How many people have a fitness tracker or smart watch?

I'm interested to know how many people here have either a fitness tracker or a smart watch. Also, I'm interested whether those that do have them wear them regularly or not. I was going to do a poll, but the options I'd like to cover would make it a bit cumbersome, so I'll just ask for responses.

Do you have a fitness tracker or smart watch?

Which one, or both?

Do you wear it or them regularly?

If you want to share, what kind?

Any thoughts about them, how well they suit your needs? Have they impacted your life much?

Also, if you don't have either, I'd like to hear that as well. Are you interested in one or not?

Thanks. Any feedback is welcome, whether it answers a particular posed question or not.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
I have - or had - a Fitbit that my wife bought me. It's still around somewhere, but I keep forgetting where I put it, because my daily routine makes it hard for me to recall where I need to keep it, to keep it charged.

That's a dumb excuse I know, but my main reason for wearing it is to track *sleep*, so taking it off at night is exactly what I don't want to do.

I also look at heart rate. Total steps are nice, and my wife uses hers to meet daily goals, but for me it's just a way of knowing what I did that day.
 

Pete

Repete
I'm interested to know how many people here have either a fitness tracker or a smart watch. Also, I'm interested whether those that do have them wear them regularly or not. I was going to do a poll, but the options I'd like to cover would make it a bit cumbersome, so I'll just ask for responses.

Do you have a fitness tracker or smart watch?

Which one, or both?

Do you wear it or them regularly?

If you want to share, what kind?

Any thoughts about them, how well they suit your needs? Have they impacted your life much?

Also, if you don't have either, I'd like to hear that as well. Are you interested in one or not?

Thanks. Any feedback is welcome, whether it answers a particular posed question or not.
Yes, I have a Fitbit Surge fitness tracker somewhat smart watch. You can read texts and see who is calling but that is about all it does as a smart watch.

Wear it everyday because it is a watch too.

It has, when you set up your fitbit account it gives your reasonable goals, steps, stairs, calories and so on. I find myself walking, taking the long way, parking farther away from stores and walking in to get my goal. I got mine 17 January and started using it planning on losing some weight and I am .4 of a pound away from 20 pound weight loss with 10 to go. I feel better, I eat better. The thing this does versus just using myfitnesspal or something similar is that it tracks heart rate and calculates your caloric burn continuously. you know what you have burned, you know what you are projected to burn so you can splurge a little eating or if you went over you can go for a walk or run to get back under. No guessing. I will stick with it logging food and so on because I can actually eat a fair amount when I am "maintaining" but it will hopefully keep me from gaining it back if I monitor.
 
Until I can get Android Pay on one, not going to bother.

Is the latest version not set up to allow that or has no one built a smart watch yet that implements it? The Samsung smart watches don't allow for it, or do they only allow for Samsung's pay platform?
 

hitchicken

Active Member
Fitbit Charge HR. Wear it 24/7 except to charge it and during showering (it's not waterproof). Love it. Works perfectly with a very old piece of Windows software, "Instant Weight Loss" by Fewers Tiers, Inc. Understand it works with My Fitness Pal, but haven't tried it. Lost over 50 lbs in 3 years using the old software. Had the Fitbit for about 8 months during which I lost 25 lbs of that 50. The Fitbit just makes the whole process of calorie counting so much easier. Cons: it occasionally loses sync with my cellphone app (I may be overloading my Bluetooth connections), but it recovers itself if I just leave it alone. Four stars out of five.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Is the latest version not set up to allow that or has no one built a smart watch yet that implements it? The Samsung smart watches don't allow for it, or do they only allow for Samsung's pay platform?

Not sure about the Samsung units, but as far as I know, that functionality hasn't been built into Android yet. Android Wear doesn't support NFC, which is required. Looks like a couple of watchs, one from LG and one from Sony have it, but nothing using Android Wear.
 
Not sure about the Samsung units, but as far as I know, that functionality hasn't been built into Android yet. Android Wear doesn't support NFC, which is required. Looks like a couple of watchs, one from LG and one from Sony have it, but nothing using Android Wear.

Gotcha. That surprises me a bit, I hadn't looked that carefully into Android Wear yet.
 

Midnightrider

Well-Known Member
i use my iphone, either mapmyride or strava, to track my exercise and i use a HRM (watch) with a good old analog strap. If i upgrade it will likely be to a strap that can feed right into my phone. I mostly cycle, so ev eventually i am looking at getting the iphone compatable sensors for cadence too. then i could track eveything from one app.

