recomendations for a fitness tracker watch that can operate stand alone / no phone

[Soundguy]

I currently use a fitbit, but apparently I'm too outdorsy and active, and I've been thru two trackers now, not looking for #3, because they seem fragile. I use an older windows 8 nokia 1020 phone. Remarkably, fitbit does have a windows app, which is why I'm using it. Most O the new tracker watches say ios/android only.

I have seen cheaper economy trackers that are basically pedometer/heart rate only, not a smart watch. I'd be ok with one like that, or a economy smart watch/ tracker that will display its data without a phone tether.

Thanks

 

[MossRoad]

My wife recently started weight watchers with a friend, and she's counting points... she's allowed 23 points a day. So, just for fun, we added up my points for a typical day....... one hundred sixty-two! Yes 162.... something like 3900 calories. And it wasn't a heavy eating day for me, just a typical day. :confused3: She wasn't happy with me at all... :laughing:

She put a fitbit tracker on me a few months ago. It's one of the little clip-on ones. I carry it in my pocket so I don't lose it. It eats a battery about every 5-6 weeks.

But you are correct. It won't work without the phone. And, it seems, and I may be incorrect, but the phone has to have an internet connection on, in order for it to sync. Even though it's bluetooth, the app needs the internet to work and sync.

I don't care for it too much, but some days it's kind of fun to see how many "steps" I put in.

Another thing I don't like about the fitbit is how it tracks active minutes. I can walk for 4-5 hours and only get 45 minutes active some times. There's just no way that thing is close to accurate. But, again, it's kinda fun somedays.

 

[dmccarty]

I currently use a fitbit, but apparently I'm too outdorsy and active, and I've been thru two trackers now, not looking for #3, because they seem fragile. I use an older windows 8 nokia 1020 phone. Remarkably, fitbit does have a windows app, which is why I'm using it. Most O the new tracker watches say ios/android only.
...

I use one of the cheapo Fitbits, it uses a wrist band and has no display so you have to synch it to a phone or PC. The wrist bands are fragile and break but I have found the aftermarket replacements are tougher. My aftermarket one is starting to rip after a year or so. The plastic they us is just going to fail after flexing too many times. It would better if they used a regular watch band material.

Trying to remember, but I think my first Fitbit lasted 12-18 months before it failed. Not sure why. Water? Battery age? Bought another one that I am guessing is 12-18 months old and no issues so far.

I am using Windows and Android to synch the Fitbit too.

My device is surprisingly accurate. When I first go the Fitbit I would count steps and watch the time. It is very accurate. I know how many steps I walker per minute, so from time to time, I check if the Fitbit is correct, and it has been. I have lost 20ish pounds by walking and using the Fitbit to count steps.

I looked at other Fitbits but I don't want to spend too much money on something that is easily lost and subject to damage so I just use the cheap one and replace it as needed. MUCH cheaper and it gets far more use than going to the gym.

Later,
Da,

 

[Soundguy]

My wife recently started weight watchers with a friend, and she's counting points... she's allowed 23 points a day. So, just for fun, we added up my points for a typical day....... one hundred sixty-two! Yes 162.... something like 3900 calories. And it wasn't a heavy eating day for me, just a typical day. :confused3: She wasn't happy with me at all... :laughing:

She put a fitbit tracker on me a few months ago. It's one of the little clip-on ones. I carry it in my pocket so I don't lose it. It eats a battery about every 5-6 weeks.

But you are correct. It won't work without the phone. And, it seems, and I may be incorrect, but the phone has to have an internet connection on, in order for it to sync. Even though it's bluetooth, the app needs the internet to work and sync.

I don't care for it too much, but some days it's kind of fun to see how many "steps" I put in.

Another thing I don't like about the fitbit is how it tracks active minutes. I can walk for 4-5 hours and only get 45 minutes active some times. There's just no way that thing is close to accurate. But, again, it's kinda fun somedays.

exactly, when the app loads, it wants an active internet connection. if the app loads with no service, it error's out.

