Thinking of getting a fitbit

angelsja
angelsja Posts: 859 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Pros & cons of getting a fit bit please for me it's alot of money to invest so I don't want to get one if it's not worth it
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Replies

  • teranga79
    teranga79 Posts: 202 Member
    I only got mine yesterday but so far I love it! :)
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,906 Member
    What do you want to use it for and what do you hope from it? Without knowing nobody can tell you if it's worth it. Just wanting to have a gadget because other people have it.. well.. go for it or don't.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    i found it a waste of money.
  • davidjohndougal
    davidjohndougal Posts: 1 Member
    There was an interesting article in the Guardian the other day: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2018/jan/31/is-it-time-to-ditch-the-fitbit
  • passenger79
    passenger79 Posts: 257 Member
    Love mine , definitely made me move more.
  • jennabun101
    jennabun101 Posts: 54 Member
    Love mine! Reminds me to keep moving.
  • angelsja
    angelsja Posts: 859 Member
    I would like to be able to know how many calories I'm burning from day to day track my heartbeat and calories while working out
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,906 Member
    Ok, calorie estimates are spot on for many people, but way off for many others. If I trusted my fitbit I'd eat about 2500kcal too much per week. Also keep in mind that there's no correlation between heartrate and calorie burn, especially not for anything other than steady state cardio, and certainly not for people who don't know their maximum heartrate. Yet fitbit (and all other trackers) calculate calorie burn based on that. Thus be careful there and don't just trust the numbers.
  • Mithridites
    Mithridites Posts: 600 Member
    My charge 2 does all those things. I was sceptical but after a month and a half I wouldn’t be parted from it.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited February 2018
    I loved mine and it definately helped me reach my goal and be aware of how much/little I was moving. My Fitbit One started playing up last year so I decided I would go it alone after having been a Fitbit'er for 4 years and I haven't looked back. It turns out I don't need a gadget to get me up and moving any more :smile:

    It was pretty good at calculating my TDEE.

    So it depends on how you are, if you need a push to move and think a device might help with that then go for it.
  • Davidsdottir
    Davidsdottir Posts: 1,285 Member
    Depends on what your needs and expectations of it are.
  • JackieT17
    JackieT17 Posts: 2 Member
    I have a Fitbit Charge 2. My teenage daughter has an exercise programme she needs to follow every morning and needs timing in 30 second blocks. By using the interval workout timer, rather than watching her from the side and using my phone as a timer, I can time her and also do exercises myself in either 30 second or 1 minute blocks. So while I like all the other things like the step counter etc. etc. etc. the timer has definitely made my life easier and got me moving more (plus she doesn't feel like she is the only one doing anything :))
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    I love mine!
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    Cons - The build quality is terrible and they fall apart. I've been through 3 Fitbit Charge HR's in 12 months.

    Great shame as the idea of an activity tracker is brilliant for adherence, in my opinion
  • kittiwakeh
    kittiwakeh Posts: 8 Member
    I have a second hand fitbit one so it wasn't very expensive. It really helped when I was starting out improving my fitness and healthy eating as it showed me how little I was moving. Trying to reach the targets I set myself for step count and for stairs climbed really helped motivate me. Now a few years in its nice to have but isn't so useful as I have learnt from how my body feels to know how active or inactive I have been and my preferred exercise workouts don't necessarily generate many steps.

    My suggestion would be to get a cheap second hand model and see if it's something that is useful. If it is you can then upgrade to one that has the features you want.

    My fitbit one also has a sleep function but apart from the initial novelty I don't use it so paying money to get specific features I am in the long term not bothered about is a waste of money.
  • ZRunner5Lulaica
    ZRunner5Lulaica Posts: 168 Member
    I've been using Fitbit for a few years with different models. My favorite has been the charge, but the band was splitting and it made it's escape when I was taking down company Christmas trees. I now have an Alta, and am not as impressed.

    I'm actually planning to convert over to Garmin this year, since I think it'll fit my needs better.
  • whitpauly
    whitpauly Posts: 1,483 Member
    trigden1991 wrote: »
    Cons - The build quality is terrible and they fall apart. I've been through 3 Fitbit Charge HR's in 12 months.

    Great shame as the idea of an activity tracker is brilliant for adherence, in my opinion

    Yea that charge hr is terrible quality! I just glues my band back together,it looked awful
  • taysukidesu
    taysukidesu Posts: 11 Member
    I used a Fitbit Flex for about a year before it died. It was okay; I liked it enough to wear it constantly, at least, but the app was really buggy on my phone and laptop which kept me from really paying much attention to it. (The app seems to have improved a lot in the last two years from what I've seen online, though.)

