Fitbit review
By Tim Stevens 
posted Oct 15th 2009 12:16PM
posted Oct 15th 2009 12:16PM
It wasn't that long ago that a bathroom scale was the only gadget you needed to track weight loss. Today even videogame consoles, once the bane of the fitness industry, are trying to help you recycle that spare tire, and of course there's no shortage of specialty doo-dads getting in on the action. The Fitbit is one of those, a little accelerometer that pledges to keep an eye on what you do so that you can just go ahead and do it, reporting back at the end of the day on how well you did at staying active. It sounds nice, but it's not quite that self-sufficient. Read on to see if it's worth the commitment.
A little digging in the device's forums uncovered a note from a Fitbit employee indicating to clip it to your belt or, even better, somewhere on your upper body. Good to know... shame that wasn't in the manual. That's because no manual comes with the thing, the implication being you just throw it on and go to town. Again that's not quite the reality, especially when it comes to sleep. The Fitbit FAQ online says: "When you get into bed, you slide the Fitbit Tracker onto a wristband that is provided with the Tracker. As you fall in and out of sleep, the Fitbit tracks the movements that your body makes and can tell you how long it took you to fall asleep, how many times you woke up throughout the night and the actual time you were asleep vs the time you were in bed." When we woke up and checked the results, it said we hadn't slept a wink. Digging a little further we found the Fitbit "manual" online (a set of five bullet points on a page) that says to hold the Fitbit's single button for two seconds and wait for it to say "Start." Then, when you awake, do it again until it says "Stop."
That's certainly simple enough, but not something you're likely to figure out on your own. Everything else, though, was seamless. The base station/charger plugged into our desktop and, after a quick driver download (PC and Mac software is available), sync'd up with the Fitbit wirelessly. An hour's charge and we were good to go for the entire week that we tested it, and every time we walked near the base station it downloaded our stats, which showed up online through the Tracker website.
The Tracker site offers a simple but clean looking web interface where the heavy lifting occurs. Here you must enter in everything you eat, enter in your weight every day, and even enter in your activities. Yes, the Fitbit will count how many steps you've taken over the course of a day (and do so quite accurately once you get it out of your pocket), but spend any time doing things like weight training, cycling, or swimming, and you need to enter them manually -- particularly that last one, since the Fitbit is not waterproof. You could easily spend 30 minutes in here every day logging everything you eat and do., especially since there's no way to define a standard meal and re-use it. If you have a bowl of raisin bran with cranberries and a glass of orange juice every morning be prepared to enter four separate things (raisin bran, cranberries, milk, juice) and a quantity for each. Woe unto those who have coffee with sugar and cream, too.
There are thousands of items in the database to select for, and full nutritional information including protein, saturated fat, and fiber is stored for them. That's great, but it's impossible to get that data back out in a report. There is a selection of nice looking pie and bar charts showing caloric burn vs. intake, your weight, and a few others, but that's it. If you want to see if you'd been downing enough protein to get ripped but not enough to send yourself into ketosis you won't be able to do it here, nor can you track your water intake or any specific nutrient.
That, plus an inability to automatically track most serious physical activities, leaves this as a device for casual folks -- people who are trying to lose weight, who are getting their primary exercise through walking, and who aren't already tracking what they eat. Even for them there's the question of whether the Fitbit is worth it. The Tracker site is free to use for anyone, even if you haven't spent the $100 to buy the gadget. Without one the only thing you really lose is that daily count of steps. The sleep tracking was interesting, and while it did tell us how many times we rolled over, it assumed we fell asleep after just a few minutes in bed even though we know we were awake for much longer. It'll give you a rough idea of how restful you were, but chances are you know that already.
So, you don't need to buy a Fitbit to make use of the website, but should you get one anyway? Perhaps. Having a little thing clipped onto your belt or bra through the day is something of a good reminder that you're being watched -- even if the only thing it's watching is how much you bob up and down as you walk around. Is that worth $100? That depends on how much motivation you need to shed those pounds.
Update: As it turns out, you can define meals through the Tracker site -- something we didn't discover on our own, that is not mentioned in the product documentation, and that even the Fitbit representative we spoke with about this review was not aware of. The functionality is similar to what is now crossed out above, allowing users to aggregate foods and quantities and more quickly add them to their daily intake. A great feature... a great, undocumented feature.
Wow. That's a lot of time wasted on seeing how much you'll weigh in on the scale.
Yeah, a lot of money wasted too when this company goes out of business, the website dies, and you're left with a big clip to use to keep your bag of Fritos fresh.
Despite really looking forward to the fitbit, this review is a little disappointing - $100 for a pedometer is seriously overpriced...
The software/meals side can easily be improved but they should include some sort of heart rate monitor to better count calories and sleep, maybe a way to measure body fat %...
And maybe, (if the device is successful enough to release new hardware), have a few buttons on the device itself for preset routines/meals so you can enter in your exercise and food intake instantly instead of having to remember it all at the end of the day.
Spend your $100 on a new pair of jogging shoes instead.