And yes, it has a fairly low threshold for what it considers active minutes. I walked a gun show 3 weeks ago for about 4 hours... I got no credit for it. BUT, i can do a brisk walk around my neighborhood and it grabs every second of it and even shows me a map of what I walked via GPS tracking. So it's 'speed' threshold is high. The pedometer still grabbed the 9000 steps, just didn't log it as active minutes.

 

[Soundguy]

I use one of the cheapo Fitbits, it uses a wrist band and has no display so you have to synch it to a phone or PC. The wrist bands are fragile and break but I have found the aftermarket replacements are tougher. My aftermarket one is starting to rip after a year or so. The plastic they us is just going to fail after flexing too many times. It would better if they used a regular watch band material.

Trying to remember, but I think my first Fitbit lasted 12-18 months before it failed. Not sure why. Water? Battery age? Bought another one that I am guessing is 12-18 months old and no issues so far.

I am using Windows and Android to synch the Fitbit too.

My device is surprisingly accurate. When I first go the Fitbit I would count steps and watch the time. It is very accurate. I know how many steps I walker per minute, so from time to time, I check if the Fitbit is correct, and it has been. I have lost 20ish pounds by walking and using the Fitbit to count steps.

I looked at other Fitbits but I don't want to spend too much money on something that is easily lost and subject to damage so I just use the cheap one and replace it as needed. MUCH cheaper and it gets far more use than going to the gym.

Later,
Da,

fitbit supports windows still.. but none of the other name brand ones do.

I need to just find a cheapo pedometer / heart rate monitoring band that can display it's data on it's screen without needing a phone. apparently my lifestyle is too active for the fragile fitbits. my first one died, and repalced under warranty in 6 months.. I think this one made it about 6 months too, and just died saturday... it won't power off with the 2 button-hold reset.. it just cycles back on and is stuck on the dot pattern bootup screen. the first one stopped bluetooth syncing, thus was useless as it lost time when powered off, and the only way to set time on a fitbit is via sync... thus I just need a standalone watch with pedometer and heart rate monitor that doesn't need a PC. I like the other features. but those 2 are the ones I use the most and don't want to loose.

 

[MossRoad]

What's really funny is to have your pajamas on, eating a bowl of ice cream, and having your wife tell you she needs 800 more steps to hit 10, or 15 thousand for the day..... so there you two are, in your jammies, walking down to the corner and back at 10:30 at night!

 

[dmccarty]

fitbit supports windows still.. but none of the other name brand ones do.

I need to just find a cheapo pedometer / heart rate monitoring band that can display it's data on it's screen without needing a phone. apparently my lifestyle is too active for the fragile fitbits. my first one died, and repalced under warranty in 6 months.. I think this one made it about 6 months too, and just died saturday... it won't power off with the 2 button-hold reset.. it just cycles back on and is stuck on the dot pattern bootup screen. the first one stopped bluetooth syncing, thus was useless as it lost time when powered off, and the only way to set time on a fitbit is via sync... thus I just need a standalone watch with pedometer and heart rate monitor that doesn't need a PC. I like the other features. but those 2 are the ones I use the most and don't want to loose.

Maybe try the simplest Fitbit that I use. No buttons or display. It is just a plastic blob that fits in the wrist band. You can put it in a pocket too and it will work. Yeah, you have to synch to a computer or smart phone but it seems pretty robust. Drives me nuts sometimes having to synch, the problems seem to be Fitbits servers, but I figure the Fitbit with a display and kept in a pocket is going to get lost fast. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Not sure there is a cheap pedometer and heart rate monitor. I have a heart rate monitor but it requires wearing a chest strap which is ok if really working out but a PITA to wear all day. My second dumb cell phone had a pretty good pedometer. My first smartphone had one as well but it would kill the phone's battery.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

What's really funny is to have your pajamas on, eating a bowl of ice cream, and having your wife tell you she needs 800 more steps to hit 10, or 15 thousand for the day..... so there you two are, in your jammies, walking down to the corner and back at 10:30 at night!

