Fitbit or Polar? Pls help

They are two completely different things.

The polar HRM is meant for use only during exercise. Its calorie calculations are not accurate for all day wear, but only during times of cardio exercise.

The fitbit is a modified pedometer which includes an accelerometer and in the Ultra an altimeter. That allows it to not only measure steps, how vigorously you are moving and how many stairs, hills you have climbed. That gives it a somewhat more accurate picture of your daily calorie burn. It is meant for all day wear.

Ideally, both would be the best. The fitbit for daily activity, and the HRM for times of exercise since on the fitbit site you can enter those times of exercise as well.

As to the question of which to purchase, just realize they are both estimates of calories burned. They can be fairly accurate, but can also be over or under estimating calorie burn by a fairly large factor (I have heard up to 30%).

Just so you know. I have a HRM which I have had for almost 2 years, and I am considering getting a fitbit now as well.

The Polar will only give you fairly accurate caloric burns during aerobic activity (cardio), whereas I beleive the fitbit will give you daily caloric burns based on various factors
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Yes ^^^

It really depends on what you're primarily after, cuz they're built for different purposes. I use my FT4 for cardio tracking WHEN I'm doing true steady state cardio only. The fitbit would be useful for getting a more accurate count of your typical daily expenditure, but not as accurate as the HRM during intense cardio.

After all my reading, and all the reviews I've seen. I'm going to be getting both! Fitbit first, then the Polar.

I like the Polar. I feel it gives me accurate results of heart rate and calorie burn during my workouts.

Thanks for this post as I was trying to make the same decision. Ultimately, I think that any heart rate monitor is going to be the way to go since it uses your actual heart rate. Now to decide on which heart rate monitor to get. I've used polar in the past (and liked it) but haven't researched recently.

I like my Timex HRM's. I have a GPS Trainer and Road Trainer.

I have a job that keeps me moving all day, I own a restaurant. My FitBit keeps track of my activity level and translates it here, on MFP, to calories spent above and beyond my activity level. I have that set here to lightly active, so if I'm busier, the Fitbit will include those additional calories burned during that time into my overall burn for the day.

I also have a Sigma HRM that I bought off Ebay (I'm a huge advocate of buying things there that others have grown tired of, or are selling because they don't think they're working properly / don't know how to use). I use my HRM for all fitness center activity, to include strength training, because it gives an accurate count of calories burned and synchs with all the machines they have there. I don't wear my HRM all day, those additional calories are accounted for with my Fitbit.

So, to answer you question, you could / should benefit from using both the Fitbit and a HRM, depending on what you do during the time you're not actively working out!

I just got my FitBit over the weekend, and I LOVE it! I love seeing my activity level on their site, how many steps I've taken, how active I am, and how my sleep is tracking. Yes, it's inconvenient at first to wear it all the time, but when you get used to it, it's like checking Facebook all the time for status. I'm constantly synching it because I want to see it charted out on my dashboard. The charge seems to last for a long time, too. And if it's underestimating my caloric burn and isn't as accurate as an HRM for that, then, that's a good thing in my book since I'm burning more than I anticipated - I'm ok with that! Their site also syncs nicely with MFP, so I just have to enter any sleep start/stop times or correct activity duration if necessary, the rest transfers from site to site without a lot of double entry. Love it!!!