Fitbit Ultra Wireless Activity Plus Sleep Tracker, Black/Blue

3 Responses to Fitbit Ultra Wireless Activity Plus Sleep Tracker, Black/Blue

1. 

   Liora Hess on October 18, 2011 at 12:32 pm

   11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Life-changing gadget, October 9, 2011

   By 

   Liora Hess (Atlanta, GA USA) –
   
     

   Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

   This review is from: Fitbit Ultra Wireless Activity Plus Sleep Tracker, Black/Blue (Health and Beauty)

   I purchased the original Fitbit (now referred to as the Fitbit Classic) only to have the company roll out the Fitbit Ultra a couple of days later. The overlap between the two devices has given me a great opportunity to experience both and know what’s different about this one.

   How both Fitbits Work: You have a few choices on where to wear the Fitbit (typically waist, pocket, chest pocket or bra), and you keep that Fitbit on you for 24 hours. There’s another piece that can be attached to the Fitbit if you have thicker clothing on in order not to spread the Fitbit apart too far and damage it. Every time you’re within 15-ft range of your WiFi base station plugged into your computer, the Fitbit attempts to upload your data. After an upload it then doesn’t try again for another 15 minutes. You can force an update by placing your Fitbit actually on the base. This is also the way you charge the Fitbit.

   Speaking of the charge, it is fast and lasts days, maybe even weeks. Many choose to charge the Fitbit in the base while they’re in the shower. Since I work at the computer, I just take it off once a day or so and rest it in the base until I’m ready to get up and go do something.

   I should also mention installing and pairing the device is hassle-free. The instructions are clear. You download the software from their web site. Pairing the device with the software on your computer is a piece of cake. It’s also easy enough to do if you have a replacement Fitbit you’re installing. Just right-click on Account Setup in the system tray, and the Fitbit guides you through the quick process.

   What will the Fitbit Ultra do? The Fitbit Ultra is a very accurate step counter. It also shows calories burned and distance walked. There’s a cute (not too girly, guys) flower that you make “grow” the more activity you do. And it tracks your sleep. You have a little Velcro wrist band (perfect size for women and men) with a pocket. At night, you slip the Fitbit into the pocket and press and hold the button, which puts the Fitbit in sleep mode. You have a choice between normal and sensitive setting, adjustable from the web site.

   The sleep was something I thought would be kind of gimmicky and not really that important to me. Boy was I wrong. I really enjoy seeing how many times I wake up during the night and if there’s that typical 90-minute cycle of sleep reflected or if I barely moved at all. On the web site, this information is reflected as a sleep efficiency percentage. Now, it’s not extremely accurate, because Fitbit doesn’t know the difference between your lying there still and your being asleep. However, you’ll probably realize soon that if you’re lying there, reading a book, just move your hand every one in a while. Later, in the morning, you can adjust your sleep times through the web site to cut off any unnecessary activity at the beginning.

   What is Fitbit Not Good at? It’s very step-oriented, so that means it’s not going to accurately record your use of an elliptical machine, Pilates, weight lifting, rowing machine, swimming (don’t get it wet!) or anything else that doesn’t result in a typical stepping motion. However, you can manually record these activities on the web site, and it will overwrite the data for that period of time.

   New to this version:
   —It will also count stairs climbed (hills count) and translate those into floors. It’s just one more way to challenge yourself. On the web site you can earn badges for how many stairs and floors you’ve climbed. The site also gives you interesting little messages about what that climbing equals, such as “you’ve just climbed the world’s tallest snowman,” and if you’re the curious type, you can click the message to learn more.
   —You’ve got a clock! Since I almost always have a phone on me, I underestimated how much I was going to enjoy this feature. It’s so much easier and to just press a button at your waist and look down to see the time.
   —There’s a stopwatch. Training for a race? Just trying to beat your previous times? You can use the stopwatch to record an activity.
   —Righty and lefty friendly. I’m right-handed, but I like to wear the Fitbit at the left side of my waist. The words were backwards, but I learned that through the web site I could change the direction of the words.
   —Give it a name. You have 8 characters to input a name or other info. That’s not enough for a full phone number with area code. However, you if you search the Internet for “short email address,” there are a number of email address services that would fit that 8-character allotment and allow you to forward any email to your regular email address. This might come in handy if you (heaven forbid) were to lose your Fitbit.
   —Friendly little chatter. So you’re sitting on the sofa and you realize you should really get up and move your body. You stand up, and a blinked message catches…

   Read more

   Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

   Was this review helpful to you? 
   

   
   |

    Comments (9)

   Reply
2. 

