I am upgrading. I used to wear a watch and a FitBit Flex, but since my watch broke, I am in a great position to get a device that does both. I sold my Flex today, and am seriously considering the FitBit Charge HR or The Pebble Steel.
I want something that tells time, counts my steps, monitors my HR and doesn’t look like crap. I don’t have an iPhone to link to, whatever I use would be linked with an iPad and iPod Touch. The GPS is a very nice feature, but not super-necessary. I would like something that doesn’t mind going in the pool/bath and is somewhat robust (even as a PAO, I do Army stuff sometimes). Battery life is important to me too. I don’t want to be married to a charger.
I have access to a discount, so the price difference is negligible.
Unless I’m mistaken, the Pebble Steel doesn’t monitor heart rate. So, if that data point matters for you, that might be the decision.
If I were buying a new fitness tracker, my choice would be a Microsoft Band, but it doesn’t seem like as good a fit for you (lower battery life, not recommended to swim with it).
I’ve had the FitBit Charge HR for about 2 weeks now. Probably not long enough to give a really solid review, but I like it quite a bit. I upgraded from a first-gen Nike FuelBand, so it was a pretty big upgrade. Love the heart rate monitor - I’m finding that very handy and informative. Battery life is okay… I need to recharge it every 4 or 5 days or so. Not too bad. It does send me an email when the battery is starting to run low - that’s kind of a nice touch.
One thing based on your post, though - it is NOT waterproof, so wearing it in the pool is definitely a no go.
Have you considered the Garmin Vivofit/2?
It has a regular watch-type battery that only needs to be replaced about 1x/year. It has watch functionality, step counter & HR. Uploading of data is either via bluetooth to a ‘smart device’ (I do it via Android phone) or via a supplied dongle in a USB drive.
I got a Fitbit Charge about 3 weeks ago to replace the Fitbit Zip that I lost. I am old enough to wear a watch, but wanted to have just one gizmo on my wrist. The Charge does count my steps and the flights of stairs I climb. The stair count is a big plus for me. Those features make it a worthy replacement for my Zip. I don’t need a heart rate monitor - I have the regular Charge not the HR. I can either take or leave the sleep tracking function, as I use a separate sleep tracker app on my iPhone. It was nice to have the Fitbit sleep tracker the one night I forgot to start my app, but those nights are rare for me.
The styling of the Charge is good enough for me to wear around the office. I’m a guy, and I’m not that concerned about appearance, but I wanted something professional looking. I got the slate gray, as opposed to the black, blue, or burgundy. I had a burgundy zip - it was more a bright pink and while that made it easy to find when I dropped it, I didn’t want something that bright on my wrist. I didn’t want the black Charge in case I dropped it (small black things are basically invisible on the floor), and I was concerned the blue might not go with brown suits.
The one thing I don’t like about it is that while it is a watch, it only displays the time when you push a button. I’m sure that’s to save battery. What I like about a wrist watch is being able to just turn my wrist and see the time - particularly during long meetings. Now I have to use both hands a press a button, which is far less discreet. I find myself looking at my wrist to see the time, and rather than push the darn button looking at my computer screen, or any of the zillion clocks that are around where ever I go. I wish there was a mode where I can have it display the time continuously, or at a shake of my wrist. One can activate the display by tapping it twice, but that still takes both hands and I only have gotten that to work occasionally.
I have yet to run out the battery, or even get a warning. Since I can’t wear it in the shower, I charge it when I shower and so far the battery life has been fine.
I love having a pedometer! Counting my steps helps me “earn back” calories on my diet. The small incentive to walk more has gotten me walking a lot more. I feel sad when I don’t make my (arbitrary) 10,000 steps a day. The Fitbit Zip got me walking more, and I’m glad to have the Fitbit Charge that gives me credit for walkign the five flights up to my office every work day.
I know this is a little bit of a zombie thread, but I am looking at getting a tracker myself, and I was hoping that maybe Dopers would have some longer term opinions on these devices. I’m currently leaning toward the Fitbit Charge HR, but I’m not 100% sold yet.
I have to charge it every 2-3 days, which makes it pretty useless compared to other devices out there IMHO.
I was hoping I could combine the watch functionality with the tracker, but this makes it essentially un-usable to me. (Just noticed the note about charging during the shower. I could try that. Still find the battery longevity a real pain. No warning notices. It’s just dead when I try and check something.) I prefer other trackers that only require a weekly charge.
I have previously used Jawbone trackers and will be switching to their HR tracker.
