The FastDay Forum

As posted on another thread 2014 will be the year I start focussing on fitness. First thoughts was purchasiing a fitbit and in replying to the thread "which fitbit to buy" it occurs to me....

In the spirit of my personal principle of "not following the masses" and trying all the alternatives, is there indeed an alternative? available in Australia?

I realise that forum members here seem quite hooked to the fitbit/fitnesspal solution but wondering if there is something else as good, cheaper, more expensive but better, more long lasting, or just works better.

I like to experiment with "newcomers on the market". I tend to be annoyed when one company just dominates the market so i like to support competitors.

If the answer is no, I shall pursue the fitbit approach but thought I'd ask

JR.

An excellent question JR. I've been thinking about this for the best part of a year and then I caved in and am now the proud owner of a fitbit one

My question is it all depends on what you want to use the thing for. Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, there isn't anything available on the market that does everything

I have a basic pedometer and a polar heart rate monitor. The pedometer clips onto your belt/pocket and is accurate and tells me how many steps ive walked, calories ive burned and the distance

The heart rate monitor has a strap with a sensor that you wear around your chest and it measure your heart rate and calculates calories burned. This is great when youre working out and sweaty, but it isn't practical to use all the time; the sensor needs to stay moist to conduct the electrical impulse for measuring the heart rate and this dries out if you're simply doing regular activities

The jury is out for me as to whether the fitbit is the best product but it seems to be good at measuring my overall daily activity. Granted, it doesn't give me heart rate, it won't tell me how many calories I used up cycling or doing yoga or pilates but it still has an advantage over the regular pedometer - it's discrete and small enough that you can clip it on and forget its there then have the satisfaction at the end of the day of knowing how many steps you've done, how many hours sleep you've had (and the quality) along with it acting as a food diary should you wish or connecting to other apps like myfitnesspal.

I dont know if this helps, I guess ask yourself what do you want your device to do and may be that will help guide your decision?

Good luck!

Thanks Jen

Cant believe you wrote about the heart monitoring functionality in your post, as just now as i was googling about this stuff to aid me in my research on choosing the best fitness monitoring device. I used to own a pedometer.. you know the $20 ones from the gym shops but only really used it once or twice.

I always thought the fitbit monitors heart rate .. otherwise isnt it just a glorified pedometer with synchronisation with mobile apps (sorry, Fitbit enthusiasts)

About half an hour ago i stumbled on the Basics B1 band which has a heart rate monitor. Maybe it doesnt do all the functions of the Fitbit tracking but if im going to do High intensity training then i want to know im not exceeding some critical heart rate threshold or that i can see im actually still ticking lol
The body IQ technolog is only new (November) but it always did the heart monitoring

http://www.mybasis.com/
https://store.mybasis.com/

thoughts?

But please still keep the reviews of any Fitbit alternatives coming. I'm gathering some posts on various sites which have indeed covered the topic later, just dont want to pre-empt the discussion and skew my research

I know that many of you love your fitbits to death, so its like asking you guys to switch religions but for the sake of a balanced look at things before i spend hard earned cash tell me what you think.

[Tracieknits]

Fitbit is the third pedometer I have tried - but the first one I have stuck with. Maybe it's just that I was really really ready to do it this time. Maybe it's the fact it was $100 that made me not want to throw away my "investment" by ignoring it. I don't know.

My first pedometer was a free one that a local hospital was giving away. I hardly even tried it out.

My second pedometer was an inexpensive one that synced to a poorly written app. It didn't have all of the features of fitbit, such as tracking floors, etc. I Used it for a few days, but just didn't get into it.

Now Fitbit's software really works nicely with my OCD. I like the boxes you can move around and organize. I like that you can journal, and you can add a note to every meal. I like that my husband and I are linked as friends and can see each other's progress through the day. I like how well the iPhone app works. It's a perfect fit for me, and my constellation of quirks. I have been using it faithfully every day, and "feeding the fitbit" definitely has become part of my life.


I highly recommend it. Based on my oh-so-scientific method outlined above

And yes, it's just a glorified, expensive pedometer with fun apps. Most likely very overpriced. But there's a chance that the $$$ I spent on it made me value it that much more. Humans are funny, aren't they. They don't necessarily value what they get for free.

I bought a Jawbone UP a couple of months ago. I wanted a FitBit Force but there is no date for release in the UK just yet. Jawbone UP has had mixed reviews on some sites but I absolutely love mine and it has been very reliable. My fitness has improved immeasurably since I had it.

It calculates steps accurately, allows you to log your gym workouts separately (and also which type), and monitors your sleep. The latter alone was worth it as it has helped me to focus more on getting better quality deep sleep as I had been struggling. It syncs to an app - that's the downside - you have to plug it into connect your smartphone to see what you have been doing. However that is no big deal - the data upload is seconds and after a while, you get to know yourself whether you are hitting your goals. It also connects to myfitness pal. Battery life is about a week and the re-charge time is really quick.

I also wanted something with a heart rate monitor too, but didn't find anything really, so I have the cheapest polar heart rate monitor for the gym, but to be honest I don't really use it anymore.

JulianaRivers - the Basis band is the kind of thing that makes more sense, does everything, measures heart rate, steps etc. I did a quick google search for reviews and those on Amazon gave it on average 3 stars out of 5.

