25.3.2017

I'm a huge Fitbit fan and have used the Fitbit Ultra, Fitbit One, Fitbit Flex, Fitbit Charge, the Fitbit Alta and now the Fitbit Alta HR as I wanted the ability to monitor my heart rate and to have the extra accuracy re calorie burn that it would bring but did not want the chunkier models, having grown fond of the slim and good looking Alta.Set up and syncing - I have an iPhone7 and had the app already dowloaded. Adding a device is straightforward and it found my new Alta HR very quickly. Instructions are website, rather than paper, based but set up is straightforward and takes minutes. The iPhone app is excellent and can 'force' a sync. I have a dongle in my laptop from previous models,which means I get an autosync when I'm in the vicinity - 20 metres or so. However, that won't happen iif it's still connected to your phone app via bluetooth and I keep it connected because of the facilities to display caller id, texts etc. One of the things I like about the later generation Fibits is that your texts come across the screen. One of the downsides with the Alta HR is that they are no longer supplying the dongle for a USB port as standard - you don't need it as you can sync from your phone but I think it's good to have the flexibility. Check that this is compatible with your phone - good for iPhone5 upwards but issues reported with Windows phones.Multiple Devices - You can now attach multiple devices to your Fitbit account and it will work with the one you're wearing, so you could wear the Blaze on a hike and then the Alta HR for an evening out, if you wished.Motivation - Yes, these could be described as fancy pedometers with a website attached and a very good app for your smartphone. However, I find them extremely motivating. The website and its well designed dashboard means that your friends with Fitbits can see how your activity levels and step counts compare, and I have set up a group and find a bit of competition on the leader board is inspiring. Fitbit also send you badges and encouragement messages to your phone and I find these surprisingly effective and have gone out for a walk around the block at 10pm when it's pointed out that I can meet my daily target with 1500 or so more steps. They seem to have got the frequency right so that I feel encouraged rather than harassed. They say that the average number of steps taken a day is 5,000 in the UK and that if we raise this to 10,000 per day then that counts as being active. I have been able to achieve this by building in more small walks throughout the course of the day. I raised my target to 15,000 steps a day which means I actually have to plan in some walks. I have always done structured exercise but the Fitbit made me aware of just how few steps I might take on a sedentary day working at home. I am now far more active on a daily basis - I live in London and allow myself more time to walk rather than taking public transport for shorter journeys. It's a shame that the Fitbit Alta HR doesn't count the number of flights of stairs but I understand the altimeter wasn't included as they wanted to keep it slim. I do like the feature which prompts me to get up and walk if I haven't managed 250 steps in the last hour.Accuracy - You can calibrate the steps to your own stride length or use the default. I use the default. I am a gadget girl and use a HRM when I run and also MapMy Fitness apps to measure my distance. On comparison with the GPS distance measures I have found that the Fitbit Alta can sometimes overcount because it's worn on the wrist rather than the body. However, this is within a 5% margin so I think that's fine. I have found the active minutes count very useful as a good measure, together with the step count to ensure you're not just pottering around.Heart rate and exercise monitoring - I have tested the HRM on my wrist against my Polar HRM and have found it to be accurate to within 1 or 2 heart beats and was very impressed with that. I very much like the Smark Track auto recognition of exercise activities including cycling and running and how it adds those activities to my dahsboard. I've found it very accurate.Calorie Counting - I don't use the food database, which is US centric, as I use an excellent UK weight loss site called weightlossresources. They are now have automatic syncing between the two systems, which I'm finding very useful as my calorie burn is automatically added to my WLR account. It also syncs with Myfitnesspal for those using that.Looks - This has to be the most stylish of the fitbits I've used and has a conventional type strap with a buckle and you