Review - Fitbit Charge HR

To many, it may seem like a glorified pedometer, but since getting my first Fitbit almost a year ago, it has become somewhat of a prized possession of mine!

I purchased my first Fitbit, a Fitbit Flex back in May 2015, just to see how active I was on a daily basis. It turns out, not very! However, the great thing about the Fitbit is, you can set up challenges with family and friends, and you quickly become motivated not to come last! 

In February this year, I upgraded my Fitbit to the Fitbit Charge HR. This was mainly so that I could gather more detailed information about my activities, and also as I had started to become more active in my weightloss journey. The Charge HR has features including: 

• Continuous wrist-based pulse monitoring
• Tracking of steps, distance, calories and stairs climbed
• Caller ID display
• Alarm system
• Exercise statistics 

The alarm is great - it gently vibrates against your wrist at your set time to bring you out of sleep without the harshness of a whacking trill from an alarm clock; and the caller ID can be useful if you're away from your phone (the wristband will vibrate and the name will appear on-screen). The pulse reader is interesting, although naturally given the simplistic concept, is at times slightly off kilter. The tracker also monitors your activity and can pick up on a period of exercise without you having to tell it; something which is great when you're at the gym! 

The app is brilliant too; giving you the option to record your calorie and water intake, look at how well you've slept, look at the core hours of the day and see how active you were and much more! I find the sleep aspect particularly interesting - 

I was ill on this particular evening - it recorded my movements and sleep/awake periods very accurately!

Being totally honest, I probably don't use the app to it's full potential. Now that I'm embarking on this weightloss journey with 110% dedication, I should probably make use of the weight tracker, water intake and calorie intake functions. Perhaps I will have a fiddle around with them this afternoon and get used to using them!

This is, however, my second Charge HR. The first one became faulty after 6 weeks, with the tracker actually becoming unattached from the band (it's built/glued/screwed in). However, Argos were brilliant and got a replacement out to me within a couple of weeks! The battery life is pretty good; I normally charge mine about every four-five days, and it's easy enough to do whilst your sat at your laptop doing some work as it has a USB cable! 

Overall, the Fitbit has definitely had a positive impact on my activity levels, as I'm always determined to meet the daily target of 10,000 steps; often exceeding it to try and beat my friends in the daily challenges! At a cost of around £100 (Currys, Boots and Amazon are examples of stockists), it's not cheap, but I have found results from using it, and I hope for those results to increase even more now that I am drastically overhauling my lifestyle!

Have any of you used a fitness tracker? What are your thoughts on using technology? Let's chat!

Ciao for now!

L x