Another strapless HR monitor is the MIO alpha at the same price point, but again it's not great (based on amazon buyer reviews)

http://www.runnersworld.com/electronics ... te-monitor

It sounds like you need something with HR functionality for cardio, and for that I don't think the fitbit will fit the bill. Unfortunately, until such times that there is a good strapless monitor, you're stuck with one that does have a strap. May be for the price of the Basis 1 you can get a basic Polar and a basic fitbit? The simple £20 pedometer you had may not have been the most accurate

For me, I find all my gadgets motivating - what I love about the pedometer (I have a basic omron model) and more so the fitbit is that you can download your daily charts to your computer and track progress overtime. The more advanced polar allow you to do that (there are other HR monitors but I've only ever owned polar, I find them reliable and relatively simple to use)

Keep looking, technology is definitely improving and I'm sure all manufacturers are looking to develop that one product that does everything (like they've managed to do with smart phones)

Keep sharing anything else you find - my fitbit can still be returned

[Betsysgr8]

With Fitbit you can log other activities bike riding, yoga, driving, etc. and it will calculate calories for you or you can customize an activity and enter in the time of day you started and length of time and enter calories burned.

Like Rawkaren, I too have a Jawbone Up. I also bought it last August because the Fitbit Flex was out of stock. I absolutely love it. I started 5:2 very soon after and credit the Up band for my success to date (approx. 18 lb. lost). I track all my calories even on feed days. You have to manually plug it into your phone to update the data rather than have it sent wirelessly but I don't mind that at all as I always have my phone with me. It means it has a longer battery life than the Fitbit.
It has taught me some things about myself - I actually sleep more and better than I thought; 10000 steps is A LOT of walking; alcohol has a lot of calories
It connects with a number of apps as Rawkaren has said including my new Withings scale.
Like I said, I love it but there are other options including the new Fitbit Force. I don't know anyone with other bands - I guess I don't hang with the "fitness" crowd.

I think these bands/devices are great tools for weight-loss and fitness in that they force you to be mindful of what you are (or aren't) doing, putting in your mouth, etc..
Good luck in your search/decision!

With Fitbit you can log other activities bike riding, yoga, driving, etc. and it will calculate calories for you or you can customize an activity and enter in the time of day you started and length of time and enter calories burned.

Good point Betsy though you still need something to calculate the calories burned during those activities unless you use the generic calculator in some of the food diaries which may be accurate enough?

[Betsysgr8]

With Fitbit you can log other activities bike riding, yoga, driving, etc. and it will calculate calories for you or you can customize an activity and enter in the time of day you started and length of time and enter calories burned.

Good point Betsy though you still need something to calculate the calories burned during those activities unless you use the generic calculator in some of the food diaries which may be accurate enough?

Jenny, alot of the activities are already programmed in the logs for you to choose the best fit. Just start to type in the sort of activity you were doing and then select and put in the start time and duration. When I typed in driving I was given alot of different choices with different scenarios/vehicles. I typed in yoga and there were several different options depending on type of yoga.

[Tracieknits]

Fitbit also knows your weight and height, which is used to adjust the calorie burn for the other activities.

Fitbit also knows your weight and height, which is used to adjust the calorie burn for the other activities.

Has anyone checked how accurate this is? I know gym machines (ellipticals, bikes, running machines) aren't accurate at all

Thanks

I traded up from the Fitbit Zip to the One, I love the extra option to count "floors" but I thought the Sleep Tracker would be more sophisticated than it is.
Basically you set the timer going when you go to bed and stop it when you wake up. I expected something more like the iPod Sleep Cycle app, which monitors the amount of time spent in different depths of sleep. I can see myself using the silent alarm function in some circumstances though.

Having said all that I still like the fact that Fitbit syncs so easily with other things - MFP and various GPS running trackers.

I've wondered about their accuracy too. There does seem to be quite a variation between these gadgets, although I understand you can calibrate them, or some of them.

I have a Polar HRM, because my main priority initially was safety, above all else. I admit I am sceptical about the number of calories a machine suggests I've used in any given exercise, so as a motivator, a simple pedometer would probably suit me. However, I am curious about the sleep monitoring. How does it work, and how might it help improve sleep? That is something I really, really struggle with, and poor quality or lack of sleep plays such an important part in our health, doesn't it? Would love to hear from @rawkaren and others who have seen an improvement in sleep. That I would happily pay a good chunk of money for

Hi @izzy. The punchline is that the data it generates enables you to become your own detective on improving your sleep patterns.

You set the UP to sleep mode before you go off to sleep and then reset it to active again when you get up in the morning. It gives you data on:
How long it took you to get to sleep
How many hours light sleep
How many hours deep sleep
How many times you woke up
How long you were awake for
How long you were in bed for

It also tells you at what time these things happened

You can set a sleep goal (no of hours a night) so you can see your progress. The data it gave me back forced me to examine my routine and eating habits (I use it in conjunction with myfitnesspal). For example:
I seem to sleep longer and deeper better when I go to bed around 10.30pm, reinforcing the need for routine.
Drinking alcohol materially affects the quality of sleep. It reduces my deep sleep time by as much as one half.
I sleep better if I have a small late night snack like a few nuts (tryptophan)

Here is one of my better nights This was a fast day with just a plate of broccoli to eat which is high in tryptophan:


The trend reporting is good too, so you can monitor your progress over days, weeks and months

[Betsysgr8]

Karen beat me to it! Oh well here's my 2 bits worth as well.

@Izzy, I generally sleep really really well, that said, I have been able to see a correlation with the quality and length of time actually sleeping on days/nights when alcohol has been consumed in large quantities. I don't sleep as well or as long when I drink! From what I can see with the logs is that it seems to monitor your movements while you sleep and makes some assumptions on how much you move as being restless or wakeful and stillness as being asleep.

It can be useful in helping you get a more restful nights sleep if you are aware of conditions prior ie: did you have more caffiene? alcohol? food early or late? Exercise? and comparing what the monitoring states.

I used to have a slight concern because I generally only sleep 5-6 hours a night but once I saw that my quality of sleep is fantastic and I feel rested when I wake, I don't worry about it anymore.