can replace straps easily and buy them in different colours. You can also buy a silver strap - for evening wear I presume. I much prefer this approach to the Charge which had a design problem as the strap came off eventually and couldn't be replaced. There is no button to press, so you simply tap it to get the display to light up. I chose the blue/grey Alta HR and my only peeve is that it's grey with a hint of mauve, not blue/grey. I have a very slim wrist and the small size is fine but I imagine if would be too small for many.Sleep monitoring - I am very impressed with the sleep monitoring feature on the Fitbit, which I have found better than the competition. It automatically records your sleep time based on your movements and your can edit any inaccuracies on the dashboard. For example, if you are quietly watching TV in bed it might think your were asleep. EDIT 29/3/2017 Fitbit have introduced new, heart rated based sleep monitoring functionality which reports on 3 levels of sleep - REM, deep and light. I 'm not sure what the analysis means yet but it's interesting to see. I'm a notorious insomniac and Fitbit sleep monitoring has been a huge help in improving my sleep over the last year.Charging - This is lasting 5 days or so, but I'm not using the alarm function which used to drain the battery on the flex. It has a different charger than other models. and that is a shame as your old charger becomes redundant.Customer Service - I have found them excellent when dealing with device issues, particularly using live chat available. They replaced my Fitbit Ultra with a Fitbit One when the charger stopped working, then replaced my Charge with the Alta. Quality control on the devices should eb better but they deal with it by easy replacement.Website - I like the dashboard and leaderboard display and find it the strongest website of the activity trackers I've tested. The search function could be better, the forums are still pretty US centric and finding groups is not straightforward. However, I have successfully set up a group for 200 or so of us and it's working well with the leader board acting as a real motivator.Overall, this latest incarnation of the Fitbit is a great gadget and I would recommend it highly as a wrist based tracker. I have found Fitbits to be accurate, hard wearing and with the best website of any of the trackers I've tried, which in addition to the Polar Loop and Garmin Vivofit, includes the Withings pulse.Pros+ Straightforward set up and excellent phone app+ Comfortable wrist strap with a strong clasp - it doubles as a watch and displays phone info+ OLED display cycles through time, step count, distance, calorie count, active minutes and charge level+ Battery life is decent and lasts nearly a week between charges for me+ Exercise tracker automatically recognises a number of activities+ Heart rate function brings data and increased accuracy for calorie burn+ Can view monthly exercise plan on app and website+ Can scroll back through data on phone app now+ Silent vibration alarm on the wrist is great for waking without disturbing a partner+ Data is uploaded so that you can view history on the excellent website, where you can also change your targets etc+ Sleep monitoring is excellent and measures sleep quality as well as duration automatically, which be edited online or on phone app+ You get badges and messages when you hit your goals, which I find to be very pleasing, much to my surprise+ You can join groups online or view your friends' data once you have linked on the site+ It's water resistant but you shouldn't leave it on in the shower or swim with it on+ the tracker can be removed from the the band, so it's possible to just change the strap for colour or because it is worn out+ Fitbit encourages you to take at least 250 steps an hour during the day. You get a little nudge on your wrist if you haven't managed that 10 minutes before the hourCons- check compatibility with your phone because although great with iPhone5 upwards it seems there are issues with some Windows phones- the food data in the database is US centric but it is now automatically syncing with weightlossresouces.co.uk- no instructions provided, so you need to go to the website, where it would be helpful if more hints and tips were available without searching the community topics- I chose the blue/grey Alta HR and my peeve is that it's grey, not blue/grey- dongle not provided and this means many will be reliant on their phones for syncing- bespoke charger means yet another for the travel bag- no altimeter so no count of flights of stairsHighly recommended

