Fitness Watch - Fitness Band - Fitness Tracker

[m1293]

Hello from The Rock, Little Rock. Trying to come up with a Christmas idea for myself and I was looking at Fitness Bands (FitBit, Basis, Pebble, Mio, etc) Anyone have any thoughts/experience/preference for a fitness watch/band that would be good for general use? I hit the gym about 3 times a week and ride my road bike (Orbea) 50 to 75 miles per week. Thanks! Michael

 

[maydog]

Fitness bands are for folks who what to measure how much time they spend on their butt. Those whose get fit plan is to drink diet soda and buy a gadget to post the results of facebook or twitter.

My understanding is that they are glorified pedometers. An accelerometer that measures the relative movement on one part of your body. It wouldn't help you judge the intensity of any workout - cycling would be especially bad. I suspect that certain forms of web browsing would result in higher estimated calories burned than cycling..

I you are only looking to track the amount of time that you are not sedentary, then maybe it would be helpful. For the cost of the units I could find in my few minutes of research, a good heart rate monitor or cycle computer would be far more useful.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/how-accurate-are-fitness-monitors/

 

[CAMPYBOB]

"I suspect that certain forms of web browsing would result in higher estimated calories burned than cycling.."

Damnit! I had Coke Zero snorting out my nostrils!

 

[m1293]

Thanks guys. Maydog, thank you for the article. I found several reviews echoing your position. Looks like I'm going to stick with Strava and find a decent Heart Rate Monitor. Or maybe go with a Polar RC3 to combine the two. Bob - thanks for the post, I hope you didn't fry your nostrils! Michael

 

[CAMPYBOB]

FWIW, I just had a nearly new Cateye ANT+ heart rate strap fail. Cateye sent me a replacement, no questions asked. Good folks.

 

[dereng]

I was searching the web for fitness watch info and came across this thread and thought I'd chime in. If you are looking to track your workout activity, then, as another user mentioned, the basic fitness bracelets and footstep monitors might not be that helpful.

For a workout, you'd want a device that is designed for that area. I read this article on workout watches that mentions some good devices. You might want heart rate monitoring, some GPS and so on. But it sounds like you've mostly figured it out, so this post might not be that helpful, lol.

polar has a good reputation from what I've seen.

anyway good luck!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

DC Rainmaker reviews 'Activity Monitors' here: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-reviews/activity-monitors

Any device that gets people moving and exercising is a good thing, be it fad, fashion or fully functional.

With winter snow and cold in full swing, I'm switching off my Garmin Edge and turning on my WebSurf ButtCal 5000.

 

[Froze]

Those things are really cool except for one small problem, the band usually cracks and breaks after just a year, and sweat makes them degrade even faster. Now take a close look at those bands...most of them you cannot replace the band you'll have to buy an entirely new fitness band. Great deal uhh? Yup, my friend thought so too until 8 months went by and the band broke, and Garmin wouldn't replace it saying the band breaking wasn't from manufacture defect even though the band had all sorts of cracks in it.

I suggest that if you want one of those type of things make sure the band is replaceable, there are a couple.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Good advice, Froze. The new Garmin has a replaceable band.
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/into-sports/health-fitness/vivofit-2/prod504038.html



Fashion bands by artists...metal bands...all kinds of options. I'll bet the other manufacturers are already at work on or have already introduced replaceable bands.

What's weird is that the cheapo Timex Ironman watch I wear on every training ride has one of those low cost silicon rubber straps and even after years of abuse it looks like new.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Vivofit bands available in stainless steel, leather and... http://www.cnet.com/products/garmin-vivofit-2/