The Right ClickBattle of the Bands: FitBit Flex is sleek, motivational, with some software misses
This is the first review in our mini-series 'Battle of the Bands,' comparing some of the most popular fitness bands available in Canada today. For an overview of the series, read Battle of the Bands: Finding the best fitness band for you.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention I've had the Flex band for longer than the other ones we test in this series, as I'd received one as a gift in May 2013. The other three testers, though, had never owned one. One had, however, owned a FitBit Force, which bears mentioning first.
The FitBit Force was the next generation fitness band released by FitBit late 2013, and offered certain changes over the Flex, including a more detailed display and wider band. It was well received by reviewers who had a chance to test it out, and found many fans over the course of the holiday season.
It also, unfortunately, caused a percentage of its wearers to develop contact dermatitis. This eventually prompted a voluntary recall on Feb. 20, and thus, we were unable to test it in this series.
"I was totally on board with the FitBit Force, and had it not given me a rash, I would still be using it today," said our reviewer and former Force owner. "Even with the rash, I very reluctantly took it off. That's how much I loved it."
We did all get to spend time with the FitBit Flex, though, which uses the same PC and mobile software as the Force, and is currently available through the FitBit website now.
Battle of the Bands:
FitBit Flex Review
Upcoming entries in this series:
Jawbone UP24 Review - coming May 22
Nike+ FuelBand SE Review - coming May 29
Samsung Galaxy Gear Fit Review - coming June 5
Polar Loop Review - coming June 12
Picking our winners - coming June 19
Appearance
The Flex has two parts: a soft plastic band, about 1 cm wide, and inserted into the band is the actual tracker. The five LED lights of the tracker can be seen through the small window on the band, and that's the extent of the information you get from the wearable part of this system. As you work towards your goal, the lights turn on in 20% increments (so if you were aiming for 10,000 steps and had walked 4,000, the first two lights would be on and the third light would be flashing as you work towards the next milestone). Sleep mode is indicated by two lights flashing on the band at once. Some of the reviewers found the incremental light system to be helpful and motivating, while others found it somewhat confusing, and had to search online in order to get a better understanding of what the lights meant.
The band itself is closed with a plastic clasp that pushes into the holes in the band, making it adjustable (the package also comes with two different sized bands, so you can select the best one for you). It also comes in the widest variety of colours of all the bands we tested, and is also the only one where the band is replaceable, so if you get bored with the colour or wear out your band, you don't have to replace the whole device to get a new one.
Band Comfort
One reviewer found the band difficult to close, especially compared to some of the other slip-on bands that we tried: "If you're one-handed at 5:30 in the morning, you're just like, 'ugh, so tedious.'"
Once on, however, all reviewers agreed that the band was comfortable to wear, lightweight, and easy to forget you were wearing it, even while sleeping. "I can't stand it when things bug me and pull on my hand, especially when I sleep, and I could sleep easy with this one," commented one reviewer.
Another reviewer found that, while comfortable most of the time, there tended to be a lot of sweat buildup inside the band when working out (in the area where the tracker unit sits). It only required the minor task of taking out the tracker, swabbing it out with a Q-tip and letting it dry completely, but was still an added step to keep the unit clean and functional.
A different reviewer had problems with the band getting extremely dirty when doing intense, sweaty exercise (specifically hot yoga). This seems to be a problem with the brighter colours, as the darker band I've had for a year shows only minimal discolouration.
Battery and Charging
The promised battery life of 5 days seemed roughly correct, although some reviewers estimated it to be as low as 4 days, while others got as much as 6 days (with the same band).
To charge the device, the tracker is removed from the band and inserted into a charging cable that comes with the device. One reviewer found sitting the Flex correctly in the cable to be awkward and tedious, and often took several attempts to get it in correctly. Once charging, it took a couple of hours for a 100% charge from a near-dead battery, which seems to be the longest out of any the devices we used.
Compatibility
The band works with 44 different mobile devices on both iOS and Android platforms, so syncing it with our devices for testing wasn't a problem. It also requires either a PC or Mac computer for syncing, via the included wireless sync dongle. It syncs with your mobile device over Bluetooth, and generally takes about 10-20 seconds.
The FitBit Flex also plays the best with other apps, out of the bands we tested, allowing you to use a variety of other tracking software. You can see a full list of compatible apps here. Two reviewers used MyFitnessPal to sync calories consumed, and found it to sync information quickly between both apps. Since the food library built into the app isn't great, this is an excellent alternative (more on the food logging later).
Software
Both the web dashboard on the computer and the mobile app are clean and informative, and have fantastic goal setting abilities. In fact, all of the reviewers commented that the way the app presents your goals is extremely useful and motivating. The home screen of the mobile app shows you how many calories you've consumed versus how many you've burned, steps walked, hours slept, miles walked, active minutes in a day, water consumed, and current weight alongside the number of pounds you are from your goal. The home screen is customizable, so you can add or remove any metrics you want and make better reflect your goals.
