Are you looking for a way to keep track of your activity levels, monitor your sleep, and want it in real time? The Fitbit Flex Wireless Activity Tracer and Sleep Band may be just the solution you have been looking for to keep track of your activity and sleep cycles. This wireless wrist unit makes it easy to keep track of the fitness aspects that matter the most.
The Fitbit Flex Wireless Activity Tracer and Sleep Band is a small wristband that keeps track of your activity, as in steps taken and distance moved, the amount of calories you have burned, the number of minutes you have been active, and then helps keep track of your sleeping cycle. It even comes with a silent alarm so that you can get up without waking your partner.
What You Will Get
The Fitbit Flex Band comes with a rechargeable battery, two bands, and comes with a free app. It can also be used with several other leading fitness applications for your IPhone or Android based service. You use the wireless feature to synchronize it in real time to your phone or computer.
The two bands are adjustable. The small band will fit wrists between 5.5” and 6.9”. The large band will fit wrists between 6.5” and 8.2”. There are two standard colors Slate Gray and Black; however, multiple colored bands are available for purchase separately, so the Fitbit is customizable for fashion aware users.
To increase motivation, the Fitbit gives you real time visual proof of your daily fitness goals through an LED light system. The closer you are, the more lights will light up. All you need is a quick glance to see how well you are doing. The wrist unit is water resistant up to 10 meters.
The battery is rechargeable and lasts for five days between charging. Charging your wrist unit is fast, about two hours is all you need to reach a full charge level. The system allows you, in addition to your activity levels, to log things such as the foods you have eaten, your beginning, and your goal weights.
Pros and Cons
The Fitbit Flex Band has several things going for it. It is a wrist unit unlike previous units that were awkward and need to be strapped to the torso. It comes with a silent vibration alarm that wakes you up without waking up your partner. This is perfect for individuals who work a separate schedule from their partner’s or need to get up at an earlier time. The wrist unit will track restful sleep, meaning your arm does not move for two or more hours at a time.
The ability to synchronize the wrist unit wirelessly is one of the features that make this wrist band an interesting addition to anyone’s fitness routine. You can update your progress during your day, whenever it is convenient to your schedule. You can also locate your data and review it wherever you are, using your phone, computer, or tablet.
If you are someone who has difficulty keeping track of his or her daily goals then this is a good solution to help keep you motivated. The LED system helps to give you a good measure of how well you are doing, at any given point in the day.
The wristband also has some real life in it. Some of these products tend to break all too easily. However, the Fitbit seems to have some durability to it, making it great for people who tend to be a little rougher on this type of equipment. For example, people in physically demanding jobs, that may not have considered this type of fitness tracker, may find the Fitbit to be a solution.
While there are many upsides to the Fitbit Flex band it is not without its faults.
• The band while water resistant builds up water and cannot handle pressurized water
• Additionally, there are other issues to consider. For example, the activity tracker is not as accurate as regular users might expect
• It works for two strides: walking and running. It needs to be calibrated for these two strides and if you alter them, the accuracy drops considerably
• It does not have a built in altimeter so it cannot track activity such as walking up the stairs
• It cannot handle swimming, tennis or other activities.
This is not designed to be an all in one activity monitor; however, a good feature to have, which it is missing, is a heart monitor. When you are tracking your steps, whether walking or running and doing heavy exercise, you want to be able to watch your heart rate in order to ensure that you are meeting the necessary guidelines, so as to obtain the most benefit from your activity. However, in the case of this tracker, you will need to purchase a secondary device to help monitor your heart rate or you will have to pause to check your heart rate.
Overall, the Fitbit Flex activity band has its good and its bad points. The good points make it well worth the time to take a look at it. However, the price may be a bit too much for most people, given the downsides pointed out in this review. The band is great for tracking movements that sit within its calibrated range, but outside of that range, it becomes increasingly inaccurate. The result is that it may only track some of the movement you make during a day and it will only track movements that fit within the strides you have programmed into the software applications. However, you can wirelessly synchronize the equipment, which makes it easy to keep track of everything.
Most people have access to an IPhone or android product and if not the website offers the ability to connect and upload all your information. It also comes with the ability to chart everything so that you can track your progress in more than just text on the page. Generally speaking, the product is decent and offers some great features but the price makes it a bit cost prohibitive.