She needs to learn to run and/or walk in place. :laughing::laughing::laughing: 800 steps is 8 minutes of walking for me or less than 5 minutes jogging in place.

Over the holidays, I started working up so I can jog in place for an hour or so. The first half of 2017 I was doing 10K steps a day with a day or two of 20K or 25K steps. We had a challenge at work and I wanted to do a million steps which required me to walk 15K to 20K steps a day for a couple of months. This fall I decided to walk at least 15K steps each day. That can be time consuming but if one jogs in place while watching an hour of TV, that can add almost 10K steps.

No need to walk outside in the cold when one can jog in place and watch Big Bang Theory. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[Streetcar]

What model fitbit
I have hr that is one year old
Many cheaper versions are killed by mousture

 

[MossRoad]

She needs to learn to run and/or walk in place. :laughing::laughing::laughing: 800 steps is 8 minutes of walking for me or less than 5 minutes jogging in place.

Over the holidays, I started working up so I can jog in place for an hour or so. The first half of 2017 I was doing 10K steps a day with a day or two of 20K or 25K steps. We had a challenge at work and I wanted to do a million steps which required me to walk 15K to 20K steps a day for a couple of months. This fall I decided to walk at least 15K steps each day. That can be time consuming but if one jogs in place while watching an hour of TV, that can add almost 10K steps.

No need to walk outside in the cold when one can jog in place and watch Big Bang Theory. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

She rides an elliptical trainer on a pretty stout resistance for an hour each morning. I can ride it about 8 minutes before I feel like I'm gonna throw up. :ashamed:

 

[zzvyb6]

Look on TrackerByNet.com:laughing:

 

[Soundguy]

What's really funny is to have your pajamas on, eating a bowl of ice cream, and having your wife tell you she needs 800 more steps to hit 10, or 15 thousand for the day..... so there you two are, in your jammies, walking down to the corner and back at 10:30 at night!

yep i'v ebeen there.. it's time for bed and I look at my watch and wow.. I need 500 more steps to hit some x goal. and there I am walking out to the driveway for the heck of it.

 

[Soundguy]

Maybe try the simplest Fitbit that I use. No buttons or display. It is just a plastic blob that fits in the wrist band. You can put it in a pocket too and it will work. Yeah, you have to synch to a computer or smart phone but it seems pretty robust. Drives me nuts sometimes having to synch, the problems seem to be Fitbits servers, but I figure the Fitbit with a display and kept in a pocket is going to get lost fast. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Not sure there is a cheap pedometer and heart rate monitor. I have a heart rate monitor but it requires wearing a chest strap which is ok if really working out but a PITA to wear all day. My second dumb cell phone had a pretty good pedometer. My first smartphone had one as well but it would kill the phone's battery.

Later,
Dan

unfortunately, if it has no display and needs a sync, it won't work. no one makes one that syncs with a windows phone other than fitbit, and I need real time monitoring.. i need to look at my wrist and see heart rate or steps. not after the fact when I dig out the old desktop and sync it.

 

[Soundguy]

What model fitbit
I have hr that is one year old
Many cheaper versions are killed by mousture

Surge

 

[MossRoad]

unfortunately, if it has no display and needs a sync, it won't work. no one makes one that syncs with a windows phone other than fitbit, and I need real time monitoring.. i need to look at my wrist and see heart rate or steps. not after the fact when I dig out the old desktop and sync it.

Yeah, you're going to need a watch with a pulse detector/pedometer. Can't help you there.

