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Keep Apple Watch or get Fitbit?

nrvna76

nrvna76

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 4, 2010
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I bought an Apple Watch Sport SG when they first came out knowing that I could not wear it to work. I bought it mostly to try to motivate me to be more active, but also due to its integration with my phone. Now it turns out my work may change its policy to allow devices like Fitbit's (still not Apple Watch due to microphone). Would you ditch the Apple Watch for a Fitbit to be able to wear it to work or keep the watch for outside of work?
 
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How much do you currently wear your AW outside of work that its activity tracking and motivation benefit you that you would be giving up?
Do you think that you are missing out a lot from the lack of work hours activity tracking and motivation?
Do you have friends on FB that use its social aspects to challenge one another?
 
exxxviii said:
How much do you currently wear your AW outside of work that its activity tracking and motivation benefit you that you would be giving up?
Do you think that you are missing out a lot from the lack of work hours activity tracking and motivation?
Do you have friends on FB that use its social aspects to challenge one another?
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I wear it whenever I am not working and overnight to use as a silent alarm in the morning. Motivation to just not sit for 9 hours a day would be nice but idk how to quantify that. And I don't even have Facebook so no loss on that one.
 
The AW rings are very good in-the-moment motivation to move around. The rings are always visible in a complication and they give you three things to pursue. I do not think the FB Charge has an equivalent motivator; it is good, but not as simple as the AW rings. I have never seen the MS band, so maybe that is a little better.

The strength of the FB (and other trackers) is that they can give you a holistic view of all of your activity for a day. As it is for you, the AW can only see activity for a few hours each evening and then on weekends. That is of limited benefit if you are interested in a tool to help you stay active.

If you are interested in a tool that will help motivate you overall and see all of your activity, get something like a FB Charge or Charge HR.
 
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I kept my fitbit charge when I bought my AW - I actually wear both. The fb upside down on the opposite wrist so it just looks like a thick band. The sleep tracking is fantastic on the fb is fantastic.

As an added side-effect - when I get a call both wrist vibrate - kind of freaked me out the first time it happened.
 
I keep a FitBit One to count steps but I also track on my Watch. I do like the social aspect of the FitBit and sharing stats with your friends. I'm not sure if the Watch will ever do this. Privacy concerns by Apple?
 
nrvna76 said:
I bought an Apple Watch Sport SG when they first came out knowing that I could not wear it to work. I bought it mostly to try to motivate me to be more active, but also due to its integration with my phone. Now it turns out my work may change its policy to allow devices like Fitbit's (still not Apple Watch due to microphone). Would you ditch the Apple Watch for a Fitbit to be able to wear it to work or keep the watch for outside of work?
Click to expand...

I no longer wear my 42ss AW and went back to my Charge HR and love it. The Fitbit App give me way more information than the AW. I would be running with my AW and look at my watch to see the HR was not even being recorded. The AW sensor was terrible compared to the Surge or Charge HR. I can even wear the fitbits loose and they never miss a beat!

The AW does more with you phone but my main reason for it was the fitness and the AW does not come close.
 
I was excited for the Apple Watch for fitness but when I looked it was clear the Fitbit Charge HR was going to be a better choice and I don't regret it. 6 stone in 7 months.

The 24/7 wearing is so useful for a real view of your day and to see how well you are sleeping.
 
BSG75 said:
I keep a FitBit One to count steps but I also track on my Watch. I do like the social aspect of the FitBit and sharing stats with your friends. I'm not sure if the Watch will ever do this. Privacy concerns by Apple?
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Maybe, but I'm not sure. "Sharing" your fitness progress automatically also means choosing one or more social media services (I'm only on FB, not Twitter or Instagram or snapchat or whatever else), which in turn only serves to benefit one of those services.

I can easily type up my own FB post to say how much I've ran this weekend without any help from Apple. I don't see any reason to have it done for me.

I've been wondering lately, too: what is the real reason any of us post our fitness progress publicly? Is it merely boasting? Or friendly competition, encouragement, or maybe trying to set examples and goals for others?

I've mentioned my own progress just a few times on FB (even posted a couple dreaded "gym selfies"), and over the past seven or eight years, only one or two of my friends have ever asked me for advice. Maybe others have felt inspired, but I don't know, and I don't think I need to know.

One of my parents' friends has a Fitbit, and he "competes" with others for step count and whatnot. My mom has said that she thinks the "competition" is silly and maybe an annoyance, making him feel bad if he doesn't do as much as his friends. Then again, she doesn't like to sweat, either…
 
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BarracksSi said:
Maybe, but I'm not sure. "Sharing" your fitness progress automatically also means choosing one or more social media services (I'm only on FB, not Twitter or Instagram or snapchat or whatever else), which in turn only serves to benefit one of those services.
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I cannot imagine a way that the AW could effectively leverage a generic social website such as Facebook for activity and fitness. FitBit, and the others, are optimized for presenting activity and supporting fitness and activity in the context of social and personal challenges. It seems like Facebook would totally suck that this.

People share for all the reasons you list-- motivation, competition, encouragement, boasting, etc.
 
exxxviii said:
I cannot imagine a way that the AW could effectively leverage a generic social website such as Facebook for activity and fitness. FitBit, and the others, are optimized for presenting activity and supporting fitness and activity in the context of social and personal challenges. It seems like Facebook would totally suck that this.
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Right, and Fitbit (and Strava, etc) are only really useful for sharing with other Fitbit (etc) users.

