Any Flexbit users here?

[CJF]

I'm having serious fitbit issues. It started about two months ago. It now completely dies after a full charge within 3 hours of a full charge. It takes about 8 hours to get it to charge. It next to worthless. I last almost exactly a year. I've got another one coming to me, but it won't be here for another three weeks. I'm wondering if I should cancel it and get something else. I saw that the Force has been completely recalled so there is nothing to upgrade to at the current moment. Very frustrated.

[Uncle Ted]

I'm having serious fitbit issues. It started about two months ago. It now completely dies after a full charge within 3 hours of a full charge. It takes about 8 hours to get it to charge. It next to worthless. I last almost exactly a year. I've got another one coming to me, but it won't be here for another three weeks. I'm wondering if I should cancel it and get something else. I saw that the Force has been completely recalled so there is nothing to upgrade to at the current moment. Very frustrated.

I have a fitbit one and a garmin vivofit. The vivofit is a great piece of engineering. You never have the charge it (the battery lasts a year or so) and it is water proof to something like 30m. It also works with the garmin heart monitor straps. I still like the fitbit software (the iPhone app) better, however.

I really don't like the fitbit one. I keep forgetting to take it off my pants and misplace it all the time. I would rather have a force but as you mentioned those are off the market.

[Donuthole]

Every time I see this thread I think it's about this:

[Katy Lied]

I've had the bodymedia armband for about 18 months. I pay $7 per month for the service, including a long stretch where I didnt wear it at all.
It incorporates my food logging very seamlessly, and is pretty accurate at projecting weight 5 weeks into the future based on current trends. I've noticed that compared to calorie burn that the gym machines report, the armband under estimates. But as my workout lengthens, the two calorie burn reports start converging, and once I hit 90+ minutes they are very close to each other.

Lately I've been using it to determine the quality of my sleep. It will give you a % number of how well you sleep; whether you toss and turn fitfully, and wake often, or whether you REM deep. It also reports your total sleep time. I'm working to improve my sleep quality right now.

(edit): Unlike Uncle Ted, mine is not waterproof so I have to manually log my swimming because I can't wear it in the water.

[Omaha 680]

Every time I see this thread I think it's about this:

That guy should just walk around that wall and then drill the hole. It would be a lot easier.

[BigFatMeanie]

I have the FitBit Flex and my wife has the FitBit One. They were free (well, I used my wellness stipend from work to pay for them) so we didn't do a lot of shopping or research on other devices.

Things I like about the Flex:
* The app is good. Easy to sync and easy to see the data.
* The sleep tracker. I've always known that I have a hard time falling asleep at night and a hard time waking up in the morning but now I have hard data to reflect that.
* The wrist band is nice - I don't have to remember to put it in my pocket or take it out before I put my pants in the laundry, etc. I don't have to use a separate wristband when I put it in sleep mode like you do with the One.
* The integration with MyFitnessPal, where I track my calories, is pretty good. MyFitnessPal will give me a calorie deduction based on the Flex data and the Flex app and web dashboard update with the calorie information and weight that I put into MyFitnessPal. This is probably my favorite thing about it.
* Charge usually lasts a week - maybe a little longer.

Things I don't like about the Flex:
* It's sometimes a pain to put into sleep mode - you're supposed to tap on it in a certain way but sometimes I tap for 1 or 2 minutes before I can get that little sucker to go into sleep mode. The One has a simple little menu display and button so it's easy to put into sleep mode.
* Visible output on the device, a series of 5 tiny LEDs, is not very informative. You can always open the app and get details on exact steps and such but if you're just looking at the device on your wrist you don't get much info. Again, the One has a better display.
* It's a bit too sensitive. When I ride my bike the road vibrations alone will make the Flex run up the step count. So I think the step count may be a little inflated overall but it's not that big of a deal.

Odd tidbit: the One will calculate stairs climbed. I have no idea how it does this nor how accurate it is. The Flex doesn't calculate stairs climbed.

Overall I like the Flex. I wouldn't have ever bought one on my own dime but now that I got a "free" one I like using it.

[Uncle Ted]

Things I don't like about the Flex:
* It's sometimes a pain to put into sleep mode - you're supposed to tap on it in a certain way but sometimes I tap for 1 or 2 minutes before I can get that little sucker to go into sleep mode. The One has a simple little menu display and button so it's easy to put into sleep mode.
* Visible output on the device, a series of 5 tiny LEDs, is not very informative. You can always open the app and get details on exact steps and such but if you're just looking at the device on your wrist you don't get much info. Again, the One has a better display.

