Does anyone use a FitBit?

crescent

I was lucky enough to win a FitBit Charge in the Christmas raffle at work. I've not really had a chance to fiddle about with it yet but just wondered if anyone else uses one on here? I get the impression it is maybe not geared up for cycling although I could be wrong about that. Any thoughts or feedback on them?

pblakeney

I was considering an iWatch so I went for a ride wearing my normal watch seeing how convenient it was to look at.
It wasn't really. I decided against it.
I would stick to bar mounted units.

bendertherobot

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19767935#p19767935]Crescent[/url] wrote:

I was lucky enough to win a FitBit Charge in the Christmas raffle at work. I've not really had a chance to fiddle about with it yet but just wondered if anyone else uses one on here? I get the impression it is maybe not geared up for cycling although I could be wrong about that. Any thoughts or feedback on them?

It'll tell you how many steps you've done and how well you sleep. It will wake you up with a silent alarm. It has a good phone app. It will integrate with a calorie counting app. It's good.

It's not waterproof. Take it off before showering. It may mis interpret cycling for steps. It won't mis interpret cycling enough, arguably, to give a proper estimation of calories.

That said, neither does a Garmin really.

To be honest, if you won it, I'd keep it for the silent alarm option. Really useful feature.

crescent

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19767954#p19767954]bendertherobot[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19767935#p19767935]Crescent[/url] wrote:

I was lucky enough to win a FitBit Charge in the Christmas raffle at work. I've not really had a chance to fiddle about with it yet but just wondered if anyone else uses one on here? I get the impression it is maybe not geared up for cycling although I could be wrong about that. Any thoughts or feedback on them?

It'll tell you how many steps you've done and how well you sleep. It will wake you up with a silent alarm. It has a good phone app. It will integrate with a calorie counting app. It's good.

It's not waterproof. Take it off before showering. It may mis interpret cycling for steps. It won't mis interpret cycling enough, arguably, to give a proper estimation of calories.

That said, neither does a Garmin really.

To be honest, if you won it, I'd keep it for the silent alarm option. Really useful feature.

Thanks, a perfect summary, sounds like it was worth winning. Cheers.

ddraver

No...but the new Garmin equivalent caught my eye...

I ve been looking at these for a year or so now but never actually gone and got one

bendertherobot

The Garmin is waterproof and, to all intents, the same. Slightly better build quality and a nicer interface (touch swipe). The Mrs has the HR version and prefers it to her fitbit. The Garmin app used to be rubbish but is now much better.

They're tidy things. Vibrate when your phone rings etc, wake up with silent alarms, track your sleep, tell you how far you've walked. And tell the time.

If you can bag a good deal they're tidy.

VeloHunter

Had a Fitbit Charge HR for a while. The HR reading worked well enough but the data graphing within the app or website was poor, not very detailed. It didn't integrate with Strava either so you couldn't use the data as part of your training.

Anonymous

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19776098#p19776098]VeloHunter[/url] wrote:

Had a Fitbit Charge HR for a while. The HR reading worked well enough

Shame they are being sued in America for them being inaccurate and potentially dangerous.

bobmcstuff

That lawsuit seems to be related to using the HR for higher intensity workouts (if my googling is accurate), which fits in with DCRainmaker's review (that the HR works fine for day to day but is not so good during higher intensity workouts or cycling) http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/02/fitbit-charge-review.html#workout-tracking-with-heart-rate

So means it's still probably OK day to day but not much use for training for that reason (and for other reasons people have pointed out above).

bendertherobot

In the end, see other thread, I decided to get a Jawbone. Up2 from Currys. £39.