 

[dmccarty]

She rides an elliptical trainer on a pretty stout resistance for an hour each morning. I can ride it about 8 minutes before I feel like I'm gonna throw up. :ashamed:

I knew a guy back in the late 80's who weighed 400-500 pounds at one point. He went on a strict diet and used a stair stepper/elliptical trainer every night for HOURS while watching TV. When I met him he had lost almost 200 pounds, well more than I weighed, by the diet and exercise. :thumbsup:

The reason I like the Fitbit is that I can get a bit of exercise here and there during the day, instead of HAVING to jump on a machine for an hour or two, go to the gym or go run. None of those approaches have worked for me for very long since time is hard to come by.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

yep i'v ebeen there.. it's time for bed and I look at my watch and wow.. I need 500 more steps to hit some x goal. and there I am walking out to the driveway for the heck of it.

:laughing::laughing::laughing: Did that last night! :shocked: Climbed into bed and realized I had not checked my steps. Got up and the wifey said you are not going to check your steps. :laughing::laughing::laughing: She knew what I was doing. I needed another 300ish steps to get to 15,000 so I had to get those steps.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

unfortunately, if it has no display and needs a sync, it won't work. no one makes one that syncs with a windows phone other than fitbit, and I need real time monitoring.. i need to look at my wrist and see heart rate or steps. not after the fact when I dig out the old desktop and sync it.

I have a Polar heart rate monitor that has a wrist watch and requires a chest strap. It will show heart rate and calories burned but not the number of steps. Don't think it would be fun to wear all day and I suspect it would eat batteries in both the strap and watch. I know some people are using exercise watches with GPS to count their steps but I have my doubts about their accuracy.

We had a challenge at work last year to see which group could get the most steps. There were some people getting 30,000 steps a day, every day, for months. That is not really possible. One guy who was one of the top "steppers" in one group was a long distance runner and he could not do 30,000 steps a day, every day. What he eventually figured out is that the GPS devices could be configured to estimate the number of steps and the estimate was WAY off.

To put that into understandable numbers I walk about 100 steps a minute or 6,000 steps an hour. So to get 30,000 steps would require 5 hours of walking. During the challenge I was doing 20,000 steps each day and sometimes 25K or 30K but it took quite a bit of the little free time I have and I was only able to hit 25K/30K once or twice a week. If I jog in place I can last an hour at this point and I can get about 9,000 steps or maybe a bit more. If one ran, one could get a bunch of steps in a "short" amount of time but I still think it would take a couple of hours of running each day, every day for months which is hard to believe is possible. Yet one group had quite a few people doing this, while another group did not. These are people sitting at a desk. If they had a more active job, getting the numbers would be easier. I wonder how many steps the janitors get each day? Gots to be 20K, 30K, 40K? :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Sounds like you will have to get a GPS watch. I know my Polar watch/HR was accurate with the heart rate since I could test and verify. Not sure how well the wrist heart rate monitors work.

Later,
Dan

 

[MossRoad]

I have a relative that's a heavy equipment operator. He drives over an hour each way to get to work, sits in an excavator all day, comes home, smokes some bud, drinks some beer and somehow manages to get in 15K steps per day.... just no way. No way. Not possible. I think since its on his wrist and he plays with his joystick all day its registering that as steps. Well, that sounds weird... but that's the theory.

 

[dmccarty]

I have a relative that's a heavy equipment operator. He drives over an hour each way to get to work, sits in an excavator all day, comes home, smokes some bud, drinks some beer and somehow manages to get in 15K steps per day.... just no way. No way. Not possible. I think since its on his wrist and he plays with his joystick all day its registering that as steps. Well, that sounds weird... but that's the theory.

Good theory. I have a manual transmission in the truck and I do get some steps shifting gears. Not many because once I get into/out of the city I don't have to change gears that much. My truck will automagically lock the doors after it has started/stopped moving a couple of times. Some days, the door do not lock after leaving work until I am parking at the house. If I drove the truck in traffic, all day long, I would have a bunch of "steps."

I have read articles about people doing various things to get steps on their Fitbit. Putting the Fitbit on the ceiling fan, dog, etc. Kinda odd since they are just cheating on them self....

Later,
Dan