Another busy week and I only got to run one day. I did make the best of that day but I will tell you about that later in this post. The last couple of weeks I have been telling you that I was going to write a product review and I guess that time has come.
The product/device is called Fitbit Ultra. I have been wearing one since the last part of June and I love it. I have seen other reviewer call this a high-dollar pedometer but I say that it is much more than that. It can record so much more that just a $30 pedometer. As a disclaimer, I did not receive this unit from Fitbit. I bought it with my own money. Now that that is out of the way.
Fitbit Ultra (Fitbit for the rest of this post) records your steps and converts them into miles and calories burned. It has a built-in accelerometer and altimeter. The accelerometer allows that Fitbit to sense when it is moving and how fast. The altimeter in there to determine high many floors of stairs you climb. It comes in two different colors: blue and plum, which is really purple if you ask me.
All of the specs can be found at fitbit.com. I want to tell you about my experience with it. I have only worn it one time during a workout and the mileage was pretty accurate. I no longer carry it while running because I sweat a lot and water is not the Fitbit's friend.
One thing that I don't enjoy about using the Fitbit is that when I'm driving a tends to count bumps and any movement as steps. That also makes my mileage go up too. I use the iPhone app to record my driving and that deletes any steps and floor climbs during that period. The only other way around that is to keep it plugged in or completely turn it off. The turning off and back on is a pain so I just write down what time I started driving and then for how long and that evens things out.
One of the pros of the Fitbit is the number of other services you can connect it too. Mainly the previous two sites I talked about and also my favorite site for losing weight, LoseIt. When you connect it to MapMyRun it will record all of your days steps as a walk for that day. In earndit.com, you will receive points based on your activity level for that day. With LoseIt, it will give you extra calories for the day based on that activity too. I don't use my Fitbit with MapMyRun but do with earndit.com and LoseIt.
How well are you sleeping? Fitbit can help you with that too. You have to wear it on your wrist with the supplied wrist strap. Press the button for 2 seconds and then go to sleep. When you wake up in the morning, press the button again and it will tell you how long you slept. After it uploads the information to the website, you can see how many times you woke up, how long it took you to go to sleep, and how long your were actually asleep.
The two best things about Fitbit are that you don't have to charge it everyday and your data is uploaded automatically without wires. As long as you have the charging station plugged into a computer that is running the Fitbit software, the Fitbit tries to upload it's data every 15 minutes. I only upload mine once a day and then everything gets sent at once. I have been four days without putting it onto the charger. The Fitbit website says it should last atleast three days and up to seven. If you don't come near the charger for a few days that is alright too because it can retain the minute to minute data for seven days. So long as you upload the data once a week you will have all of the data that was recorded.
You can get the Fitbit Ultra from fitbit.com or you can get it from Amazon. I have seen it as low as $85 on Amazon but most of the time it's the same price ($99.95) at both places. I picked mine up at Target and some Best Buys carry them too.
All things considered, I think with the amount of data that the Fitbit records it is worth the price and it will keep you motivated to move more so you can reach your goals.
Now back to my running week. I did have a busy week and my only day running was a 12 miler. I've been having some bad blisters on the sides of my feet and I think they are caused from my socks getting too wet. I really do sweat a lot and by the time I have finished the first five miles, I'm soaked. When I do my next long run, I am going to carry and extra pair of socks and put them on before I feel the blisters coming on and see how that works.
Thanks for stopping by again this week and I'll see you again next week.
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