Fitbit Wireless Activity/Sleep Tracker, Black/Blue
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Overall satisfied, however stairs don't work **Update 12/14/11

Home » Fitbit Wireless Activity/Sleep Tracker, Black/Blue

Overall Satisfied, However Stairs Don't Work **Update 12/14/11

Fitbit Wireless Activity/Sleep Tracker, Black/Blue

$99.95/$81.88
I received my fitbit last Thursday and tried it on Friday after charging.

I have a bodymedia armband and I love it for the information it provides, however I wanted to try out the fitbit and see if I can get comparable data without the monthly cost or constant contact with my skin.

So far the fitbit is fairly close to the armband. Even the sleep is fairly close (the first day the actual sleep number was exactly the same between the fitbit and the bodymedia).

The fitbit does read a little low on the calories and steps in comparison to the bodmedia, however that's better than reading too high. At least I work harder and hopefully burn more calories, but it's close enough where I get useful and effective information.

Here are some comparisons:
Date (steps)----Fitbit--BodyMedia
10/14/2011------9457----10609
10/15/2011------6678----7523
10/16/2011------10673---12024
10/17/2011------16804---14179
10/18/2011------5724----6159

Date (calories)-Fitbit--BodyMedia
10/14/2011------1845----2285
10/15/2011------1828----2303
10/16/2011------2113----2567
10/17/2011------1933----2588
10/18/2011------1642----1958

Date (sleep)----Fitbit-------BodyMedia
10/14/2011------5hrs 4min----5hrs 4min
10/15/2011------3hrs 56min---6hrs 14min (may be how I started counter on fitbit)
10/16/2011------5hrs 8min----5hrs 37min
10/17/2011------4hrs 59min---5hrs 21min
10/18/2011------4hrs 57min---4hrs 48min

So the data is not right on, but not that far off. Especially considering this is much lower in cost (initial purchase price and no monthly fee) and doesn't have to read your actual body measurements/parameters.

It is nice that the Fitbit is so small and unnoticeable. It doesn't get in my way and it doesn't bulge like the armband does. I've had my bodymedia armband for a few years now and up until recently I didn't seem to have an issue. However, lately the armband leave my skin irritated.

Another positive about the fitbit is that the display lets you see the steps, calories, activity (love the flower) without having the synch it to a PC. I love seeing my data live, throughout the day. I can adjust my activities if I see I'm low.

My only problem is that my stairs are not working. Hence, the 3 stars.

No matter how many stairs I take, the stairs continually show "0." Not very motivating to see that message. I have four floors at work that I take and one floor in my house (to get from the main level to my bedroom). So I'm curious to see how many stairs I take and see how much that influences whether I take them more often.

I sent an email and Friday and heard back on Monday with a question for my fitbit email information (I had sent them an email from a separate email). I hadn't heard back and sent them another email to see if they received it okay. They did write back today, but with the response that this is a known issue...

This is the part that disappoints me, if it's a known issue shouldn't it have been resolved before sending the units out???

I don't believe it affects everyone as I've seen posts on the fitbit community site where people discuss how many stairs they log (It sounds like a neat feature and most people seem happy with it, when it works).

So right now I'm just waiting to hear back on why my stairs aren't logging and when (or if) it can be fixed.

12/14/2011 Update:
I've been working with the fitbit team (Farrah is awesome). She helped me out and communicated back and forth until I got my replacement (yah!). Very excited to have working stairs, it is a pretty awesome feature and is a motivator to take the stairs more often. It is fun to see what I've "climbed" based on the altitude I've climbed on the stairs! Not only did the team replace my unit, they worked to find out what happened to make my previous unit stop. This is very appealing feature in a company, mistakes or issues will happen. I think how they handle issues is what defines a good company. The fact that they want to take the time to figure out what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again, is pretty cool in my opinion.

The reason for 4 stairs after having a fully functional unit was the sleep feature. This is only because I'm comparing it against the bodymedia armband. The extra effort to set the start/stop often makes me skip the sleep feature, whereas the bodymedia automatically registers the sleep. That's my only con (but that's comparing to the bodymedia). Otherwise, their sleep feature is pretty neat (when I take the time to start/stop it).

11/2/2011:
An update to rating due to disappointing customer service. Still have an issue with the stair logging. When I wrote this issue on their help and support forum, they gave an email to contact saying to get a replacement.

When I wrote the support email they said it's a known issue (after ~a week) and that the expected fix availability is unknown. Frustrated with the inconsistent responses from different departments within the company and that they still post on their help and community forum to write their support email for a replacement (which didn't happen after writing their support email).

If you read their community forum for help and support, a number of users have issues with their stair logging. Just a note: they do say their stair logging does not work on stair machines or machines. It has an altimeter that reads altitude change so it will only log when you CLIMB an actual staircase. It will not log when you descend an actual staircase.

I was trying to be patient, but after 19 days I'm a little fed up with their customer service. I was hoping to try this out and get some for family and recommend to friends, but not sure now.

When you buy something based on features, you expect those to work or some sort of resolution. It's almost been 3 weeks and still no resolution.

                                       - by boothmeg @ 10/19/2011

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