Fitbits, Gear Fit, heart rate monitor watches, health apps..

[Bush]

Anyone use a wearable device like the Fitbit? Maybe even plain old phone apps used to track health? Do you like them?

I'm especially curious about the Samsung Gear Fit. No idea whether it's worth it. Seems much like the Fitbit but also with the ability to tell time. No idea.

 

[johnnyyukon]

I looked at Activity Trackers and pretty much discarded any that DIDN'T measure heart rate all day long. To me, that would be one of the most accurate data fields for analyzing your health throughout the day. Especially during sleep, I'd be interested to know.

The only ones I found were the Basis Carbon Steel Edition and, like you mentioned the Samsung Gear Fit.

At 200.00 bucks each, I opted to not get one. Maybe some day.

I do have the Forerunner 15 which has been awesome.

It's basically Garmin's new, affordable GPS wrist watch mostly for running and whatnot, but it has an optional chest heartrate monitor and footpod (for indoor).

But ALSO an Activity Tracker built in. It basically measures steps you take even without a footpod pedometer or GPS and calibrates based on past runs.

But I'm not wearing the damn chest strap while I sleep, haha. The rechargeable battery might run out over 8 hours anyway.

The activity tracker is pretty cool, because all you need to wear is the watch (which is shockingly small considering it has GPS) but again, I'm more interested in vital stats, not just activity. Great for when I'm up and moving around.

And it has a pretty good online activity viewer, where you can a lot more details (max HR, if you wore the monitor, and pace, speed, etc.)

Not really sure how the FitBit measure how well you sleep (I think there's one that DOES have a HR monitor but it's only active during sleep, can't remember).

I'd be interested as well to hear if anyone else has used these or any others.

 

[keto chameleon]

the garmin vivofit has the option of hrm with buying an additional strap which provides data over bluetooth as does the h7 when paired with the polar loop activity tracker. those were the two I was most interested in, although I have read through as many reviews as possible and it looks as though there is a fair amount of complaints about the bluetooth not syncing between the polar devices. there is also complaints about the vivofit and its calorie calculations which according to some customers seem to be too far off.
the rest of them including fitbit are inaccurate and wouldn't be worth the money imo.

what I did was get a pedometer app for my mobile phone called "footsteps" just over £1 it's supposedly pretty accurate although it only uses the phones accelerometer so it may have issues with accuracy, but considering how much cheaper it is i'm willing to compromise atleast until a very accurate more flawless option comes to market. it will help to, at the very least get you a ballpark figure, and for that price seems like the more favourable option. you can also get sleep monitoring apps for smartphones/iphones.

 

[Betty Blue]

Reviving this thread rather than begin a new one because i really want to talk about how amazing FitBit is. A special friend recommended it to me and I received the wrist device yesterday... super excited. I bought the Fitbit HR charge after reading lots and lots of reviews about various hr and fitness devices as decided this would best suit my needs. Having gone through a horrible horrible period where i first lost weight then gained a ridiculous amount due to thyroid function jumping up and down i thought it would be really good to have an all round s̶t̶a̶l̶k̶e̶r̶ monitor.

The app for fitbit is also really simple and easy to use and you can input your food data too, This allows (obs not foolproof) the pairing to come up with some very interesting results and data to sift through and will enable you to set goals based on exercise, weight, food consumption, steps taken etc. It also monitors sleep which is brilliant because it's something I have always had huge difficulty monitoring myself... especially sleep quality. A passive version of micro parenting, which you can just take off (more literally than when a teenager) when you want a beak from the expectations.

For example ... it was able to tell me i awoke 13 times last night... I know this is fairly accurate as i do remember being very restless and sitting up several times. It also monitors how many hours you sleep for. You can set gps tracking to follow you on your runs/walks too and it will also log this along with your calories burnt and heart rate during and distance travelled. Theres an easy display on your phone app or on a laptop it's more detailed...


I love it! I really don't mind the invasiveness of it either... I can always take it off.... plus I like the idea of being androidised... it's where things are heading anyway... just imagine in ten more years.... implants that will tell us everything about how to maintain optimal health internally too.... and in 20 years or 30 years? we may be able to change our mental and physical selves using personal devices ...awesome.

 

[ceecee]

Reviving this thread rather than begin a new one because i really want to talk about how amazing FitBit is. A special friend recommended it to me and I received the wrist device yesterday... super excited. I bought the Fitbit HR charge after reading lots and lots of reviews about various hr and fitness devices as decided this would best suit my needs. Having gone through a horrible horrible period where i first lost weight then gained a ridiculous amount due to thyroid function jumping up and down i thought it would be really good to have an all round s̶t̶a̶l̶k̶e̶r̶ monitor.

The app for fitbit is also really simple and easy to use and you can input your food data too, This allows (obs not foolproof) the pairing to come up with some very interesting results and data to sift through and will enable you to set goals based on exercise, weight, food consumption, steps taken etc. It also monitors sleep which is brilliant because it's something I have always had huge difficulty monitoring myself... especially sleep quality. A passive version of micro parenting, which you can just take off (more literally than when a teenager) when you want a beak from the expectations.

