I've had mine for over 2 months now and I adore it!
Tip: Just do what you would normally do during the assestment phase, even if that normal activity is very little compared to what you think you should be doing. ActiveLink helps you set realistic goals for upping your activity and it makes incorporating more active nearly seamless.
Also, it REALLY IS WATERPROOF! I just got back from swimming.
BTW, I have been debating on that issue of wearing it like I normally do. the past few weeks I have been more active than usual, only because I haven't been taking a diabetic medicine that usually makes me comotose for 5 hours. I'm going to go back on it today, but it's something I only have to take temporaily, so it's really going to register sedentary.
I don't have it, I'm still debating. I know someone who tried it and is not really a fan, but she's unfortunately stuck with it since it's not-transferrable. So I'm still debating. I don't mind the monthly fee, it's that initial cost that concerns me.
I'm debating whether to get it or not as well. Activity isn't really something that I worry about. I go to the gym pretty much daily and food is (and always has been) my issue. So, I'm not sure if it makes sense to shell out the money.
I've heard good things about it though from the people in the meeting room that have it....both those who were very rarely active and those who are consistent gym goers.
My meeting location tested them last year and I wasn't really crazy about them. And that was not having to pay a monthly fee, and only paying $5 for the unit or something.
Hopefully they tweaked them quite a bit based on some of the issues people had with them though. At the time, I found it was really an asset for people that just really weren't moving at all and looking for motivation to increase that. (Also maybe if you just did a burst of activity but otherwise were sedentary, that could be a bit of an eye-opener.)
I was/am a pretty active gym-goer and found my AP goals were really high, the amount of pts I was given for activity - no matter how much tweaking I did - were pretty low, etc. I got sick of trying to play around with it to try and get something remotely accurate, much less worry about actually improving my activity. Currently I know of one person in my old meeting that is having some issues with that now though - active to almost an obsessive level (wayy more than me hehe) and getting really lowball activity readings.
I did notice that for a while after we got our beta gadgets people in the meeting were way more interested in their activity, even just adding things like a walk during breaks at work, etc. It seems to be a great gadget if you just really need a kick in the pants to get some more activity in. My activity levels aren't perfect every week or anything, but I think I prefer more specific, measurable tools, like a heart rate monitor or if I'm outside, a GPS watch, or something.
I was/am a pretty active gym-goer and found my AP goals were really high, the amount of pts I was given for activity - no matter how much tweaking I did - were pretty low, etc. I got sick of trying to play around with it to try and get something remotely accurate, much less worry about actually improving my activity. Currently I know of one person in my old meeting that is having some issues with that now though - active to almost an obsessive level (wayy more than me hehe) and getting really lowball activity readings.
Yes, that was the same issue my friend was having with it. She's already fairly active and was getting super low AP for the work she was putting in.
Drivenbyambition, it is a little device that wear all day every day that tracks your movements with it's built in accelerometer. Rather than a pedometer that just tracks steps, this tracks all movent: up, down, forward, backward, side to side... It gives you an accurate measure of activity, and when you plug it into your computer every night it tells you how many activity points you earned!
The reason it works well, for me, is because I tend to be goal oriented. I like that I can see the points I need to get for the day and love trying new ways to get them. Maintainance has been hard for me in the goal category, since the whole point is getting the scale the stay the same. This gives me a daily goal to help me keep the weight off.
What I really love is the knowledge that I have to hit a baseline of normal movement for the say BEFORE I earn actual activity points. This has been a huge motivater for me.
As for those who get numbers that are lower than they thought: It measure movement, think more along the lines of cardio. Those who strength train are still getting points, but they do tend to be lower.
Yes, you get it at the meetings, but it is not available in all areas yet. It is being rolled out a few areas at a time. You can check with yout local meeting to see if it is in your area yet.