FitBit - Is it worth it?

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DarkFlutter
DarkFlutter Posts: 408 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've been thinking about purchasing the FitBit tracking system.
Just wondering if it's worth the price.

Does anyone use one?
What do you think of it?
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Replies

  • sgmomma
    sgmomma Posts: 299 Member
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    You're gonna get answers for both sides of the fence. I personally love mine. While I don't like that it's not a HRM, I DO love that it tracks my steps and miles and stairs. That way I can be competitive with myself. Its a bit of a shock to the system to see you don't move as much as you think you do.

    Also you can sync your fitbit with your MFP profile. Which is good since fitbit doesn't track some exercises well. Like i have been doing Jillian Michaels dvds I log it on mfp like normal and THEN it shows up on my fitbit, whereas it wouldn't have really shown much before.

    I really depends on what you plan on using it for and what you want outta it.
  • motherof2punks
    motherof2punks Posts: 1
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    I bought one today. I thought it would be interesting to keep track of how much I move.
  • dan95130
    dan95130 Posts: 78 Member
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    If you want to track normal daily activity like walking or climbing flights of stairs, fitbit is great. It also does an excelent job of tracking steps and calories for walking or running.
    It's shortcoming is that it is not a heart rate monitor so it doesn't accurately track other exercise. For example an hour cardio session, I do Power 90, might register as only one thousand steps and one hundred calories. Very frustrating when you're covered in sweat and gasping for breath.
    Shortcomings aside, it is a valuable tool that I would replace quickly if it was ever damaged or lost.
  • laurels12
    laurels12 Posts: 54 Member
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    I've just bought one from Ebay -- looking forward to it arriving. General opinion does seem to be that they are worth it! Good luck x
  • emmalou2206
    emmalou2206 Posts: 109 Member
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    I've just bought one from Ebay -- looking forward to it arriving. General opinion does seem to be that they are worth it! Good luck x

    Did you by a second hand one?
  • sazzyp1973
    sazzyp1973 Posts: 517 Member
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    This is something I keep looking at purchasing. I have read many positive and negative reviews. One negative one that sticks in my head is that it logs time you are in the car as walking (if you bob about while driving because of the road). Someone also commentated that it needs to be updated to be more applicable to a UK user.

    I'll keep popping in here to see if users of the fitbit can persuade me to buy!!
  • laurels12
    laurels12 Posts: 54 Member
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    I've just bought one from Ebay -- looking forward to it arriving. General opinion does seem to be that they are worth it! Good luck x

    Did you by a second hand one?

    It's described as brand new and box still sealed, so should be OK I hope. Got it for £65!
  • LilacDreamer
    LilacDreamer Posts: 1,365 Member
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    I've just bought one from Ebay -- looking forward to it arriving. General opinion does seem to be that they are worth it! Good luck x

    Did you by a second hand one?

    It's described as brand new and box still sealed, so should be OK I hope. Got it for £65!

    you got the one with like 19 bids that converted to like $104 or $105 us? Yes i stalk ebay every second for a fitbit.
  • LAWoman79
    LAWoman79 Posts: 348 Member
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    I love mine. I thought I had been so active during the day...until I got this, which is great having a desk job. I can just look at it and KNOW I have to take my breaks, just to get some walking in.
  • wookiemouse
    wookiemouse Posts: 290 Member
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    I bought one a few weeks ago and it has been worth every single penny! I had stalled on weight loss for over a year, despite eating healthy and working out 5 days a week. Once I got the Fitbit, I saw I was burning 600 cals MORE than what MFP had me at. I upped my daily calorie intake by 600 and now the weight is just dropping off. Couldn't be happier!
  • carolemack
    carolemack Posts: 1,276 Member
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    I have only had mine a week...but you couldn't get it away from me now! :laugh: It is the most motivating tool I have ever used. I have moved more this week than at any other time of my life. I use it in conjunction with my HRM and couldn't be happier.

    If I was to lose it I would be right back at the store to buy another one!

    As far a driving goes, I wear my Fitbit on the center of my bra and have had no problems when driving. I know some people do but a as long as you log it as driving time it will zero out the steps.

    The daily and weekly graphs you get are amazing and very informative.

    LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Fitbit! :love: :love: :love: :blushing: :blushing: :blushing:
  • Amy_nz
    Amy_nz Posts: 145
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    I've only had mine a few days and I love it. I've still got to figure out how its little tricks - like logging drive time? How do I do that? (It seems to count steps on the train sometimes as well, depending on which train I catch. If it's the old train it counts steps, if it's a new train it doesn't...)

    I was pleasantly surprised to see that on a work day I walk 10,000 pretty easily. Last night, though, I alternated chatting, washing dishes and playing cards with 10 minute blocks of star jumps etc, just so I could get to 10,000. It's pretty motivating!
  • jeffdoc
    jeffdoc Posts: 224 Member
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    I just ordered a FitBit a few minutes ago. It will take 2-4 weeks to arrive because I'm in Canada but I can't wait to get it. I'm so excited!

    I am also going to order the FitBit Aria WiFi scale soon as well.
  • carolemack
    carolemack Posts: 1,276 Member
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    I just ordered a FitBit a few minutes ago. It will take 2-4 weeks to arrive because I'm in Canada but I can't wait to get it. I'm so excited!

    I am also going to order the FitBit Aria WiFi scale soon as well.


