Now the thing about pedometers, the kind you hook to your waist, is that they don't work for me. I've bought a few, had one given to me, got a free one from some promotion, and not a single one accurately tracked my steps. I have two theories, or perhaps they both contribute to the problem. For the pedometers that wouldn't seem to register any steps, I don't move so well, and my movements are by no means fluid. When my hips move, I don't get that rocking back and forth movement that some pedometers seem to require. Therefore, it doesn't see my steps. For the one pedometer that went crazy when registering steps, let me be honest, I jiggle when I move. When I walk, when I shift my weight, when I sit, whenever... it happens! I am pretty sure it was registering jiggles, not steps. Also, there is no good spot to hook it onto my pants. Once I sit, everything goes out, and the pedometer digs into me. If I hook it onto my pocket instead of my waist, well, I invariably manage to knock it off or catch it on something have it pulled off. What this all comes down to, is despite my desire for a pedometer, I have given up on the cheaper models.
After all my researching, I had pretty much decided on a FitBit Charge. Most reviews said FitBit has the better website and I chose the Charge because I really wanted to be able to tell the time with one device and not wear a watch in addition to the device. Once I had decided, it was then time for deliberation. I know, shouldn't that have come first?
Well, when I decide I want something, and it is a lot of money, I have to consider whether or not I will truly need it/want it long term. I hate impulse buying, even after two weeks of considering, for me it could be an impulse buy. I can't even tell you how many things I have in storage that I was sure I had to have, didn't give extra consideration to, and now they sit in storage. But the reverse may be true as well, and I consider too long and just never buy it. There is a matching bathroom floor cabinet and space-saver that I have decided 6 months ago that I want. I know storage in the bathroom is lacking, I have but to walk in there to see it. But I have those links in my favorites, and I don't know if I will ever buy them now despite both my need and want for them.
Anyway, what this is boiling down to, is that after deciding to get one, I promptly closed all my research and put it out of my mind for a few days. Then, last Thursday, I get an email from Amazon.com that the deal of the day is the Garmin Vivofit. For $59.99, much cheaper than I found the FitBit anywhere. So I reread the reviews and decided to take a chance.
It arrived on Saturday, but I didn't open the box until Sunday night, not an auspicious start. But open it I did, and successfully created an account and synced it up. Then, since I had read that FitBit's website was better, I attempted to sync my new Garmin account with my new FitBit account. I had read in reviews this was possible, and found it online as well. This was not successful. Despite my efforts, the website could only tell me that syncing had failed. So I put that thought aside and concentrated on learning how to use my new device.
After wearing it all evening, I decided to sync it up with my computer again before going to bed. Fail. I wore it all day Monday and tried to sync it several times. Each time I was met with failure. By Monday evening, I was frustrated and had determined that if I could not track and use the features with the website, then I was going to return it. (I had not yet been swimming with it at this point.)
As a last ditch effort, I got out my tablet and downloaded the app. I hadn't used my tablet for the past two weeks, so when setting everything up, I just went with the computer and the ANT drive originally. I had to enable the Bluetooth on the tablet which I am pretty sure is a first for me. Then I had to pair it and try syncing. After all the waiting... success! But I was able to sync once with the computer too. So I would wait until Tuesday night before thinking about keeping or returning it.
I used it all day Tuesday. I synced multiple times. I synced this morning too. I found my sleep data fascinating. I am happy with the Garmin website and since I could never use the FitBit website, I suppose I don't know what I am missing there. I have found seeing my steps to be motivating already. I have some work to do in that area. It is pretty accurate with my steps, although much to my disappointment, it didn't track a single movement while I was at my water fitness class. I will deal with that though. I like that you can change screens to see the number of steps until goal, mileage, time, date, and change it to sleep mode where it tracks your activity while sleeping.
Decision made, I am keeping it.
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