13.6.2017

Stylish, lots of useful features and will get you fit!Comfort:The Alta HR must be preselected in size as it only comes with one size of wristband, so make sure that you know what size you need before you purchase. I tried on a demo device in a store that only had a L and I was worried that this might be too loose as I have very small wrists, but the size S wristband fit me comfortably with another 4 holes to spare. As the Alta HR has a heart rate monitor, it is necessary to wear the tracker directly on the skin. Most of the time I don't notice the device, but after you become sweaty and it starts sliding around sometimes the heart rate monitoring cuts out which can be annoying.Since the tracker is also quite thick I found it a bit irritating during some everyday activities such as driving, but that is because I haven't worn anything around my wrist for longer periods of time in the last 10 years. When I have worn it for a long time, it also becomes slightly uncomfortable and I have to adjust where on my wrist and/or how tight I wear it.(ETA 11/08/2017) I have now got used to it and it does not become uncomfortable anymore. It still annoys me during driving because when I am wearing long sleeves they sit at an awkward place no matter whether I pull them over the Alta HR or behind it, but since I don't drive a lot it's not a big issue.There was one night recently where it must have caught on my wrist and I woke up with a painful scab, but as soon as I removed the wristband from this spot and wore it in a slightly different place it was fine, healed up quickly and never happened again since.Charging:The device comes with a moderately long USB charger. It had no charge when I first received it, so I charged it for 20 minutes before my gym session and then charged it properly once I was back home - that took only about 2 hours in total. I bought some spare chargers for work and car, but the length of the supplied one would be sufficient for these as well (if you're allowed to charge off your PC ports at work).(ETA 11/10/2017) The battery lasts exactly 7 days for me, from fully charged to going red on the app. I am not using notifications and I understand it would be more like 5 if I did. The app will show it as depleted a lot sooner than the actual device though - in either case you will get an email saying you're on low charge once it's in the red. Recharging is quite fast, an hour will add at least 50%-75% of charge depending on whether you charge off the mains or a USB socket on a PC or laptop, 1.5 hours will fully charge it from a PC/laptop. I tend to start feeding it at about 25% remaining charge, so an hour gives me more than enough charge to keep going.Features & App:I bought the Alta HR specifically because I wanted a device with a heart rate monitor and a display that was as small and unobtrusive as possible. It automatically picks up all my walks pretty accurately and logs them as walks, but while for the stationary exercise bicycle it counts steps it does not pick it up as cycling and I have to log this afterwards. It specifies that it will pick up outdoor cycling on pavement, so for that it will probably need a certain kind of upper body motion as well (fun fact: piano playing is automatically logged as outdoor cycling too). Anything it doesn't automatically pick up, you can log afterwards in the app and it will give you a good estimate of the calories burned during that time, based on your weight, height, gender, age, time spent and type of exercise, as well as a breakdown of what proportion of time you spent in the fat burn and cardio zones.Depending on the operating system on your smartphone, you can also set up your Fitbit as a trusted device which means that your phone will stay unlocked when it is used near the tracker.(ETA 11/08/2017) This does not really seem to work all the time, I keep having to unlock it a lot anyway.The app really makes the Fitbits shine. I have found it very useful and engaging, as well as easy to understand and use. It tracks everything you need to keep fit, from water intake over weight lost, heart rate, calories burnt, calorie intake, steps taken, distance walked, active hours (with reminders to get up and move), to sleep quality. It also makes it fun to challenge yourself in order to reach your goal - I make use of all the features except the calorie intake and have repeatedly found myself getting up to have another glass of water, walking in circles around my flat or taking an extra walk in the evening in order to reach my desired fitness level for the day.I had originally bought the Flex 2 due to it being waterproof since I go swimming sometimes, as I just assumed every tracker had a heart rate monitor by default. Since I kept forgetting to switch on the swimming tracker and I felt my data was not giving me enough information due to the missing heart rate details, I exchanged it for the Alta HR. If I had realised that the Flex 2 did not have a heart rate tracker before the purchase, I would have gone for the Alta HR straight away.(ETA 11/08/2017) Water Resistance:There is the odd time I forget that I am wearing the Fitbit when I go swimming or showering, so I have briefly fully submerged or showered it three times so far. I noticed straight away every time and towelled it off, and it does not seem to have been affected at all. I also get very sweaty on my wrist during strenuous workouts, but this does not seem to impact the device whatsoever - sometimes the heart rate monitoring cuts out for a bit, but never for so long that the data is inaccurate.Display:The display can show you:- Time & Date- Current Heart Rate & level (resting, fat burn, cardio or peak)- Step goal & percentage of daily step goal reached- Reminders to move & how many steps to hit hourly activity goal- Distance walked- Calories burned- Minutes active- Battery statusOf all these, you can choose which and how you would like them displayed. To switch on the display, turn your arm towards you or double-tap, then tap to cycle through the different features.I found the display a bit slow to respond at times, both when turning my arm or tapping, this does get annoying but it's not a major problem. I also have would liked to have an option to permanently show the clock, maybe at a lower light level so the battery doesn't get drained so fast.I would also be thrilled if it was possible at some point in the future to set up water intake reminders. That would probably get annoying for some people quickly, but given how important hydration is (and I frequently forget to drink enough) it would be useful if there was at least the option to do so. Granted, you could just set repeated silent alarms during the day, but you cannot set them to display text.Vibration:The tracker will vibrate on certain occasions if you choose for it to do so:- You can set silent alarms, the tracker will vibrate at the set time and stop once you have either double-tapped or walked 50 steps- When you hit your daily step goal, it will do a longer, celebratory vibration sequence & firework display- If you selected to get hourly reminders to move, it will vibrate at 10 minutes before every full hour if you have done less than 250 steps in this hour. If you subsequently hit 250 steps before the full hour, it will vibrate again(ETA 11/08/2017) Sometimes it will show you how many steps you need to take to hit 250, but not all the time. There is also no way to see how many you still have to take once you've viewed the notification and started walking, which makes it a bit annoying sometimes walking about for what seems like ages until it buzzes.Device changes within the Fitbit family:When you change a Fitbit device, delete any alarms you set first in the app, and set them up again in the new device. The old device will retain the alarms and not automatically transfer them to a new device, as I found out when the Flex 2 started buzzing in the taped up return parcel.Other than that, changing or adding a device in the app is very simple and straightforward, you can even use several devices at the same time and the app will keep your previous progress - it will just show more or fewer features depending on what type of tracker you are using.Accessories:Due to the bigger size, specific connectors and heart monitoring function of the Alta HR tracker, you can mainly change the straps but not really anything that will camouflage the tracker itself.Verdict:This is an all-round great tracker with tons of useful features for its size. I am certainly glad I made the upgrade and I have found the increase in price from the Flex 2 well worth it due to the increased functionality and more detailed analysis of the fitness data.

