Started at the gym end of last year amongst other things and had a few people mention the Fitbit wristband.

After a bit of reading round they look quite interesting, anyone have one and if so are they worth it or are they a bit of a gimmick?

Quite active all day so would be interesting to see calories used etc along with sleep patterns.

Gimmick – Apparently painting a house using a roller fo a couple of hours equalled walking 26000 steps. Fell off whiles riding to work (which it couldn’t track) and I won’t be buying another one. Anyone want to buy just the empty small wristband and usb connector?

My mum does (present from me) and for her it makes sense. Just recovering from a course of chemo, mainly walking for exercise and interested in tracking steps/sleep quality. I wore it for a day (she struggled to get it set up so I did it and tested it before I handed it back) and it didn’t work as well for me particularly with cycling. She seems to like it now though.

Gimmick – Apparently painting a house using a roller fo a couple of hours equalled walking 26000 steps.

Are you actually that brain dead that you can’t see why perhaps a wrist based step counter would be confused by painting and give an overly high reading and would also struggle with cycling?

I was very interested in the new Fitbit Surge until I read the DC Rainmaker review, would have been good (for my inner geek) to track HR 24/7 and also use it for shorter training rides. The fact it doesn’t track HR well when exercising and you can’t export data is a massive miss!

Are you actually that brain dead

So having a barclays doesn’t really burn three mars bars worth of calories?

Got Mrs climbingkev a Garmin vivofit, she likes it, a little obsessed with the numbers, but that’s the point I guess. Gets used as the wee mans teething toy more than anything, the buckle is crap. If I were to get one it would be Garmin to fit with everything else. Prob Forerunner 15 which is also a GPS running type thing for an extra £15. I wouldn’t get an exclusive activity tracker personally.

Points to note:

Pushing a buggy/cycling = no exercise
If you’re going to use a hammer and bolster put it on the hammer hand!

So having a barclays doesn’t really burn three mars bars worth of calories?

It depends if you’re giving yourself a pokey bum one…

Mio fuse does steps and calories but also has heart rate monitor built in so no need for a chest strap.
Had mine just over a week and impressed with it. Doesn’t measure sleep but the HRM is more useful for me.
Also connects via Bluetooth and ANT+ so will work with your phone and or bike computer at the same time

Used mine for a month, it basically told me what I already knew if I’m not on the bike I don’t move enough, it now lives in a drawer. It also became a pain remembering to stop it recording whilst driving to save false readings. Better getting an app for the phone, or maybe the ant+ footpod for my Garmin, or a life.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/01/fitbit-surge-depth-review.html

It was the basic Fitbit I was looking at: http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber/9134630.htm?CMPID=GS001&_$ja=cgid:18091974685%7Ctsid:59156%7Ccid:189949525%7Clid:96720460285%7Cnw:g%7Ccrid:61293027325%7Crnd:15313672507672130391%7Cdvc:m%7Cadp:1o1%7Cbku:

Although I’m not convinced after reading the above. Are there any apps or better options?

Are there any apps or better options?

Probably. The problem is deciding *exactly* what you want the device to do, as all of them different strengths and weaknesses. Dcrainmaker has a pretty comprehensive comparison chart somewhere on his site.

I’ve been looking at the Fitbit Charge HR but can’t seem to find anyone who has them in stock. I want HR function on whichever one I end up buying.

Get a garmin forerunner

Pushing a buggy/cycling = no exercise

I have a Vivofit and though I can’t speak for pushing a buggy it definitely records steps while cycling (whether this is a good or bad thing is a matter of opinion). I find the Garmin Connect Challenges are a good spur to get me moving more.

the buckle is crap.

Garmin have been sending out Vivo Keeper’s to make the strap more secure (new Vivofit’s come with the Vivo Keeper). Get Your Vivokeeper here.

I’m considering a Basis Peak or the Fit Bit Charge.

I liked the look of the Tomtom fitness band, but it is said to only do 6 hours which is pointless.

Nice one Dibbs! Ordered.

Google Fit is pretty good as an App activity tracker. I never realised it was on my phone until it started congratulating me. Distinguishes between walking/running/cycling and is yet to register a car journey by mistake. Links with HRM app, fitness pal, runtastic etc if you’re into that.

Had a think about my original verdict and still think it’s a gimmick. Would be more accurate if you could wear it on your ankle. I will stick with Endomondo to track my activity as you can’t fool the GPS just by banging a drum.

