Fit bit?

[creaturecat]

the flex works well for sleep patterns.

[motion]

I'm gonna disagree with you poo-pooers. My wife and I got Flexes for Christmas. We've been stuck in a car driving for a few days, so we don't get the chance to walk enough to meet our goals of 10,000 steps per day, but the bands serve a very useful purpose: They are a constant 'lifestyle reminder'. When you wear them, you are constantly reminded that it is 'important' to you to be active and work towards better fitness. If you aren't at the gym daily, you really do need something to remind you, IMO. They work great for that purpose.

[fintstone]

I like the fitbit Charge HR. Paired with my Iphone 6, it really does a lot. The Heart Rate feature is really helpful. It syncs up with the Iphone using Bluetooth. It replaces a watch as it is smart enough to know when you turn your wrist, the LED display comes on showing the time. It also vibrates when you get phone call and displays caller ID. so you can leave your ringer off and the phone nearby or in your pocket. It automatically monitors (knows when you are sleeping) your sleep so you can track (sleep quality) how long you sleep how many times you wake and how many times you were restless. It also has a silent, vibrating alarm.

It also monitors your heart rate so you know if your activities are in a fat burning zone or an aerobic one (climbing stairs, fast walk, etc). It monitors you at night and determines you resting heart rate (most accurate time). It measures distance and steps you travel each day. If you do stairs, it tracks floors climbed (all automatically). You can set goals to met and it will let you know if you meet them. The software also monitors water intake, but you have to put that in manually. You can also manually put in your weight each day to track it or buy the fitbit scale (aria) that transmits it automatically.

It is good to use if you have a workout "buddy" and can challenge them. It will send your challenge to them and monitor and decide the winner. My wife got one a couple years ago and she never could keep a workout routine before, but a friend challenges her and she has does a fast 70 minutes each day on the treadmill. Started at a slow 20.

I recently got one as a gift...and although I never really though I would appreciate/wear it...I do and really like it.

[recycled sixtie]

Have had the Fitbit Flex less than 24 hours and so far I like it. It is particularly helpful for tracking walking/running. I also like it for sleep. According to research it can overestimate sleep by as much as 67 minutes. For a sale price of $100 Can it is a good incentive to keep up 10,000 steps a day. Well I like it so much I bought the company, 200 shares on broker recommendations.

[widebody911]

I bought my wife a Charge HR a coupe of years ago, but screwed up and got a large instead of a small. I ended up keeping the large and getting a new small for her.

It was fun for a while, but I had questions about the accuracy,particularly with stairs. I would register 50-70 flights of stairs just on my drive to work. Then I would actually climb 4 flights of stairs and it registered bupkiss. I could watch it count steps and stairs while I was sitting down and talking. The sleep tracking functionality seemed cool but again, I question the accuracy.

Several months ago I gave up and just didn't bother wearing it any more. A short time after that, my wife's unit just died with a black/white bar. She contacted support and was informed that it was dead and out of warranty; they offered her a small discount on a new one. A search of the forums revealed that this is common. I am just cynical enough to believe this is a forced-obsolescence plan. She declined to take them up on their offer. A couple weeks ago I was cleaning up some stuff, and there was my fitbit plugged into a multi-charger. I took it off the charger, and sure enough, it was bricked. I wasn't even USING the damn thing and it died.

I also bought one of their Aria scales not long after I bought the watches. The feature I liked was it automatically uploads your weight data into your account, making it easier to track. A few months later I upgraded our router, and the scale no longer works. It seems they're using an antiquated wifi chipset which only support 802.11b; if you have a newer router, you either open it up to the old protocol or you're SOL - that's the official FitBit response.

So, long story short, I want nothing further to do with FitBit other than to watch them crumble into a pile of dotcom dust.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by recycled sixtie

Have had the Fitbit Flex less than 24 hours and so far I like it. It is particularly helpful for tracking walking/running. I also like it for sleep. According to research it can overestimate sleep by as much as 67 minutes. For a sale price of $100 Can it is a good incentive to keep up 10,000 steps a day. Well I like it so much I bought the company, 200 shares on broker recommendations.

https://www.google.com/search?q=fitbit+stock&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

[recycled sixtie]

Yes I agree the Fitbit stock has tanked. I sold my stock for a loss last year but I think the concept is good.

My fitbit battery failed a few days before the year warranty expired and they sent me a new one. I have achieved the Italy badge over a year and a half so the fitbit is a good incentive to get more exercise, more sleep etc.

I am sorry your experience has not been so good.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by red-beard

#1 - Most need a phone to connect, what kind of smart phone do you have?

Why would anyone willingly upload personal medical data onto the internet?
You think data-mining insurance companies are asleep?

Twenty years ago half of society didn't know what 'the internet' was.
Now the cultural push is like a virtual tidal wave.
Stop for a while.
Smell the flowers.
Ask yourself if this is normal behavior. What is your line in the sand.

[Brando]

Also chiming in late. I had a FitBit Charge HR from 2015-2016, but stopped wearing it due to my arm starting to get a little rash underneath. It turns out that some people can develop an allergy to the wristband material over time. I cleaned mine regularly to prevent dead skin/bacteria buildup but it didn't help.

Second issue was when traveling, it would register steps and not sync. At some point they changed their application to require your device location to update/sync. Very frustrating as I leave GPS/Bluetooth/WiFi off unless I need it. Their app wants to be connected and on GPS at all times.