I have read, and heard from people who use them, that watch style HRMs aren't particlularly accurate if you work out hard. Also if you have AFIB they are likely to be less accurate if they work at all.
 

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
I have a fitbit one, been using it for a bit over a year now. I also use the sportstracker app for my phone to map my bike rides via GPS.

I compared the distance the fitbit tells me I walked with what the GPS reports and it is pretty close.

I thought the sleep monitoring part of the fitbit would be pretty cook but ive gotten up before to pee and the fitbit said I was only restless and not awake.

I got it as a gift, might not have bought it for myself but all in all I like it.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Monello got me a Fitbit One for Christmas and I wear it every day. It's a challenge to get my 10,000 steps in each day*, plus it's linked to My Fitness Pal so I can track my calories and nutrition along with my activity level. I like to monitor my sleep to confirm that yes, I do sleep like the dead.

The app is on my computer, my Galaxy phone, and my Kindle.









*Okay, fine, I just want to beat Pete.
 

littlelady

God bless the USA
No, Tilted, I don't own one, but my daughter and her hub do. Got them in 2014 for Christmas. They are definitely getting in their 10,000 steps a day by walking around, and soothing their newborn daughter. As far as sleep, their Bits show, they are not getting much! But, they love their Bits and would recommend to anyone!

And, if you walk the golf course when you play, I am sure you would get your 10,000 steps in, easily. :smile:
 
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No, Tilted, I don't own one, but my daughter and her hub do. Got them in 2014 for Christmas. They are definitely getting in their 10,000 steps a day by walking around, and soothing their newborn daughter. As far as sleep, their Bits show, they are not getting much! But, they love their Bits and would recommend to anyone!

And, if you walk the golf course when you play, I am sure you would get your 10,000 steps in, easily. :smile:

It's backward for me. I ride when I play golf, though I'm thinking about walking this year. That 6 or so hours (including before and after rounds, when I'm BSing with my golf buddies) is the least physically active time of my week, other than when I'm sleeping. I still manage to walk 3 or so miles a round, because I like to walk quite a bit between shots - the cart is mostly there to carry my bag. :smile: But that makes it a fairly inactive period as compared to the rest of the time.

And, yeah, I get in more than 10,000 steps per day. Over the last 10 months I've averaged about 43,000 per day, and that average would be higher over the last 5 months - probably over 50,000.
 

libertytyranny

Dream Stealer
I have a fitbit charge HR. I have access to a samsung watch and I hate it. its big, its heavy, and expensive for what amounts to little more than a way to read texts on the go. Thi charge HR is very interesting and the data it gives you on the app is helpful for a few different health related goals...especially when synced with my fitness pal. I wear mine at all times except when showering. My only issue is probably the battery life, which I fixed when I turned off the automatic syncing with the app. Now it lasts a solid 4 days, which is still less than advertised but more than the 2 days I was getting before.

I have noticed a few things. One, if you are taking steps, but have your hands say, on a cart, it wont register properly. Second, when there are weird atmosphere/weather changes it makes the altimeter wonky and you get credited for a bunch of stair flights you didnt take which can affect your cals for the day. Same with the HR monitor..Sometimes I get where my app says I spent 4 hours in "fat burning mode" via my HR monitor, but I don't believe that to be correct..and sometimes when I work out it doesn't read the monitor correctly. I have a polar and I will wear them at the same time some time for a workout and see the differences. I dont think it is a huge difference. So the accuracy is not always that great. However, in general I think it makes me move more, eat less and generally be more aware of what I am doing health wise.
 

littlelady

God bless the USA
It's backward for me. I ride when I play golf, though I'm thinking about walking this year. That 6 or so hours (including before and after rounds, when I'm BSing with my golf buddies) is the least physically active time of my week, other than when I'm sleeping. I still manage to walk 3 or so miles a round, because I like to walk quite a bit between shots - the cart is mostly there to carry my bag. :smile: But that makes it a fairly inactive period as compared to the rest of the time.

And, yeah, I get in more than 10,000 steps per day. Over the last 10 months I've averaged about 43,000 per day, and that average would be higher over the last 5 months - probably over 50,000.

Wow! That is great. I have a love for golf even though I don't play it. I come from a long line of golfers on the man side, starting with my great grandfather. I love the game, and love watching it. It is a precise, but frustrating sport. It doesn't get the credit it deserves. It is like playing pool, but on a bigger table. One of my best memories is going to the course in Lusby to accompany my son while he practiced. He was number one golfer in his time at Calvert HS. Yes, I rode in the cart, but should have walked. :smile:

What I most love about it is that it is the gentleman's game.
 
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