF.
Do any of you have recommendations for a fitness tracker that uses the same type of sensors as the BMF? I'm super discouraged at this point.
Oh yeah, these are the sensors BMF had:
-- Skin temperature sensor
-- Heat flux sensor
-- Perspiration sensor (galvanic response sensor)
-- 3-axis accelerometer
I have a Garmin Fenix 3 HR and love it. It has a continuous HRM and calculates calories burned 24 hours per day and calculates performance metrics, counts steps and stairs ascended, has GPS, tracks sleep, has an altimeter, barometer, and temp sensor, is waterproof to 100m so you can track swims, integrates with your phone through Bluetooth, and a lot of other functions. It has a long battery life and the associated phone app is easy to use. It also has customizable watch faces and you can change watch bands so it can coordinate with pretty much anything you wear (at work, social events, etc.)
Out of curiosity, what did you do with the perspiration sensor information?
I think BMF incorporated it into calorie burns? It was pretty accurate for a fitness tracker. I am really hoping some other company makes a replica because even if the tracker looked dumb af on your arm, I didn't mind one bit.0 -
For what kinds of exercise do you want this?1
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Most consumer units will have the same heart rate monitoring sensors/functions. Some of the newer consumer models use a three-light system which is supposed to be more accurate than a two-light system (it looks like the BMF product uses a two light).
Likewise 3-way accelerometers. This is fairly standard and some consumer models will couple this with GPS capabilities for movement/mapping/step functions.
I don't believe I've seen any other consumer units that track skin or body temperature. Same with skin moisture. These features will pop up on a device occasionally but they're not generally part of the market 'standard'. My Garmin doesn't include them and I can't think of a case where the data would be really helpful given how I use my watch.
In terms of accuracy, I don't think I can call any consumer unit truly accurate (though I don't know if they're less accurate than the product you've been using). That said, they tend to be accurate enough to get the job done given user needs.
Agreed. BMF was probably the most accurate you can get in an over the counter fitness tracker. I've found that traditional fitness trackers won't catch even a step of me using my treadmill desk because I'm not swinging my arms but the BMF would have picked it up. I also have an elliptical machine at home that I use and can't get a traditional fitness tracker to pick up most of the work out... BMF, though, was accurate down to the minute of when I started on the elliptical. Even lifting weights, I could see burns on my BMF. Fitbit? Never!
I guess what I'm looking for is a tracker that can monitor more stationary events. Something that doesn't require arm movement alone to register any burns. What cardio I do just isn't being registered.0 -
My Fitbit charge 2 recognizes elliptical workouts quite happily. I also get increased burns when I'm lifting that tie in with my (very rough) calculations for how much extra I should be burning. It just needs to be switched to the correct mode for the duration.
(I know a lot of people have issues with Fitbits but mine is accurate for me)1 -
I absolutely LOVED my BMF! I was so sad when they were no longer supported. I had tried a fitbit charge hr and went through several. They kept having to be replaced. I then tried a Samsung Gear 2, which wasn't too bad, except it's battery life was awful! I now have a Garmin Vivoactive HR. It does what I need it too.....0
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I'm sorry if this as already been addressed but I've had a Fitbit HR2 (charge) but didn't like it at all. Got an Apple Watch series 2 a few months ago & LOVE IT. I know that doesn't do you much good if you don't like apple products. Good luck in finding something that works for you & congrats on the weight loss.0
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kinkyslinky16 wrote: »kinkyslinky16 wrote: »I understand fitness trackers are not a requirement for weight loss or maintenance, but clearly I prefer to have one or I wouldn't have posted asking for recommendations.
As far as wearing the BMF, it wasn't noticeable at all to me. I forgot I had it on most of the time. And once you see how awesome Bodymedia Fit is with regards to data, it is exceptionally difficult to appreciate any other tracker. I was hoping someone around here, probably a fellow BMF lover, would have found something somewhat comparable at this point.
Ugh! Why did you make such a douchey move, Jawbone? They should have improved upon the BMF. No wonder Jawbone is struggling.
Jawbone is done actually...moving into medical wearables only.
<<<former jawbone owner.
As for the BMF have you tried looking on ebay or something. I have a fitbit charge2 and I know it's not totally accurate and understand their draw and appeal...but given the lack of accuracy in most of them my post was more about picking the least objectionable but knowing it is not going to be what you are used to.
Trial and error with them seems to be required.
You can still purchase BMFs but there's no way to access your data, unfortunately. So they're completely useless
I haven't tried the Fitbit charge2 yet. I was looking into it but the Flex sucks so bad and the Surge is a joke (I'd say more inaccurate than the Flex and the band broke every 6-8 months or so) so I am hesitant in trying yet another Fitbit product.
I had high hopes for the Microsoft Band 2 but it is super clunky and uncomfortable to wear. It probably is the closest to the BMF though.
Microsoft Band has been discontinued also.
There's nothing else on the market quite like the BMF (at least in the realm of everyday wearable activity trackers). I had an Apple Watch, switched to a Garmin 935 just over a month ago and like it a lot better. I'm a big Apple fan and own a lot of their products, but the Garmin is light years better in terms of the data it gives you. The Apple Watch is the best smartwatch on the market hands down, but it's far from the best activity/workout tracker.