So was it bad? No, it helped me be more conscious of what I ate and how active I was. For most people they wear it care-free and barely use the features available.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by motion

I'm gonna disagree with you poo-pooers. My wife and I got Flexes for Christmas. We've been stuck in a car driving for a few days, so we don't get the chance to walk enough to meet our goals of 10,000 steps per day, but the bands serve a very useful purpose: They are a constant 'lifestyle reminder'. When you wear them, you are constantly reminded that it is 'important' to you to be active and work towards better fitness. If you aren't at the gym daily, you really do need something to remind you, IMO. They work great for that purpose.

I would like to reproduce motion's response here from December 2015. It may not suit everybody but if it prevents or reduces the chance of a heart attack or stroke then it has paid for itself many time over.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by Brando

At some point they changed their application to require your device location to update/sync. Very frustrating as I leave GPS/Bluetooth/WiFi off unless I need it. Their app wants to be connected and on GPS at all times.

This seems to be a growing trend.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/3629905/top-drone-manufacturer-threatens-to-brick-its-1-5k-copters-unless-owners-agree-to-share-their-details-online/

https://community.gopro.com/t5/GoPro-Apps-for-Mobile/mandatory-login-after-upgrade/td-p/15292

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Ironic thing- The people who I know who have fit bits can tell me how many footsteps they took yesterday, but they never really seem to be fit.

This would be like me (a p-car autocross novice) buying one of those gizmos that does lateral g's and hangs off the dashboard. At my level, my time and money would be much better spent in driving schools and just getting out and having fun.

EDIT- don't get me wrong- I think it is about finding something that works for you. In my experience in cycling gizmos, I've paid $megabucks for gizmos, and loved them. Although the batteries died a long time ago, the lessons they taught still are with me. What gets me is when I am riding with people who don't get the meaning of the data, for example, they might say"My HR is 160- what's yours?" I want to say... "totally irrelevant" but I don't because I don't want to come across as a smart a$$

[widebody911]

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/24/fitness-trackers-out-of-step-when-measuring-calories-research-shows

[Tidybuoy]

I have the FitBit Alta. I like this model because it's simple, small, and easy to charge (unlike the flex which has to be taken apart to charge).

Some people here think fitbits are a gimmick but in my case, I really like doing the challenges. This is where you make friends with other fitbit people (my family and co-workers) and then there are a variety of competitions. I have never walked so much as I am constantly trying to beat my co-workers. Just last night, I walked every isle of WalMart twice because I was close to winning the day. Yep, I won

[tdw28210]

Eff Fitbit and all the other Big brother technology providers.

DuckDuckgo + Firefox + eBlcokerPro + no location services is my small way of slowing down the rise of the terminators. ; )

[wdfifteen]

We like our fitbits. We both have Charge II now - small and light, but big enough to see. It has a lot of features but the ones I use the most:

watch - I don't get my phone out to see what time it is anymore

step counter - it really does help us get more exercise. Every evening it's "If we take another 20 minute walk we can get to 15,000 steps"

sleep logger - sleep is a real issue for me, and it's good to have real data about when I'm sound asleep. restless, and awake in order to make lifestyle adjustments to improve my sleep.

Tuesday I came in exhausted at dinner time. I had been busy all day, but had a sense that my fatigue didn't match my activity and I was concerned. I looked at the fitbit and breathed a sigh of relief - I was at nearly 22,000 steps and my norm is 15-18,000. I was tired for a good reason.

I like data, it's a lot easier for me to respond to data to make changes. When I was running I used heart rate and speed monitors to improve my form. The fitbit also provides data that I can use.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

I'm interested in a fitbit also.
Will it sync to a cheap Samsung android?

An up date, my wife asked for a flex for Christmas so I got her one at Target for less than $100.
She also got it mostly for sleep tracking but likes the step counter function, she likes it and seems to check it everyday.

My med insurance gave me cheap one that clips to your belt for free... I fiddled with it for a few weeks just to see how many steps I take a day at work (I don't wear a belt to bed )
It now sits on my desk with a low battery, I lost interest quickly, no biggie on a free item but I would be pissed if I had spent some money on it.

Don't most smart watches do the same functions?

[willtel]

My wife bought herself a Fitbit a few months ago and really likes it. She is always in a challenge with several of her coworkers and hasn't been beaten yet.

I noticed the results she was getting with hers so I picked up an Apple watch about a week ago and so far I really like it. I use my phone much less now to keep track of texts and email and think it is useful because it reminds me to keep active.

[WPOZZZ]

My gf's sister is visiting from Korea and was looking at Fitbits at Brookstone. They didn't have a Charge II to try on, so I bought her one at Sam's. She likes the size of the Charge II and as a bonus, it comes with an extra strap. She loves it!

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by willtel

My wife bought herself a Fitbit a few months ago and really likes it. She is always in a challenge with several of her coworkers and hasn't been beaten yet.

I noticed the results she was getting with hers so I picked up an Apple watch about a week ago and so far I really like it. I use my phone much less now to keep track of texts and email and think it is useful because it reminds me to keep active.

After some web searching I'm sold on the Samsung S3... does everything, steps, GPS, barometer, heat beat, text, phone, looks like an old school watch but dozens of digital watch faces, now I just need to find $350 to buy one.

The fitbit is cool if you like the modern look (I'm at work and wearing my Casio G-shock digital right now, my watch collection is a hodgepodge of modern Seiko divers plus a vintage Longines/Hamilton thrown in) I'm kind surprised my wife asked for one because she is pretty old fashioned.