How accurate are Fitbit?

As per the title really. Can I trust the data it's giving me or is it glorified tamagotchi?

My other half has two and they never give same info ,she wears them both at same time ,one clips to clothing and other one goes on wrist .the one on clothing always says more steps walked than onther one

The heart rate monitor isn't always fully accurate on the first read, but after it's been on your wrist for a few minutes it's pretty decent.

As per the title really. Can I trust the data it's giving me or is it glorified tamagotchi?

Do you mean just the steps? It's reasonably accurate. Lots of research done on them and they are within 5% if not worn on your dominant wrist. For a while I used a FitBit alongside a phone with a pedometer and they were both v similar, it's of course possible both are talking rubbish!

For things like calorie burn and so on then it's absolute drivel in the most part, but a useful comparison if you ignore the exact numbers and look for trend. Everyone burns calories completely differently and the trackers can be waaaaaaaaaaaay off, up to 40% over or under reading. Calorie burn is almost impossible to track accurately even in a lab.

I guess its a bit like weighing scales. Once you have a base measurement, with your instrument, the increase or decrease is a good indicator to your progress.

The heart rate monitor isn't always fully accurate on the first read, but after it's been on your wrist for a few minutes it's pretty decent.

I think the only way to check this is against the data produced by a conventional heart monitor (i.e. of the sort you attach to your upper arm). I have two conventional heart monitors and both give similar results. However, I also have a wrist monitor, which is wildly inaccurate when measured against the other two. I don't trust wrist monitors.

I have used them for two years but have now stopped as I found them fairly accurate for giving date/time but garbage for anything else.

I've compared mine to a hospital HR monitor and the resting rate was surprisingly accurate (within 2-3 bpm). And I have compared it during exercise to a Polar chest based HR strap, it's wildly inaccurate on that count (up to 30 bpm).

Depending on what you want it for, they are reasonably good activity trackers, but they are pretty poor sports watches.

This website has some good reviews of all sorts of activity/sports watches and gadgets.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-reviews/fitbit-product-reviews

Depends which one and what you use it for. You also need to set it up correctly and know its limitations. the MFP usergorup or in fact and user group will have enough geeks to help you understand how to use it. Its ok as a pedometer.

Depends which one and what you use it for. You also need to set it up correctly and know its limitations. the MFP usergorup or in fact and user group will have enough geeks to help you understand how to use it. Its ok as a pedometer.

I understand how to "use" it. The pedometer seems reasonable accurate, I've no idea on the heart rate but I'm not clutching my chest when I excercise so I presume that's ok. My main bugbear is the sleep bit - mine looks like a bar code.

I understand how to "use" it. The pedometer seems reasonable accurate, I've no idea on the heart rate but I'm not clutching my chest when I excercise so I presume that's ok. My main bugbear is the sleep bit - mine looks like a bar code.

The sleep tracker on mine works mainly on movement. I find it over estimates my actual sleep. I recall actually being awake at some points and looking at the clock but Fitbit said I was sleeping. So I get large blocks of blue generally in the middle but 'restless' periods either end, when I'm not actually asleep in any case. But I guess that must be because I don't move much. So I would guess, that if you are getting lots of restless periods, you are physically moving, at least your arm, a fair bit.

I have found the detection of 'awake' as in actually getting up and moving around to be pretty accurate. So if you have that, you might well be sleep walking.

I understand how to "use" it. The pedometer seems reasonable accurate, I've no idea on the heart rate but I'm not clutching my chest when I excercise so I presume that's ok. My main bugbear is the sleep bit - mine looks like a bar code.

Oh the sleep stuff is drivel. It's based on movement so if you are a fidgety sleeper then it reads way off one way and if you get into bed a lie stock still but are still awake it reads way off the other way! If you really want to analyse your sleep then you are going to need to invest in something like this:

http://www.resmed.com/us/en/consumer/s-plus.html

but even those are a bit 'meh'. Only real way to track sleep is through a brain scan and that's probably a tad OTT.