Fitbit or Polar F7

I've had my fitbit since Jan.22nd. I really enjoy knowing the calories i'm burning. it's not bulky and also it also let's me know my sleeping habits at night. it lets you know how many steps, I do in the day, miles and stairs as well and keeps me motivated to move more. I do recommend the fitbit. just my two cents on this.

I've had my fitbit for about 3 weeks, and so far I love it. I don't know how accurate it is on the calories, but I like all the webpage features, I like the integration with FB and MFP. And I like seeing how active I've been (or not) during my non-exercise time. It's small and convenient. Onyl scary thing is putting it through the laudry - which could totally happen if I wasn't paying attention.

Actually,I have both a FitBit and a Polar HRM.

I use my FitBit for my everyday activities and my HRM for my workouts.

I just feel that I trust my HRM more to give me more accurate readings of calories burned.

Here is the link the FitBit user group:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/1307-fitbit-users

bump. I want to know this too

ditto on the fitbit. it tracks calories burned through walking, running, treadmill. However, not so great with other types of exercises. So, depends what you'll be doing for exercise. Right now, I'm basically walking/jogging. I also do a pilates class 2x week, but I know, based on using a Polar hrm what I generally burn in that class, so I can input that information on mfp. I love how the fitbit is integrated with mfp --- very cool .

Been wanting to know this as well. I use a garmin and it tells me twice what MFP tells me...curious.

I have the Polar F7. Love it! I didnt realize how insanely overestimated some of the MFP workouts were. Boy am I glad to have an accurate HRM now! That way if I need to eat back some or all of my calories I can do it without wondering....am I going to gain this week? I also love the way it tells me a lot of details about my workout. It has turned me into a geek...making sure I get the optimal workouts!

I purchased a Polar FT7 about 2 weeks ago and love it. My goal was to be able to track how many calories I burn when I'm doing my circuit training. I got the FT7 because it did what I wanted, but was still what I considered to be affordable. You do have to ware a band around your chest (not sure if the F7 requires this as well). I also noticed the elliptical will pickup the data and display it on the screen ... a bonus I wasn't expecting. I purchased the UPB link so I can upload my data to the website where I can then monitor my workouts and see if I'm over working.

I don't recommend this if you want to track calories throughout the day, only if you want to track calories during a workout.

actually fitbit is very accurate, but I do agree with other posters about its limitations regarding recording calorie burn for exercises other than walking, jogging. Its a pedometer.

Ok, Body Media. My daughter-in-law did J Craig and got a body media through them. She has lost all the weight she wanted to and she still wears it to keep fit and on maintenance. She said it kept her going when she could see real time burn and calories eaten. She wears it on her upper arm. She even sleeps in it as it gives her the info on how efficient she sleeps. It's on sale now at Costco on line for $149.00 and includes a year of membership for tracking. She swears by it. Before buying it I'm going to call them and (800# on their sight) and quiz them about being in sync with MFB. It's a little pricy but it tracks EVERYTHING for you. I don't know if other's require a membership for logging. Maybe someone can answer that for me.:bigsmile:

Bump

I've had a Polar since November and love it...best thing I've ever got!

I have had mine since beginning of Jan and love it. It help me on the treadmill cause it shows my hr and calorie count right on the treadmill screen and I don't have to look on my watch.

Yea, I love that it shows it on the treadmill for you and you don't have to look down or grab on to the handles

Ok, Body Media. My daughter-in-law did J Craig and got a body media through them. She has lost all the weight she wanted to and she still wears it to keep fit and on maintenance. She said it kept her going when she could see real time burn and calories eaten. She wears it on her upper arm. She even sleeps in it as it gives her the info on how efficient she sleeps. It's on sale now at Costco on line for $149.00 and includes a year of membership for tracking. She swears by it. Before buying it I'm going to call them and (800# on their sight) and quiz them about being in sync with MFB. It's a little pricy but it tracks EVERYTHING for you. I don't know if other's require a membership for logging. Maybe someone can answer that for me.:bigsmile:

Bump

One of my MFP friends has a BodyMedia, she has her MFP account set up in the regular MFP fashion, but each day she logs an exercise called 'TDEE adjustment' where basically she credits herself with 'exercise calories' to make up for the difference between what MFP thinks she burns on a daily basis and what the BodyMedia says she really burned that day. So if MFP says her daily maintenance is 2200 calories but her BodyMedia shows she burned 2500 that day, she will log a 'TDEE adjustment' exercise for 300 calories to get her MFP goal for the day to match what her BodyMedia recorded.

I would really, really love to get a BodyMedia. I'm going to save up and try to get one for both myself and my DH.

OP, the FitBit and Polar are 2 completely different things - Polar you wear only during your exercises and it estimates your exercise calories based on your heartrate during the exercise, you cannot wear it all day, only during exercise. FitBit you wear all day and it attempts to estimate your calorie burn based on movement - some people think it's incredibly accurate and awesome and other people say it's way off-base and doesn't even track distance or steps very well (some people find that it thinks they're walking when they're sitting in the car driving, etc, others say you can tweak the sensitivity to help with those issues). It really depends on what kind of activities you're doing and what you're looking for in a device. Then there's the BodyBugg and BodyMedia Fit which you wear all day on your arm. The BB, BMF, and FB do not monitor heartrate, they use different methods to estimate calorie burn. If you want to monitor your heartrate during your exercises for whatever reason, you need a HRM but if you want your HRM to *only* read your heartrate and no estimate calories (like if you want to get a BB, BMF, or FB for calorie estimation but still want to check your heartrate when you workout) you could get a cheaper HRM that doesn't have all the bells and whistles like the Polar FT7.

THEN there is the Garmin collection - they monitor heartrate and estimate calories and have GPS capabilities to precisely track your speed and distance if you walk/run/etc outdoors. Pretty nifty if you're a runner/etc.

Hope that didn't make things more complicated for you. LOL

I have both. As others have said, it's great for tracking your steps. But, it does not track well for calories burned during strength training. I used both during my workouts & it really underestimated my calorie burn. But, that makes sense since its not a heart rate monitor; it's not going to know how hard you're working while laying flat on your back doing a bench press.

I do like that the fitbit is now integrated with MFP & it's nice that there's no subscription fee.

Thanks for all the input everyone! I think based on all the comments I'm going to stick with getting the Polar watch for now. Right now I really want an accurate calorie burn specifically for my workouts. So the Polar sounds like the better fit for me! Thanks!

I recently purchased a Polar F7 through eBay and I'm delighted with my purchase. The price was right, and I discovered at the gym yesterday that it communicates with the exercise bikes so that I don't have to be bothered holding onto the sensors on the bars so it can get a HR. I'm looking forward to trying it out with the Treadmills, as I expect that it will be able to communicate with them as well. So nice not being pestered to constantly hold on to the sensors!