For example ... it was able to tell me i awoke 13 times last night... I know this is fairly accurate as i do remember being very restless and sitting up several times. It also monitors how many hours you sleep for. You can set gps tracking to follow you on your runs/walks too and it will also log this along with your calories burnt and heart rate during and distance travelled. Theres an easy display on your phone app or on a laptop it's more detailed...


I love it! I really don't mind the invasiveness of it either... I can always take it off.... plus I like the idea of being androidised... it's where things are heading anyway... just imagine in ten more years.... implants that will tell us everything about how to maintain optimal health internally too.... and in 20 years or 30 years? we may be able to change our mental and physical selves using personal devices ...awesome.

Great review. I got my husband one for his birthday and he wears it to run but, he started wearing it to bed in the last week or so. He loves that alarm that only wakes him but now he sees how often he is waking too (I knew it was at least couple times a night). He's still getting use to all the other things it does but it was definitely a good gift for him.

 

[Betty Blue]

Great review. I got my husband one for his birthday and he wears it to run but, he started wearing it to bed in the last week or so. He loves that alarm that only wakes him but now he sees how often he is waking too (I knew it was at least couple times a night). He's still getting use to all the other things it does but it was definitely a good gift for him.

It's awesome for tracking sleep. It does note 'restlessness' and separate it from waking up but i definitely remember waking up so i'm not sure how accurate it's differentiating between the two is... I imagine temporary wake ups are subtle enough to creep under the restlessness blanket.

Another thing which is super amazing (and also possibly a little creepy) is that it can track your runs/walks etc gps wise and store the data... so when I went for a good mile or so fast walk to meet friends for breakfast, if he wanted to, my husband could have tracked me all the way there...quite specifically too.

It reminds me of the whole possible danger with finding pokemon & pokey battles with gps...my son is so excited about those (he's 15 haha)

 

[miss fortune]

I have a fitbit charge (no HR function) that I wear as a watch to work all of the time. I mostly wear it out of morbid curiosity as to how much I walk at work every day (sometimes upwards of 20 miles and over 25 flights of stairs!) and because I need to know what time it is as well. I have worn it at night a good bit just to compare how I sleep to how the man sleeps (he wakes up all of the time, but sleeps something like 8 or 9 hours a night, while I sleep like a dead thing, but only sleep around 5 hours at most).

It's convenient and keeps me amused, which is more than I can say for most gadgets other than my cell phone or computer that I own

 

[senza tema]

Reviving this thread rather than begin a new one because i really want to talk about how amazing FitBit is. A special friend recommended it to me and I received the wrist device yesterday... super excited. I bought the Fitbit HR charge after reading lots and lots of reviews about various hr and fitness devices as decided this would best suit my needs. Having gone through a horrible horrible period where i first lost weight then gained a ridiculous amount due to thyroid function jumping up and down i thought it would be really good to have an all round s̶t̶a̶l̶k̶e̶r̶ monitor.

The app for fitbit is also really simple and easy to use and you can input your food data too, This allows (obs not foolproof) the pairing to come up with some very interesting results and data to sift through and will enable you to set goals based on exercise, weight, food consumption, steps taken etc. It also monitors sleep which is brilliant because it's something I have always had huge difficulty monitoring myself... especially sleep quality. A passive version of micro parenting, which you can just take off (more literally than when a teenager) when you want a beak from the expectations.

For example ... it was able to tell me i awoke 13 times last night... I know this is fairly accurate as i do remember being very restless and sitting up several times. It also monitors how many hours you sleep for. You can set gps tracking to follow you on your runs/walks too and it will also log this along with your calories burnt and heart rate during and distance travelled. Theres an easy display on your phone app or on a laptop it's more detailed...


I love it! I really don't mind the invasiveness of it either... I can always take it off.... plus I like the idea of being androidised... it's where things are heading anyway... just imagine in ten more years.... implants that will tell us everything about how to maintain optimal health internally too.... and in 20 years or 30 years? we may be able to change our mental and physical selves using personal devices ...awesome.

want.

 

[Betty Blue]

So far the restlessness/waking episodes are fairly regular but no actual pattern. The one thing I can say is that out of the 4/5? nights there seems to be an unbroken period of around 4 hours each night... which I suppose is a good sleep cycle... also note how low my heart rate drops when I am asleep... around 50bpm... the healthier lifestyle does have perks. I'm frustrated because I had a tooth extraction and not allowed to do any vigorous exercise for a week.. but am going to slightly bend the rules and do a semi work out tomorrow (4 days after)... been trying to keep up with exercise with lots of extra walking. Tbh i have set a weight goal according to calorie input and output...(awesome device!) and most days I am under the amount in imput target... so the 'diet forward slash exercise' routine is def achievable. Have lost a stone (not in the last four days lol-approx a kilo a week for a couple of months)... my mini robot friend really helps me keep an eye on my goals and i find it's presence reassuring...

 

[Hawthorne]

I'm most fond of the multiple alarms. Keeps me from losing time.

