Review of Fitbit: a “wireless personal trainer”

A few weeks ago I was introduced to the Fitbit tracker, a “wireless personal trainer” that allows you to track your daily calories burned, steps, distance and sleep. Or as Brian describes it: “A pedometer on steroids.”

I spend a lot of time sitting down during the day, working on my laptop. So Fitbit has allowed me to become much more conscious of the need to get up and move around every once in awhile. It’s a fabulous tool for keeping track of my daily steps, whether it’s walking around the grocery store, walking the dogs in the park or going on a power walk (I’ve yet to use it during a run, as I’m still working through a running injury, but it tracks those steps, too).

The Fitbit tracker can actually tell how strenuous the activity is (lightly active, fairly active and very active), and will report these daily stats: steps taken, calories burned, miles traveled, and how many minutes you spent being “very active.”

The tracker is really small (about the size of a money clip) and lightweight, so I just clip it on my waistband or side pocket and pretty much forget about it as it tracks my daily movements. Then, at the end of the day I sync my Fitbit data on my laptop with the included base station/charger.

Fitbit even tracks your sleep, which is very cool. It comes with a wristband to wear at night, and keeps track of your body’s movements so you know how long it took you to fall asleep, how many times you woke up throughout the night and the actual time you were asleep vs. the time you were in bed.

Fitbit doesn’t track activities like biking or swimming (it’s not waterproof), so I still rely on my Garmin for tracking my cycling mileage/average speed, and when I can run again I will use my Garmin to track my exact distance and speed, too. But Fitbit is a great tool for tracking the day-to-day activities that can add up when it comes to hitting your daily steps goal. Plus, you can manually enter other workouts that Fitbit doesn’t record (like cycling, yoga or swimming) on the Fitbit site, and it estimates how many calories you burned. The site also allows you to log your food intake and track your weight.

And there is a mobile website, too, so you can easily track all your information on your smart phone.

Fitbit is $99.00 and comes with:

  • 1 Tracker
  • 1 sleep wristband
  • 1 belt holster for thick belts
  • 1 base station/charger
  • Free tools on Fitbit.com

About Audrey

Audrey McClelland has been a digital influencer since 2005. She’s a mom of 5 and shares tips on her three favorite things: parenting, fashion and beauty. She’s also a Contemporary Romance Author.

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2 Comments

  1. 8.2.11
    Karen said:

    I have been wanting one of these for a year now! You just may have convinced me to finally take the plunge!!

  2. 8.12.11
    vimax said:

    Thank you for the wise critique. Me & my neighbour were preparing to do some research about that. We received a great book on that matter from our local library and most books where not as influensive as your information and facts. Im really glad to see this kind of facts which I was searching for a long time.
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