Fitness Tracker: Needed

[Anonymous Bosch]

FWIW, I'm mostly looking for something that will track and record my heart rate and approximate calorie burn (I understand that they're not 100 % accurate), plus will be able to share that data with my phone (Android) or other tech that takes advantage of it.

In that case, something like the Polar H9 Heart Rate Sensor would likely suit your needs, especially given its more affordable price tag. You can check out a review from PCmag.com below:

Polar H9 Heart Rate Sensor Review

[Blackhawk]

Thanks. I'd much rather a wrist-worn tracker than a chest strap, partially because their largest wouldn't fit around my chest, second because I just don't think wearing one for hours in Indiana humidity would be particularly comfortable.

[FishPants]

I know you are on Android but it sounds like you are looking for an Apple Watch. I had the first apple watch (won it at a conference) and thought it was the most useless dumb device ever - it was small and there wasn't a "problem" I needed to solve by having it, so I sold it.

Then I bought an apple watch 3 when the whole exercise stuff started landing on it, and I refresh yearly now. I use TheGrint on it for Golf Distance and workout metrics in a round of golf, it tracks my sleep relatively accurately (awake/sleeping), tracks my blood oxygen (Covid, while maybe not the most accurate reading it gives me a bit of a peace of mind I would notice if it started dropping as a trend), heart rate (resting, sleeping, while lifting weights or doing sprints on the treadmill, tracking heart rate and exercise while walking the dogs and hiking). I also manually punch in my blood pressure from a digital cuff (I'm sure there's bluetooth ones, but I have had this thing forever and it works) into the Health app. I allow MyFitnessPal to incorporate all my nutrition into the health app as well, my Renpho scale can write to Healthkit too.

Anyways point being is I feel like I've got a lot of visibility on my health over time now, and it's motivating to see the results improve. Hell my resting heart rate when I sleep is 42BPM now, resting sitting here is 52BPM (used to be 80BPM sitting).

[Blackhawk]

That sounds great, but "Apple" is something I've actively avoided for years now.

[Blackhawk]

FWIW, I'm mostly looking for something that will track and record my heart rate and approximate calorie burn (I understand that they're not 100 % accurate), plus will be able to share that data with my phone (Android) or other tech that takes advantage of it.

The more I read, the more I'm leaning away from FitBit. I keep seeing apps that I'd love to be able to connect a heart rate tracker to, and it seems like none are ever compatible with FitBit.

[Blackhawk]

Looks like FitBit uses their own API and does not allow sharing of live heart rate data with third party apps.

[EvilHomer3k]

I have not read through this entire thread but Garmin makes great fitness trackers. They tend to have good battery life and are accurate. My wife has a Garmin Instinct and loves it. Prior to that she had another garmin (a cheap running one I got at Kohls on clearance) it still works. Prior to that she had nuerous fitbits. Things broke over and over. I think she went through three in less than 2 years. The garmins have been very durable. They have them from $79 up to 800+. I think the $199 Venu SQ, the $249 Vivomove 3, or the $299 Garmin Instinct. The instinct can easily be found used for under $200 and new for a bit over 200. The venu is the newest model and has a very good optical HR sensor. I have an apple watch and like it but if I switched to Android I'd get a Garmin. They are excellent.

[Blackhawk]

I've also been seeing good things about Garmin. I've still got some research to do.

[Blackhawk]

I'm now strongly considering the Garmin Venu Sq. It's got all the tracker features, a few cool features, and supports data over both Bluetooth and ANT+ (which means it can connect to fitness equipment, which could be a plus some day.) Hey, FitBit: your insistence on a proprietary connection to control the third-party market lost you a sale, and likely any future sales to me, too.

It's a big investment for me regardless, but the benefits are significant enough that I feel like it is justified. The Vivoactive 4 is better from what I've seen, but it's also almost twice the price. It'll be coming out of the stimulus checks when they come, but I don't want to spend too much of it - there's too much other stuff that needs done, too many bills to pay, too many other responsibilities to spend too much on myself.

[stessier]

I got my wife the regular Venu for Christmas. She was switching from a Fitbit and has been very pleased with both the accuracy of the tracking and the Garmin app. I think the only difference between that and the SQ is the screen, so I think you'll be pleased.

[hitbyambulance]

and Google owns Fitbit now...

[hepcat]

I just picked up a galaxy active 2 and I'm digging it. It detects when I'm walking further than normal and asks if I'd like to start an exercise session, it has apps for spotify and pandora (among many others) and it's about half the price of an apple watch.

[EvilHomer3k]

I just picked up a galaxy active 2 and I'm digging it. It detects when I'm walking further than normal and asks if I'd like to start an exercise session, it has apps for spotify and pandora (among many others) and it's about half the price of an apple watch.

When I had a Galaxy it was a PITA to sync with other apps. I had to pick apps to use that would sync with samsungs health system. Is that still the case? If so it really limited what I could sync with. It was a really nice watch/tracker though.

[hepcat]

I don’t know what that means. What were you were trying to sync?

[EvilHomer3k]

Fitness data. One of the food tracking ones uses calories burned in it's calcualtions. One I looked at synced with samsung health and one didn't. Then there was a strava app. It was quite a while ago so that's as specific as I can get.