So, it’s now been almost 3 weeks since I received my Fitbit. I thought I’d take a minute to tell you about my experience using the Fitbit over the last few weeks. So let’s get to it:
UN-BOXING THE FITBIT
The Fitbit came in a sleek plastic case that was very easy to open and get the Fitbit out of. Also included is the packaging was a very prominent label that “to start using your Fitbit, go to www.fitbit.com/start” which made it really easy to get started.
SETTING UP THE FITBIT.
Getting the Fitbit set up was a little challenging. At first I thought I had a bum device I couldn’t get it to turn on and even after plugging the charger in and placing the Fitbit on the charger. What was even more frustrating was that I was following instructions exactly as described on the Fitbit website. As it turns out, my Fitbit just needed to be charged. However, charging it was also a bit of a problem. I believe the device should be able to be charged regardless of the orientation you place it on the charger, but that’s not the case for my Fitbit. I know this because when the Fitbit is charging and you press the one and only button on the Fitbit it should display a picture of a battery that shows you how charged the device is. In my case that only happens when the Fitbit is placed on the charger in one of the two possible orientations. Having figured that out life is now good with the Fitbit!
USING THE FITBIT.
Using the Fitbit is awesome! It’s super easy and they’ve included a clip for larger belts which really helps keep the Fitbit in place. I’ve measure the accuracy of the Fitbit against walking on a treadmill without any calibration and it seems to be pretty accurate. It’s also super speedy at transferring data whenever I’m in range of the charging base station. Usually I’m only in front of the computer in the mornings to unlock the front door and head out to my car but in a small amount of time it typically transfers all my data from the previous night (including my sleep data). Speaking of sleep data, I love tracking how much sleep I’m getting every night! It gets addicting pretty quickly I found myself not wearing it one night last week and the next morning I was seriously disappointed wondering how much sleep I got exactly. I will tell you however, the trying to slip the fit that into you the provided wrist strap can be a little tricky. I find myself placing the Fitbit into the wrist strap prior to putting it on and then trying to put it on with one hand, this technique works but takes a little getting used to. The other thing that is really concerned about prior to getting my Fitbit was losing it after reading lots of stories online about people who lost it the first or second day. I think the folks at Fitbit recognize this to be an issue and have since included a clip that really does keep the Fitbit in place. It goes with me anyways I know this because the other day I spent about an hour playing with my dogs in the back yard running all over rolling around with them in the grass and roughhousing in general only to come back inside and think to myself “oh crap, I forgot I was wearing this thing” I’m happy to say that stayed on the whole time without issue. In this case I was wearing a belt along with the provided belt clip. It worked beautifully! The data you get out of the system is great and they have a great dashboard for viewing your stats. They also do a great job of automatically tweeting out your activity to your followers on twitter!
DRAWBACKS
- Not yet integrated with other personal fitness sites like DailyBurn.com
- Weird Charging Issues
- Didn’t come with a charged battery
- THE SUPER LONG BACKLOG FOR THESE DEVICES!
IN SUMMARY
the Fitbit is a fantastic device that would totally recommend to anyone interested in tracking personal biometrics including sleep and step count. I’m not sure if the folks over at Fitbit have gotten through their backlog (they’re crazy, crazy backlog of orders) but, I’ll tell you in my opinion, it’s definitely worth the wait!
