Fitness Trackers. Next default accessory?

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m-jeri

m-jeri

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Hi All.

For the last year or so, I started eating well and exercising. I monitored my calorie intake and burn rate religiously. Mainly used the applications available in my android smartphones. But for the last few months been planning to buy a dedicated fitness tracker. My issue is, its going to be the next item I need to carry after my watch, wallet, keys, rings. But still I am very much interested. And No!. I don't want a smart watch to do this and time. I love watches. I want it to be just that. I don't want to charge my watch every week or so. defeats the purpose. Since I am in US now, I see a lot of people with Fitbit Trackers in their wrist. I mean a LOT of people.

These are the few of the trackers that are or were in my list:

Item: Fitbit Flex - Activity Tracker and Sleep tracker.
Link: http://www.fitbit.com/flex
Cost: ~100USD
Pros: Battery life, Unassuming as it can be incognito, NFC( but then again, I dont pair my bluetooth headset with NFC to my phone with NFC.)
Cons: Too Common, No Display.

Item: Nike+ FuelBand SE - Activity Tracker and Sleep tracker.
Link: http://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/nikeplus-fuelband
Cost: Several deals from 100~150USD
Pros: Design
Cons: Pricier.

Item: Samsung Gear Fit.
Why: There is a why just for this item. I have a Note 3. With Samsung bloatware. So technically they may gel together.
Link: http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/wearable-tech/SM-R3500ZKAXAR
Cost: ~150USD
Pros: Design, Nice big screen, It gives phone notifications.
Cons: Battery life sucks, Not favorable reviews, Pricier.

Item: Garmin Vivofit
Link: http://sites.garmin.com/vivo/
Cost: ~170USD
Pros: For Fitness, heart rate monitor, Move bar!!!, Battery life
Cons: Exterior heart rate monitor, Negative feedback for strap, Pricier.

As you can see, this is a very short list. Just my pros and cons. If I am to buy today, right now, It will be the Garmin. It does what I want properly. Then again, I come to my first love. Nabu. Razer Nabu. That's the design I want. I want whatever Garmin does in that. :). Worthwhile to note will be the next iWatch. Rumor mill suggests all sorts of sensors in it.

So any of you have a fitness tracker? Worth it? Will you be willing to invest in one?

Thanks.
m-J
 
Can you please explain why would you like to invest in trackers ? I man how do they help a person to become more fit ? IMO the things you are already doing are enough to tread on the path of healthier lifestyle. Even if you buy trackers you will have to log your food, count calories and what not.
 
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I thought the item name itself is self descriptive. Unless you choose not to understand it.

As far as I knowing what your goals and how much you effort you are putting in is crucial or half the job. These trackers makes it easier to do that. Now don't say tracking is not important, just actions are. :). As a software engineer by trade. I know the importance of process, PLM/ALM tools. :). This for me is another tool.

I want to believe what I think is correct. Seeing this many products in market and growing user base talks for itself.
 
m-jeri said:
I thought the item name itself is self descriptive. Unless you choose not to understand it.

As far as I knowing what your goals and how much you effort you are putting in is crucial or half the job. These trackers makes it easier to do that. Now don't say tracking is not important, just actions are. :). As a software engineer by trade. I know the importance of process, PLM/ALM tools. :). This for me is another tool.

I want to believe what I think is correct. Seeing this many products in market and growing user base talks for itself.
Click to expand...

I didn't mean to state that what you believe is not true. I just wanted to understand your rationale behind your purchase.
This will help me to decide for myself. All the best for the same and do update this thread upon your purchase.
 
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m-jeri said:
Seeing this many products in market and growing user base talks for itself.
Click to expand...


