Anyone here use the Fitbit? I wanted a more affordable alternative to the BodyBugg. This seems like it but I am wondering if its worth it? Usually when I exercise I use heart rate monitor (when I spin). I do swim too so I don't think the FitBit is water proff. Just curious about it. I thought it would be neat to know exactly how much calories I burn and compare to what I consume. Right now I am pre-op and I keep gaining...can't have that after the band!

If you want something Water resistant get the Jawbone UP. It won't help you in the pool though. Swimming is a different action. What you can do with the FitBit is press and hold to time the activity then go into the site or app later and mark that you swam and what you did then it will calculate the calories of that time period.

Both are $99 and if you can, I suggest getting both the FitBit Ultra and the Jawbone UP for different reasons. If something is a benefit on one, it doesn't exist on the other. But the two together make for an amazing pair and it's only $198 total for both if you can afford it. Otherwise go with the one that has the better features for your life.

The benefits of the UP are:

-----------------------------------

- Built in alarm (it will buzz your wrist to wake you up when you are in a light sleep between 30 minutes prior to your wake up time and your wake up time).

- Syncs with your iPhone if you have one.

- Allows you to take pictures of your meals then asks you about two hours later how you feel so you can eat better by what makes you feel better (generally lower calorie foods and smaller meals make you feel better).

- Can be worn all the time and is water resistant so you can shower with it (I'm too scare to).

- Calculates light vs deep sleep.

- Allows you to set vibration reminders to move every 15, 30, 45, 60, etc. minutes.

The benefits of the FitBit are:

---------------------------------------

- Amazing website with a ton of functionality - same for the iPhone or Android app.

- Wirelessly syncs with the website any time you get near a computer that has a base station connected (so you can get a spare base station for work if you want).

- Is small and no one knows you have it on.

- Counts flight of stairs.

- Shows you, on the device itself, your daily and minute-by-minute stats.

- Shows movement when you're sleeping so you know if you moved a lot (restless sleep).

- There are a lot of products that integrate with the FitBit.

I've had a FitBit for two years now and bought one for my mother and sister. I've had both the original and Ultra - the Ultra is worth it for the stairs. I've been using an UP since its release, and I like the alarm function and light vs deep sleep, and vibration reminders - but beyond that it gets in the way, is out in the open all the time, gets caught in my hair and on clothes, has no online monitoring (apps only), and doesn't track calories / Protein, etc.

If you can only get one - get the FitBit Ultra and use the website and apps along with it.

Thanks for the info. I am definitely going with the fitbit ultra I will check into jawbone up.

I am driving myself crazy reading all the info for fitbit,bodybugg and body media .... if i am going to put out the money i want a good one.....any help would be good at this point. my hubby said he buy me of for Christmas...well i am still reading

ty Amy

The jawbone UP is officially off the market. The CEO of jawbone wrote all the people who bought one a note of apology and offered a prompt full refund, even if your device was still working. (Jawbone is an awesome company, but they never should have released this product.) My husband and I bought two the first day it came out. Thousands of people had theirs not work straight out if the box. Mine lasted a bit longer than many others before failing-7 weeks. it was a cool product, but not reliable. I expect they will try to figure out what went wrong and release a second version in the future. It did not do much in the way of tracking calorie burn (no heart rate monitor, for example) but it did vibrate to remind you to get up to move and give a neat little graph of how active you were during the day. It also told you how well you slept (light sleep vs. deep sleep). It also only interfaced with iPhones (not the web or any other type of phone.). It was a neat gadget until it broke though. I did enjoy using it. Maybe the next version will be better. But for now, I plan on taking my refund check to buy the FitBit.

I have the fitbit and I love it. No membership required.

I am getting a fitbit on Thursday when I get paid! I guess I can get it at Best Buy, if they don't have them in stock I'll order it right away! I'm ready to set some fitness goals and get my body where I want it to be.

I have had both the Bodybugg and the Fitbit.

I started out with the Bodybugg in September 2010, and when the renewal came up on my subscription, I decided I was going to test the Fitbit vs Bodybugg. After two weeks I decided I wanted to keep the fitbit and sell the Bodybugg. Pros/cons of each item are below...

Pros for both items:

- Very accurate calorie counts

- measurement of low activity, medium activity, and high activity

- food logging

- variety of reports (when I ended my subscription, Fitbit did have more report types available (sleep, etc)

Cons of Bodybugg

- Big and bulky- must be worn on upper arm for best accuracy. Is very noticeable and attracts a lot of attention.

- A lot of people develop rashes under the strap and system due to moisture

- must pay membership fee to get access to website. If you let membership lapse, you cannot have access to your old data.

- Food logging was far from great and often timed out.

Pros of Fitbit

- Free membership with option to upgrade to a premium membership. If you are a serious numbers person, then this is good, but otherwise the basic membership should fulfill all needs (shows food logs, activity logs, sleep logs)

- Small and easily hidden. I wear my Fitbit on my bra.

- built in display showing calories burned, steps, distance and (with the new Ultra) floors climbed

- GREAT customer service.

- much cheaper than Bodybugg

Overall, I really can't say anything negative about the Fitbit. It does everything the Bodybugg does at a fraction of the original cost and without any required membership fees.

I did have a problem with my original Fitbit before the one year warranty was up, and Fitbit immediately sent me out a brand new Ultra at no charge. Bodybugg customer service seemed lacking when I contacted them on occasion.

Forgot to mention, the Bodybugg stated I burned about 300 more calories in a day than the Fitbit. I'm not sure which is more accurate, but I'd rather have my calorie burn under reported and not over reported.