Does steps, sleep and has a very good app. Silent alarm (which is pretty much why I wanted it as I get up earlier than the Mrs) is very good.

veronese68

My Mrs was looking at getting one of these. Wasn't sure what to get as she didn't like the looks of the wrist ones and the clip on things might get forgotten. Went to Currys and were about to get a Jawbone, no display but looked nicer when we saw the Withings Activite thing. Looks like a normal watch so she was happy with that. Does steps, silent alarm and stuff. All connects via Bluetooth and the battery lasts 8 months rather than being a rechargeable. Seems ok so far, but we only got it yesterday.

ddraver

Have to say the main thing putting me off one of these is the Samsung Gear 2 which looks fantastic!

chris_bass

If it is just the activity tracking you want, I have this app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.fitness

seems to do pretty much the same thing as long as you have your phone on you most of the time.

lostboysaint

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19777427#p19777427]Chris Bass[/url] wrote:

If it is just the activity tracking you want, I have this app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.fitness

seems to do pretty much the same thing as long as you have your phone and a charger/plug or an Veho Prebble/remote charge source on you most of the time.

Corrected for accuracy

chris_bass

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19777442#p19777442]lostboysaint[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19777427#p19777427]Chris Bass[/url] wrote:

If it is just the activity tracking you want, I have this app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.fitness

seems to do pretty much the same thing as long as you have your phone and a charger/plug or an Veho Prebble/remote charge source on you most of the time.

Corrected for accuracy

it doesn't seem to affect battery life on my phone much, it just runs in the background so doesn't keep the screen on or anything

ddraver

I use that too, but all I really need is an HR measurement for when I go on short runs. There seem to be really few apps that work with the ANT+ on my Samsung Phone

chris_bass

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19778047#p19778047]ddraver[/url] wrote:

I use that too, but all I really need is an HR measurement for when I go on short runs. There seem to be really few apps that work with the ANT+ on my Samsung Phone

I picked up a cheap bluetooth heart rate monitor from Aldi (was £9.99 i think) and it works with the runtastic app which is pretty good.

bobmcstuff

Wahoo make a Bluetooth HRM that works with e.g., Strava I believe? I think it's much more expensive than the aforementioned Aldi monitor though.

I just bought a Fitbit Zip because I got a new phone which doesn't allow the Fitbit app to access the pedometer functionality, and I've got used to having it all in the same place (we also have an Aria scale at home). Should actually be better so long as I remember to keep wearing the thing during the day - should mean I don't pick up loads of spurious steps from cycling.

moscowflyer

My wife has a FitBit HR Charge. I wore it yesterday alongside my Garmin HR strap and the FitBit was well out, I could tell that just from feeling my pulse before I even tried the Garmin strap.

stu-bim

I have a garmin vivosmart HR and love it. HR is not perfect when training in gym, drops sometimes, but overall from looking at the HR graph compared to how it felt, it is correct. It does drop HR rate if it is loose but I use it on inside of my arm and up a bit and find it good. mostly crossfit/circuit training so active enough.

Tracks sleep very well and I have been getting an hour extra per night since I bought it. Didn't realise how little sleep I had been getting until it was being recorded and have made some changes which tbh I certainly feel a lot better from.

All day HRM is a real eye opener too. Better than i expected but certainly interesting and i expect a lot from that area over the next couple of years.

As stated, it does all the smart watch stuff which i did not expect and I like it. Good in meetings for a quick look at who's calling rather than pulling phone from pocket when on silent.

Logging all gym workouts easily to garmin along with cycling data is a real main reason.

Have used it cycling and it can be a bit finicky with arm changing positions which is a real pi$$er but based on everything else I have benefited from it was worth the money. Been on bike three times with it and each time I have brushed it into off.

If wanted for HRM only you will be surprised on the usefullness of the other functions.

A new firmware due imminently and if it can correct the HR broadcast being a little sensitive to switching off it could be an extremely good buy.

Right now it would be 4/5 and 3 of 4 for functions I didn't know I wanted. Cannot overstate the difference sleep tracking has made in last three months.

Disclaimer: I am a stats nerd.

stu-bim

Guess I am easily pleased

DC Rainmaker review

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2016/01/garmin-vivosmarthr-review.html

I guuess he knows his stuff a lot better than me

bendertherobot

He's the best out there in terms of reviewing tech. So I'd take what he says as being pretty accurate. And, the thing is, optical isn't presently as good, or say consistent, as other methods. Take it as an addition, rather than a USP.

I suspect the reason they haven't updated the Vivosmart yet is that people are getting the HR for its considerably better screen, and that would harm sales