Tracking devices like FitBit, Up, etc. Advice?
 

My boyfriend and I are both interested in losing weight / getting more active and fit. He especially is a big fan of technology, so I have been thinking about getting some sort of tracking device for both of us. I am kind of interested in the FitBit Flex and Jawbone Up bands because it seems like you can basically just put them on and then forget about them. I also like the fact that you can wear them while you're sleeping and it tracks sleep stats too.

However, it doesn't seem like either of these devices does anything with heart rate monitoring, and I would like to have something that tracks that as well. I am thinking that including heart rate monitoring may more accurately determine calorie expenditure during exercise? Maybe not - please correct me if I'm wrong!

If anyone has any personal experience with these devices or anything similar, I'd love to hear your feedback about what features work well, what don't, and whether there's anything different that does more that I may be interested in instead.

I have a Nike Fuel Band and I am truly addicted to it... I find myself much more active these days just so I can earn more "fuel" and beat my previous "goals"... it tracks steps and calories and distance as well, but I'm really just interested in using it to be more active during my day... so I find myself walking more and taking the stairs more and things like that to make my fuel goal for the day...

Maybe it's a little bit gimmicky, but I still think it's pretty cool anyway... and it doesn't really matter much for me because I already use various HRM's and GPS to track my "real" training...

So for me I definitely find it pretty motivating and it has like I said really got me moving more during my day... but I still need the HMR's for my more specific goals when it comes to my running... and of course it just wouldn't be practical to wear a HRM and chest strap all day long anyway... not to mention that would be a bit much... even for me... :)

It looks like fitbit is coming out with their own band which will be interesting.

Thanks for the heads up Nellie... Just checked it out and it looks interesting... The one thing I will say is after my experience so far, is I'm not so crazy about wearing a "bracelet" all the time... and I know for me personally that I definitely wouldn't want to wear one when I was sleeping... So I might wind up trying out the old fitbit to see how I like that set up... Although this whole Nike "fuel" thing is just so addictive I probably won't be able to give that up... at least until the novelty wears off, but I hope that doesn't happen any time soon...

Fitbit Flex just got an awesome review on Yahoo. I am not sure if it is released yet or not. One thing to keep in mind is it uses the newer bluetooth for iOS devices. So iPhone 4s and 5 is fine but not 4. Or an iPad 3rd or 4th gen.

Very tempting from the review.

The Flex is still hard to come by... But I have heard that you might be able to find them at BestBuy...

I was disappointed to find out that the Flex doesn't track floors "climbed" since it doesn't have that feature... Which it turns out I'm using a lot with my FitBit One... And I was even more disappointed to find out that you can't use a FitBit One and the Flex at the same time... You have to have separate accounts, so you can't accumulate data from both them at the same time and have it all integrate properly...

I really wanted to switch over to the Flex... But still use my FitBit One to track floors "climbed" as well at the same time... or just wear it discretely at times when wearing the Flex just wouldn't be appropriate... But from what I've been told by the FitBit people... It's either one or the other... :(

I have the Jawbone Up (have had it since Feb) and my bf has the Fitbit Flex, which is quite new. We both have iPhone 5's so we sync to our apps every day.

The Jawbone definitely has the better sleep tracking and app in general, but the Flex has a nifty light on the band that you can tap to see how close you are to your step goals. The Up syncs by plugging it in, whereas the Flex is wireless. I prefer my Up, but I just had to exchange mine as it was kaput and it fell under the year warranty.

My goal is 10,000 steps a day and I find that on many days I am able to achieve my goal. It definitely keeps me motivated!

Just ordered my Fitbit One. Arrives on Wednesday, Ill update this thread with my thoughts. Hopefully it motivates me to get more active!