Best Fitness Tracker For 63 Year Old Mother
December 17, 2014 2:13 PM Subscribe
For Christmas, my mother has said she wants a fitbit/jawbone style fitness tracker and I'm trying to pick one out for her. I'm looking at newer, mid/high range models that will sync with ios and are easy to use.
Most important is ease of use, at least as easy as other basic iPhone functions. Mom doesn't have the patience to learn a new, complicated app. Bluetooth pairing (or any syncing) should be reliable after initial set up and not require constant fiddling. Also, since her phone is an iPhone 4s, the app should work with ios 7 and not require the upgrade to ios 8.
For everyday use, my mom's really wants something with accurate sleep tracking, but will also use it for excercise, fitness levels, diet, etc. I'm leaning towards a Jawbone up24, Fitbit Flex, or Garmin Vivosmart.
Most important is ease of use, at least as easy as other basic iPhone functions. Mom doesn't have the patience to learn a new, complicated app. Bluetooth pairing (or any syncing) should be reliable after initial set up and not require constant fiddling. Also, since her phone is an iPhone 4s, the app should work with ios 7 and not require the upgrade to ios 8.
For everyday use, my mom's really wants something with accurate sleep tracking, but will also use it for excercise, fitness levels, diet, etc. I'm leaning towards a Jawbone up24, Fitbit Flex, or Garmin Vivosmart.
I have not had to fiddle with the Fitbit Flex's BT pairing since doing the initial hookup. I'm using an iPhone 5 with iOS 8.x, so cannot vouch for how it works with 7, but I'd expect it's fine. The app is typical of iPhone apps - should not be hard for her to use if she's familiar with them.
posted by randomkeystrike at 2:40 PM on December 17, 2014
posted by randomkeystrike at 2:40 PM on December 17, 2014
I got the jawbone up 24 mainly because of the sleep tracking. I've been really happy with the reliability of the bluetooth connection too, though. I think I've had to reconnect it maybe twice in three months. And you reconnect by pressing the button once, so it's no big deal.
On the other hand, while the sleep tracker does a good enough job of detecting sleep/wake, apparently its detection of deep vs light sleep is pretty much rubbish. I read a story online that I can't search for right now as I am on my phone, but should be googleable, about someone who wore a bunch of different trackers to a proper sleep clinic and then compared their outputs to the official one from the clinic the next morning. The jawbone only did slightly better than random, if I recall right, but the Fitbit was no better, either. There was only one that they felt happy recommending, and it was some sort of watch-like gadget that didn't look great for other fitness tracking purposes.
posted by lollusc at 2:59 PM on December 17, 2014
On the other hand, while the sleep tracker does a good enough job of detecting sleep/wake, apparently its detection of deep vs light sleep is pretty much rubbish. I read a story online that I can't search for right now as I am on my phone, but should be googleable, about someone who wore a bunch of different trackers to a proper sleep clinic and then compared their outputs to the official one from the clinic the next morning. The jawbone only did slightly better than random, if I recall right, but the Fitbit was no better, either. There was only one that they felt happy recommending, and it was some sort of watch-like gadget that didn't look great for other fitness tracking purposes.
posted by lollusc at 2:59 PM on December 17, 2014
I just switched from a Fitbit to a Garmin, but not the ones you're looking at (rather, a One to a Vivofit). One thing to note is that Garmin doesn't do diet tracking in-house, and Fitbit's food database and logging interface are pretty terrible; pretty much everyone I know uses MyFitnessPal instead and sets it up to sync with Garmin or Fitbit, which is usually set-and-forget once the services are linked. If going to another app for diet tracking is a deal-breaker, you should skip the Garmin.
One thing I like about the Garmin is the (optional) adaptive step goal -- you can set it so that if you miss your target, it revises the next day's down a little, but if you exceed it, it revises the next day's up a bit. Also, I find my Vivofit's sleep tracking better than the Fitbit One's, but the Vivofit is a wristband and the One is a clip-on style that gets put in a wristband for the night, so it's not apples-to-oranges.
The Fitbit ecosystem is a bit more communal/lively because so many people have them, while Garmin's is generally populated by the sort of fitness dorks that bought Garmin's other sport products before their fitness trackers came out. This is a plus for me because I am one of those dorks, but may not be for everyone. I do miss being able to see how I'm doing compared to my other Fitbit-wearing friends.
Ultimately, I switched because Fitbit has seen a weird downswing in good customer service -- they keep making changes to their website dashboard that make it significantly less accessible for anyone with any kind of disability, removing long-standing features with no warning, etc. They still make a pretty great product, and some parts of their customer service are still good (I think they still do the thing where the first time you shamefacedly tell them you broke/lost/washed your Fitbit they often send you a new one, no questions), but I'm not sure I'd recommend them as unreservedly as I used to.