Better yet, save the $100 and run barefoot!
i was so excited for this when I first heard about it but it looks like the hype couldn't possibly be matched by the actual product. i still might get it just for the neat factor but i'm a little sad.
and if really all you are getting is the steps then a $5 pedometer would be all you need. granted the fitbit is more than that, a 95% discount is pretty steep.
The wireless upload and sleep tracking make it worth it to me. If you've ever been part of a weight-loss class, etc., they pretty much make everybody wear pedometers all day, and the fitbit makes the tracking MUCH easier.
Crapgadget.
Thanks for the review! It allowed me to cancel my order in time before they shipped my fitbit. $100 saved for reading engadget.
How did you cancel your order? I can't seem to locate the e-mail with the order info anywhere -- :( Is there a number I can call?
You went to bed at 9:40? My 85 year old grandmother goes to bed at 10:00.
So... the only thing I'm wondering is where can I buy this "Food Log"... mmmmm... Food Logs....
I clip it on a bracelet before I fap. According to the site, I should be like 50 pounds lighter now. I'm not.
This seems like it really needs a heart rate monitor to be useful. Time spent at the gym lifting weights (where one's upper body can be fairly still during certain exercises) probably does not get accurately logged.
What about time spent on the subway or in a car, where the user can be jostled around but exerts no extra calories? The reviewer should have covered that...
I wear the FitBit on my belt and it adds absolutely 0 steps to the counter during my 1 hour ride on the Metro everyday. I specifically checked before and after. I could see how keeping the FitBit loose in your pocket could fudge your data. You really need to clip it to something for the best results.
I agree with you. For $100 a heart rate monitor probably would have elevated this thing from crapware to something I'd actually use. A pedometer plus an accurate way to measure other activities like when you're lifting weights (I understand the obvious pitfalls with swimming) would accurately gauge your calories burned.
Otherwise, this thing is just meh. And yeah, this will definitely bite the dust.
I wouldn't use it if it had a heart rate monitor. Heart rate monitors involve chest straps, and while I'm perfectly fine clipping something the size of a USB thumb drive on my pocket, there's no way I'd bother putting on a chest strap every morning.
Now add another T in the name and it means pussy-piece in Swedish. Pure marketing gold.
I've been wearing my FitBit the last couple of days and I like it for the sake of the data it collects automagically. It's like Google Analytics for your physical activity. Putting it into sleep mode is a little weird because you have to remember to press and hold the button for 2 seconds before you go to bed and when you wake up.
I hate the food tracking feature of the site. I prefer http://www.thedailyplate.com/ for that. Overall I'm quite pleased with my FitBit knowing I have all of this data coming in about what i've been doing so I have something to compare it to in the future. You've got to look at this thing for the long term!
Does it detect sleep apnea?
Someone said I might have sleep apnea and when I saw the fitbit tracks sleep, I wondered the same thing. But once I learned it was only accelerometer based, I had extreme doubts as to it's accuracy to detect and track sleep, nevermind the subtle changes in the body that are caused by sleep apnea (coming out of REM but not actually waking up). That can only be detected by brainwave monitoring. Now if it could do THAT, then I'd be all over it.
I think the fitbit site has a lot of improvements to make - but you can create a meal and make it a favorite if it's something you eat regularly every day. Not sure how you missed this on the site.
Also, most people who have it seem to find it very accurate WHEN CLIPPED to them. I don't think this is really unexpected vs it bouncing in your pocket - it is an accelerometer afterall.
I'm keeping my preorder... but glad if some cancel and I move up on the list!
i've been a beta tester of the device for a few weeks... i've used the bodybugg, and Omron pedometers and others (from $10-$300)
This is a great middle of the road device, the algorythms are great and pretty acurate. The best things about it are:
The community, they care about user feedback and are constantly making changes.
The size of the device (with built in clip). not only is it small but it can track movement when clipped at a lot of different places and different angles, many devices must be oriented a certain way, and a certain location and are often the size of a cellphone or small pager/beeper.
I could go on and on, the truth is if you don't care about how much your moving around, walking, and generally active - don't get the device... for everyone else I would/have chosen this over the competition
Check out the competition (bodybugg, gowearfit, omron, biotrainer, muve, nike plus, fitpod) and you'll realize why this is different.
This is an awful review. The Engadget staff couldn't even find the Meal feature on the FitBit website? Apparently the only thing it got right is that the FitBit needs documentation, because if you know how to use it, it would merit a better review.
Perhaps the generic "tech" audience isn't the target user for the FitBit, because it's not just some gadget. Like previous commenters, I've used pedometers, heart rate monitors, and GPS fitness devices. FitBit falls under a completely different category, and it does its job really well.
@elaine, many thanks. You're the first person to mention this feature, which we did indeed miss. Even the representative we worked with on this review was not aware of the meals feature, and it is not mentioned in what little documentation exists for this thing. The review has been updated to mention it.
Thanks, Tim -- I guess that shouldn't surprise me, in addition to the lack of documentation, the product seems to lack good PR. Which sucks, because I've been using for two weeks an unequivocally LOVE it.
