My first smart wristband - Fitbit Flex
Earlier this week I purchased the Fitbit Flex (Amazon.com: Fitbit Flex Wireless Activity + Sleep Wristband, Black: Health & Personal Care) for my wife and I. Seeing as it's Spring and I want to get into better shape, I figured the best way to do it would be to geek out and do it at the same time. After a brief comparison between Jawbone Up 24, Fitbit Flex, and Nike Fuel, I decided on Fitbit Flex because it was $50 cheaper, supported Bluetooth 4.0, and came in pink (for my wife). In terms of tracking, they're capabilities were the same or similar.
For those not familiar, what does it do?
These fitness bands track the amount of steps you take in a day, the distance you've walked or ran, and the amount of time spent being very active.
Throughout your day or while walking/running if you want to see your progress, you can just tap the Fitbit Flex to see where you stand in regards to finishing your goal thanks to 5 little lights.
You can also set an alarm on your Fitbit, which vibrates when the alarm goes off. It's not a bad way to wake you up honestly. I've been using the past few days.
So you wear this while you're sleeping? You can! It's also a sleep tracker. I'm not really how useful this is, but if you want to know if you're flipping an flopping around like a fish at night, this might be up your alley. It's also worth mentioning that you need to tap the wristband a few times to enter and exit sleep mode. It doesn't do it automatically.
What I can tell after just a few days?
The Fitbit Flex can easily be fooled into adding steps and vigorous activities to your daily activities. For instance, I add about a half of mile of walking while driving 45 minutes to work. Also, my wife added a good 800 steps to her step count while folding laundry.
While this might sound like a big deal, I don't feel that way. I can just remove my wristband before doing certain tasks that skew my results or remember that doing XYZ increases my numbers by 123.
It's also water resistant, so no need to worry if you get caught in the rain. You can also shower wearing your Fitbit Flex...I'm not sure what you want to track while in the shower though?
It's only been 3 days, but so far, I'm enjoying it. I feel that because I blew $99 on this and because I can use my smartphone with it, I'm actually going to stay with it. Who knows though, it's a bit early still.
I know that Android Wear devices are coming and that Android Wear has fitness features. I don't feel like waiting an undetermined amount of time for undetermined features, when this is available now.
Apps
I see that plenty of apps are supported with Fitbit. I'm only using the official app at this time. Over the next few weeks I'll give others a try as per your recommendations.
Earlier this week I purchased the Fitbit Flex (Amazon.com: Fitbit Flex Wireless Activity + Sleep Wristband, Black: Health & Personal Care) for my wife and I. Seeing as it's Spring and I want to get into better shape, I figured the best way to do it would be to geek out and do it at the same time. After a brief comparison between Jawbone Up 24, Fitbit Flex, and Nike Fuel, I decided on Fitbit Flex because it was $50 cheaper, supported Bluetooth 4.0, and came in pink (for my wife). In terms of tracking, they're capabilities were the same or similar.
For those not familiar, what does it do?
These fitness bands track the amount of steps you take in a day, the distance you've walked or ran, and the amount of time spent being very active.
Throughout your day or while walking/running if you want to see your progress, you can just tap the Fitbit Flex to see where you stand in regards to finishing your goal thanks to 5 little lights.
You can also set an alarm on your Fitbit, which vibrates when the alarm goes off. It's not a bad way to wake you up honestly. I've been using the past few days.
So you wear this while you're sleeping? You can! It's also a sleep tracker. I'm not really how useful this is, but if you want to know if you're flipping an flopping around like a fish at night, this might be up your alley. It's also worth mentioning that you need to tap the wristband a few times to enter and exit sleep mode. It doesn't do it automatically.
What I can tell after just a few days?
The Fitbit Flex can easily be fooled into adding steps and vigorous activities to your daily activities. For instance, I add about a half of mile of walking while driving 45 minutes to work. Also, my wife added a good 800 steps to her step count while folding laundry.
While this might sound like a big deal, I don't feel that way. I can just remove my wristband before doing certain tasks that skew my results or remember that doing XYZ increases my numbers by 123.
It's also water resistant, so no need to worry if you get caught in the rain. You can also shower wearing your Fitbit Flex...I'm not sure what you want to track while in the shower though?
It's only been 3 days, but so far, I'm enjoying it. I feel that because I blew $99 on this and because I can use my smartphone with it, I'm actually going to stay with it. Who knows though, it's a bit early still.
I know that Android Wear devices are coming and that Android Wear has fitness features. I don't feel like waiting an undetermined amount of time for undetermined features, when this is available now.
Apps
I see that plenty of apps are supported with Fitbit. I'm only using the official app at this time. Over the next few weeks I'll give others a try as per your recommendations.