Not a very sound technique to ascertain utility factor.
Many of the hokums have had a good run before going kaput/exposed.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...cking-tech-Fitbit-no-effective-pedometer.html

http://www.shape.com/blogs/working-it-out/your-fitness-tracker-lying

http://www.benefitspro.com/2014/04/24/fitness-trackers-work-best-with-incentives


I think the biggest contribution by these trackers is that they motivate a person to go for that extra mile (ie after making the lazy ones to get out of the bed initially)
A nice utility on the phone should do the trick. Even if riddled with inaccurate results, one has a program which ll initiate the session and a benchmark of sorts (where error % can be calculated later) .
 
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^^

The part of the post you didnt quote is the hokum for me.

If you have spend the time to go through the hokum i posted, In the first post itself. I have a Note 3 which have several apps. The Galaxy Fit was considered due to that. The results it gave was interesting to me.

The no of people that uses this DOES say a lot. It says how many people are finding the utility. As i also said before, soon more devices are joining in. From Google Wear camp and the iWatch. But they are also smart watch types.

Also I find the post very misdirecting. You started the post just to say that I am wrong and then continue, in the last para, on to say the exact same thing I said, in a different way. I don't find such post amusing.
 
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Like you said, they are interesting from a process point of view and I did consider them as well. They give you stats, give you an idea of a daily level of fitness you maintain and also track sleep cycles reasonably well. The problem is that for a lot of activities, the calories burnt counts are not accurate (especially for cardio) and that may give you a false impression of your burn rate. For biking or running or walking, currently a gps based app in your phone works better (because it gives you accurate distance and pace).

The next generation of fitness trackers should hopefully have better sensors (hrm, o2 levels, etc) and give us better calorie burn tracking.

If you do plan to buy one from this gen, skip the Nike. The product is EOL.
 
For a person who is not disciplined with regards to his body needs, I can see tremendous utility of such apps.
But to be honest, ultimately it is the person who has to take care of his needs like rest/sleep, exercise/physical activity, food/diet.

Such apps of course are extremely beneficial to someone who is suffering from disorders like diabetes, hypothyroidism etc where your body itself doesn't know how to signal to your your instinctive health indicators.
Since such disorders are on the rise (and I see no way of them coming down) - I can only be bullish about these.

Do I need one? No. Thankfully my hunger-diet-satiety-next day feeling feedback circuit works well enough to direct me about the food (non fibre making you constipated, low carbs and low fat affecting gym performance). Also on the long term if I am putting on fat (easily seen by waist measure - trouser fitting) it means the caloric intake has been higher than what my body requires.

My fatigue-rest-sleep-next day feeling circuit gives me enough feedback to let me know when I am abusing it (staying awake till 2 am, and then getting up at 8 am).
Of course the infrequent blood tests, ECG etc are there to take care of measuring the internal anomalies. Will this app replace such tests? Unless it does - I, speaking for myself only, do not see any value.
 
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Wrong data reporting. :). I tried using the Samsung app to measure the distance I ran one day. Phone said 1.6miles. Yet the distance put for the trail by govt is 1.23miles. :)
 
m-jeri said:
Wrong data reporting. :). I tried using the Samsung app to measure the distance I ran one day. Phone said 1.6miles. Yet the distance put for the trail by govt is 1.23miles. :)
Click to expand...

That is odd. I have used RunDouble's C25K app and use the Strava app regularly. They have been very accurate on all my routes. (I compared against Google Maps and OpenStreetmap as well).
 
I don't know what happened in my instance. Start of the trail. Started the app at 0. End of the trail 1.6miles. Happy. Started walking. Then saw the distance on a wooden board. Checked in Google maps. It's 1.23miles.
 
Shock Therapy!!!.

A new type of fitness band wants to shock you to do your activities.

Pavlok is the first bracelet designed to actually change your habits, and not just measure what you already
do. Pavlok, designed by Maneesh Sethi and Behavioral Technologies, integrates what you do with who
you want to become --- and helps you actually achieve the goals you want to achieve.
Click to expand...

Source: http://pavlok.com/

Kind of reminds me of the studies done to dogs. The sound and treat ordeal. :)
 
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