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theoutofshapeblogger · 10 years ago

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Tracking my steps and mileage

So when I first started out keeping track of my calories and how far I walked I used My Fitness Pal and my Android phone to track steps. When I switched to a Windows 8.1 phone (yeah yeah yeah say what you want but its been excellent except for a lack of apps) I decided to change it up and get a bit more serious. Of course the first thought was the Fitbit, which everyone and their grandmother has. Don't get me wrong, it's nice, I just have an issue about using what everyone else does. Plus initially they didn't have a clock or anything. Plus, as I would soon find out, most of them do not have Windows 8.1 phone apps. Then I saw the Microsoft Band, wow was it cool, I planned on getting one for myself and my wife and the best part? They work on every phone OS. Of course they were perpetually sold out and I wanted to get my wife one for Christams so I looked at alternatives. I found the Garmin Viviofit Smart (plus?) and got it for her. It was really nice and came with a heartrate monitor for your chest. I thought this was a pretty good idea and was probably more accurate than the built in ones.

Anyway, shortly after seeing hers, I decided to get something for me. I didn't want to drop a huge amount so I started looking on ebay and found the older model Garmin Forerunner 410. To my surprise it was a watch with a GPS but didn't keep track of steps or heart rate without accessories. I wasn't fond of this idea. Then I saw one of them that came with all the accessories on Ebay. It was a Forerunner 410, Heart Rate monitor and a unit called the Footpod.

So I looked into it, turned out the footpod hooks to your shoelaces, to me this seemed way more accurate than a wrist one or a phone one. I mean how accurate is a wrist one at counting steps when your hands are in your pockets? Or how accurate is a phone when your walking and checking your messages? The footpod seemed like a rather good idea for me, and since joggers and runners actually used these I thought why not. So I got the above kit for about 140 bucks on ebay. it was used but is in great shape.

First the pluses. After you set it for your height and stride the foot pod seems to be really accurate. The GPS is really accurate also and does acquire the satellites rather quickly (keep in mind this is a few year old discontinued model). You can also use the GPS, Footpod and heart rate strap all at the same time to really give you an accurate measurement. When you set it up, you put your height, weight, stride, age, gender and maybe one or two other parameters, the unit and the Garmin Connect website (which is really nice also) uses all of that to base the calculations off of for calories burned. To me this seems pretty accurate. Its also rugged and stores a bunch of data. Overall I really like it and want to upgrade to a newer one. as soon as I find a good deal on them.

Now for the bad. That heart rate strap in the above picture sucks. When I put it on as is it registered my standing heart rate at 210 beats per minute....which there is no way in hell. So then I read the directions. Turns out the part of the strap that the electrodes are in needs to be wet while on the skin. So I wet it and tried it. It eventually settled at around 95. Which after actually checking my resting hear rate was about 15 beats too high. I didn't think that was too bad. The main problem is that as the strap dries off (remember I walk mostly, not enough to sweat hard enough to keep it wet) it starts to jump up on its way to 210 again. So turns out they don't make that one anymore, my wifes Viviosmart came with the one pictured below, which is more comfortable and works dry. In fact it was only off by 4 or 5 beats so I've commandeered it, besides she never used it.

The rest of the bad are things I can get past. The 410 had two hard buttons, and a touch bezel. It was a bit tricky getting used to and at times is a bit finicky but overall it works fine. If you want something that counts every step you take, this is not the unit for you. It only counts when the stopwatch is running, it is after all made for runners. It does not have bluetooth, it syncs through a PC with a USB ANT+ stick. Again, not a huge issue for me, I have no real need for it to upload constantly through my phone and since there is no Garmin Connect app for my Windows phone it doesn't matter anyway. The battery life when using the GPS is short, a few hours at most. Again not a problem if you're like me and only using it to track you actual walking/jogging/running time. I think thats really about it for the negatives. I know for some of you lack of bluetooth is a big issue but if it makes you feel better the newer models have it. While it has GPS, the screen shows no GPS map or anything, you can view you're route on Garmin Connect after it syncs.

Overall I like the unit, and considering how cheap you can get them off ebay (80 to 120 for the watch alone and 40 or so for the footpod) it isn't really bad considering the accuracy and that it has GPS built in. Why I'm I reviewing a discontinued model you may ask? Well why not? It's still a good unit and if you aren't looking to spend 200 dollars right off the bat, this isn't a bad choice. Anyway this is what I use to track my walks/jogs so what do you guys use? Why not leave it in the comments or on the Facebook page?

