Sunday, March 25, 2012

Fitbit vs. Slimcoach: A Winner

When it all comes right down to it, Fitbit is victorious.  When it comes down to a reason...it's because of convenience.

Slimcoach is just a hassle.  It has been knocked off of me getting in and out of the car, walking with my kids,  and getting out of a movie seat.  I have had to make numerous calls to stores, restaurants, and movie theaters to search for it.  I have sent many a child to the wall for repeatedly pushing the button to make the light come on, therefore my children, nieces, and nephews HATE it.  :)

Besides that...fitbit is conveniently worn while I am sleeping.  I never forget to put it on.  Slimcoach is too clunky to sleep in and if I tried, it would fall off in bed.  With a busy schedule it gets left behind all the time and this skews its reporting. I am increasing my steps daily, but my inability to remember to put the darn thing on forces slimcoach to give me a reading indicating that I am a waddling penguin with an inactive lifestyle (actual graphic).

Fitbit only needs to be charged like every 6 or 7 days.  If need be, I can charge it during one night of sleep and since I wear it on my shirt or bra...I can easily remember to put it on.  I have also gotten into the habit of putting it on the charger while I shower, eliminating the need for it to be charging for an extensive period of time.

I have also noticed a difference in step tracking between the two devices.  Slimcoach always ends up reporting a significant increase in the number of my steps compared to fitbit.  Sometimes as many as 1,500 to 2,000.  I have no way to know with which device the issue of accuracy lies, but knowing what I know about myself and the fact that I want to get healthy, I am going to err on the side of caution and go with the lower number. 

The Slimcoach website is only free for the first year. Fitbit is free whether you have the device or not. The user interface online for Slimcoach has a lot of really nice features, but the clunkiness and inconvenience of the device itself, outweighs the good.

In the end, fitbit is more user friendly, convenient, the website is free.  Losing weight is hard enough...no need to complicate it.

8 comments:

  1. Hi Christie, nice to see you. Although I'm not looking to try one of these devices at this time, the review is great. If I know of someone, or read of someone, considering one, I will send them here.

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  2. Thank you for this, I have the fitbit and was thinking of switching and now after reading this I will not :) I was curious if their website cost money, so this is good to know! Thanks :D

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  3. I've been debating between the two. I like that Fitbit does the sleep too. I didn't read where the Slimcoach did. I am drawn to the Slimcoach BECAUSE of the feature that your nieces and nephews etc like. I felt that the color and push would motivate me more. But I don't want inconvenience because of that kind of feature. SO THANK YOU!. You've made my decision!

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  4. Thanks soooo much! Think I'm going to buy the fitbit, thanks.

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  5. Thanks for the review. I have had a fit bit for a while now and love it!
    Love it so much i have convinced my mother to get one, but having just seen the slim coach pop up on amazon as a 'recommended' i was curious!
    So thanks for your review, it really clarified my decision!

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  6. Hi Christie! Great review! I actually do own both devices and am very excited to compare the results of the two devices in detail at the end of the month. Hopefully my review will also be as useful as yours! Cheers!

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  7. Thanks for the review on the fitbit. I was also considering the slimcoach but still wasn't sure which one to get. I'm currently using Nike+ and its one of the best treadmill apps to use for tracking stationary worksouts. I'm still thinking about trying out the fitbit. Does it have any indoor-like features?

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