So You’re Thinking About Getting a Fitbit?
It seems like every one is carrying one these days: discreet wristbands, chunky watches, the outline of a heart rate monitor worn under workout gear. Fitness trackers are a big trend, and the industry is advancing all the time.
Well I decided that I wanted to join the activity tracker revolution myself – or rather I wanted all the data about my health that I thought a tracker would offer.
And so, I bought my first tracker about six months ago, a FitBit Flex 2.
Here’s the Fitbit Flex 2 in black (with the Pebble, right)
I was looking a for a physical and visual reminder to take care of my health, and I thought it would be cool to get more statistics about how my lifestyle was shaping up.
Here’s how things have gone so far.
Hardware
The heart of the tracker is the Pebble – that cute little button on the right there (above). It carries all the information, flashes lights, and vibrates when you’ve set reminders or alarms. It fits the standard bands, bangles or even pendants, if you’re feeling really fancy.
I was looking for something very simple, so I went with the classic black band.
Reader, I love it.
Here’s the Pebble in a Pendant
I’m pretty active and need my hands free, so I’m not usually a fan of jewellery. But when I put on the Flex 2 band, I honestly couldn’t feel it was there. Six months in, it’s still super comfortable. (The bands are adjustable, and come in two sizes – so in theory, everyone should be able to find the ideal fit for them.)
Software
OK, let’s talk technical.
This is where you might find things difficult if you are a new user.
First things first: this was not fun to set up. It took me hours. I kept getting to the final set-up screen and then it would freeze, stuck on the same loading graphic. I spent a lot of time on Fitbit user forums, which are actually pretty helpful… but that’s not the user experience I wanted. I wanted a quick, clean setup that even my great-granny could have figured out from the leaflet.
Shop for the Fitbit Flex 2 Activity Tracker on Amazon
Once the software is installed and you’ve managed to connect your tracker to your mobile or computer, it runs pretty well. There’s a wealth of information and you can play around with different charts and spans of time.
The highlights
There are a few features of the Flex 2 which I really like.
First off, I was pleasantly surprised by the automatic activity detection: my wristband knows when I’m running, walking, cycling, or swimming. Yes, swimming! I’ve taken it into the shower, snorkelling at the beach, and even into a crowded public swimming pool on a hot summer’s day. It survived everything I could throw at it.
Flex 2 in the bangle
The Flex 2 also tracks your sleep, which I found weird at first. However, it’s fun to see the data mounting up – and, surprise surprise, I realized that a lot of my tough workouts or bad moods were linked to unhealthy sleep patterns.
Finally, I absolutely love the silent alarm. You can set your wristband to buzz gently instead of blaring noise like a traditional alarm. It’s a nice way to wake up, and it’s also surprisingly useful throughout the day, as a handy, discreet way to make sure you stay on schedule.
The lowlights
It’s not perfect. There are some things that get on my nerves.
The big one is that, although the Flex 2 tracks how many kilometres I walk in a day, it doesn’t record a separate figure for any exercise during that time. It records the total distance in 24 hours, and it records that I ran for however many minutes, but it won’t tell me how far I got on that run.
Truth be told, most of the issues I’ve had come back to distance tracking. At one point the app got confused by a plane journey and announced that I had walked three million steps in a day. Seems unlikely, right?
There’s also the privacy question. One of Fitbit’s big selling points is its community: millions of people around the world use Fitbit trackers, and you can connect with them to take on challenges, compete, support, and hold each other accountable. However, it’s not always easy to tell what information is private, and what’s shared.
These problems seem like something that I should be able to fix through the app, but as we’ve discussed, one of Fitbit’s weak points is set-up and settings.
Fitbit Flex 2: The final review
At just under £40, the Fitbit Flex 2 is sleek and packed with excellent features for the price point. However, there’s a few flaws to iron out in the software. It’s a good tracker to start with, but be prepared for some teething troubles.