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posted by dorque at 3:06 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
One thing I like about the Garmin is the (optional) adaptive step goal -- you can set it so that if you miss your target, it revises the next day's down a little, but if you exceed it, it revises the next day's up a bit. Also, I find my Vivofit's sleep tracking better than the Fitbit One's, but the Vivofit is a wristband and the One is a clip-on style that gets put in a wristband for the night, so it's not apples-to-oranges.
The Fitbit ecosystem is a bit more communal/lively because so many people have them, while Garmin's is generally populated by the sort of fitness dorks that bought Garmin's other sport products before their fitness trackers came out. This is a plus for me because I am one of those dorks, but may not be for everyone. I do miss being able to see how I'm doing compared to my other Fitbit-wearing friends.
Ultimately, I switched because Fitbit has seen a weird downswing in good customer service -- they keep making changes to their website dashboard that make it significantly less accessible for anyone with any kind of disability, removing long-standing features with no warning, etc. They still make a pretty great product, and some parts of their customer service are still good (I think they still do the thing where the first time you shamefacedly tell them you broke/lost/washed your Fitbit they often send you a new one, no questions), but I'm not sure I'd recommend them as unreservedly as I used to.
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posted by dorque at 3:06 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
I like my Fitbit One more than the Fitbit Flex I used to have. I can clip the one onto a bra strap or waistband or stick it in my pocket; the Flex was only a bracelet, and sometimes I don't feel like announcing to the world that I'm wearing a pedometer. Also I like the sleep tracking.
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:28 PM on December 17, 2014
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:28 PM on December 17, 2014
Fitbit Flex user here. I recommend it. The main drawback for me was the food logging database but that's been changed and works a lot better now.
I also have an iPhone 4s with iOS 7.
posted by Ochre,Hugh at 4:33 PM on December 17, 2014
I also have an iPhone 4s with iOS 7.
posted by Ochre,Hugh at 4:33 PM on December 17, 2014
Jawbone 24 user. I love the bracelet, I love the in-app coaching and the tracking. Easy to use, easy on the eyes.
I've walked over 4 million steps since December 26, 2013 and have increased my sleep to over 7 hours/night since I started wearing this bracelet. It has been a sea change for me.
posted by seawallrunner at 6:29 PM on December 17, 2014
I've walked over 4 million steps since December 26, 2013 and have increased my sleep to over 7 hours/night since I started wearing this bracelet. It has been a sea change for me.
posted by seawallrunner at 6:29 PM on December 17, 2014
Fitbit Force user which is essentially the flex. Have not used other brands, but I have used mine for nine months straight. I got it to track my sleep primarily and secondarily to track steps and stairs. I like it a lot, but viewing the data on the website is not great (for me). I set it up with an IFFFT to put the data intol a spreadsheet on my Google Drive. I like that better than the software.
posted by 724A at 7:52 PM on December 17, 2014
posted by 724A at 7:52 PM on December 17, 2014
Also, I read on FitSugar or somewhere that Fitbit wasn't great at tracking activity and Jawbone was better, though as a Jawbone UP24 user, I can't see how mine is better or worse. Shrug. I haven't read up on the technology, tbh.
posted by discopolo at 1:43 AM on December 18, 2014
posted by discopolo at 1:43 AM on December 18, 2014
I liked the various Fitbits I had, but for some reason* I have terrible luck with them. This weekend, after taking my fifth Fitbit in four years back to Best Buy, I switched to the Misfit Shine. It seems reasonably accurate so far, but it's only been a few days so I can't say for sure. I picked the Shine because it syncs with LoseIt!, which I use to track my calories.
I will just add: if you get the Fitbit from a store that offers a warranty, get the warranty.
* I only accidentally washed one, and it worked for months afterward! The rest either bricked unexpectedly (the first [3 weeks in] and fifth [6 months in]), had the charger break (#4), and had the battery fail to hold charge (#3). This spanned the first Fitbit, Ultra, and Flex.
posted by telophase at 11:51 AM on December 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
I will just add: if you get the Fitbit from a store that offers a warranty, get the warranty.
* I only accidentally washed one, and it worked for months afterward! The rest either bricked unexpectedly (the first [3 weeks in] and fifth [6 months in]), had the charger break (#4), and had the battery fail to hold charge (#3). This spanned the first Fitbit, Ultra, and Flex.
posted by telophase at 11:51 AM on December 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'll just add that my husband is on his second Fitbit, and he got the second one this year only because he wanted to be able to sync with Bluetooth--his first one was still working perfectly after three years.
posted by telophase at 11:52 AM on December 18, 2014
posted by telophase at 11:52 AM on December 18, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by discopolo at 2:18 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]