Fitbits - Got one?

[killer_carlson]

I picked up a Fitbit Charge 2 last night at London Drugs. People at my office rave about them and they seem to be a good tool as part of a larger fitness strategy.

I'd like to hear some experiences with them, what they are good for, what they don't do well, etc.

How long do the charges actually last is my biggest question.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

I picked up a Fitbit Charge 2 last night at London Drugs. People at my office rave about them and they seem to be a good tool as part of a larger fitness strategy.

I'd like to hear some experiences with them, what they are good for, what they don't do well, etc.

How long do the charges actually last is my biggest question.

I picked my wife up the charge 2.

You're looking at between 6-7 days for a charge. You'll get a message saying your battery is low and that is basically telling you that you have between 24 and 36 hours of battery life left. In my experience it charges up from empty in about 3 hours.

I think you'll really like it, my wife has got a kick out of hers and has kept her motivated just by being able to effortlessly keep track of the different stats.

The app is nice for keeping track of other things as well, like water intake. I used to struggle to drink enough water through the day and the fitbit app has helped me track when and how I'm getting water so I can adjust as necessary during the work day for instance.

I have a chest strap heart monitor from a few years ago that I'll still use periodically, especially for things like boxing (where the wrist strap would be a hindrance) and they are pretty similar in terms of accuracy. The chest strap is more accurate but we're talking about 5 or so beats per minute during exertion, so not a huge deal for me whether my heart is at 125 or 130.

The big negative is the lack of water proofness. I haven't ruined mine yet but I am extra careful with it.

[Buff]

I have the Fitbit Flex. It was great for me at first. It kept me active throughout the day and was great for me to get my steps in and get some kind of exercise, especially when I was limited in my workouts due to a separated shoulder.

I would rather have the Charge, or some other model that can show me the time as well as my steps. The Flex just shows dots. If my goal is 10,000 steps, then one solid dot means I've reached 2,000 steps, two dots mean 4,000 and so on. I never know if I have 2001, or 3000 or maybe 3,999. It would be nice to have a more accurate reading without pulling out my phone.

Battery charge lasted 6 or 7 days at first but a year later I'm down to about 5 days of charge.

It doesn't give an accurate picture of your sleep but it is a good indicator of how much sleep you're getting. I have been exhausted lately and it shows that I have been getting 5, maybe 5.5 hours of sleep per night. That helps me to kick myself in the pants to get more sleep.

The Flex is water resistant. I can wear it in the shower, but I can't submerge it.

For a while I was able to resume workouts so I decided I only needed 8,000 steps per day so I can have time to get my regular workouts done. But I restrained my injury and had to go back to walking, but I couldn't get back into the routine immediately and went away for training for a week and that hampered my motivation to get back on track. So I haven't consistently been hitting my goal each day.

With the Fitbit you can add friends and challenge them. My wife and I and my best friend and his wife all have each other as Fitbit Friends, but we don't do the actual challenges, it helps to look and see what the others are doing, and try to keep up with or keep ahead of them.

I tried to do more steps in a week than my friend. I was getting 15,000 steps per day and I thought I had him. Then I looked at his progress at the end of the week and he beat me by 30,000 steps! I had to ask him how he does it... they were training for a marathon!

I did get over 27,000 steps one day. On Street Machine Weekend in Lethbridge everybody pulls out their lawnchairs and sit on the strip and watch the cool cars cruise all night long. Well, having the FitBit inspired me to be more active. I took the kids out and we sat for an hour, then I took them home and I walked back to the strip but I left the lawn-chair at home and I walked up and down the for four hours. Stopping to talk to people whenever I saw somebody I knew. I still got to see the cars, I got exercise while doing it, and I saw more friends than I normally would on that night.

[Resolute 14]

I like the step counting and do get more exercise because of it. But as you note, it has to be part of a larger fitness strategy. One thing that does help - if you stick with it - is the calorie counting on the website/app.

[BsFaninCGY]

I've had a Charge HR for about 2 years. First, I used it only as a step counter. It's great in that regard because there will be those days where you've been up 12 hours and barely have 2000 steps. You may not hit your 10,000 that day, but it will be eye opening and you might try and move a little more that night or try harder the next day.

Eventually I got sick of wearing it and it just sat on my bureau for a few months. Then my mom, who is fairly overweight, got one and was really excited about it. So I started wearing it again so we could compare steps and I could encourage her. She was a machine who would do laps in basement at night until she hit her 10,000. There was rarely a week that would go by where she didn't have the most steps that week. She wore it for 9 months in prepping for my brothers wedding, tracked her food, and looked great on the big day having lost 20+lbs.

Since then she has started to slack again, but my fiance asked for one for Christmas, so I got it for her and we both now use it regularly. We have our own wedding to look good for, and we're both competitive. I've added a few friends and colleagues to my friends list and find the weekly challenges very motivating.

I guess in short, if you're in any way competitive, add friends and challenge each other to daily and weekly challenges. Log your food if you have weight to lose as it's very eye opening how many calories you put in your body. Don't trust it's allowable calories however as it's very generous - find a calculator online and set your own daily caloric limit. It's a great little tool to keep things front of mind, but it can get stale if you don't have people to compare against and to talk with and support you.

[squiggs96]

Although it wasn't a fitbit, I bought a Garmin vivosmart HR. I liked the tracking of calories, steps, sleep, etc. What I didn't like was how the sensor on the back of the watch dug into the back of my wrist. I also prefer wearing dress watches, instead of fitness watches. I was not going to wear two watches.

[llwhiteoutll]

Found that it was good as a motivator, but not the best as a tool to lose weight or get in shape. Stopped using it after I started going to the gym regularly.

Properly tracking calories consumed and being honest when calculating things like BMR and BMI will do a lot more than any FitBit will.

[bradster57]

I like my Charge 2. My only (very minor) grievance is that the HR chart doesn't always update in my app. I have to close the app and reopen it for some reason and sometimes it will update- otherwise I'll have a big gap throughout the day.

Like I said, minor grievance.