20.3.2017

I'll update this as I go along, as I have only had this for a few days.20/03/17 -- 5/5 StarsAfter realising I was reasonably overweight and fast approaching obesity I have been on a nonstop mission to get fit. After a lot of work and guessing/estimations, I’m considered healthy again, but when the hard work stops I need something to generally keep me on top of things. I got this generally because I wanted to track my heart rate more accurately across the day. I was stuck between this and the MUCH cheaper Xiaomi mi band 2 and went with this because the accuracy of the heart rate monitor of the mi band is widely reported to be unreliable. Plus,the social aspect of the fitbit app was a little bit of a draw.I will say that the Fitbit Charge 2 may be a better choice for some people (cheaper and a couple of features more). I did not want to replace my watch, and thought it was completely unnecessary for me to wear two watch sized bracelet on each arm. The Alta is the choice for people not wanting something so bulky on their wrist.-- Looks –I got the grey/blue model, it looks better on the product shot but doesn’t look bad on the wrist. I'ts a lot lighter in colour than the product shot, and I think i would have gone for the black had I known this.. I may be better off choosing a different strap later on, but I’m okay and happy with it currently. From what they lack in width (they claim it’s the thinnest hr monitor you can get), it stands quite high from the wrist. It’s low profile, but certainly noticeable. With the right strap and attire, it looks like any good bracelet or wrist band.-- Comfort --The band is small and lightweight, making it no more noticeable than a small watch. The default strap is comfortable but may slightly itch when sweating, it maybe because I am not used to wearing something on my dominant side (I wear my watch on my left arm still). Using it at work, I don't feel it gets in the way of standard office typing/mouse movements. It also didn’t bother me sleeping with it, and I have never worn anything to bed before.-- Features --Personally I feel the home page of Google fit app is better than the homepage of Fitbits, but the features and detail of each section are overall better in the fitbit app. Regardless, there is no way of tracking steps from your fitbit to your google fit account which may be a major boon to people. For me, the fitbit app is good enough to replace google fit but it would be very welcome if these devices became compatible later on.A small part on some of the features:Step counter: Seems reliable, shows distance and steps at a similar accuracy as my plotted route on google fit and google maps.HR monitor: Accurate and reliable. Shows the same count as my blood pressure monitor. Sometimes I think it’s making a guess, but across the day it just seems to make sense.Sleep Tracking: Fantastic. It will only count sleep after an hour of moving still, so it will probably not count small naps in the middle of the day. You can manually add this to the app, but generally “proper” sleep will be measured automatically. The app will show you for how long you have had quality sleep.Calorie Tracker: Uses heart rate over the day to calculate, so depending in which heart rate zone you are in and for how long it will affect the results. Much more accurate than any other method of working this out.Notifications: A little hit and miss. You will only get notifications from calls and ONE other messaging app which you need to select. You can’t have both your WhatsApp texts and SMS notifications sent to your Fitbit. Mind you, I’ve just been sent a text as I’m writing this and I’ve yet to receive it as notification. It’s not too much of a problem, and probably more down to the Bluetooth connection on my phone.Battery: Charging doesn’t take long, around two hours. Battery is satisfactory, and provide more than just a few days of battery. Monday to Friday will be fine, but I’m thinking of doing a charging top up every time I’m in the shower. The device comes 50% charged out the box, but requires being plugged in for first use. Charging requires a usb slot, probably from a computer/laptop, no wall plug is provided.-- Price –The price is high. You can’t help but feel there’s a good margin on these devices. Having said that, the quality and accuracy is far beyond anything a cheap device (or software) can give you, so they have the market cornered in that regard.