The pedometer and calorie tracking is useful but if that's the only thing you want to use it for, there are cheaper alternatives.

Oh! And the sleep tracking! That was a bonus. Helped prove some suspicions I had about my restlessness.

Considering how cheap I got it (almost half price on eBay), having something provide concrete evidence of my dubious health habits was worth it. It autosyncs and packages everything up very nicely for you.

 

[ceecee]

This is such a great thread. I had no idea it did as much as it does and my ENFJ is figuring out more and more. I should have bought one for myself when I got his.

 

[Betty Blue]

I'm most fond of the multiple alarms. Keeps me from losing time.

The pedometer and calorie tracking is useful but if that's the only thing you want to use it for, there are cheaper alternatives.

Oh! And the sleep tracking! That was a bonus. Helped prove some suspicions I had about my restlessness.

Considering how cheap I got it (almost half price on eBay), having something provide concrete evidence of my dubious health habits was worth it. It autosyncs and packages everything up very nicely for you.

Out of curiosity what are you restlessness periods like? So far-less than two weeks-I tend to be restless 10-15 times a night for between 1-3 mins each with several waking moments too. Averages at 30 mins of restlessness each night and it has recorded some of the wake ups too, some it has just recorded wakes as restlessness though so it's not perfect.

 

[Hawthorne]

Out of curiosity what are you restlessness periods like? So far-less than two weeks-I tend to be restless 10-15 times a night for between 1-3 mins each with several waking moments too. Averages at 30 mins of restlessness each night and it has recorded some of the wake ups too, some it has just recorded wakes as restlessness though so it's not perfect.

My dash says that on average, I am restless ~11 times when I do sleep. Each lasting between 3-5 minutes and varying between ~1.5 hours and 30 minute increments. I'm guessing part of that (the 1.5) includes REM cycles.

But really, my average is misleading. Some nights I have wake/restlessness every 15 minutes (30+ awake/restless) while others are pure blue with only 2-3 spikes early on. They consistently only last a few minutes though.

I read that it determines wake/restless based on the vigrousness of movement and you can set it to be more or less sensitive somewhere in the dash. Stretching out might register as restless and turning over as awake, for example.

 

[Hawthorne]

Tbh, the little "You need to get more rest!" alerts are kinda cute.

 

[Betty Blue]

Tbh, the little "You need to get more rest!" alerts are kinda cute.

Oh really? I don't get those! I have had pretty good sleep recently though around 7-7.5 hours a night... not sure if that included the 'restlessness' though... probably gonna take a screenshot of my weekly reports for posterity and throw them in my blog

 

[Hawthorne]

Oh really? I don't get those! I have had pretty good sleep recently though around 7-7.5 hours a night... not sure if that included the 'restlessness' though... probably gonna take a screenshot of my weekly reports for posterity and throw them in my blog

You have to check the free reports. It gives a breakdown of your averages, compares it to people in the same demographic group, all whilst giving a little spiel on the importance of having healthy numbers. Mine has a lot of pinkish red text. If you're getting 7-7.5 consistently, you'll likely have less of it.

 

[evilrubberduckie]

wait...

there is a device out there that KNOWS when you wake up?

and HOW MANY TIMES.

I FEEL SO OUT OF THE LOOP.

I NEED THIS GODLY OBJECT.

Just for it to tell me that Im a good sleeper.

>w>

<w<

 

[Betty Blue]

You have to check the free reports. It gives a breakdown of your averages, compares it to people in the same demographic group, all whilst giving a little spiel on the importance of having healthy numbers. Mine has a lot of pinkish red text. If you're getting 7-7.5 consistently, you'll likely have less of it.

Yah my recent sleep patterns are likely to be a tad misleading since I have periods where i sleep 4-6 hours a night ...well what i mean is i go to bed for that period... I do not yet know my 'restlessness/awake' spates with that. I am definately in a good sleep pattern at the moment though... but yes totally up for seeing comparative demographics!!!!! Where do i find those? on the webpage? I have had some badges and a weekly report (just of own stats) sent to me via email. Some of the badges are pretty funny and or patronising... 'Well done you walked your first 5,000 steps in a day!' lol i wrecked the flights of stairs thing today as I walked up all the escalators on the tube and took the underground emergency steps which is quite a few flights... ended up racking 43 flights of stairs which was pretty cool.

Also....YES [MENTION=25694]evilrubberduckie[/MENTION] .... it really does exist.... you must endeavour to procure one... they are super awesome sauce.

 

[Betty Blue]

Am actually buying my husband one for xmas and possibly my mother too as she has a heart condition and it will be a great way to monitor her heart and get her to take it easy when necessary!

I'm still in love with mine... had not such a great week this last week but still a deficit of over 3000 calories for the week so still loosing weight. back to 5000 deficit per week again now. woop. I'm nearly half way to my goal.

 

[senza tema]

[MENTION=9160]HelenOfTroy[/MENTION]

I got a fit bit today! So far, it seems really cool ... especially at enabling my habit of checking my heart rate compulsively.