Hello. I am thinking about purchasing on of these. I was wondering if those of you who have either equipment knows if one of them has features the other one doesn't have.

Do they both log calories burned? Heartrate? Steps? Distance? Etc.

Tell why one might be better than the other.

Thanks everyone!

I'm interested as well. Right now I am leaning towards the Actitrainer because of the price difference, but would like to know the details of both devices.

I hope someone is able to answer these questions. I know the bodybugg is very expensive and I don't even know how much less

the acti trainer is. I would like to know what the difference is too.

I have an ActiTrainer. Got it because of the price, but I'm learning some things about it that I really like. I'll quote a couple of things from the ActiTrainer thread (forgive me for hacking up your post, fabgirl):

* It's the standard among researchers--used by the CDC, Cooper Aerobic Institute, Harvard, Joslin, etc. If there's a study done that tracks movement--there's a good chance they used the Actitrainer.

* You don't need to purchase a separate wrist monitor to find out things. You can see calories burned, step count, distance, heart rate and pace on the Actitrainer even if you don't subscribe to their virtual trainer. (Another good thing... don't have to use the monthly subscription bit if you don't want to.)

* Virtual Trainer is slightly cheaper than Bodybugg

* They've partnered with Polar...which is the standard for heart rate monitors

* Four colors (Yes...I know... silly.)

* You can wear it on your waist (most accurate), arm, or ankle. I didn't like the thought of having the Bugg on my arm. Wondered how clothes would work, etc.

ActiTrainer Online Data Analysis - ActiGraph, LLC.

you can put up to 5 users on it

You can choose what to show: beats per min, avg beats per min, peak beats per min, speed, pace, distance traveled, steps taken, calories. You don't have to get on the computer to see your info.

The information is shown right on the ActiTrainer. And you can choose WHAT to show. You can do all kinds of adjustments to settings right on the trainer without your computer at all. There is a "workout" mode and a "lifestyle" mode. You can set it into Workout mode while you're working out and when you get onto the Virtual Trainer, it'll show a grey background during the time that you had it set to Workout mode so that you can compare to your regular Lifestyle mode. Lifestyle mode is the default.

I have no idea if you can do this with the Bodybugg, but with ActiTrainer, you can also set it to recognize YOUR stride. Some people take longer strides than others, which could affect how many miles you are traveling in comparison to how many steps you are taking compared to other people. You can do your running stride and walking stride.

Also, you can do sleep analysis to see how effective your sleep is. Wear it while you sleep (on your wrist) and you just go to sleep with it. In the morning, you can put the time that you actually got into bed and what time you got up. It'll then show how long it took for you to fall asleep, how many times you woke up, how long each waking was, and the percentage efficiency of your sleeping. I think this would be interesting to know if you always wake up tired! I plan to try this out on DH when we get the Virtual Trainer set up because he's always tired even after sleeping 8 hours.

And I found this on their site (http://www.theactigraph.com):

Study Names ActiGraph Most Accurate Commercially Available Accelerometer

Yes, it was on their own website, but it was an independent study - not done by Actigraph.

Fudge. I didn't realize it would put the ) on the end of that website. Here The ActiGraph - Technology of Health

How much is the Actitrainer?

It's $198: ActiTrainer Online Data Analysis - ActiGraph, LLC.

Which includes the actitrainer itself ($178 on its own)

a waist holster

an arm/wrist/ankle band to hold the actitrainer if you choose one of those sites to wear it

CD to set it up on your computer

and the Polar heart strap.

I think the Polar heart strap is kind of a cool little addition. I don't know how Bodybugg monitors heart rate, but Polar is the leader in heart-rate monitoring. This item on its own is $54 at other places: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Polar-WearLink-Transmitter-Medium-XX-Large/dp/B0007VB4IE]Amazon.com: Polar WearLink Coded Transmitter (Medium/XX-Large, Black): Sports & Outdoors[/ame] I would imagine being right on your chest by your heart, it would be the most accurate.

I have teh Body Bugg and its freaking awesome! It comes with loads and loads of online features like different alarms, menues, neat lil bars and pie charts to show you where you've burned your calories - where your calories you've eaten come from (protein, carbs, fats...). The thing I like MOST is that you just wear it on your arm. No stupid chest strap. I don't think I could handle that - not when I'm working out and gettin all sweaty.

You can get them cheaper than the $399 - just shop around! Its the end of the year, so deals galore. I got mine 3 weeks ago for $229.

I did debate for a while on the BB vs. AT, but overall I liked the BB features better... I couldn't find enough data, or enough ppl who've tried the AT to prove to me that it was worth it.

I want to add, here - you don't have to wear the chest strap unless you're wanting to get your heart rate. It'll measure all the other stuff without the strap.

I put pictures in the other thread.

Forgot to add, too, that the ActiTrainer starter kit comes with a 15-day trial to the Virtual Trainer, too. So you can decide if you want to buy.

You can look at a demo of the Virtual Trainer by going to their site: ActiTrainer Online Data Analysis - ActiGraph, LLC.

Type in actidemo for the username and user for the password.

I am just afraid that I won't know how to use it. I am very computer illiterate, and can never figure out how to use any type of gadgets

that are simple for anyone else.

I have a heart rate monitor, but it would be nice to know how many calories I am burning.

Can you just put it on and it will tell you how many calories you're

burning during your workout. It has to be very uncomplicated for me to be able to use it.

Denise - Yes, you can put it on and one of the default displays is calories. I think the defaults were BPM, calories, steps and miles. I can't remember for sure. You can also set it up to automatically reset its numbers each night at midnight so you don't have to mess with that. You'd have to read the book to set that part up - that's not the factory default. It'll just keep adding your numbers up and up and up if you don't reset it.

What about the Biotrainer? It doesn't seem to have alll of the same features but the cost is much more managable around 50.00. Has anyone heard of it? It will actually tell you if you have lost, gained or maintained your weight. I'm looking into investing in something like this but I can't afford hundreds of dollars on the device and then the online subscriptions.

That does sound like much more of a manageable price. Is it able to tell you how many calories you are burning?

Yes, from what I understand it does basically the same thing that the other two products do. I didn't read anything about a heart monitor but for the price difference- it doesn't sound bad. There are different software programs to track your meals and prepare menus. I took the following from thier web site. I'm thinking about giving it a try after I go for my consult. Not sure about it yet but it is another option. I'll try to find some reviews.

BioTrainer Weight Loss System - measure physical activity and caloric burn

The BioTrainer is a REVOLUTIONARY patented medical technology developed through research supported by the National Institutes of Health and by studies conducted at Johns Hopkins Medical School, The American Psychiatric Association and The Cooper Institute for Aerobic Research. It uses the same type of precision motion sensor that NASA uses to monitor the movements of astronauts during space flight.

The BioTrainer is a sophisticated, yet simple to use device about the size of a pager with an LCD display. It measures the amount of calories you’ve burned and the amount of physical activity you’ve undergone in real-time. Typically worn on your waistband, it can also be worn on different body parts. In addition, computer software is available that gives you a detailed analysis of your results.

I am very computer illiterate. Do you have to hook this up to your computer to see results? I am not good with gadgets. When they talk about computer software, it starts sounding complicated to me.

To be honest, I'm not really sure. I think is does show you some information on the digital screen and more detailed information if you choose to use the software programs in conjuncion with the trainer. I really don't know that much about it. I was trying to see if anyone else had ever heard of it or tried it. I didn't know how to make it a sticky. I'm kind of new at this.