-- Advice –Don’t use the food tracking on this, it’s nowhere near as good as the myfitnesspal. Fortunately, the two apps sync together. So log your food into myfitnesspal and get good results in the Calories in/out section of the Fitbit app. Myfitnesspal will give you much more detailed information on those nutrients too, watch those carbs..Overall I can’t comment on the build quality or its hardiness until I’ve used it for a number of months, I also can’t comment in whether a novice in the Fitbit world will benefit from this device until a few months. I’ll come back and let you all know in a couple of months.

1.4.2017

My husband got me this as a surprise replacement for my Flex. (He bought it from his Amazon account, if you care about that sort of thing.) After some difficulty with setup, which kind of killed the initial excitement I've been really happy with it.The positive:The device is small and unobtrusive. I considered the surge when I was deciding on a device, because it does more. But I have small wrists and the larger device would have looked ridiculous on me. The Alta HR does an admirable job without looking too bulky.It does allow me to track when my heart rate is increasing, even if I'm not stepping. Which honestly is the most important feature I was looking for, and it seems to do this well.I don't need anything SUPER exact for my purposes.I really like the little reminders to move. I know it's a gimmick, but they make me laugh and I do actually find myself motivated to move, even if only around the house.The alarm feature is helpful. I don't use it for getting up in the morning, but for a lot of little 'heads-up' reminders of time throughout the day.I like having an actual informative display and it is clear and easy to read.But more than anything else, the device does what it sets out to do.Note: I've not used the text notification feature.The negative:Straight out of the box I had problems. The Alta comes with NO DIRECTIONS, just an instruction to go online and download the app. This is annoying, but doubly so when, once I had the app, the first thing the device wanted to do was update its firmware. Again, annoying, but triply so since it had a lot of trouble doing it. After a dozen attempts, searching the forums for advice, removing any device in the area that might be interfering, etc, it did eventually update. But it was such a hassle I was seriously considering the possibility that I'd gotten a duff device.No altimeter, so no tracking stairs. I knew this when I chose this device. I didn't think it would matter, since my Flex didn't either. But I find that it does so much, it seems like an odd thing not to do. But that's just my impression.The main reason I wanted to update from my Flex to a heart rate version is because my primary means of exercise is yoga. It's really frustrating to do an hour-long, difficult class and be told you burned 80 calories with you 81 steps. And the heart rate monitor does track heart rate, you can see it on the graph on the dashboard. But it doesn't log it as exercise on that dashboard. Apparently its still only cardio that counts. This matters to me, because one of the things I wear a Fitbit for is because it reports to my insurance when I've been active. My insurance, in turn, does things like pay for my gym as long as I prove I use it. So, this is a fairly large oversight for me.Which leads to the lack of ability to manually tell the device when you are exercising (or sleeping). Really there is no means of manually imputing information. You can alter info after the fact on the dashboard, but that's it. For me, this is annoying for both exercise and sleep. I read a lot and embarrassingly, the device sometimes thinks I'm asleep while reading and I have no way to tell it, "Now I'm going to bed." (As a humor aside to this, I got the flu while wearing it and basically slept for 36 hours. The sleep tracker apparently didn't know what to do with that, so it logged nothing. Though I did burn 1600 calories with 237 in 24 hours.)All in all, the device isn't perfect for what I was hoping to accomplish with it. But I've been happy so far and my main complain is something that could be corrected on the software side. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

