Discussion
Assuming that you mean the fitness band thing, they sync with your phone and tell you (with varying degrees of accuracy) how many steps you've taken each day. Some of them track resting heart rate a few times a day and also tell you how long you've slept at night.
They offer you 'encouragement' to walk / sleep more via notifications in the phone app. Good if you want to walk or sleep more I suppose, but can't really see the point in a gym.
Actually just seen that some of them now do continuous heart rate monitoring. Not sure how well it works, but that would be more useful in the gym
They offer you 'encouragement' to walk / sleep more via notifications in the phone app. Good if you want to walk or sleep more I suppose, but can't really see the point in a gym.
Actually just seen that some of them now do continuous heart rate monitoring. Not sure how well it works, but that would be more useful in the gym
Edited by smn159 on Sunday 12th June 17:58
It might provide encouragement or motivation. It does assume that your main focus is calorie burn or distance. I mean, it doesn't randomly compliment you on the size of your biceps or shout things at you to bust through your 1RM. Or tell you to focus when squaring up to your opponent.
t.I have had a Charge HR for a year, I know they aren't 100% accurate, however I like to be able to monitor my step count and heart rate and it gives me a bit of motivation.
I have My Fitness Pal, Fitbit and MapMyRun all synced together through my phone, so I can see through My Fitness Pal how my calories are working and how much more I have left when I have a run, or go to BootCamp, for example.
My Fitbit monitors my heart rate and it's interesting to see the peaks when I excercise it is also interesting and scary to see how drinking and not drinking alcohol, affects your resting heart rate
Like I said, it isn't accurate but it does give an indication, just don't take it too seriously.
I have My Fitness Pal, Fitbit and MapMyRun all synced together through my phone, so I can see through My Fitness Pal how my calories are working and how much more I have left when I have a run, or go to BootCamp, for example.
My Fitbit monitors my heart rate and it's interesting to see the peaks when I excercise it is also interesting and scary to see how drinking and not drinking alcohol, affects your resting heart rate
Like I said, it isn't accurate but it does give an indication, just don't take it too seriously.
Hoofy said:
theshrew said:
If I went for a run would it tell you have far / fast you have gone and the same for swimming ?
Yes / dunno.I don't think any of them are officially waterproof.
HTP99 said:
Hoofy said:
theshrew said:
If I went for a run would it tell you have far / fast you have gone and the same for swimming ?
Yes / dunno.I don't think any of them are officially waterproof.
I have a blaze, nice bit of kit design wise, don't think it is massively accurate though. I did some football training today, was absolutely blowing after a defensive practice, checked my heart rate, measured at 100. Should have been near max 175+
Thought that was a bit odd.
However as a quick test of how active you've been it is decent.
Thought that was a bit odd.
However as a quick test of how active you've been it is decent.
Gargamel said:
I have a blaze, nice bit of kit design wise, don't think it is massively accurate though. I did some football training today, was absolutely blowing after a defensive practice, checked my heart rate, measured at 100. Should have been near max 175+
Thought that was a bit odd.
However as a quick test of how active you've been it is decent.
There have been various accounts of the Fitbits not being very good at heart rate measurement, both at the top end and the low end, and I believe they're being taken to court over the latter.Thought that was a bit odd.
However as a quick test of how active you've been it is decent.
The issue people have with the resting heart rate measurement is that rather than presenting you with the absolute lowest number you can hit (at night whilst asleep for example), the algorithm smooths the readings out and uses measurements from multiple times throughout the day when it thinks you're still and calm. The problem with this is it will inevitably raise the overall resting heart rate figure, where the traditional old-school logic was to take a measurement as soon as you've woken up and whilst still in bed if possible. My Fitbit reports me as between 48 and 50bpm resting, whereas my Garmin heart rate monitor and manual finger on pulse tests first thing in the morning have me at around 39 on good days and up to 44 on bad days.
bad company said:
I use an Apple watch. More expensive than the Fitbit but IMO worth it for the extra functionality.
You do realise it is just as inaccurate on its HR monitoring and doesn't do anything additional with regards to fitness tracking. And as it doesn't (currently?) do sleep tracking and therefore doesn't give you any form of resting heart rate calculation, it actually does considerably less than the FitBit Charge HR.clonmult said:
bad company said:
I use an Apple watch. More expensive than the Fitbit but IMO worth it for the extra functionality.
You do realise it is just as inaccurate on its HR monitoring and doesn't do anything additional with regards to fitness tracking. And as it doesn't (currently?) do sleep tracking and therefore doesn't give you any form of resting heart rate calculation, it actually does considerably less than the FitBit Charge HR.http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/wearable-tech/f...
I'm not concerned about sleep tracking and the IWatch works for me in many other ways. The important thing whatever product is that it motivates you to exercise more.
bad company said:
clonmult said:
bad company said:
I use an Apple watch. More expensive than the Fitbit but IMO worth it for the extra functionality.
You do realise it is just as inaccurate on its HR monitoring and doesn't do anything additional with regards to fitness tracking. And as it doesn't (currently?) do sleep tracking and therefore doesn't give you any form of resting heart rate calculation, it actually does considerably less than the FitBit Charge HR.http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/wearable-tech/f...
I'm not concerned about sleep tracking and the IWatch works for me in many other ways. The important thing whatever product is that it motivates you to exercise more.
If it motivates you, then fine, but please don't make it out to be something that it isn't. Same goes for the fitbit - the heart rate monitoring on *all* of these opticals is hilariously inaccurate for most exercises.
clonmult said:
They didn't actually test the HRM functionality, and the case that they mention only talked of the accuracy during running. Whilst doing other exercises (weight training, rowing, cycling) the apple watch will basically just be making a random useless guess - exactly the same as the fitbit.
If it motivates you, then fine, but please don't make it out to be something that it isn't. Same goes for the fitbit - the heart rate monitoring on *all* of these opticals is hilariously inaccurate for most exercises.
Not true. They tested the Apple watch while walking and running see below:-If it motivates you, then fine, but please don't make it out to be something that it isn't. Same goes for the fitbit - the heart rate monitoring on *all* of these opticals is hilariously inaccurate for most exercises.
The Apple Watch impressed the testers at US Consumer Reports: “We pitted the Apple Watch against our highest-rated heart-rate monitor. Wearing both, our testers hit the treadmill – first walking slowly, then a little faster, then a jog back to a walk.” The test found “no significant differences” between Apple Watch and the dedicated heart-rate monitor, with both reporting similar readings.
As to the accuracy of the watch while cycling it's calorie burn is broadly inline with the reading from my Garmin cycle computer.
I'm not making the watch out to be anything it isn't but I don't think it fair to describe its assessments as a random useless guess'. For me its a fitness band a lot more besides. Not for everybody but I really like it.
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