Fitness Trackers?

A few questions.
Does anyone here have a fitness tracker watch?
Is fitbit the best brand?
Are they any good for weightlifters or only for cardio athletes?

Thank you.

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,718 Member
    LvlUpStr wrote: »
    A few questions.
    Does anyone here have a fitness tracker watch?
    Is fitbit the best brand?
    Are they any good for weightlifters or only for cardio athletes?

    Thank you.

    Yes. I have a Garmin Vivoactive 3.

    No. Fitbit may be a good brand for you, but it depends on what your goals are, and what activities you want to track. There are other good brands, and some are slanted at particular goals or activities.

    Whether they're good for weightlifters depends on what you're expecting from them. They don't tend to estimate calories for weight lifting at all accurately, if that's your primary goal. (They're pretty terrible at that for most people, sadly.)
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,131 Member
    No, I don't have a fitness tracker. I don't like gadgets, (they are not reliable for the type of workouts that I do), and I don't track exercise calories, only minutes/hours exercising per day.
  • Bry_Fitness70
    Bry_Fitness70 Posts: 2,480 Member
    I have a Garmin Fenix 5 Plus 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 swimming, 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 integrates pretty well with MFP and loads exercises and calories burned automatically. Since the HRM detects the HR through the wrist rather than with a chest strap over your heart, it is probably a little less accurate, but accurate enough for my needs.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,249 Member
    I wear a Garmin Fenix 5 but don't use it for strength training. It's great for tracking my swims, runs, rides & rowing but most of them are pretty useless for tracking weight lifting.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,514 Member
    I've had fitbits: I like the lower-end Fitbits (trackers) better than the high-end (smart watches). For the trackers: Very simple to use with relatively long battery life. My hardware kept breaking, but they replaced it for free several times. Apparently the hardware has gotten better (now waterproof). Pluses: Good app, good web site, good integration with MFP, Good sleep monitoring, good customer support, good price.

    Garmin: The standard for sports tracking. I have the Vivoactive 3 and it's been very good. Pluses: Tracking swim, ride, run, walk, hike, etc. Good for sleep, steps, all day HR, and many other things. Battery life of several days.

    Apple watch: Excellent smart watch with almost all the sports tracking features of Garmin. But, with way more apps. Generally, needs to be recharged daily. Must have an iphone.
  • ADevine1984
    ADevine1984 Posts: 1 Member
    I have a fitbit which i feel is better suited more towards cardio even though it does have a weights option, it only tracks the duration of the session though. To properly track my weight lifting i use an app on my phone that logs sets,reps and weight which is so much more accurate.
  • djwinch
    djwinch Posts: 33 Member
    I have a fitbit which i feel is better suited more towards cardio even though it does have a weights option, it only tracks the duration of the session though. To properly track my weight lifting i use an app on my phone that logs sets,reps and weight which is so much more accurate.

    What app do you use for that? I've just been logging mine on here.

    I also have a fitbit. It's good for steps, heart and sleep but that's about it. Pretty useless for most other activities in my view. It gets me moving to hit my 10k steps a day target though.
  • vkrenz
    vkrenz Posts: 183 Member
    I am wondering what you all think about how the fitbit tracks calories burned throughout the day? Do you suppose it is mostly accurate?
  • vkrenz
    vkrenz Posts: 183 Member
    I have a fitbit charge 3, just got it for Christmas.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    vkrenz wrote: »
    I am wondering what you all think about how the fitbit tracks calories burned throughout the day? Do you suppose it is mostly accurate?

    I don't "suppose" mine is accurate, I know that it is (because I've tracked it against my results over time). I can't speak to anyone else's.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,718 Member
    vkrenz wrote: »
    I am wondering what you all think about how the fitbit tracks calories burned throughout the day? Do you suppose it is mostly accurate?

    Most good-quality fitness trackers (like Fitbit) will be reasonably accurate for all-day calories for the majority of people. For a few people, they'll be further off, either higher or low. For a very few rare people, they'll be wrong by quite a bit.

    This is because they're spitting out a statistical estimate, the average value for people similar to you, based on research studies. If you're close to average, they'll be pretty accurate. There's no really good way to say who's average, without just trying one to see.

    Some things that might matter to your "averageness": Having a higher or lower maximum heart rate than the average person (mostly a genetic thing, but can be medications/medical conditions); being much more fit or much less fit than the average person; having much more or less muscle mass for your height/weight than the average person; being twitchier or less twitchy than the average person in ways the tracker can't measure; having a way of eating that's pretty crazy-extreme in certain ways compared to the average person; having a medical condition or taking medications that make you different in relevant ways from the average person; doing kinds of exercise that have a very unusual heart rate response profile compared to average people's average exercises, and doing lots of them; . . . and a bunch of things that can't even be identified.

    But no worries, you're probably close to average. Most people are, by definition. ;)

    P.S. No, the things on that list aren't mostly things you can intentionally change (quickly) in order to accelerate weight loss, so don't even ask. :lol:
  • vkrenz
    vkrenz Posts: 183 Member
    Thank you so much for both of your replies. I'm trying to take my fitness to the next level after a good start on weightloss and to continue the weightloss. I still have a considerable amount to lose. I want to keep the progress going so am taking a look at NEAT through out my day and what may increase calories burned.
  • RepswithRyan
    RepswithRyan Posts: 171 Member
    Thank you for all of the replies.
  • JasmijnRF
    JasmijnRF Posts: 184 Member
    I have a Garmin Viviosport. I love Garmin, this is my third Garmin activitytracker. My watch is synced with Strava and Garmin Connect.