Fitbit or proper HRM for my wife?
Discussion
It's my wife's birthday later in the week and I think she would appreciate some sort of sports watch.
She has recently taken up running to try and get fitter. Other than that, she is reasonably active (young kids, walking the dog, etc) but doesn't do any formal sport.
I wonder if the Fitbit Charge HR would be the right watch for her. But is it more of a gimmick than a proper HRM?
I don't think she would bother with a chest strap - I think she would find it uncomfortable and a bit of a faff - so a proper HRM would need to be one which measures HR from the wrist (e.g. TomTom Cardio).
The dowsnide of these things is that they seem to need very regular charging - I have a 12 year old Polar HRM which needs a new watch-type battery every year or two and I think it would be a PITA to have yet another thing to remember to charge several times a week (along with phones, iPads, etc).
Part of me thinks that if the present doesn't go down well, it might get recycled to me ...
In which case a TomTom Cardio or similar would probably be a good replacement for my Polar HRM (which is looking quite tired now).
Any thoughts from users? Thanks in advance.
She has recently taken up running to try and get fitter. Other than that, she is reasonably active (young kids, walking the dog, etc) but doesn't do any formal sport.
I wonder if the Fitbit Charge HR would be the right watch for her. But is it more of a gimmick than a proper HRM?
I don't think she would bother with a chest strap - I think she would find it uncomfortable and a bit of a faff - so a proper HRM would need to be one which measures HR from the wrist (e.g. TomTom Cardio).
The dowsnide of these things is that they seem to need very regular charging - I have a 12 year old Polar HRM which needs a new watch-type battery every year or two and I think it would be a PITA to have yet another thing to remember to charge several times a week (along with phones, iPads, etc).
Part of me thinks that if the present doesn't go down well, it might get recycled to me ...
In which case a TomTom Cardio or similar would probably be a good replacement for my Polar HRM (which is looking quite tired now).Any thoughts from users? Thanks in advance.
I've historically not been too into these sort of fitness aids/gadgets, I had a Garmin forerunner with HRM when I was training for a marathon a few years ago, but have long since stopped using it after I forgot to charge it once.
A couple of the guys on a recent roadtrip had fitbits and I have to say the graphs/data etc were impressive enough that I bought one soon after we returned.
I think it's great, the HRM seems very accurate and it is as close to real-time as I think you can get for such a non-intrusive device. I could be wrong. The sleep monitoring is also a good feature IMHO.
Re the charging, you're not meant to wear them in the shower (although others have daily with no issues) so I simply just charge it when I shower, that seems to be long enough to keep it continually topped up.
HTH!
A couple of the guys on a recent roadtrip had fitbits and I have to say the graphs/data etc were impressive enough that I bought one soon after we returned.
I think it's great, the HRM seems very accurate and it is as close to real-time as I think you can get for such a non-intrusive device. I could be wrong. The sleep monitoring is also a good feature IMHO.
Re the charging, you're not meant to wear them in the shower (although others have daily with no issues) so I simply just charge it when I shower, that seems to be long enough to keep it continually topped up.
HTH!
f1_dragon said:
I've historically not been too into these sort of fitness aids/gadgets, I had a Garmin forerunner with HRM when I was training for a marathon a few years ago, but have long since stopped using it after I forgot to charge it once.
A couple of the guys on a recent roadtrip had fitbits and I have to say the graphs/data etc were impressive enough that I bought one soon after we returned.
I think it's great, the HRM seems very accurate and it is as close to real-time as I think you can get for such a non-intrusive device. I could be wrong. The sleep monitoring is also a good feature IMHO.
Re the charging, you're not meant to wear them in the shower (although others have daily with no issues) so I simply just charge it when I shower, that seems to be long enough to keep it continually topped up.
HTH!
Very helpful, thanks. I suspect I'll buy a fitbit - probably the right thing for how she would use it.A couple of the guys on a recent roadtrip had fitbits and I have to say the graphs/data etc were impressive enough that I bought one soon after we returned.
I think it's great, the HRM seems very accurate and it is as close to real-time as I think you can get for such a non-intrusive device. I could be wrong. The sleep monitoring is also a good feature IMHO.
Re the charging, you're not meant to wear them in the shower (although others have daily with no issues) so I simply just charge it when I shower, that seems to be long enough to keep it continually topped up.
HTH!
Cheers
PS. No, I haven't asked her - I think a present is much better as a surprise - shows you've put some thought into it rather than just buying her something from her list. Sometimes you'll get it wrong; sometimes you'll get it right.
KTF said:
What do you want the watch to do? Just show the HRM or actually he useful for running?
Sorry OP i'm butting in a bit! Seems a bit silly to set up another thread though.KTF, all the things that Fitbit offers tbh. Mrs M is training for a 10k, so running, activity at the gym and sleep monitering are all required. Oh, calorie burning is a must (shes a woman..)
Dr Murdoch said:
Sorry OP i'm butting in a bit! Seems a bit silly to set up another thread though.
KTF, all the things that Fitbit offers tbh. Mrs M is training for a 10k, so running, activity at the gym and sleep monitering are all required. Oh, calorie burning is a must (shes a woman..)
Link her Fitbit Account with MyFitnessPal for food logging. MFP has a faaaar better food DB than the very US centric Fitbit.KTF, all the things that Fitbit offers tbh. Mrs M is training for a 10k, so running, activity at the gym and sleep monitering are all required. Oh, calorie burning is a must (shes a woman..)
Dr Murdoch said:
I'm in exactly the same boat OP.
Last week on Amazon they reduced them from £120 to £80. Sold out by the time I realised, not im back searching for a deal.
If you sign up to Parkrun (just register) then you get £15 off.
£80 is cheap. Just make sure you get the Charge HR and not the (very much inferior I understand )Charge Wireless activity tracker.Last week on Amazon they reduced them from £120 to £80. Sold out by the time I realised, not im back searching for a deal.
If you sign up to Parkrun (just register) then you get £15 off.
Dr Murdoch said:
Sorry OP i'm butting in a bit! Seems a bit silly to set up another thread though.
KTF, all the things that Fitbit offers tbh. Mrs M is training for a 10k, so running, activity at the gym and sleep monitering are all required. Oh, calorie burning is a must (shes a woman..)
A fitbit is non-GPS an activity tracker. For running you would be much better with a proper GPS sports watch like a Forerunner 10. KTF, all the things that Fitbit offers tbh. Mrs M is training for a 10k, so running, activity at the gym and sleep monitering are all required. Oh, calorie burning is a must (shes a woman..)
The forerunner 15 also tracks activity but doesnt have a HRM.
In reality you probably need two, the fitbit to use as a 'watch' and a forerunner for using when she is actually out running.
KTF said:
A fitbit is non-GPS an activity tracker. For running you would be much better with a proper GPS sports watch like a Forerunner 10.
The forerunner 15 also tracks activity but doesnt have a HRM.
In reality you probably need two, the fitbit to use as a 'watch' and a forerunner for using when she is actually out running.
Just use your phone to track it.The forerunner 15 also tracks activity but doesnt have a HRM.
In reality you probably need two, the fitbit to use as a 'watch' and a forerunner for using when she is actually out running.
R8VXF said:
Just wait till she starts marching on the spot in front of the TV on an evening to hit her targets...
Yep- my wife was doing laps of the kitchen table and couldn't handle not hitting 10,000 steps a day. So stopped using it. I did suggest just reducing the target to something more suitable for an office based person, but that fell on deaf ears!
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