    After getting an Apple Watch recently, I would really recommend saving for a higher end Fitbit model to get more features like movement prompts, flights climbed, exercise minutes, etc. My activity level has risen a lot now that I can easily reference it on my wrist without having to take out my phone and load a bunch of pages in an app.
    The basic Fitbit models are not worth the money when a cheap pedometer would do the same thing.
  • simcon1
    simcon1 Posts: 209 Member
    I have a Blaze and love it!
  • Angierae75
    Angierae75 Posts: 417 Member
    I credit my fitbit with my 43 pound weight loss. Having something to motivate me to move throughout the day and to show me that I am not "sedentary" and that I can eat more than I thought I could and still lose weight enabled me to eat at a level that I was comfortable and still lose weight. I kept trying to lose weight on 1200 calories and my fitbit showed me that I should be eating closer to 1500-1700. Made a world of difference.
  • BrettWithPKU
    BrettWithPKU Posts: 575 Member
    kittiwakeh wrote: »
    I have a second hand fitbit one so it wasn't very expensive. It really helped when I was starting out improving my fitness and healthy eating as it showed me how little I was moving. Trying to reach the targets I set myself for step count and for stairs climbed really helped motivate me. Now a few years in its nice to have but isn't so useful as I have learnt from how my body feels to know how active or inactive I have been and my preferred exercise workouts don't necessarily generate many steps.

    My suggestion would be to get a cheap second hand model and see if it's something that is useful. If it is you can then upgrade to one that has the features you want.

    My fitbit one also has a sleep function but apart from the initial novelty I don't use it so paying money to get specific features I am in the long term not bothered about is a waste of money.

    This is exactly what I've been doing. I bought a knockoff about a week ago for under $30; the brand I bought was Letsfit, which I found on Amazon. It's not fancy but it does steps, heart rate, workouts, calories burned: the basic stuff. It gets the job done. I might use part of the tax return to get an Apple watch. Until then, I'm content with this unit.
  • Beaudom91
    Beaudom91 Posts: 54 Member
    I LOVE my fitbit! I don't take too much notice pf the calorie burn side of it, since that can be off... but I find it really motivating to stay active. It keeps me accountable a pushes me to keep challenging myself
  • JoAnna4731
    JoAnna4731 Posts: 115 Member
    I use my Fitbit Alta solely to make sure I am moving more during the day and getting my 10,000 steps in, as having a desk job is inherently sedentary. But I do not rely on any of the other data because I find it highly unreliable. At one point last week, it was registering some of my more contentious work phone calls as exercise, lol, so even my minutes of exercise are inaccurate!
  • ruqayyahsmum
    ruqayyahsmum Posts: 1,513 Member
    I have a charge hr
    Love participating in challenges, forces me to go walk more
    Heart rate function is useful for me. I have a condition I'll start with just vague symptoms that could be anything but if I'm sat on my butt with a heart rate over 120 I know its that and to take meds

    But I've had it replaced a couple times as its come apart, had to spend half an hour with thier tech department trying to get the darn thing to sync properly after 3 days of it not connecting

    Their customer service is great but the product itself really should last longer for the amount it costs
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,474 Member
    YIPPPPEE!, I got the charge 2 and its changed my life!, and the social side to it IS SO SO FUN!, I met so many great people!, who really really care!
  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
    I had the fitbit force and when the rash issue started I just alternated wrists until it stopped give me the rash. That broke and I upgraded to the Blaze. I really like the heart rate monitor and when I am in my groove I try to hit 10K steps before the sun comes up. Pros, I enjoy it and it does motivate me to increase activity. Cons, It does cost some money and needs to be charged twice a week.
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
    edited February 2018
    When fitness trackers started becoming popular, I held off because I didn't see the need for it.

    Then I got a Fitbit Charge and now I have an Alta. I seriously love my tracker. As others have mentioned, the Charge was not a great build and the band kept coming apart; I went through several. When they introduced the Alta, I bought that one (without HR). The band is so much better, and I like the slimmer design.

    I think it's made a huge difference in getting me to move more in general. I actually moved more than I thought and was not sedentary, despite my desk job, but I was still only maybe lightly active. Now my target is 12k steps M-F and 15k Sat/Sun. I sync it with MFP and I eat those calories and lose as predicted. While they can have inaccuracies, mine has been pretty on target.

    If you decide to get one, realize that it can take a bit of time to adjust to you. You might get inflated numbers the first couple of weeks, but it should settle after that.

    ETA: I've seen some people mention they have found success with accuracy by entering their height as one inch shorter than they are. I used to lift and not enter those workouts, now I do bodyweight exercises and don't enter those. I just let Fitbit pick it up as steps. That works for me.
  • l4ur4j4d4
    l4ur4j4d4 Posts: 19 Member
    I absolutely love my fitbit! Obsessed with it, and it definitely gives you the motivation to try and beat your step count the day before. Love wearing it at night aswell to see how I’m sleeping
  • debtay123
    debtay123 Posts: 1,327 Member
    i have the fitbt charge 2- love mine-
  • jaquieduck
    jaquieduck Posts: 14 Member
    I have the flex 2. I have no desire for the screen on my wrist and don't care for the way the big fitbits look or feel. I love the minimal design. I got it in October, and it's definitely helped me be more active, as well as helping me understand that my actual activity level may be very different from my perceptions. Often, I am surprised by how many steps I got, or, I have a busy day at work, but it's mostly standing, and I don't realize how few steps I actually took.

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