Yeah, that is the reason I didn't get a Flex. The one has a display but, unlike the Garmin Vivofit, you have to press the button to see the info. The Vivofit's display (LCD) stays on but doesn't have a backlight (so you can't read it in the dark). Garmin's iPhone app is not as good as Fitbit's. Also, I don't believe it works with MyFitnessPal. The reason, from what I have read, is Garmin is not "open" with their API. The ideal thing would be to have Fitbit's iPhone software (and MyFitnessPal compatibility) but the Garmin hardware (watch), IMO.

* It's a bit too sensitive. When I ride my bike the road vibrations alone will make the Flex run up the step count. So I think the step count may be a little inflated overall but it's not that big of a deal.

Odd tidbit: the One will calculate stairs climbed. I have no idea how it does this nor how accurate it is. The Flex doesn't calculate stairs climbed.

Overall I like the Flex. I wouldn't have ever bought one on my own dime but now that I got a "free" one I like using it.

While the Fitbit one does count the stairs you climb it doesn't work on a stair machine. The FB One has an accelerometer to detect movement but since you are not actually moving up on a stair machine it is counted as steps.

[Katy Lied]

I use mine with MyFitnessPal as well. The integration is really nice.

my armband doesn't have to be put into sleep mode. You just lie down. On the down side, it doesnt have a monitor so you dont know anything until you synch it to your computer. You can buy a hokey monitor add on, but then you're just wearing another device. I wear it on my upper arm, under my clothes. Once someone asked me about "that strap on your arm" after sunday school, and once the device beeped during a work meeting when I smacked my arm against a white board, but no one knew it was me.

It does download marvelous analytics, though, straight into excel. Or it can generate a ton of reports to pdf.

[Jeff Lebowski]

From the NYT: Throw away your fitbits. They won't help, and may in fact hurt.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/u...-more-fit.html

[PaloAltoCougar]

From the NYT: Throw away your fitbits. They won't help, and may in fact hurt.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/u...-more-fit.html

A poor job of headline writing... The article and apparently the underlying studies focused on weight loss, which isn't a great measure of fitness. I may be an outlier, but I'm convinced my devices motivate me to get out and move, and provide a useful measure of improvement. Plus, I like the social connections they foster. Seeing friends, including a few here on CS, out running/riding/swimming/XCSkiing, etc., nudges me to go outside and do more. Weight loss doesn't matter to me, but fitness does. As one might surmise, I love all my gadgets.

[imanihonjin]

A poor job of headline writing... The article and apparently the underlying studies focused on weight loss, which isn't a great measure of fitness. I may be an outlier, but I'm convinced my devices motivate me to get out and move, and provide a useful measure of improvement. Plus, I like the social connections they foster. Seeing friends, including a few here on CS, out running/riding/swimming/XCSkiing, etc., nudges me to go outside and do more. Weight loss doesn't matter to me, but fitness does. As one might surmise, I love all my gadgets.

What is the author's point? If it is truly that wearable technology doesn't make you more fit, well, no kidding. Wearing a fitbit by itself isn't going to do anything. If wearing the fitbit causes one to become more active and manage their calories, then, of course, the wearer is going to lose weight. How could anyone argue otherwise?

[Jeff Lebowski]

What is the author's point? If it is truly that wearable technology doesn't make you more fit, well, no kidding. Wearing a fitbit by itself isn't going to do anything. If wearing the fitbit causes one to become more active and manage their calories, then, of course, the wearer is going to lose weight. How could anyone argue otherwise?

Maybe you didn't read it. The biggest and most thorough study shows that fitbit wearers actually do more poorly than non-fitbit wearers when it comes to weight loss. My theory is that they figure all that extra walking entitles them to a little more cheating on the diet.

[Bo Diddley]

From the NYT: Throw away your fitbits. They won't help, and may in fact hurt.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/u...-more-fit.html

I've lost 10 pounds in the three weeks I've had mine.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I've lost 10 pounds in the three weeks I've had mine.

Way to go.

[cougjunkie]

I've lost 10 pounds in the three weeks I've had mine.

You would have lost 15 without it.