Anyway, these little gadgets tell you how many steps you take, how many calories you burn and (some) even track your sleeping habits. The Fitbit Flex does all these things and more. (It measures your BMI AND has a silent alarm to wake you up on time!) all for $99!
Cool, right? But why did I feel like I had to have one, you ask...great question! Actually, since I have been using My Fitness Pal to track my physical activity and daily caloric intake, I thought the Fitbit would be a great compliment to this habit. In fact, one thing that actually "sold" me on the Flex is that it is integrated with My Fitness Pal. For example, when I enter my daily calories into My Fitness Pal, it sends this information to Fitbit. Also, when Fitbit senses that I have run or jogged, it syncs the calories burned to MFP. If you have ever used MFP to enter calories burned, you will appreciate how helpful this is!
The Flex has tiny little lights to let you know how close you are to achieving the goals you set. Your default goal is to walk 10,000 steps (a.k.a. 5 miles!). You can access your progress by tapping twice on the Flex.
Each light indicates 20%, so at the time this picture was taken, I was 60% complete. The fact that I can wear something that can update me immediately on my goal status really keeps me motivated to keep moving...because, sometimes, I need a reminder.
When it's time to go to sleep, quickly tap the Flex for a few seconds until it blinks, vibrates and fades out. This indicates that the Flex is in sleep mode and is assuming that you are, too. When you wake up in the morning, you "wake" the Flex by tapping it the same way you did when you put it in sleep mode. This time, however, it will flash and blink letting you know it's ready to go when you are!
You can choose to set the silent alarm to wake you so that you don't bother your sleeping spouse. I actually tried that this morning and was really surprised how the vibration on my wrist woke me up immediately.
(I did set the alarm clock, just in case.)
A few things to know about the device:
It will work best if you can sync on the go, so if you have an iPhone or Android device, chances are it'll work smoothly for you! (You can check here to be sure your phone is supported.) Otherwise, if you're not mobile syncing, you will have to wait until you get home to sync with the USB dongle (included) in your computer.
Another thing that you might like to know about is that the wristband clasp is a tad bit difficult to snap closed. (Large and small bands are included, but if you need an XL you can purchase it online.)
Since the Flex is meant to be worn 24/7, be sure it fits comfortably before you fasten it closed, because it is a headache to take off and on. Oh yeah, the standard band colors are black and slate gray/blue, but you can order different colors to match your wardrobe if that's your bag. They come in orange, sea foam and navy.
One more thing to note is that the Flex will need to be charged approximately every 5 days, so if you are going out of town, be sure to pack the charger.
As you can see, it is USB based, so you can plug it in your computer or laptop. I'm not sure if you can use the USB port in your car or car charger, so try that at your own risk...
What I already LOVE about the Flex:
I have officially had the flex for 24 hours now and I already feel like I have gotten my money's worth out of it.I pulled up my "dashboard" (the online overview of activity) to see how well it was syncing with my iPhone and I was surprised to find that it was doing quite well! But that's not the best part...The best part is that I got to see how well I slept last night. See?
Notice the red lines. They mean that I woke up during the night and the darn thing knew it! The funny thing is that I actually remember waking up during most of those times. At 4am, Lucy was snoring her little face off and I had to keep nudging her to get her to stop, At 5:40am, I woke up and made the hubs' breakfast before he left for work. The 6:40 and beyond lines were me hitting the snooze button until I finally got up at 7:00 and woke the Flex up.
Mind. Blown.
The step tracker is actually pretty accurate, too. For example, here are my steps for the morning:
See where I got up to make breakfast and then went back to bed? This would be perfect for sleepwalkers to see how much ground they cover during a night, right?
I could say SO much more, but we all have things to do and places to go, so there's my song of praise for the Fitbit Flex! Here's what others have had to say about it:
"Flex is the most complete product of its kind you can buy." -cnet
"Nearly flawless,,,There are a lot of sleep and activity trackers to choose from right now, but none better than the Fitbit Flex." -Wired Magazine
"Flex is the must-have wearable fitness device of 2013...Flex is the new device to beat for people looking to take charge of their health." -Laptop
"The $99 Fitbit Flex is the best you'll find. It's extremely comfortable, very competitively priced, stylish, simple, and most inportant of all, comes with all the benefits of a fitbit.com web account." -PC Mag
I can't wait to see how it does for the next 29 days!
Have I convinced you to get one, yet? Then, click here to order yours! If you still need more information or would like to do a bit more research, click here, here and here.
Flex out.
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