Then there's hardware sales to think about. I'm sure that Fitbit and Garmin aren't interested in letting the AW take over as a runner's primary device.

I guess I'm going on a tangent, though. Nike doesn't even make fitness wearables anymore, so they can only strengthen their brand with better AW support. Same with Runtastic, Wahoo, and the others.
 
I never knew much about Fitbit until I got my Watch. My daudgter's boyfriend challenged me a couple different times so I added the Fitbit app to my iPhone so the Watch could update it. Needless to say I beat him in both the daily challenge and the work week challenge. :cool:
 
Cowboy1629 said:
I never knew much about Fitbit until I got my Watch. My daudgter's boyfriend challenged me a couple different times so I added the Fitbit app to my iPhone so the Watch could update it. Needless to say I beat him in both the daily challenge and the work week challenge. :cool:
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How does your Apple Watch update the Fitbit app?
 
Yes, kind of... It's actually the iPhone that does from the health app. In the app just go into account and choose setup device. At the bottom it says "No Fitbit Yet?" Click on that and it will pull data from your iPhone.
 
It is a pretty cool feature - it is strictly steps taken with your phone on your person - no sleep data, no stairs just steps - no iPhone integration however, I think syncsolver made an app that can import your data from health into the fitbit app - they have an app that syncs fitbit to health, I use that one and I'm 99% sure I saw they had one that reverses the process. The stock fitbit app does not currently have health integration.
 
Interesting post I was looking for something like this. I bought an Apple Watch and seeing the instant heart rate helped me to start running for first time in 40 years. Am I reading the the comments of this post correctly to say that it seems the the Fitbit is MORE accurate? Hmm- I would challenge that. I actually sold my watch because I thought I was going to change phones. Turns out I didn't- and now in going back to by another Apple Watch- I miss it!

As I woke up this morning however, I recall how odd it seems to have to put on your watch each morning like I'll start again after I buy my watch. How cool it might be to have a Fitbit where the battery lasts a few days!

In addition to having a watch that last several days without charging, I do remember these feelings of thinking- "so I paid 400 dollars for a device that is always 18 inches away from a phone that does everything the watch will do??"

So with that- help this Middle Aged guy get back into shape by also helping me decide- Fitbit or Apple Watch also!

For what it's worth- to the original post- assuming you work 40+ hours a week.... If you can't wear the watch at work- I would sell.
 
Yea, I think that's what common sense would dictate, but I will miss the phone integration as I find myself using it a lot because I'm usually holding/playing with one of my kids. And also, my wife told me not to buy it because I can't wear it to work.. So selling it makes my wife right.. Can't have that
 
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cfclay said:
Am I reading the the comments of this post correctly to say that it seems the the Fitbit is MORE accurate?...

So with that- help this Middle Aged guy get back into shape by also helping me decide- Fitbit or Apple Watch also!
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This thread has little to do with accuracy. It is mostly about the general usefulness and optimization as an activity tracker. The difference is how FB uses the data and makes it available in its mobile app and web app. I think the quality of the data are generally equivalent. The most significant difference in data is that FB Charge HR captures HR continuously, whereas the AW only takes an HR reading about ever 10 minutes.

FB or AW totally depends on what you are looking for in an activity tracker and fitness tracker. AW is a lightweight in this area with some unique innovations (like the rings & notifications) and many other totally unrelated functions. The FB is highly optimized for activity tracking and managing health and wellness holistically. The FB does not do much else well if at all. If you have friends with FB and like the idea of the social connections and challenges, then get a FB-- the AW totally ignores this space. If you are interested in tracking weight and caloric intake alongside calories burned, then get a FB-- Apple totally ignores this space. If you want sleep tracking, get a FB-- AW barely performs here, and it takes external apps. If you do other activities that an AW cannot or you don't want it to capture, like swimming, rowing, weight lifting, yard work, etc., then get a FB-- Apply mostly neglects this space. If you are just looking for a very cool way to do basic activity tracking, then go with the AW. It does some good tracking stuff plus a whole lot more.
 
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I will say that, having returned my watch and deciding to order one again, I did find the rings strangely motivating. It would definitely make an impact on my decision if I thought I wouldn't exercise after work whether or not I kept the watch. I am in the same boat as you though and I cannot wear mine at work either.

Knowing this didn't change my plans to buy an Apple Watch and if I bought a Fitbit now I feel like I would just know in the back of my head that I would eventually buy an Apple Watch because that's what I really wanted. Save your money and buy one device that will serve your needs. For me that's the Apple. For you if the fitness tracking is your primary use case then maybe a Fitbit is sufficient. I know that I don't really place the Apple Watch in the same ball park as other fitness trackers just because it does so many other things.
 
Well I'll give this audience an update on my experience. After reading reviews over the weekend I have bought a Fitbit. And I'm not buying another Apple Watch… At least not now.
 
cfclay said:
Well I'll give this audience an update on my experience. After reading reviews over the weekend I have bought a Fitbit. And I'm not buying another Apple Watch… At least not now.
Click to expand...

Which one did you buy? Do you miss the notifications?
 
As unsafe as all the Apple people want you to think of Fitbit, their devices are far superior as far as the fitness aspects go. I got tired of looking at my AW while on a run to see no HR. I never go for any excercise with out either my Surge or Charge HR.
 
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