   Gaz Rendar on October 18, 2011 at 1:06 pm

   2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

   
   The centerpiece of your fitness gadgets, October 18, 2011

   By 

   Gaz Rendar (Chicago, IL USA) –

   This review is from: Fitbit Ultra Wireless Activity Plus Sleep Tracker, Black/Blue (Health and Beauty)

   I’ve been a Fitbit user for 2 years now and have convinced several people to buy Fitbits and join my social fitness group. The new Fitbit Ultra is a small upgrade over the old Fitbit, and as such, doesn’t warrant replacing your old Fitbit with the Ultra version. However, the Ultra is still a 5-star product when used properly. Even if you already have a heart rate monitor and a GPS unit, the Fitbit can become the center of your active world.

   I’ll start by saying that no one “needs” a Fitbit. It is a luxury item. If you’re active, and goto the gym on a regular basis, and do a decent job watching what you eat, this device might not seem useful. I’ve also had plenty of people defiantly tell me that they just need a cheap pedometer that costs 1/10th the price of a Fitbit plus a journal and they can get the same functionality. To a degree, these statements are all true. The power of the Fitbit resides in its simplicity and social networking, but it’s very hard to fully appreciate without using the device for two weeks. Once you understand what the Fitbit provides, though, you can never go back.

   INSTALLATION
   There are minimal instructions included with the Fitbit. Luckily the install is rather simple. Goto the Fitbit website, create a user name and login for yourself, download and install the driver, plug in the USB charging stand and you should be ready. You’ll have to place your Fitbit onto the charger when prompted in order to obtain a pin number that identifies your Fitbit with your user name, but the entire process only takes about 5 minutes.

   HARDWARE
   The Fitbit Ultra looks and feels the same as the original `bit (you can get the plum accent color, though). There is only 1 button on the device and a small OLED screen. The screen has a sharp, attractive blue hue and is bright enough to read in all conditions except broad daylight. The button is nothing fancy, but has a solid enough click for my taste. I guess you can say that the Fitbit has a hinge, but it only opens a few degrees, which is sufficient to clip the device directly onto a bra strap or that little coin pocket on a pair a of jeans. A belt clip attachment is included to situate the Fitbit on belts of most thicknesses. There is also a USB charging stand that doubles as the wireless data base and a soft wrist strap for wearing your tracker while you sleep. The Fitbit is durable, but the one thing it cannot handle is water. Obviously, you can’t swim with it, but I’ve had friends of mine wear their `bits in their bra strap underneath a shirt and fleece on a cool fall day, work up a sweat, and have their Fitbits die due to the highly humid environment within their shirt. Its fine during a gym workout, just be careful if you’re keeping it contained in a non-breathable location while sweating.

   PERFORMANCE
   At its core, yes, the Fitbit is an expensive pedometer–but a highly accurate one. I’ve counted 150 steps in my head many times and it was spot-on. I’ve used a PreCor elliptical that told me I went 2873 steps and the Fitbit told me I went 2870. That’s quality. Distance accuracy can get close to 5% error, but only if you calibrate your walking and running stride lengths in your profile settings (calibrate by measuring off 50 feet, walk the 50 feet and count the # of steps, divide the 600 inches by your number of walking steps. Repeat 2 more times and take the average. Do the same for running). Otherwise your distance can be off by 20%. The Ultra’s main difference from the previous model is that it keeps track of flights of stairs. In a 3 step ranch house, walking up and down the 3 steps 8 times in a 5 minute period didn’t seem to register as a flight or two. However, when I’ve gone up 5 consecutive flights all at once it does seem to be pretty accurate. As long as you keep the Fitbit clipped to your waist/pocket areas or bra strap, it seems to be good. The Ultra also has a stopwatch function, but looking down to my waist, hitting the button and trying to see the timer wasn’t really practical during a run. Just wear a watch instead. Finally, the sleep tracking works well, but I find it to be a bit of an annoyance. If you want to wear the soft wrist strap and keep track of your sleep efficiency, it will definitely help you. But after 2 weeks I found that I was such a sound sleeper that I didn’t want to deal with the 2 minutes of set up time to find the wrist strap and put it on. Instead, I now just start the sleep timer when I crawl in bed and put the Fitbit on my nightstand. When I wake up, I hit stop. This way it still gives me a very good idea of how many hours I’m sleeping per night. It’s helped me realize that if I average under 6.25-6.5 hours of sleep per day for a week, I feel awful, but if I’m over that mark, I perform better during the day.

