Fitbit

[vikicats]

Has anyone got a fitbit? I'm intrigued by them and wondered whether they are just a flash in the pan or worth having. I love a gadget. Any opinions?

Viki

[louby43 Graduate]

I have a Fit it. I've had it for a year now and I love it. I wear it everyday and clock about 7,000 steps a day on average - my goal is 10,000 and if I run I reach that easily. I do quite a bit of walking at the weekend too.

It's definitely made me move more. You can link Endomondo and My Fitness Pal to it so if you're trying to lose weight it all links in.

You can friend people through the website and get onto a leader board....some people must run to work as their numbers are amazing. It also tells you how many floors you've climbed and how many calories burnt.

£70 is pricey though - don't know how much they are now!

[OlsBean]

Quite a few of us I think now, there is a NHS C25K group over on the Fitbit community fitbit.com/group/22BW8W

I would not say they are a flash in the pan, it's been out for quite a while now in various forms, there is new wrist version hitting the UK soon called Force, with more features than the Flex but the Flex is good in my opinion and can now be picked up for a fairly reasonably price, I've had mine since last June and paid over a £100 for it but I picked one up for my wife in the Amazon Black Friday Deal for £42 in December and I saw they were also back on offer in the Amazon Jan Deals for £44 this week.

[johnnyseven Graduate]

I've had a Fitbit Flex for about 6 months and have used it constantly for logging activity. It appears to be quite accurate in terms of steps and distance when compared to GPS enabled apps. I particularly like the sleep tracking function because that is a bit of a problem area for me, and the silent alarm which means I can get up and go running without disturbing the mrs. Its definitely a motivational tool which makes me walk places instead of getting in the car. All in all a good gadget.

They are supposed to be releasing a new more wizzy version sometime this month. Its called the Fitbit Force IIRC

[deb54 Graduate]

I have one too and I love it. It is a good easy way of just monitoring how much you are doing and on run days it is easy, on other days I will go for a walk round the block when I realise that I have been on the couch. You get a nice lot of badges in the first few weeks and I was amazed when I got a 750km badge just after Christmas! I got it on my birthday so in 3 months I had walked or run 750k! My target is 10k steps a day averaged over a week and 50k + a week.

[PastyMan Graduate]

I've been counting steps for a few years and the FitBit is my favourite pedometer. I've got the Zip, which has the fewest functions, so it doesn't count sleep or stairs, but I'm very happy with it. It's very small! (I thought I lost it within a couple of weeks of getting it), but I'm in the habit of wearing it every day. Last year I clocked up 6 million steps so if you like setting targets for yourself then the FitBit is a handy gadget to have.

Like others here I linked it to MyFitnessPal for weight loss as I found the MFP app was far better for calorie counting. The advantage of the FitBit here is that it calculates how many calories you use up based on your height/weight/age and how active you have been in the day. This gives you the incentive of earning extra calories against your calorie target and still lose weight.

If you get one remember to sign up to the c25k FitBit group that OlsBean has linked to OlsBean led the way in December but I'll maybe run him closer in January

[OlsBean in reply to PastyMan]

I was doing extra in an attempt to offset the effects of all the festive goodies plus my wife has been buried in study for her MSc for the past month and I've been left to my own devices but her assignments are due in this week so I'm not sure I'll have the free time be able to keep through January! .... but we'll have to see

[gingernut49 Graduate]

I love my Fitbit Zip and wear it 24/7! I've only had it since August but clocked up 500 miles walking or running on 24th November!

The best tip - not wanting to venture out in the awful weather we've had - is that I've found the Lesley Sansone walking videos on YouTube. There are plenty and you power walk for between one and five miles in your living room! That means that instead of trying to make up my 10,000 steps by pacing around the room I can now put on the appropriate length video and off I go. All my stats on the dashboard have been green this week and I'm delighted!

[ajwyld Graduate]

My birthday is end February, so I'm planning to get a Fitbit Force (dh suggested a flex for my Christmas but after reading reviews I decided to wait for the Force. I assume some product marketing dude is in big trouble for failing to launch for Christmas).

[suzeq22]

I have a fitbit one which I love. I did lose it on a cruise ship a couple of months ago and emailed the company. They replaced it at no charge. It's very motivating but I want to upgrade to the force so I can wear it on my wrist!

[carol126]

Hi i have had a fitbit for a few years and am never without it. With all the graphs etc it does make you walk further to meet yout goals. i got the scales that sync with it for xmas. i would definitley recommend it x