<p>I’m considering getting my husband a FitBit for Christmas. I think he would enjoy tracking his progress etc, but I’m not sure I can handle him focusing on himself more than he already does. May as well be honest.</p>
<p>Anyway, I will probably go ahead with it, but I’m not sure he would wear the wristband and I’m afraid the clip on things would end up in the wash. </p>
<p>Are they accurate, do they work??? I’m paticular interested in the sleep function because he probably has sleep apnea but he won’t do the test.</p>
<p>Anyone care to share their experiences with these?</p>
<p>I don’t have one, but I have been doing a lot of reading on reviews, because I was considering it. The general consensus states that it is accurate when it comes to steps taken, and will give you an accurate distance/calories burned when you walk or run. However, when it isn’t so accurate if the person does any sort of other exercise, such as weight lifting or a spin class. So, it would be a useful tool for someone who runs as a main part of their workout routine - especially with the calorie counter. It is a pretty cool feature that it can track your sleep patterns - I haven’t seen any complaints regarding this part of it. </p>
<p>I’ve had my FitBit for about 3 years and love it.<br>
I started with the clip on, which tracks stair steps/hills as a separate function from footsteps. I loved that incentive to take the stairs instead of the elevator at work. After the first year or so I switched to the wristband and it is so much easier to keep track of - stays on for days between charges.<br>
I found the sleep function useless on the clip on. With the wristband its better because I sleep with it, the data is mildly interesting to me. It really only tracks when you get up and take steps though. So I am not sure it would tell you anything useful about sleep apnea - if he is just arousing and going back to sleep without getting out of bed.
The vibrating alarm on the wristband is amazing. I didn’t think I could possibly be woken by such a minor stimulus, but it works great, and I can set the alarm using the app on my phone, so I can set it for a short nap or customize it for early or later wake up as needed by my fluctuating work shifts.</p>
<p>I am obsessed with my fitbit flex (the wrist one). I find it very accurate both in steps and in sleep. And very motivational. If I had it to do over I would get the fitbit charge with the watch function and steps on the band (rather than light coded). I know best buy is having them on black Friday with all of them discounted to the next lowest level. for ecample you can get the charge for the price of the flex. </p>
<p>I have no experience with either of these, but the googled reviews seemed to intrigue me. Jawbone UP3 $179 and Basis Fitness Tracker $199. I think there is also one called Up Move which tracks fitness for $50</p>
<p>I love my FitBit. I bought one of the wrist ones for DH in Feb. He really liked it except it gave him a rash. He now has the clip on type and bought one for me. I find it has motivated me to walk a heck of a lot more than if I did not have it. I have counted steps and it compares well to what the fitbit tells me I have walked. Mine has gone through the wash once. Actually gave me credit for climbing 75 flights of stairs that day! It still works, but I would not recommend it. I try to remove it from my pants pocket at the same time I charge my phone each night. </p>
<p>I did a lot of research on this. I am a competitive runner and run with a Garmin GPS watch, so I did NOT want this device for running. I wanted it to motivate me to get my butt out of the chair at work (and home) when I wasn’t running! I determined that the best device out there is the Garmin Vivofit. It’s a wristband and comes in different colors. There is a good review on DCRainmaker, which you should always check for reviews of fitness related electronics of any kind. The Vivofit battery lasts about a year, so you don’t need to charge it like you do most of the others. The negative is that it does not vibrate and does not have a backlight- if you care about that. A red bar grows on the screen to alert you that you need to get up and walk. It has a sleep feature, but I don’t find it useful.</p>
<p>I do not believe any of these devices are particularly accurate in terms of mileage, but they do give you the step count, which is what I wanted. My daughter and son in law also got Vivofit and like it. </p>
<p>Order two of whatever so that you can trump your H’s talk about himself and make it about you too!!! </p>
<p>Most everything I’ve read - many personal reviews - shows preference and reliability AND less chance of loss (losing the device) with the wristband. </p>
<p>I have the Fitbit Flex (the wristband) and wear it all the time. I like that it tracks my sleep because I can see how restless I was and work on changing habits to improve that. I agree with TempeMom, though, and would get the one with the watch and the actual number of steps displayed.</p>
<p>After reading this thread, I went to Wikipedia to read about it. I think one of my sons would love this, but the watch istn’ out until sometime in 2015…too late for a christmas present unfortunately and will be $250…twice as much as the Flex.</p>
<p>I thought the charge was like $139 and available now? It’s on their website for $129 and like I said I think best buy has it for $99 on Friday (online too probably).</p>
<p>Putting in a plug for the Fit Bit One. I am on my third one in less than three years. The design of the first one was not great, causing it to crack and separate (I clipped the device on to my waistband instead of placing the device in its clip).
The revised design includes a much more streamlined clip and smaller monitor so that the two are not much larger than the original device was w/o its clip.</p>
<p>While I cannot swear to its accuracy, I think it is consistent in its inconsistency. By that I mean that it may only log my five mile walk as four miles, but it logs it the same way each day, so that I am aiming for same goal each day. I think the reason it under measures my exercise walk is the difference in stride lengths between indoor and outdoor walking. </p>
<p>I have never tried to log sleep and have never run it through the wash. </p>
<p>The company offers excellent customer service. They have replaced my clip for one unit, the dongle that goes in the back of the computer to retrieve data on the same model, and completely replaced a 13 month old version that stopped holding the battery charge.</p>
<p>My favorite features are all the data points: bar charts of steps or calories burned, pie charts of minutes of activity vs inactivity, and of course, the periodic emails sent upon attainment of a new level. Only comment about that is now that I have hit 200 flights in one day, I won’t receive another CONGRATS note until I hit 300 flights in one day, and that may never happen. (Vacation travels that included lots of hiking.)</p>
<p>I got a Fitbit One about 15 months ago, I love it. Sometimes when life is at a low activity level, I keep the dashboard open on my computer and check myself, other times, life is so busy I don’t even look at it for days, but then I can go back and see how I am doing.
My goal was to increase my baseline activity level & make that a habit.
Mine clips on, they did replace one clip that was cracking at the end of the first year & I wear it on my underwear, I virtually never take it off, moving it when I change clothes. Once in a while I forget, but usually I have it.
You can wear it at night and they say having it on your body not arm is more indicative of the realistic rousing, it tracks your rousing during the night & it can be a bit shocking to see how often you move, but I did find that the days I woke less refreshed seemed to match the nights with the most tossing and turning.
I have not tried any others so I cannot say how they work, but this has been quite motivational for me, I must have OCD tendencies because I really must get those 10k steps each day.
I like the counter for the flights of stairs, too.
It is a matter of personality, either the gadget and the knowledge are appealing and you stick with it or they are not your thing. I do hear of people quitting after a month and many who friended me on Fitbit.com have fallen away, at least from tracking</p>
<p>Well, I’d love to know how much people are really doing. I started out walking my dog over an hour a day so I’ve had to ramp up from there. My daily goal is 16,000 and I beat it or get close 6 of 7 days a week. But I can’t see getting too much higher in real life on a day to day basis. Best ever was about 22,000. I love checking in and seeing…oh that 2 hours I did nothing was sitting at my desk. Etc. </p>
<p>I like Vivofit because it has a display and I can always see my step count. I think some of the other devices do not have a display, so you have to look at your phone or computer.</p>
<p>I try for 8000-10000 steps a day not counting my running. I seem to do about 2000 steps a mile. During my work days I sometimes can’t hit 8000 steps. </p>
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