   WEBSITE
   Simply sitting near the wireless base while your computer is on will upload the…

   Read more

   Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

   Was this review helpful to you? 
   

   
   |

    Comment

   Reply
3. 

   Lee Abraham on October 18, 2011 at 1:16 pm

   1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Great Pedometer, October 14, 2011

   By 

   Lee Abraham (Cheyenne, WY) –
   
     
   
     

   This review is from: Fitbit Ultra Wireless Activity Plus Sleep Tracker, Black/Plum (Health and Beauty)

   I have had the Fitbit Ultra for about a week now. This is my second pedometer, I used the Nintendo DS game Personal Trainer: Walking for over a year and I use a Garmin GPS watch for running. I am very impressed with the Fitbit and it is easily better than the Nintendo game (even though it is also a decent pedometer itself).

   The device is well made. It doesn’t feel like it would break open if it got dropped. The button is hard enough to push that you won’t push it by accident, but easy to push when you want to. I was surprised to see people recommending a pedometer leash for it, the thing clips to whatever I am wearing and does not budge. Jeans, a belt, running shorts, it doesn’t matter, it’s snug. So snug that attaching it to softer clothing takes a bit more work to get it attached. It does include a holster type clip for thicker clothes/belts, but I have not had to use it.

   The display isn’t too bright and is easy to read inside. Outside in bright sunlight it is almost impossible to read unless you shield it. Which is fine, the only issue is when you are trying to verify you started/stopped an activity outside. When using the device to sleep the light from the display is not bright enough to be a distraction (not that it lights up much, just sometimes after it hasn’t moved in awhile).

   I wear the thing everyday, all day, and the battery has been fantastic. I have charged it once for an hour during the week and the web page still reports the battery level as “high”. The only time you can see the battery level on the Fitbit itself is when you plug it in to your computer using the adapter, it gives you a battery indicator then which has been almost useless. I plugged in one day and the battery indicator came up saying it was empty. I removed it and reinserted it on its adapter and the display said full. Luckily when it does it’s wireless sync it records the battery level there more accurately. It’s been 3-4 days since the last full charge and the web page still says “high”.

   For daily use it has been fun to use and track my activity. You can press the button at any time to see your calories, steps, mileage, floors climbed, and your activity level (displayed as a flower).

   How accurate is it? That’s hard to tell. Unlike some other pedometers that only measure steps after a few seconds of activity as to avoid counting shifts as you sit, the Fitbit seems to measure as soon as you stand up and walk. It seems to do a great job of not counting shifts as you sit as a step. It will count bumpy car/bicycle rides as random steps though, but there is no avoiding that unless you could turn it off. Comparing the results to what I would get with my former pedometer, it seems pretty similar.

   Mileage of course is off by a decent amount. I don’t find that important, since even if I calibrated it for my step, throughout the day I take different size steps depending on what I am doing, so it always going to be off. This does make activity tracking fairly pointless though. For instance I walked for an hour, using my GPS watch or phone app I know I walk at about a 13-minute mile. The Fitbit recorded it as 17 minute miles, although it did a good job of counting my increased pace with the step count saying I was “very active” for that hour. If you want to track your walking/running activities, you are better off getting an app for your phone. I will say for everyday just walking around, it’s not bad, and it’s fine for comparing the mileage one day to the next with what it tracks.

   The floors climbed counter is surprisingly good. The GPS watch I use for running has an altimeter and the altitude on it never really settles down, even when sitting still so I was skeptical about the Fitbit’s accuracy. It works well though, I go up about 6 flights of stairs a day, and the Fitbit is always right on the money unless I did a lot of walking around where the gradual hills may add up to an extra floor climbed for the day.

   Sleep accuracy is another recording I was surprised at. The included wristband you insert the Fitbit into is very light and hardly noticeable, I got used to it to the point I forget it’s on. To measure your sleep you press the button to start an activity when you get into bed. The issue here is that if you lie very still, the Fitbit thinks you are asleep. I noticed usually I fidget though so it has done a pretty good job of detecting my sleep. When you look at the chart the next morning it tells you where you woke up, which doesn’t necessarily mean you woke up, you could have turned over or moved. Usually you can tell if you were really awake though if it lasted more than a minute. The waking up part has been a bit iffy if you don’t remember to hit the button again to stop the activity. Sometimes it says I fell back asleep when I knew I hadn’t.

   And finally to tie it all together is the web page. Which is nothing short of great…

   Read more

   Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

   Was this review helpful to you? 
   

   
   |

    Comment

   Reply