FitBit Review

I mentioned ordering the Fitbit one activity and sleep tracker. I originally ordered it from Amazon, but the release date got pushed back by a month, whereas it was already released by BestBuy so I canceled my Amazon order and bought it throught Best Buy. I was a bit disappointed in my usual go to Amazon (That on top of charging sales tax now!- It’s ok Amazon… I understand.)

Thus far- I love the fitbit! 

• (+) It is very accurate at counting steps. I have counted my steps and it is almost on the dot every time.
• (-) It, however, does not count if you walk in place or side to side sometimes as I try to do to burn a couple extra calories in small spaces without looking like a total weirdo.
• (+) It DOES count if you jog in place.
• (-) It sometimes counts “steps” while driving. I read this is other reviews and checked it out. For the most part I do highway driving, which so far has never been a problem/ it does not count any steps, but the other day I was on back roads and it was counting up a storm! Adding a “drive” function would be great. It seems slightly less accurate after is gets a little wet. I wore it to a hot yoga class, which shockingly, I sweat a lot at, on the drive home was when it was going haywire counting like a fiend.
• (+) Along with just steps it also counts distance! Some people have found this inaccurate- but I find it to be pretty on point.
• (-) however, once I put in my stride length it then started to overestimate, so I think going with the default works better since the stride you walk at when walking may be different than what you do just puttering around the house etc.
• (+) Flights of stairs! I work on the 13^th floor and this is great motivation to take the stairs.
• (-) I have no idea how many steps count as a flight… usually a “flight” is 10 stairs but my work has the double flights and I still only get 13.
• (-) It does not seem to count other stepping activities. I was at 49 flights one day and really wanted to get to the 50 flights but since I live in a house with zero stairs, I tried to do step ups on my ottoman, and despite stepping up 100 times, I did not get my final flight! It does count as a flight if you go up an incline, like hiking up hills etc.
• (-) It does not count other activities other than walking/ running. So, my 90 minutes of hot yoga or weight lifting etc counts as being inactive.
• (+) you can add these activities in after the fact on the website.

• (+) The sleep tracker is pretty cool, though I am not sure how to judge how accurate it is. You have to wear the fitbit in the wrist band for it to work at night since your arms apparently are what moves the most when sleeping.
• (+) I like the general idea that it makes sleep an important aspect of fitness/ health, which it is! 
• (+) I like seeing my “sleep efficiency” by how much I was “awake” at night. It seems relatively accurate based on how much I feel I was awake at night versus what it tells me I was up.
• (-) You are supposed to start a timer when you go to sleep and stop it when you wake up but I think I screw this up every time, and you still have to input it into the computer every time too so I do not really understand the point of this.

• (+) Overall style and size, its tiny! Which I guess is good so it doesn’t take up much space or look awkward.
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• (-) Everyone hates on the clip, so to be safe I bought a $1 pedometer clip to ensure it doesn’t get lost.
• (-) that being said, I did not wear the pedometer clip to bed and it feel out of the wrist band a few times.
• (+) vibrating alarm clock is a nice little feature.  
• (+) Battery life – in a world where my cell phone dies every 2 hours, I am utterly amazed that this thing only needs to be charged once a week for 2 hours. I think I have only charged it once since the initial charging and that was just because I was sitting at the computer for a long time.
• (+) Ease of use- there is only one button on it! You just click to cycle through to get the various numbers of steps, miles flights etc.
• (+) Bluetooth sync makes it super easy to sync without having to plug it in anywhere. I do not have a iphone to sync it with but I am ok with that.
• (+) built in clock and displays date and time. It helps justify the cost by saying I do not have to buy a watch too!
•  (+/-) at $100, it is pretty pricey, but considering how accurate and functional it is, I think it is justified. I also had a gift card and a coupon code I found online so that helped.
• (+) Easy to use website/ dashboard. Self explanatory.

• (+) Great motivation and a way to keep track. I love the “badges” you get for how many steps you take and floors climbed etc.

• (+) It has a pretty comprehensive nutrition data base to track your intake.. .I tried it for a day or two but not that motivated.