Activity & Fitness Trackers

Glen_Lee

Glen_Lee

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Curious as to your experiences with the likes of Fitbit or Garmin fitness trackers......In an attempt to motivate myself to be more active in general, and before spending good money on one - wondered if they help motivate, provide useful/reliable data and are the different features necessary? Are HR monitors useful as an example....

Richard
 
I think they're more a gimmick than a necessity. I use a bog standard step counter, which cost me £10. On the other hand, my wife wears a Fitbit all the time; however, it has proved to be less than reliable and she's on her third one in two years. I've had my step counter for four years and it hasn't let me down so far.
 
I bought a Blaze, the latest all singing dancing Fitbit
Only used it for a couple of weeks as I can't see the display :(
Its for sale at a price far below rrp, if you're interested send me a PM
One thing i will say is it depends on how active you actually are as to how useful they are, i only bought it for the weekly MTB ride and i'm not active enough IMHO
 
Been using my fitbit flex for about a year. I wear it every day. It has absolutely helped motivate me to walk more. I'm a numbers and charts kinda nerd and I like looking at trends and changes in my activity levels.
In the beginning I checked the data almost daily but after a while you can start to sense how much 10,000 steps are so nowadays I look at data monthly to make sure that I keep up a healthy dose of walking.
Its so easy these days to drive or take an uber or have food delivered instead of walking to the place. More than anything the fitbit has become a reminder for me to not be so lazy and suck it up and walk those blocks.
I went from walking 4-5000 steps a day during the work week to now averaging 10,000+ steps a day.
It has paid for itself many times over for me.
 
There's nothing better to clock those steps than the coffee grinder. :p
I find that my phone, which is on my belt all day, is reasonably accurate as a step/distance tracker. I compared it to a Garmin GPS watch with a step sensor attached to my shoe and the phone is within 5%. Good enough. Wrist worn trackers can't tell a vigorous run from the coffee grinder. At least not the ones I've tried. And I grind a lot of coffee.
My 15000+ step target (before I injured my foot) helped me to lose about 20 kilos last year. :D:D
 
Last edited:
riverrun said:
There's nothing better to clock those steps than the coffee grinder. :p
I find that my phone, which is on my belt all day, is reasonably accurate as a step/distance tracker. I compared it to a Garmin GPS watch with a step sensor attached to my shoe and the phone is within 5%. Good enough. Wrist worn trackers can't tell a vigorous run from the coffee grinder. At least not the ones I've tried. And I grind a lot of coffee.
My 15000+ step target (before I injured my foot) helped me to lose about 20 kilos last year. :D:D
Click to expand...
Like the sound of 20 kilos off :eek:
 
Glen_Lee said:
Like the sound of 20 kilos off :eek:
Click to expand...

If you really want to tech it up - and if you like looking at data and graphs for inspiration/motivation - you can go full out and also get a Fitbit Aria WiFi scale that automatically uploads your weight to the web so you can chart your weight loss progress as well on line.

You can obviously do the same, manually, with an old scale for 5 quid but this is if you're lazy like me and get motivated from looking at charts and stuff :)
 
I have a Garmin vivoactiv that I wear every day. Aside from being too big and inelegant, I think it's excellent. It certainly won't be completely accurate but I think that what is important is the trends that it shows. I use the step count to motivate (similar to Darkbulb) but it's true use to me is as a running and swimming tool: GPS, pacing, cadence etc are all useful features/analytics. The app software also links well with myfitnesspal, which is nice, as you begin to get a more holistic picture of your health and fitness once diet is considered in addition to exercise.
 
I use Runkeeper on my Android phone and couldn't give a Barry White about step counting. Distance in miles and the pace I manage is more important to me. Maps out where I've been and saves routes for later repetition/comparison. Free app and seems fairly accurate so job jobbed. I ain't buying something else when this works for me.
 
I have an apple watch, I have found that it has got me off my arse.
I like hitting my targets for the day, which is hard when all I do is sit in front of a computer all day. I have also linked the health app to my doctors and strava is linked to my health app also. I went for the apple watch so I dont have to have my phone in my pocket at work but needed access to my calls and texts
 
Huawei watch and Google nexus 6 running Google fit both are very good. Only issue is I swim a lot and neither are waterproof. The Huawei watch is pure class. Can be used easily as a fitness or dress watch.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 
I had a Fitbit Surge HR. It was great until the strap snapped at the body within a month of normal use. It also needed charged every few days. I found some of the information gathered by it interesting however it grossly over estimates calories burned throughout the day. I paid £150 for mine and got a full refund after it broke as I expected more from it.

I went a few months with nothing and decided to try a Mi Band. This cost less than £20 and provides mostly the same info as a Fitbit without the GPS or the Workout tracking. I've had it on since I got it and it hasn't required a charge in the last 2 weeks and I'm still at more than 50% battery. At the price it's well worth a punt should you wish to try a tracker without breaking the bank.
 
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