New Fitbit NSV

(G. Andrew Duthie) #1

Not sure how much of this is Keto vs. staying active in various sports (softball, ultimate frisbee), but I just got a new Fitbit Charge 2 for Christmas, replacing my Fitbit Flex, which I’d been using for over a year.

One of the things I really like about the Charge 2 is the built-in heart rate monitor. Well, one of the things they do with the data, is calculate a “cardio fitness score” based on resting vs. active heart rate and age as well as other factors. While I’ve only been using the new fitbit for a couple days, it says my cardio fitness level is between Good and Very Good for my age group. A nice bit of validation, with the caveat that I’ve no idea how accurate it actually is.

Anyone else with a Charge 2? Does it seem fairly accurate on the HR front?

Sleep and muscle development
(Rick) #2

I don’t have a Charge, but have an Underarmour equivalent. For the most part the optical heart rate sensor is pretty accurate when you are not overly active (i.e. exercising). I’ve tested this against Polar FT7 and H7 cheststrap monitoring. If you’re looking to monitor during a fitness excursion I wouldn’t rely on the Fitbit optical monitor as it’s reading can be off by as much as +/- 20bpm. I personally can vouch for a cheststrap monitor when dialing in your cardiovascular target heart rate zone. If you really want to nerd out, I recommend reading, or listening, to Dr. Phil Maffetone’s ideas on heart rate zones and chronic cardio training. it revolutionized how I train, how well I recover and overall how I feel. Best Regards, Rick

(Cheryl Meyers) #3

I’ve been using a One since 2013, and it’s fading away. Wondering what to get next. Is the Charge 2 good?

(anonymous65) #4

I have the Charge, not the Charge 2. When it dies, I’ll get a Charge 2 as I’ve been quite happy with it.

The heart rate is quite accurate. Over the years, while in the doctor’s office I check it against the heart rate they record and it’s within a beat or two. Also, in the gym on a treadmill it matches pretty closely with the heart rate reported on the treadmill.

(matt ) #5

I have a Charge HR. The thing that improved my heart rate the most was getting a good nights sleep. When I have a bad stretch of sleep it starts creeping back up. I need to work on my sleeping patterns.

(G. Andrew Duthie) #6

I’ve got a Polar chest strap HRM, which is what I typically use when on my rowing machine, since the rower computer has a port for the HR sensor, and displays the HR on the monitor. Which is fine for rowing, since it really isn’t practical for me to be lifting my wrist to my face while rowing, at least not if I want to maintain cadence. :slight_smile:

The chest strap is less convenient for biking, etc., so I may just see if the Fitbit is “good enough” for activities like that.

(G. Andrew Duthie) #7

So far, I quite like it. The hourly activity reminders are nice, since I do try to get the 250 steps an hour during the day. Gets me up from the desk more consistently.

I also like that they seem to have figured out how to measure stairs climbed without the use of a barometer/altimeter. Only time it doesn’t quite work is if I’m carrying a cup of coffee upstairs, since that keeps my arm from moving as much as normal.

(Rick) #8

The H7 is bluetooth compatible with Concept2’s PM5 if that is what you use (mine works as advertised in this instance). For biking the H7 is very useful if you have a mount kit for your phone to use as a display.

(G. Andrew Duthie) #9

Alas, still on a PM3, which only supports a wired sensor. Perhaps if I start using it more, I’ll look into upgrading to the PM5, assuming it’s compatible with my rower.

(Wayne Godfrey) #10

My wife and I gave each other a Charge 2 for Christmas. It’s been absolutely great for us because it’s been the motivation that we both needed to be more active (even if it’s just getting 10,000 steps or going up stairs).

I’ve tested the heart rate feature against other devices and manually counting my pulse and have found it to be quite good for moderate levels of activity that don’t involve drastic arm movements. I’m not sure how well it would work when doing something like rowing.

Features like the step counter are of course dependent on arm movement and aren’t 100% accurate; but it’s really only meant to give approximate counts (10,000 vs 8,000). I’ve also found that the distance calculation is not accurate (couple of tenths off), but again, if you’re comparing it to itself to measure progress that doesn’t really matter.

I just hope the novelty doesn’t wear off after awhile and I revert to my more sedentary lifestyle. :slight_smile:

(G. Andrew Duthie) #11

I’m finding it to be pretty accurate overall. It does a great job of counting flights of stairs, and since I generally work from home, I can hit the stair goal pretty easily every day (in fact I increased the goal from 10 to 12 for more challenge). I have a bad habit, unfortunately, of getting absorbed in what I’m doing on the computer and missing my 250 step/hr goal at least once a day, which annoys me. The Charge 2 does a good job of reminding me, but I do a good job of ignoring it. :slight_smile:

Heart rate seems pretty accurate to me…after a few more days I’m still really liking it. Battery life seems pretty solid, too.

#12

Rest In Peace Microsoft Band two. That thing had a great heart rate monitor.

(G. Andrew Duthie) #13

I was very close to buying one of those, on many occasions. The thing that held me back was the very high incidence of strap tears (although everyone I knew who had that happen got a free replacement, some multiple times). While that’s something I ran into with my Fitbit Flex (first time, they replaced it free), on something as pricey as the Band 2 it was just an unacceptable risk. Now that they’ve discontinued work on the Band line, I’m glad I held off.

#14

I have the original Charge. I like it.

I’ve tested it walking on both a track and a treadmill, and it does a very good job of accurately counting steps. I’d say it’s correct 95%+. This is a great motivation for those days when I’ve hit 8k or so, to get up and go for another quick walk.

The heart-rate component works rather well. I’ve tested it during exercise, using the treadmill’s built in heart-rate monitor - and at the doctor’s office - and it’s amazing how well it performed.

I have sleep issues, so the sleep-tracking is a nice addition.

One thing, it counts calories expended, and I’m not sure how it calculates this. I don’t know if it takes into account changes in heart-rate, plus activity, or if it just estimates, based on hours awake, vs asleep, or a combination of all factors.

#15

I have a Charge HR and will may get the Charge 2 when it dies, but I’m considering some of their other models.

I also have a Polar H7 chest strap.

Not that taking a pulse is hard, but being a former paramedic turned software developer, I’ve found the Fitbit to be off by about 10% when compared to actually measuring my pulse, but I’ll take the margin of error for the convenience it provides in order to log the HR and not have to wear a chest band all the time.

When it comes to steps and stairs, I don’t consider Fitbit entirely accurate of those specifically, but definitely accurate if those are lumped together under “activity” instead.

For example, sometimes I spend days shoveling dirt, etc. around my yard and even though I live on an incline that is about 3 stories tall from the bottom to the top, the Fitbit may show as many as 100-300+ stairs climbed that day where most of that comes from the actual shoveling action. Other times I’m doing some work where I walk around less, but use my hands a lot and these show up as steps.

I’m not complaining, just pointing out that steps and stairs are approximations of activity that is forced into one of those categories because if I spend a lot of time sitting, very little activity is detected and sometimes it even thinks I’m sleeping on the rare occasion I sit and watch a movie.

(G. Andrew Duthie) #16

Agree completely. I just did a first Stronglifts 5x5 workout this morning, along with 2000m of rowing, and there was definitely a difference between the Fitbit HR and my chest strap HR, but it was not huge. Close enough to be worth having on the Fitbit, IMO. Neither are necessarily medically accurate.

LOL, yes. I play ultimate frisbee on Saturdays, and the Fitbit typically shows many flights of stairs while I’m doing that. I don’t let it bother me…it’s all activity, as you say.