If you'd like to do some research of your own, you can find the most thorough, comprehensive reviews of activity trackers at DCRainmaker's website. He tests them very thoroughly and offers a lot of information to help you decide which one is best for your needs (no affiliation here, I just like the site and found it tremendously useful when I was trying to decide what my next one was going to be).2 -
I have just got the Vivoactive 3, the newest watch in this family from Garmin and so far I love it. I've been a Garmin user from the first tracker I ever used so I of course have bias but I think they are worlds apart in terms of quality compared to Fitbits. I see so many complaints of having to use the Fitbit warranty for sometimes up to several replacements and I just have to nope out of that.
My last watch, the first Vivoactive, still works to this day, I had it over 18 months. I'm not sure about the new Fitbit but I think Garmins are waterproof across the board.
As to accuracy, I won't know on this one for a few weeks, it seems to think my TDEE is way higher than I realised (which would explain a few things) but it will take time and data to test that.
But I cannot speak highly enough of Garmin and now that they are making a real effort on the aesthetics I'm even happier. Being able to switch out the straps with standard watch straps is a nice new change to the design.2 -
kinkyslinky16 wrote: »Most consumer units will have the same heart rate monitoring sensors/functions. Some of the newer consumer models use a three-light system which is supposed to be more accurate than a two-light system (it looks like the BMF product uses a two light).
Likewise 3-way accelerometers. This is fairly standard and some consumer models will couple this with GPS capabilities for movement/mapping/step functions.
I don't believe I've seen any other consumer units that track skin or body temperature. Same with skin moisture. These features will pop up on a device occasionally but they're not generally part of the market 'standard'. My Garmin doesn't include them and I can't think of a case where the data would be really helpful given how I use my watch.
In terms of accuracy, I don't think I can call any consumer unit truly accurate (though I don't know if they're less accurate than the product you've been using). That said, they tend to be accurate enough to get the job done given user needs.
Agreed. BMF was probably the most accurate you can get in an over the counter fitness tracker. I've found that traditional fitness trackers won't catch even a step of me using my treadmill desk because I'm not swinging my arms but the BMF would have picked it up. I also have an elliptical machine at home that I use and can't get a traditional fitness tracker to pick up most of the work out... BMF, though, was accurate down to the minute of when I started on the elliptical. Even lifting weights, I could see burns on my BMF. Fitbit? Never!
I guess what I'm looking for is a tracker that can monitor more stationary events. Something that doesn't require arm movement alone to register any burns. What cardio I do just isn't being registered.
Like @VintageFeline I am now a Garmin devotee. I have a Vivoactive HR (2nd generation). I use it for the elliptical, yoga and for lifting (gasp!) using exercise settings I customized for time and HR, but no distance. It has standard ones and you can make your own.
I like the Bluetooth notifications (texts, etc.), water resistance, fast charging and the way it holds a charge. I had a bad reaction to the band that came with it when I started to wear sun screen this summer, so o bought an aluminum one off Amazon. The customizable watch faces and additional apps are awesome. And more are being added ever day.
I used to use the BMArmband and have been so happy with my Garmin. It does a lot of things the BMA didn’t do, like heart rate and the ability to set a custom stride length—I’m short and that makes a difference. The apps and watch faces really expand the functionality.0 -
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I'm still playing around with watch faces, haven't settled on one yet.
The great thing about the newest iteration is the native workout apps, there's loads. I particularly appreciate the cardio one as that was an app I had to add before. Then there's strength, yoga, golf, swimming, paddle boarding (!), run indoor, outdoor and track, elliptical, loads!
I'll stop selling it now. I should be on commision.2 -
@VintageFeline I'm really interested to hear your thoughts once you've had it for a couple of months. I may want to upgrade in a bit and can't imagine moving away from Garmin at this point.
Keep on sellin'!
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@VintageFeline I'm really interested to hear your thoughts once you've had it for a couple of months. I may want to upgrade in a bit and can't imagine moving away from Garmin at this point.
Keep on sellin'!
I'll chime in as an enabler, lol - here's DCRainmaker's in-depth review of the VivoActive 3, just posted today: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/10/garmin-vivoactive-3-in-depth-review.html0 -
For me I proved out all kinds of ways those BMF sensors were not useful in actual practice when you put in exercise - actually even it's ability to estimate your BMR through skin temp for that 1 square centimeter of back of arm - could be thrown off.
I did find some tweaks though to improve its potential.
And some of the sensors had barely any influence on the calories count.
If it worked accurately enough for you - great.
And it was likely due to just a few sensors having an important bearing on calories - same or equally useful sensors that are on other activity trackers that will likely have just as much success for you.
Couple questions I saw mentioned above I'd ditto - what types of workouts and duration, along with how active for rest of the day?
Because say 3 x 20 min lifting workouts could be inaccurate for calorie burn by HR calculations - but if pretty active otherwise it's a mere blip of inaccuracy in the scheme of things.
But if you do 5 x 60 min weekly of some sort of intervals, and are otherwise super sedentary - now that inaccuracy has a bigger impact.
I have to imagine most that have HR are like the Fitbit (Garmin is) - trying to determine that line where exercise starts and HR-based calculations are decent estimate, and below which daily life is more accurate by steps-based calculations.
Ease of entering a variety of workout Descriptions could be important via just the device, but if mainly a few are done - not as big a deal for diary review.0
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