The mobile app will show you graphs detailing certain stats, like peak times of activity during the day or hours slept each night. You can see all the information on the computer dashboard. There is the option to 'unlock' more information by signing up for the FitBit Premium service, which will give you a detailed food, sleep and activity report, rankings against people in your age demographic and a personal trainer function, but it does cost an additional $49.99 per year. We didn't explore this option, as we wanted the free service comparable to what the other bands offer.
Having the calories in versus out so prominently displayed is probably my favourite part of the FitBit software: It turns earning calories into a game. I found myself more motivated to go and walk those extra 2000 steps in order to 'earn' enough calories for a food item later on. It gets you thinking about the amount of food your body needs for the amount of activity you do, which was tremendously helpful.
Food Logging
While the FitBit app does have a built-in food library, it is woefully absent of many foods available in Canada. The search functionality also leaves something to be desired, as can be seen in the screenshot on the right. My search for "chicken soup" yielded a vast field of results, and none were what I was looking for. There's also no barcode scanner, which is very handy for logging packaged foods and is a feature in software for some other bands. However a better food library and barcode scanner are both available with MyFitnessPal, so if you don't mind logging your food in one app to sync with another, it really isn't a problem at all.
Sleep Logging
To enable sleep mode, you have to tap the band quickly and repeatedly, and it will eventually buzz and switch to having two lights on instead of the running lights you normally see when you tap. To wake it up, tap the same way until you go back to running lights. Sometimes when you're tired and you can't get your fingers to work right, this can be a little challenging. You can also log your sleep the morning after by entering in the start and end times of your slumber. The reviewer who logged this way said she found it to be just as accurate.
When sleep is logged, you'll be able to view a chart showing the time you slept, and periods of 'restlessness' and 'awake' are marked roughly on the chart. It generally gives a pretty good idea of when you weren't sleeping as heavily, even if you can't see sleep cycles as you can (again, roughly) with other bands.
One reviewer wasn't as satisfied with the sleep tracking, though, pointing out that in reality, it is just tracking movement: "I don't think it really measures how well you sleep, it just measures how much you move around. I've had nights where it's taken me an hour and a half to fall asleep and it says, 'you feel asleep in five minutes!' but no, I just laid there for a long time, it's a completely different thing."
Walk Tracking
There were mixed reviews on how accurately the Flex tracked steps in a day. It was more difficult to reach a goal set on the FitBit Flex than with some of the other wristbands we tested, which some liked better, because it meant they were working harder. Others found it demotivating to work as hard towards the goal as with another band, only to not reach it.
Exercise Logging
In addition to walking, you can log a variety of other activities with the band and software. Enter in your activity and it finds it from a library of estimated calories burned based on your physiology. Since there are some activities the band won't pick up on because there are no steps involved (hot yoga was one example we found where it didn't register any activity, despite a high level of physical exertion), this is a handy way to recoup those 'lost' calories. Although we did find, however, that if you were to log "walking" after having walked and counted calories burned for steps, it would simply eliminate the calories burned that it had shown previously and replace it with the estimated values.
"I'll walk for a few miles, and it will say, 'you did so-and-so of various activity,' but then if I go in and say 'I walked 3 miles' in that same period, it'll say, 'oh okay you didn't actually work that hard.'"
Other Features
The FitBit Flex allows you to set alarms, which alert you with band vibrations. You can set multiple alarms, including the days of the week you wish them to go off (so you get your weekend sleep-in).
Motivation
To encourage you to reach your goal, the Flex gives positive messages when you hit certain targets; when you reach your calorie goal of intake vs. output, the app shows a 'Nailed It!' message (which, personally, always makes me feel like Success Kid), and when you reach your step goal, the band vibrates to tell you you've made it, and the steps icon on the app turns into a smiley face. They're little things, but the upbeat messages sent for reaching goals really did make you want to hit those targets.
One reviewer also enjoyed the optional emails you received when reaching a goal, or even the weekly reports: "It's really cool having an email from your band!"
Over longer use, you also receive badges to mark milestones, such as 50 lifetime miles walked, or 25,000 steps in a day. It's a nice reminder of why you're bothering to log all this movement and work towards healthier living.
Social
None of the reviewers were particularly taken with the social posting functions that are built into the app; being able to share a Twitter status on how many steps you've taken just wasn't something any of us needed to be able to do. You can add friends who are also using the FitBit system, and it will show how you rank against them in the number of steps you've all taken that week, providing a little added competition. There is also an option to "cheer" or "taunt" friends, which is kind of fun if you've got multiple friends with FitBit devices.
Final Thoughts
The greatest assets of the FitBit Flex are its comfortable and discreet band, its clean, customizable and functional app, and its compatibility with numerous other mobile apps. The FitBit Flex is available for purchase through the FitBit website and Best Buy now for $99.95.
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