I too have been a beta tester for the fitbit and your review leaves alot to be desired. People seem to want this device to do everything, and that isn't what the fitbit team set it out to be. If you read up about it, it was clear that it shouldn't be viewed as the be all. Motivation is a big factor in becoming less sedentary and the fitbit doesn't fail in that category. Their website is a work in progress but I am loving what it is able to do. This is a new company, and with all things new, there is a trial period.
It is always easy to say what it should include, what it should do, but who on here had this great idea and put it into action? IF you aren't trying to be less sedentary and want something to work magic on you, go to your fairy godmother and not to fitbit. As for me, Fitbit is my choice and I am proud to say that I was one of their few beta testers of the hardware, as well as everyday user of it since the end of August.
i was one of the beta testers for the fitbit and have been using it since mid-august, and i created meals almost right away. every day, i just get on, click my breakfast meal, click my snacks, click my 'standard' dinners.. makes it real simple.
i used to use my sony ericsson w850i to track my steps, since it has a built-in pedometer. being able to have all that data wirelessly upload to a website and see a graph of the data is way more helpful than only having it on my phone. and better still, the data uploads when you're near any fitbit base station, not just your own. i got a fitbit for a friend, and everytime i'm over at their house, my data syncs up to the website.
I'm waiting to see about the Philips DirectLife:
http://www.directlife.philips.com/
Looks like a similar product. Their tracker isn't free ($12.50 a month) but it seems to give you suggestions based on your data.
It doesn't track your sleeping habits.
It is waterproof, but I don't swim so...
I wrote a paper in MBA school suggesting that the world (specifically, USA) needs such a device to deal with its problem of obesity. The problem that I proposed (the topic - as if anyone cares) is that we get delayed feedback on how our food (input energy) and our activity (output energy) is balanced.
I do not recall doing so well on the paper. Probably because I am not that good of a writer and my problem may have seemed too unimportant.
I am glad to see such a device on the market. And I am happy to learn about other similar products out there.
Hi Michael,
I completely agree with you about the fact that people don't receive quick feedback on their daily energy intake and expenditure and I think that tackling this issue developing some easy to use tool can improve the health of the general population (not only in United States).
Would you mind to send me your article?
Cheers,
Alex
There seems to be quite a contrast between the comments of people who have actually been using the Fitbit and those who haven't. I think the positive comments of satisfied customers is more valid than an impartial review by someone who obviously wouldn't be interested in the product on their own or comments from those who haven't been following the Fitbit blog through its development for the past year. There are several studies and articles citing the need for increased activity throughout the day, such as the work done at Mayo Clinic - NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis) and last months TIME magazine article "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin." Fitbit is a good tool to help people monitor and increase their activity 24/7.
This really was a terrible review. I've been using a FitBit for several weeks, and have found it both motivating and extremely accurate. And I had no trouble at all finding the "Meals" feature, and figuring out that the belt clip implied that it would be awfully nice to clip the thing to my belt.
Anyone who has actually used a $5 pedometer (or a $40 pedometer) and looked at the accuracy - plus the difficult of charting effort over time - can figure out the difference.
Love that the commenter before me thought the exact opposite of what I have to say:
IT'S AN EXPENSIVE PEDOMETER
OK, so it does more, and maybe it's more accurate, but a) it doesn't tell you much that's very useful, and b) hardly anyone will actually use it.
Pass.
Jeff Yablon
President & CEO
http://answerguy.com
Yes, the FitBit is basically a glorified pedometer. It IS the best pedometer user experience I've seen - I've had way too many problems with pedometers falling off, being bulgy under clothing, making annoying clicky noises, being totally inaccurate...
The device is cool. But the "whole product experience" is seriously lacking. The fact that you have to look in multiple places to learn how to use the sleep setting, or that there is a reset button. The website isn't great (something like sparkpeople.com is more fully-featured) and while customer support is responsive, they are weirdly abrupt and automaton-like. They're not ready for prime-time yet - I know people who'd be motivated by this device, but I'm not ready to recommend them yet.
I was pretty excited about this product at first. But it's simply just a pedometer. It counts your steps.
Sure it's a digital sensor, and not one of the $4 pedometers. So, like a high end Omron, $20-30. Then it ads a rather useless, and expensive, wireless connectivity.
$100 buys you;
1. High end pedometer, $20-30, maybe 40, to track your steps.
2. BT GPS, $35-40, to connect to your phone and free software to track distance, speed, route, etc.
3. Heart rate monitor, $20, maybe 30.
That's a lot more fun and stats.
Give the FitBit a standard USB-connection and knock it down to $30. I do love the design. And make the website a standalone software.
I think this is better than just a pedometer, as they have worked out complicated algorithms in order to accurately calculate the amount of calories burned which is VERY helpful if you are trying to ensure to burn "X" amount of calories more than you consume.
Also, if the company does go out of business, you are not totally reliant on the website, you can view steps taken, distance, and calories burned at anytime on the device itself (OLED), as well as a visual that rates how active you are on that day based on how long the graphic is on the side of the FitBit. However this review failed to mention either of those features...
Gotta plug my favorite fitness app, Cadence.
not a pedometer or calorie counter, its just about pacing you and keeping your fitness motivation up.
plays music that matches the speed you are working out at.
http://www.cadenceapp.com