15.1.2019

I bought it because I needed insight on my sleep and wanted to track my workouts. Without doing any research I bought a cheap tracker. I had it for 3 days, I returned because that tracker recorded 700 steps while I was sleeping, it gave me a reading of 40 heart rate after intense workout and it did not record my workout or the calories I burned.Moving on to the fitbit. I chose this one instead of the charge 2 mainly because I have small wrists and even this looks bulky on my arm. But it's comfortable to wear, the band is stiff at first but it has loosen up after a month of use. I will review each feature next:App and syncing: I have a honor 8 phone which is not compatible with fitbit app.I have not had major issues yet. I have had problems syncing a couple of times. Turning off and on the Bluetooth helped fix this. However, I have a backup device wich is my laptop running on windows 10. If I can't sync on the phone I will sync on the computer and the app on the phone will get all the data through the cloud. Make sure you have a compatible device first. Specially those using honor and Huawei phones.Steps: as any devise worn on your wrist fitbit will pick up wrist movements, however, compared to the cheap version it does a pretty good job at not over counting too many steps. For example when rowing 200 meters with the cheap tracker gave 150 steps extra the fitbit gave me 20, when doing 10 pull ups the cheap one picked 40 steps, the fitbit didn't. I wake up every morning with 20 steps compared to the 700 picked by the other tracker. (that's because I move a lot during sleep). Don't expect the step count to be flawless, but at the end of the day a couple hundred extra steps makes no difference. For example if you walked 5200 vs 5000 it's still a good number and if you only did less than 2000 steps is a low number regardless if there were added steps due to wrist movements.Sleep: this is very accurate feature and unfortunately it only confirms that my sleep is very bad.Heart rate: many users have a problem with this feature specifically during workouts. I have had a couple of miss readings, I had once a 198 and a 170 value. I believe I was moving my wrist up and down both times. I saw a big improvement in the readings after 3 days of wearing it. During workout my heart rate doesn't go higher than 130, which at first I thought was inaccurate but I put it to proof. I did 10 squat jumps, 5 burpees and 45 second of jumping the rope. I waited 10 seconds and saw the reading on the watch, then I took my phone out put the timer on and counted myself the beats for one minute. Checked the tracker again and I was 2 or 3 beats off which is understandable. This however may not be the same for everyone so always make sure you are getting accurate readings when working out.Automatic workout selection: this feature is great depending on what you do, unfortunately in my case it only picks up walks. I have to log in manually every workout and sadly what I do is not on the list, so I pick the closest workout. It will then calculate your burned calories according to your heart rateOther feature such as calories in and out, female cycle and water consumption are great and very helpful.Overall is worth it, however always do research on different trackers depending your needs and budget.Make sure to have at least one approved device

