Do you use FitBit, Body Bug, or similar?

Anyone use FitBit or BodyBug or similar?  I am wondering what the real benefits are?  
Do they allow you to add your own foods to the food diary?  What about recipes?
Is the sleep monitor a big deal?  
Why is it better than a pedometer. 
I log my exercise in the myfooddiary.com exercise diary.  Any benefit over that?

thanks
tracey

I used to use the bodybugg, and have thought about reinstating my subscription. The bodybugg is nice because it tracks your activity precisely, whereas most online exercise trackers are usually a guess. Yes, there can be discrepancies with calories burned, but it's a good tool. And yes, the online diary allows you to add your own foods and recipes. I did wear my bodybugg overnight to get a total calories burned.

Abby

hmmm.... this is good to know.

the fitbit is $100 and the website connection is free after that--except the premium stuff. What is the subscription for bodybug entitle you to and do you remember how much it was a year/month?

The subscription basically makes the physical unit you buy work. You have to subscribe to be able to see your info on the computer. You get the menu planner, the food diary, all that, and it shows you your calories and weight and measurements in a variety of forms. I don't remember exact prices. I think 6 mos is $50? But they have monthly, 6 mos, 1 yr, etc.

Abby

well, then score one for fitbit, with free subscription for life after the $100 fee. The premium membership is $50 a year. Bodybugg is $80 a year for ANY subscription.

Wonder what the diff in food diaries is btween the 2?  I'm paying $120 a year for myfooddiary, so if fitbit has a comparable fooddiary, I'd be $70 ahead if I move to fitbit.....
 

I'm not sure since I had never even heard of fitbit before today. :) I liked the food diary that bodybugg uses. You can customize a lot of things and either enter your own foods or find a lot of foods already in their database. Actually, I took a screen shot of the interface. It's here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37113768@N05/3769244545/ That's only one of the views, but it'll give you an idea of what the activity vs calories looks like.

Abby

 A friend has bodybugg and loves it. Logs all her food and it keeps her on track. When her burned calories are low, it gives her extra motivation to go for a walk. Let us know what you decide and if you like it.

M

I looked into both. I even bought a FitBit before I looked into it too closely (because I thought it was the FIT on a killer sale), but gave it away and got a BodyMedia FIT (same as the BodyBugg, just a different branding).

The reason is that the FitBit is only an accelerometer. Therefore, it can't possibly calculate your calories accurately. An accelerometer is what is in a pedometer. So it's a pedometer with fancier software than you usually get. But, IMO, it's not fancier enough to justify the $100 price tag. You can get a pedometer for $25 that does an excellent job of tracking your steps and then you can use the steps to adjust your calories. (Because we know that the Net Calorie Burn for walking is around 50 calories a mile.)

I have friends who have the FitBIt and they post their results on FB all the time and their calorie counts are ridiculous. Like it says a 200 pound woman who walked 3 miles over the course of a day burned 5000 calories. There is just no way that is remotely even in the ballpark.

What upsets me about this is that the FitBit advertises that it's 97% accurate! Since the FIT advertises 90% accuracy it makes it sound like the FitBit is better. But the fine print on the FitBit says that it's 97% accurate at *detecting motion*, not at calculating calories.

I think this is one of those deals where you get what you pay for...

With my FIT (BodyBugg), I get 3 other sensors that make the calorie burn more accurate. It still has trouble with low impact sports like cycling but not as much as the FitBIt did. I find it pretty accurate, in fact. When I eat over what it says I burned, I gain and when I eat under, I lose. It's convenient to wear too. I wear it everywhere and no one even notices unless I have short sleeves on.

A couple of caveats. BodyBugg 2.0 doesn't track sleep like the 3.0 and all the other models GoWear FIT, BodyMedia FIT, SenseWear) do. So be sure it's the 3.0. Also, you can get good deals on eBay but be sure you are buying the actual unit. If you see something for under $100, it's probably just the display watch (which you don't need) and not the sensor unit.

Costco also sells them and you can get a good deal from them. I bought mine from an online ad and saved a bunch... they also have a new model out that talks to your unit with Bluetooth and while that's cool it's not necessary so you can buy the older model and get a nice deal on it. You should be able to get it for $180 or less, not the original $250 it was going for before the Bluetooth version came out.

Thanks for the MACinfo.