What fitness tracker do you use (watches, apps, etc)?

funny thing - i just replied to another of your threads about my fitbit. i love my fitbit - i currently have an inspire that i got new, but i got a used alta from ebay for $25 from a reliable seller that works fine, but i find the alta less accurate on step count than the inspire. i LOVE the fitbit dashboard, but i take it with a grain of salt - more like a shaker. it uses generalizations that don't seem to apply to me at all.

that's because the number of steps does nothing for my weight loss or leg muscles at all. taking walks 30 minutes or longer did more for my cardio, weight loss and muscle than taking slow steps like on a golf course or taking more steps to get to the car, walk to the kitchen, etc. i had a fitbit one i got in 2014, and all the many steps i took (over 10,000 a day every day, often over 15,000) did less for me than taking 30 minute brisk walks. at 40 minutes per walk with no breaks and no real slowdowns - it did a lot more. but my fitbit, samsung phone app, cheap tracker from ebay, all felt it did less. my scale and cardio fitness proved them mistaken.

btw, my son uses the yamay. he got it cheaper on ebay, but here it is on amazon. it's within your budget.
https://www.amazon.com/YAMAY-Fitness-Pressure-Waterproof-Activity/dp/B07Q3D7GH6

I have a Garmin Forerunner 35 which I bought for my running. It also tracks HR, sleep, steps, etc. I don't link it to MFP though. I prefer to just track deliberate exercise, not random steps in the house, grocery, etc.

While I’m not familiar with every possible tracker and app on the market, I think it’s going to be difficult to find a tracker that does what you’re looking for, consistently & reliably, with solid product support and longevity (meaning you won’t have to replace it every 6 months because it’s worn out/stopped working), AND syncs to mfp-for under $35.

There are a number of assorted tracking devices on amazon within your budget. While I haven’t tested them, I’m assuming if they were durable and worked reliably, their price point with the advertised features would put Fitbit right out of business. So my guess is they lack durability and/or reliability/consistency-but I don’t know. Perhaps they really are a miracle product. I also don’t know if they sync to mfp (or to anything). Double check that whatever you’re looking at is compatible with whatever phone you have (this tends to be more of an issue with android products).

You may want to check around for a used and/or reconditioned device from a more mainstream company (Fitbit, Garmin, polar). I’m not sure if you’ll find something in your price range but it’s worth a shot.

stevehenderson776 wrote: »

The Mi Band 4 is about $35 and tracks everything you mentioned, but doesn't sync to MFP. It does sync to Google Fit though which in turn syncs to MFP. I just enter the exercises manually though. It's pretty dead on when measuring walking or running, but it's not great at measuring swims. Very very good battery life too. About 20 days between charges.

i saw a review of the mi band on a tech channel recently. they thought it was pretty good, actually.

zebasschick wrote: »

all the many steps i took (over 10,000 a day every day, often over 15,000) did less for me than taking 30 minute brisk walks. at 40 minutes per walk with no breaks and no real slowdowns - it did a lot more. but my fitbit, samsung phone app, cheap tracker from ebay, all felt it did less. my scale and cardio fitness proved them mistaken.

I wanted to ask about your brisk walks: are you doing 30 minutes or 40, or did you start at 30 and work up to 40? What kind of terrain are you walking on?

glassyo wrote: »

stevehenderson776 wrote: »

The Mi Band 4 is about $35 and tracks everything you mentioned, but doesn't sync to MFP. It does sync to Google Fit though which in turn syncs to MFP. I just enter the exercises manually though. It's pretty dead on when measuring walking or running, but it's not great at measuring swims. Very very good battery life too. About 20 days between charges.

Does that track the exercises automatically like some garmins and fitbits do? I was looking at the miband 4 but my two unwavering criteria are auto tracking and being able to detach the tracker from the band.

glassyo wrote: »

stevehenderson776 wrote: »

The Mi Band 4 is about $35 and tracks everything you mentioned, but doesn't sync to MFP. It does sync to Google Fit though which in turn syncs to MFP. I just enter the exercises manually though. It's pretty dead on when measuring walking or running, but it's not great at measuring swims. Very very good battery life too. About 20 days between charges.

Does that track the exercises automatically like some garmins and fitbits do? I was looking at the miband 4 but my two unwavering criteria are auto tracking and being able to detach the tracker from the band.

You have to start and stop the exercise modes manually. Definitely not as advanced as some of the more expensive options.

zebasschick wrote: »

glassyo wrote: »

Does that track the exercises automatically like some garmins and fitbits do? I was looking at the miband 4 but my two unwavering criteria are auto tracking and being able to detach the tracker from the band.

if you go to the fitbit boards on fitbit's site, you'll see that this is a feature that rarely works right or works at all. i CAN remove my fitbit inspire from the band, set it to not on wrist and wear it in a clip on my waist, which is the only way i wear any tracker.

I actually did start looking at the inspire but was trying to get away from fitbit because each tracker I used after the classic grossly over estimated my exercise calories. (Basically the original chargehr, altahr, and even the seriously no frills zip!)

I'm using a garmin vivofit 4 right now but that's having problems with their auto tracking. It just seems like it's me and one other person tho. I was working with cs to figure it out but then that ransomware thing happened and we lost touch. 😀

It's too bad because I didn't think I'd care about that feature but ended up really liking it.

Garmin's worked for calorie tracking on the wrist but I also do walking dvds whilst playing/working on my tablet so either stick it in a pouch belt or in this reeeeeeally comfortable ankle pouch thingy.

I had been using a Letscom band, but have moved back to my Casio G-shock for a watch/stopwatch.
I use MapMyWalk/MapMyRide because it integrates with MFP. The distances between both never matched. All I lost was the heart rate monitor.

I hate when I forget to start/stop though.