10.6.2018

I was previously using a very basic fitness tracker by Nokia (their app was frustrating to navigate and full of bugs). The difference between the Nokia and Fitbit app is like night and day.SETUPIt comes with a USB wire but no plug, so either I use my iPhone charger or connect to my computer. It took an hour to charge up enough to connect to the app.Took 5 mins to update then a couple of mins to read the basic operating instructions.THE APPVery easy and intuitive to navigate and there’s access to loads of settings to customise your experience eg.* Set silent alarms to vibrate your Fitbit at certain times of the day.* Set a sleep goal, bed time & wake up time* Set a bedtime reminder.* Programme reminders to move for a set number of hours per day.I choose 10am-6pm so at 10 mins to the hour it’ll buzz me with a fun reminder if I haven’t taken 250 steps that hour.* Choose whether or not to get diary and / or call / text notifications on your Fitbit.* Set daily goals (eg. steps, calories, distance - you can choose either one as your primary goal).* Set weekly activity goals.* Heart rate info in real time and daily graphs.* Track your period cycles.* Track your weight.* Manually input your water intake* Track food (although there aren’t as many foods available as MyFitnessPal so you’ll need to add some stuff to the database).You can also choose which stats you’d like included on your click-through screens on your Fitbit, and select your home screen display (from a good variety of options).You can organise the home screen stats in whatever order you’d like, and add/remove any choosing from:ClockStepsHeart rateResting heart rateDistanceCaloriesActive minutesBatteryAny alarms you have set automatically add themselves to these stats as a separate screen.You can also choose whether to have the display show vertically or horizontally (I personally like horizontally better otherwise it shows as an abbreviated form eg. Steps are “10.1k” instead of the full number 10,129).There are handy options to display the day & date along with the time.ALTA HR TRACKERIt’s very simple to use as there isn’t anything you can control on the tracker, so you won’t get caught up faffing around with buttons / settings since there are none. It’s simply for viewing info.In the app you can opt to have the screen come up automatically (I prefer not to otherwise it comes on while you’re in bed!) otherwise you double tap to bring up the display then tap once to scroll through all your stats. Tapping works best if done directly on the Fitbit logo.Looks wise I think the Rose Gold Fitbit Alta HR is really good looking and sleek. If you don’t like the casual appearance of the rubberised strap (perhaps you want something to suit smarter clothing) then you have endless amounts of affordable straps you can buy separately, or even a necklace.It looks very minimal and is comfortable to wear, even while sleeping. It’s splash proof but not fully water proof so you cannot shower or swim with it on.I absolutely LOVE my Fitbit, so much so that I bought my boyfriend one to join me in being more active. We were active anyway but it’s certainly helped us get moving more from hour to hour rather than considering “exercise” something you do for an hour at the start or end of the day.

10.6.2017

I've used quite a few fitness monitors in the past but mainly "value" versions. This Fitbit Alta HR Special Edition comes well presented complete with a USB charger lead and brief instructions to get you going. The emphasis though is on the app and on-line resources to get you going and understand both the device and its relationship to your well being. One minor detail I couldn't clarify anywhere is what difference there is in the "Special Edition" which carries a price premium.When you handle the device you can begin to understand why it costs 3 or 4 times the price of many monitors - the build quality is noticeably superior. Charging and setting up is easy (but make sure you have your weight and height to hand)

27.4.2017

I have worn a Fitbit for 3 years - first the One, then Surge. The Surge is great, but I was attracted to the Alta HR for a couple of reasons and will use both. Things to consider:- The Alta HR screen is not 'touch', it is 'tap'. And by 'tap', they mean 'thump quite hard'! It took me a while to make it display anything, but I googled for help and found a tip: to tap with a knuckle. This worked and was a good demonstration of how hard to 'tap' it. So now, a hefty finger-tap works well (though not always at night in bed, when Quick View is also less reliable).- The screen is very clear indoors, but hard to read in sunlight outdoors. I have reverted to wearing an ordinary watch as well,

