Fitness tracker/smartwatch

Thanks all for your comments - it seems to be either Fitbit 5 or Apple as long as it has GPS. I've always thought Apple watches looked a bit clunky to be honest.

Yes NotAGran55 in our old ones we fiddled a lot with setting the number of steps but I think the issue is partly related to the fact that the length of our steps is very variable and is different if "we're out for a walk" rather than just out walking.

I have been happy with Fitbit for many years now. In the first year it was directly responsible for inspiring me to lose 3 stone in weight and now maintain it.

Don’t forget that you need to set it to the correct number of steps to distance in order for it to be accurate . I take small steps so far more to the mile than my long-legged friend I walk with.

I had a fitbit, the most basic version. It worked well, the app was easy to install and use, and it was easy to wear because it was a slim band. Some of the smartwatches now have very large faces, and my wrists are quite small.

I think some of the basic models will calculate steps, not actually track your distance or pace. For that you need GPS. You can download a free app on your phone to track distance and pace, but one of the bonuses of wearing a tracker is that it counts all your steps for the day, not just when you are going for a walk.

The fitbit charge5 has built in gps, and is slimmer and cheaper than an apple watch.

Forgot about my Apple Watch. It syncs with my phone and even tells me how far I’ve swum. Still not sure about specific speed of for a particular walk. Anyone found anything other than an overall speed?

I wear my Apple watch all the time (I changed the horrible strap that came with it for a much nicer one).

I love it now, but if you get one, be sure to set it up in the morning, or don't wear it in bed on the first night. Mine arrived at about 6.00pm, and by the time I'd set it all up it was later. I wore it in bed (one of the reasons I got it was to measure my sleep patterns) and it kept beeping and telling me to get up and walk around ?.

The icing on the cake was when it beeped an hour or so before the alarm was set, and said 'You appear to be awake. (Funny that ?) Would you like to deactivate the alarm?

I nearly threw it out of the window, but by the second night it had sorted itself out, and it's very sensible now ?.

It's good that you can synch it to your phone and iPad - this lets you view the stats from it on the Health app, and it synchs to Apple Music and the Apple calendar etc too.

Sent my Fitbit back as I didn’t think it was very accurate and that was a charge 4

I’ve recently got a Fitbit Charge4 after using an inexpensive (£20) lesser known ( no longer available) fitness monitor from Amazon. The old one was very good as a simple step and distance counter, ( checked against my sons Apple Watch, and iPhone) but very poor at all rest. I changed to the Fitbit to get a more accurate HR monitor, and also because I could not see the digits on the old one when out of doors. ( so no use as a watch when out in day light. I wore both for a while and the fit bit over estimated distance walked by a small amount sometimes ( 1%)relative to the others. The Charge4 has its own GPS ( which is only used when selected as far as I can tell) but if used the battery will run down very fast so not last a day long walk, so I no longer use it. Both lots of software interact fine with my IPhone.

I have an Apple IWatch it’s fantastic wear it every day , it records everything you need to track fitness, would be lost without it, worth every penny !

My son has an Apple Watch, it’s amazing, it records your steps, calories used, in fact you can track everything you could possibly want for fitness, and use it for calls as well while it’s on your wrist. You can synch it to your iPhone, iPad etc as well.

I use my iPhone in my pocket to track how far I’ve walked. It tells me my distance and walking speed overall, but if I want to know how fast I’ve walked on a particular walk I take a snapshot of the pedometer app pic before and after the walk and do it the old fashioned maths way.
My DH and I always get different results for the number of steps. I take a few hundred fewer steps on a 2 mile walk. He said it was my phone, so we swapped phones for one walk but he still took more steps.
I’m interested to know what others use.