Well that's it for this one and thanks for reading!

John

#garmin #viviofit #ant+#forerunner 410 #forerunner #review #footpod #gps watch

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ayearinbike · 11 years ago

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Garmin Vivofit

Ok, so not strictly cycling related but it is general health, so I guess this can go here really!

Fitness Bands

So I'm probably guilty of falling for marketing hype and getting some of the fitness devices. A few months back I'd purchased one of the body fat scales that's also wi-fi enabled and records my weight (Fitbit Aria). Much to the amusement of my work colleagues!

Once I got that, I'd been considering a pedometer. Obviously the initial thought was to get a Fitbit one. It would complement the scale, would appear on the same website and they offered a range of different items.

But then I stumbled across the pre release information for the Gamin Vivofit. Not only did this promise to be integrated into Garmin Connect, where I already record all my activities for cycling and running, but unlike the other wrist band mounted devices, also included a watch (so I actually don't have to wear two bands - I already wore a watch and on the other wrist, I use a Road ID) so I wasn't to happy to be wearing a third wrist band. The other plus side (other than replacing the watch), was that the batteries in the Garmin are considered to last for upto a year before needing a recharge. Compare this to the week long battery of the Fitbit devices and the decision was easy!

Viviofit

I'd pre-ordered the device on Amazon but I saw a tweet this week that John Lewis was an exclusive stockist to start with in the UK, so I nipped into the store on Thursday night and picked one up (and then cancelled my Amazon order).

I'd been waiting since I'd seen them being released to get one so getting one a few weeks earlier for only £2 more, seemed like a reasonable compromise. Sometimes working in London has some positive perks.

Review

So it's been about a week since I picked one and it's generally been reasonable.

In general, the accuracy seems to be ok - I can't comment on exactly how accurate they are as I've not got anything else to compare it to. However, it does seem to show more steps on the days I've known I've walked more, which is what I would expect! It does however, seem to count arm movements sometimes - simply waving my arm doesn't seem to set it counting, but using the shower and moving the shower head could set it off, as did throwing a juggling ball from one hand to another. So clearly, the numbers it gets each day should be considered to be estimates, but I think is likely to be the case anyhow with any device that measures steps from a wrist position. I've seen an article calling them "wearable snake oil", which perhaps a good description, as by themselves, they wont help you lose weight or get fit. However, by having some ideas on how often you move and the like, this can help you make informed decisions which can benefit you. If you're clearly under your goal every day, you know you need to do some work to make sure that you improve the number of steps you take each day.

The Garmin Connect website has undergone a change to represent the additional data that the Vivofit will sync to the website.

There's now a home page that you can add and remove widgets as you want. Whilst it can show you almost everything you'd want, it doesn't tie in with the old website that would let you track a goal - for example, I wanted to ride 2,500Km this year and set a goal on the Garmin website, prior to the update. Now, with the new landing page, I can't see it and it's not one of the widgets. At the end of the day, it's a free service, but it is slightly annoying that I can't view this goal anymore!

Overall, the waterproofness means I can happily wear it at all times, which is good and something I was disappointed by it's competitors for. What's the point in it if I have to take it on and off all the time?

Likewise, it tracks sleep (which I'm not sure about) but unlike it's competitors, it doesn't need to be charged up overnight and therefore it makes more sense and can actually do what it's supposed to.

Build quality is good, something I'd expect from a Garmin product. It comes with two different size bands to clip the device to so you should be able to fit any size arm. The band is a bit of a pain to do up but because I keep it on all the time, I don't need to deal with this once I've put it on.

Overall

After owning it for a while, I'm not entirely sure of the benefits of it. It's a decent bit of kit and provides some interesting data, however, I've not really acted on it or sat down to look at it all. I'm sort of collecting data for the sake of collecting data. I tend to use it more as a watch and then it's limited - it syncs the time with the Garmin website but it seems to be a minute slow. Which, once I figured out wasn't to bad but means I have to bear that in mind when going to catch the train!

Overall, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and perhaps I'll see how it fairs over the next few months. Maybe if I took more notice of it, it would prove to be far more helpful!

#garmin #viviofit #fitness #wearable technology

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