I lost my FB Force because of the poor clasp. Scored a Charge HR for $50 off and love it. It has a real buckle, the HR monitoring works well - but it does suck power. I charge it every couple of evenings before bed. Might turn the HR off to get better battery life if changing becomes a chore.
I have a pebble and I also have a samsung Gear Fit which I wear at different times.
I’m not overly fussed with the heart rate, the step counting is nice, I really like being able to have my phone in my pocket and with a flick of the wrist and a glance see an incoming text message or email notification.
You might want to contact Fitbit - sounds like you got a defective unit.
I’m using a Flex. I too used to use a Zip (the clip-on) but lost two of them. The Flex doesn’t have a display, doesn’t count stairs (just treats them as regular steps), and doesn’t monitor heart rate, on the other hand you can swap out the bands if you want something that looks better with a particular outfit. It is water resistant, so I will often leave it on when I shower (I just try to remember to pop it out to air dry it for a few minutes afterwards).
Forgot to mention: I do still wear a wristwatch, since the Flex doesn’t have a time display.
Also: one thing that disappoints me re the wrist-based gadgets, is grocery shopping. I’d heard that they might miss steps when doing something like that (pushing a cart around) but one time, I spent 40 minutes shopping and found I’d only walked 300 steps per the gadget. Now I pop it off and into my pocket when doing a big grocery run. The clip-on devices seem to work better for that.
As I understand it, the Charge isn’t as robust re showering, and you can’t swap out the bracelet. The battery is supposed to last a lot longer than 2-3 days, however - I find the Flex goes a maximum of 5 days.
I choose fit bit charge 2 instead of pebble since it better its also accurate when you want to monitor your steps and heart rate. I love wearing it since its wearable since the look and the style
also the app is nice
After a year of using a Charge HR, I bought a Charge 2 at the start of this year and I’ve been pretty happy with it.
One thing I liked about the Charge 2 was that the wristbands could be replaced (the reason I needed a new one was because of a broken band - the charge HR’s weren’t replaceable). However, the wristband on mine was a little too easy to replace - it would pop open under light pressure and fell off my wrist more than a few times.
To stop this, I finally just superglued the band to the watch unit. Removing it will probably ruin the wristband, but if I’m replacing the band, then it’s probably worn out or broken already (I’m not the sort who swaps bands to match my outfit).
I received a hand-me-down (once removed) Charge 2 and started wearing it a couple days ago.
It hurts my wrist so I change to the other wrist half way thru the day. I do report the change on the app.
I Googled a little and it seems that wrist discomfort is not uncommon. Some believe that it is due to the electromagnetic field of the optical sensor monitoring heartbeat.
Lotsa questions…among them:
Anything to that… could it result in long-term problems?
Does it matter which wrist or at least consistent placement on one wrist to get good results?
I really need the Sleep Monitor to work… I assume that requires the hear rate monitor to be on.
I’d never heard of the wrist pain issue. I really doubt the sensor would have an effect but I admit I could be wrong. The Charge 2 is large - I wonder if the sheer size is causing issues e.g. when you flex your wrist?
The sleep tracker isn’t perfect. For example. I woke up stupid early this morning (damn brain). It registered the wakeup. Interestingly though, it claimed I’d only been asleep for about 2 hours before that, when I knew it to be closer to 6 hours. In any case, I haven’t heard of any way to turn off the heart monitor.
Wrist: Your handedness, and wrist placement, both need to be set up in the app. They recommend the non-dominant hand, presumably because you use your dominant hand in ways that might lead to false positive step readings. But there’s a setting to tell which wrist, and which handedness, so I guess it can try to compensate if you’re right-handed and choose to wear it on the right.
I have killed 2 FitBit Charges in 2 years. The design is so bad! The reason mine died was the plastic unit that holds the electronic part of it cracked and came apart after a few months. It worked for a while longer but I to keep it taped together. Every time you charge it, it puts stress on the little very thin strip of plastic and it eventually breaks and comes apart. To get data you have to press the button, and the button just wears out. My bands also began to break down due to sweat and what I felt was normal wear and tear.
I got a Blaze for Christmas, and so far I really love it. The design and ease of use is far and away better than a Charge. I should have invested in a Blaze to begin with. I feel it is accurate and I really like getting all the extra sleep data.
Can’t speak to the Pebble, but SWMBO and I started out with Jawbone’s UPS. They were crap and kept breaking. We switched to the Charge HR and have absolutely loved them.