FitBit -- worth it?

[cathyf]

I'm looking at the FitBit advertisements, and they seem to run ~$150. What do people here think? Are they worth it? They promise sleep monitoring, but does it really tell you anything that you don't already know from your machine data? Are they really accurate or are they guessing?

[palerider]

I'm looking at the FitBit advertisements, and they seem to run ~$150. What do people here think? Are they worth it? They promise sleep monitoring, but does it really tell you anything that you don't already know from your machine data? Are they really accurate or are they guessing?

I can't speak to them, but I picked up a couple Zeo sleep coaches off ebay for under 100$ each patience can be rewarded.

[sleep_quest]

I'm looking at the FitBit advertisements, and they seem to run ~$150. What do people here think? Are they worth it? They promise sleep monitoring, but does it really tell you anything that you don't already know from your machine data? Are they really accurate or are they guessing?

I can't speak to them, but I picked up a couple Zeo sleep coaches off ebay for under 100$ each patience can be rewarded.

Why do you need two or more Zeo's?

[palerider]

Why do you need two or more Zeo's?

I'm part dolphin? one for each side of my brain?

no?

ok, one was to give as a xmas prezzie.

[Haztek]

I have had a Polar Loop since early June. I mostly use it to monitor how far I have walked although it does breakdown your sleep into Restful Sleep and Restless Sleep. There is a smartphone app to go with it. With the Polar Loop, for an additional cost you can buy a band to go across your chest to monitor heart rate.

[Minky]

My three sisters and I have used the FitBit for a few years and have found it to be very accurate in terms of calculating calories burned. However, if you want something to monitor your sleep I wouldn't bother. It gives very little information.

[englandsf]

Waiting for the Apple watch

[VictorC]

I have a Fitbit, and just started tracking my sleep with it. The sleep report is not very detailed. It breaks your sleep down into three categories. Awake, Restless, and Asleep. Fitbit uses accelerometers to determine if you are asleep or not. It does a pretty good job but is not 100% accurate. If price is an issue, I recommend the Fitbit One which retails for $99. It has sleep tracking and comes with a cloth wristband that you insert your Fitbit into to monitor your sleep. If you can afford to spend more, they just released the Charge HR which does sleep tracking as well, but also includes a built in heart rate monitor. I figure with the addition of another sensor sleep tracking can only be more accurate.

I don't have a lot of data to make conclusions either way, but I would say it is helpful. For instance, I had a few nights where I had a marked increase in the number of centrals I was experiencing. Using Sleepyhead, I was able to determine that they were not pressure related. I knew I wasn't sleeping well throughout the night, but Fitbit allowed me to correlate periods of restlessness or being awake to the approximate times of some of the worst of my centrals. I figured that they were indeed caused by periods in which I was falling asleep or transitioning to another sleep stage, and so I need not be concerned by their appearance.

Here is an article that compares several activity/sleep trackers (including a Fitbit) against a polysomnogram.

[chunkyfrog]

I am quite happy with my misfit Flash. Does everything it needs to, and links to a variety of platforms.
It was under $25 at Best Buy in December.
The Shine is more pricey and like jewelry, but the Flash has a better control button.

[TangledHose]

I have been using the FitBit Force for over a year now and it's good for tracking daytime activity and providing motivation to increase daytime activity, but not so hot as a sleep tracker. As previous posts indicate it uses accelerometers like you'd find inside your smartphone, the mechanism that knows your holding your phone in portrait or landscape and flips the screen, so all the Fitbit can do at night is measure whether you are moving in bed or not.

I have been comparing the sleep data from FitBit to the ResMed S+ sleep reports and I see the problem with the Fitbit is that if you are in bed not moving but you are not asleep it is giving you credit for sleep when you aren't. So on a nightly basis the Fitbit shows considerably more sleep time that my S+ because of the Fitbits inability to really know if you're asleep or simply not moving. The difference can be as much as an hour over the course of a standard night's sleep.

So in conclusion the Fitbit is not so good for sleep monitoring.........I have looked into the two new models just available....the Charge HR, and the Surge, they do have heart rate monitors but the literature indicates those heart rate monitors do not come into play for aiding sleep accuracy. The new Fitbit devices still model your sleep only with the accelerometers........the heart rate portion is intended for physical training purposes to show the user if they are in the proper heart rate zone for their particular physical goals such as cardio or fat burning.

[Krelvin]

Daughter uses a FitBit for monitoring steps, calories burned etc... doesn't use it for sleep monitoring at all. She got one off of Ebay for like $50 and has had it now long enough to replace the battery (lasts up to 6 months).

Correction... it is apparently a lesser model of the Fitbit... Doesn't have sleep monitoring in it.

[Dancing Bear]

Do I think the Fitbit is a substitute for the data collected on our machines? No. I see the Fitbit's sleep data as a quick reference to the quality of my sleep. I am considering upgrading to the Surge for the heart monitoring benefit. Again, I don't expect precision, but general reference.

Many of us in the family use Fitbits for their designed purpose of measuring steps and calories with the added bonus of friendly online competitions.

Just a quick story about my Fitbit. I happened to have on my Fitbit during a new doctor visit several months ago. She asked a lot of questions about it's functions. That led to a discussion about my crazy sleep/wake patterns which ultimately led to a sleep study. I won't go into my complete medical history, but that interaction very well could have saved my life.

I love my Fitbit.

[HoseCrusher]

When trying to figure out a problem I believe that more information from different perspectives can be very useful.

xPAP devices give you information based upon air flow.
The oximeter gives you information based upon O2 levels and heart rate.
The FitBit type of devices give you information based upon physical movement.

Once you establish a "normal" value for these various devices you can then have a better chance of evaluating deviations from the norm.

I have used the FitBit for years. When I travel and end up in a "strange" bed I find my activity during sleep increases and this is reflected in my FitBit report. When my wife is ill and is tossing and turning I see similar results. I would expect similar results if I were ill but I rarely get ill so I haven't observed that.

It doesn't take a FitBit report to tell you this, but if you wake up feeling less than "chipper" and find that instead of your normal 4+ hours of inactive sleep you only had 2 hours last night, you can then do some further evaluation to figure out what is going on.

Is the FitBit worth it? Only if you have an active interest in your health. It gives you another view into what is going on while you sleep.

[chunkyfrog]

. . . When I travel and end up in a "strange" bed . . .

This image makes me smile--and I'm not judging.

[TangledHose]

FitBit sleep data screen shot for comparison:



ResMed S+ screen shot ....same night's sleep:



Just thought I'd post so you could compare the difference and see how the FitBit gives way too much sleep credit since it can only record movement, and not actual sleep