I’ve got a Fitbug Orb which does pretty much the same as the Fitbit but cost £25 from Sainsburys.

It has the same issues in that it is basically a pedometer and has trouble calculting colories when cycling.

Sometimes wondered about these fitness bands, but could never justify getting one, but I’ve recently started checking the Health app on my phone. I’ve not put any personal data into it, and I’ve not got any device to feed extra data in either, but it’s been interesting checking steps/distance data at weekends. (The phone sits in a locker during work hours, sadly, I’d like to know my regular distance walked at work). Anyway, I checked today’s data (Sunday) and I walked 14.25Km, which I was rather pleased with.

Recently bought the new Fitbit HR (I got my order in before the 1st stock arrived in the UK).

The std one I felt didn’t do enough to warrant getting one as it doesn’t work on a bike but with the Heart rate monitoring I thought I’d give it a go.

Connects easily with the Fitbit app on my phone and the fitbit app connects nicely with the MyFitnessPal app so data entered in one translates across to the other in both directions so from that side it works well.

The sleep patterns seem to be quite accurate, terrible nights sleep on Saturday was obvious on the results.

Biggest issue I have is the steps accuracy. Go for a walk and it’s fine, climbing stairs is okay, it’s the add on steps that are an issue. I’m right handed and have it on my right wrist (as I wear a watch on the other) and it seems that certain things add a layer of inaccuracy. Shaving seems okay, but shaking a deodorant can before use added about 50 steps.
Switching the settings to dominant hand after the 1st day improved the results by reducing the sensitivity but I add a few hundred steps a day sitting working at my desk.
It seems to be adding about 5-10% which is slightly annoying, but that is the downside to a wrist based system I guess.

I did a short session on my exercise bike the other night as a trial with my normal heart rate monitor (one of the round the body strap ones) and they were pretty even when I compared the two.

I use the Fitbit pedometer. It’s small, clips onto the pocket of whatever trousers I’m wearing and does exactly what it’s supposed to do, count steps.

A few people at work have Fitbit wristbands, they do seem a bit unreliable. The people that have them are mostly chubsters, but if it encourages to move a bit more then it’s worth having.

Someone mentioned the Basis Peak. Bloke in my team wears one, I’d take the numbers it produces with a big pinch of salt. The lights on the back are for the HRM function, for this to work the watch needs to be very tight on the wrist and even then it only work 75% of the time. His walk to work is 15 minutes. Apparently he burns 150 calories on this walk, so 600 calories an hour, he never arrives drenched in sweat so I assume he’s walking. For me 600 calories is an hour of very sweaty spin bike or turbo. Using the watch he’s calculated that he needs 2800 calories a day, he’s put on a few pounds but can’t work out why.

Thta is what I worry about, shit data from them.

I like the idea of them, but I want good data from them.

if I’m not on the bike I don’t move enough

I got as fitbit and reckoned it was a bit of a gimmick – doesn’t record cycling and calries burnt are meaningless without a comparison to calories in.
BUT, the fitbit app interfaces with Strava. Record bike rides with Strava and the calories burnt are added to the fitbit app, although not to the fitbit itself, so bike rides done
Also, the myfitnesspal app can be used to record your food intake, again passing this info to the fitbit app recording calories in v calories out. myfitnesspal has a decent range of food and you can add more if you have the nutritional details
(Sunday morning out to breakfast was pretty scary).
So, it’s gimmicky unless you’re prepared to put some time and effort in but if you are, it’s pretty useful.
WRT accuracy, don’t realy know but it encourages you to move and watch what you eat, it’s no bad thing

I was bought one by my mrs for xmas. I was skeptical. I ride and climb quite a lot, neither of which are easily monitored by the fitbit. I manually add in the ride and climb durations and it tweaks the numbers accordingly . I still have doubts over the burn rates but I’m only playing with it not trying to take it seriously.

I have found it quite interesting to see roughly how much I eat versus how much I burn each day and using it I have lost some weight, 4/5 lbs.

Having used it for a few weeks my diet has changed a little bit and its a good guide / approximation on your intake/outs for a day. As long as you dont mind approximate measurements its good. The biggest downfall is it not tracking exercise that isnt ‘step’ based. I guess its aimed at the weight watchers crowd or people who dont regularly exercise like many of us do.