4.9.2018

My first Fitbit and I really, really like it. I love my watches and I did not want to sacrifice these so I went for the ALTA HR due to smaller size and so as to wear on my right wrist. I find the size perfect, very slim and because of this, it just looks like a bracelet rather than a watch/tracker.The Alta looks fantastic and is very well made. Beautiful bit of kit. Even the charger appears to be of very good quality. My Wife has the Charge 2 which obviously has more features than the Alta but again, the Charge is too big for me to wear along side a proper watch. The Alta has all the features I wanted, so I’m very happy with this. Step counter,

19.1.2020

It's been just over 2 years since I bought Alta HR and I still love it.It seems pretty accurate for what I am using it, and the battery still holds very well.I usually use it for daily sleep tracking, walking or general timekeeping at weekends, but so far...no issues. It seems pretty good at measuring the pulse/heartrate and monitoring whether you seem to have any problems (a good way to check how your body reacts to stress, shock, etc...not going into details, it did reveal a few problems I had while having teeth taken out or how my body reacts to having bloodtests taken...)It has a few cool features like giving you 'thumbs up' after you achieve your goal, for example reaching 10000 steps with vibrations and flashing stars ;)

4.4.2017

Upgraded from the flex. The features I love are the heart rate, the readable display, the fact I can read texts and decide if I need to respond without drying my hands, or go into another room just to get a PPI text. I like that it rings discretely also as when I am in lectures I can leave the room to answer important calls without disturbing others. The motivational messages remind me to move. The other features like sleep and friend challenges are the same as The flex. Charging is much simpler as you no longer have to remove the little device and risk loosing it ( or it being hoovered up by mistake) the whole device charges as one, using a clip to hold the back in place within the USB the charger.

21.7.2017

A full week of battery life, with this great device. A step up (pardon the pun) from my old Charge HR, this device adds sleep rhythm analysis to it's sleep timing. Steps and stairs counting works just as efficiently as my previous Charge HR. The heart rate sensor also works well in the main, but I reckon it's a bit more likely to miss seeing your pulse rate than before, seeming to be more easily deflected by hair. Hence it's more important to get a cleaner contact with your skin for more consistent readings. That being said it generally seems fairly accurate within reason, being somewhat less accurate the higher the heart rate is. For example at a gym I use a Polar heart rate monitor and train according to precise heart rates.

13.5.2018

So glad I purchased this fitness tracker. I did require some pre-convincing before purchasing, as my reasons for considering a step-counter were generally for observing my progress as an established runner rather than needing the start-up motivation as a beginner. As it stands, I am impressed and satisfied with the diversity of uses this discreet little tracker provides alongside the Fitbit app it synchronises its data with.At around a month's worth of usage, I've come to look forward regularly checking in with the app as to how I've progressed in terms of exercise input and observing how my heart rate responds to workouts of varying levels of intensity.

30.12.2018

I've had this for a year now and i can safely say i would be lost without it. I bought it as a prompt to get me moving more and lose weight (which i have), but it goes further than that. With the calorie target burn it makes you think more about what you're eating versus your activity that day. I love the sleep tracker, and it has made me feel much more in touch with my body - i.e. before i check my sleep levels in the morning i guess how much deep sleep i've had and i'm pretty spot on now as judging by how i feel. The app that's free to download is great, offering menstrual cycle tracking too which again has brought all the readings together (heartrate and sleep).

6.8.2018

This thing is great. Comfortable to wear all day, I wear it at night and no gaps in tracking. I went on a hike over 6 days last week with it on me day and night through terrible weather, no problems at all and the battery was at 60% when I synced it on my arrival home. The app is slow on my phone but compared to others I'm using a bit of a relic - it's very fast on my laptop and on Windows 10 it's brilliantly laid out, as is the website. Sleep tracking and HR monitoring are both super interesting features and I'm learning how to use the information I get to understand things about my habits and activity that I wouldn't have before.

Fitbit Alta HR - Reviews

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