    LOL. I am in Canada too and I was too impatient to wait for it....My daughter drove me down to Bellingham last Sunday to pick one up at the Best Buy there. :laugh: I've never been good at waiting for anything! I am also thinking about the Aria scale.

    You will LOVE it, but be forewarned...it is very addicting and you won't want to leave home without! :wink:

    Enjoy when you get it!
  • bradshaws
    bradshaws Posts: 23 Member
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    I just ordered a FitBit a few minutes ago. It will take 2-4 weeks to arrive because I'm in Canada but I can't wait to get it. I'm so excited!

    I am also going to order the FitBit Aria WiFi scale soon as well.


    LOL. I am in Canada too and I was too impatient to wait for it....My daughter drove me down to Bellingham last Sunday to pick one up at the Best Buy there. :laugh: I've never been good at waiting for anything! I am also thinking about the Aria scale.

    You will LOVE it, but be forewarned...it is very addicting and you won't want to leave home without! :wink:

    Enjoy when you get it!

    That's what I thought too, but I ordered mine a week and a half ago.. arrived yesterday :)

    I had my first full day with it, today. It's great and it does everything for you with MFP.. logs everything! turns out I gained 706 calories because of the shopping and gardening I did today!!

    Also logged my sleep last night with my fitbit. I was shocked to find out that I fell asleep within 7 mins and that I only woke up 3 times though the night :) Mom found out she moved 16 times through the night!!
  • Kbritske09
    Kbritske09 Posts: 31 Member
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    This is something I keep looking at purchasing. I have read many positive and negative reviews. One negative one that sticks in my head is that it logs time you are in the car as walking (if you bob about while driving because of the road). Someone also commentated that it needs to be updated to be more applicable to a UK user.

    I'll keep popping in here to see if users of the fitbit can persuade me to buy!!

    I have to wonder what kind of roads you would be driving on that would make the FitBit trigger car time as steps. Mine never calculates bumps in my car as steps. Seems like a problem with suspension in that persons car! I absolutely love the my FitBit and would highly recommend getting one. It is a great way to keep track of your progress such as steps, miles, stairs climbed and my favorite calories burned. I can easily keep track of calories in vs calories out and this has helped me lose weight on a more steady basis.
  • PandorasMom
    PandorasMom Posts: 6
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    I LOVE my FitBit, too. I wear it on my bra, and do not have the problem of counting steps in the car or on the bumpy shuttle ride to and from work (even when I have to stand),

    I get excited when I see my little flower grow, saying that I am highly active (or not). It is motivational. I usually delete my interface calories from MFP, just because I do not eat my exercise calories right now.

    I enjoy the sleep assessment as well, to see how many times I wake up through the night and how long it takes me to get back to sleep.

    I just panicked yesterday thinking I threw it in the wash still on my bra- luckily I had put it on the nightstand, and the cat batted it under the bed. I get excited about it and show everyone. They look at me a little funny when I put my hand in my shirt and pull it off of my bra to show them, lol. I also love the Name it option. I put in "PIMP" and It will read "Way to go, PIMP!" or "Get moving. PIMP" or "You Rock, PIMP".

    Long story short, I love it.
  • bradshaws
    bradshaws Posts: 23 Member
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    Wait.. I thought I understood but I don't. I earned 706 calories on MFP because I walked extra and did an 1 hour and 30mins of gardening. Now, my fitbit exercise calories(the walking ones) are.. going down? They were like 335 because of the walking, but now it's 97 calories?
  • Drastiic
    Drastiic Posts: 322 Member
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    I've had mine for a little over a month now. For me, it has never counted driving as steps. I've had no problems with mine. The only complaint I would have is that in the sunlight, it's hard to read.

    The feature I enjoy the most is the activity record. Hold the button down until the stopwatch starts, then when done with an activity hold the button until the stopwatch stops. That will create an activity record which records the start and end time of said activity, duration, and all the other things it normally does. For me, this comes in handy when I'm out walking and I want to know how far I've currently walked within the workout. I use the activity record feature whenever I'm doing a planned workout, mowing the yard, lifting weights, etc. It just makes it easy to record duration more effectively than having to write down that information. Then you can just log onto FitBit's website and check your start time/duration and enter it into MFP. If it's just walking, I won''t log it on MFP because FitBit will automatically send over an adjustment based on activity.

    There's about 200 people in the MFP group on FitBit here: http://www.fitbit.com/group/229K6Z
  • carolemack
    carolemack Posts: 1,276 Member
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    Wait.. I thought I understood but I don't. I earned 706 calories on MFP because I walked extra and did an 1 hour and 30mins of gardening. Now, my fitbit exercise calories(the walking ones) are.. going down? They were like 335 because of the walking, but now it's 97 calories?

    I'll try to explain this to the best of my understanding.

    MFP and Fitbit calculate a little differently. MFP says here are the calories you are allowed for the day. When you log your exercise it adds that to your total. It then works downwards as you log food throughout the day.

    Fitbit starts at 0 at midnight and your calories are allotted throughout the day. If you do all your exercise in the morning it will give you a Fitbit adjustment on MFP because it sees that you have burned more calories at that point in the day as you should. As the day goes on and you burn calories through normal activity it will deduct from your Fitbit adjustment as needed. Usually by midnight the adjustment has disappeared.

    I hope that makes some sense to you. :huh: If not maybe someone with more clarity will help you to understand.

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