Tech Time::: Fitbit One -- Part 1

Photo: Fitbit.com

I have been using my Fitbit One for nearly two months, and it's kind of a nifty little gizmo. Now, I cannot honestly say it's done much to motivate me to get off my duff at all, because if I can find a way to avoid removing my butt from my desk chair, I will find it.  But at least I can see my consistent inactivity spread across my screen as a constant reminder I need to walk around more during the work day.

I initially started out wanting this gadget because my 3rd in a line of pedometers bit the dust. I seem to go through them quickly. Two of them were from WeightWatchers and those seemed to be the quickest to die. So I went to the SportsAuthority, got myself a "real" one, and within a year, that also died.  So after trying a few apps that didn't quite do the trick, I started looking for a new idea.   

Since I know this will be long, I will break this out into four parts, so this Fitbit will cover Tech Time for the next several weeks.  I have actually had a lot of requests for a review of this, so hopefully my review is well received. 

The Fitbit Flex had really been the item that lured me into checking out the site, but after reading how it worked, and seeing that there really was no screen, just a series of dots, that kind of talked me out of it. That left me with the One, and the Zip.  I loved the look of the Zip because it comes in fun colors.  But one feature that really made me want the Flex, and which was also available on the One, was the sleep monitoring option, so I ultimately went with that, in Black. I am a horrific sleeper and wanted to see how the monitoring option worked since I had gotten no answers from my sleep tests at the doctors office.  Another big lure was that it connected to MyFitnessPal.com, and would keep your activity logged to your dashboard on both the Fitbit site/app and the MFP site/app. 

The Fitbit One is designed to track your steps taken, stairs climbed, calories burned, and distance traveled, and when you set the sleep timer, it will monitor the quality of your sleep and the length of time you've slept.  It uses your personal stats to determine your calories burned and can identify your stride to figure out your steps taken in a way most pedometers can't, and without you having to set it up like a traditional pedometer. It's essentially an item you take out of the box and is pretty much ready to go.  Another really nice feature is the built in silent alarm, which is designed to wake you up with vibration and not disturb your partner. 

I ordered directly from Fitbit's website and had my device within 48 hours.  When you receive it and open the very nicely designed and compact packaging, you see that the device is little. Well, really, it's teeny.  I mean, I expected that, it's designed to be kind of hidden on your person, or clipped on your bra.  When it's in the little clip-on holster, it is about the size of my thumb, maybe a little smaller. Outside of it's holster, it's even smaller.  Delving into the package there was also the sync dongle, and again, tiny. I keep that plugged in all the time, because if I didn't it would go MIA on my desk.  Also included is the little holster clip, the sleep wristband, as well as a little charger cable.   

 Photo: Me, of my device, on my desk.

 Photo: Me, of my device, on my desk.

Regarding battery life: I have had my device since the end of May and I have charged it, I think, 5 times since receiving it. It had almost a full charge when I received it.  The indicator on my Fitbit dashboard was at about 1/3 power when I charged it the first time, and I would say that was a little over a week later.  It's been nearly a week since the last charge, and I am at maybe half life right now.  So I would say that battery life is pretty good.  I don't know if that is average, but I am a fairly sedentary individual, so maybe for someone who is more active in their life, they might need to charge more frequently. 

To close this first of four parts in this review, after I got my Fitbit out of the package, I snapped a few photos to show it's size, don't mind my dry hands:::

By itself in my hand, it's 3/4" wide by just under 2" long. 

In its holster which I clip to my bra.

In the next parts, I will cover the setup of the device, a few of the features more in-depth, like the silent alarm and the sleep tracking, and syncing it with My Fitness Pal. 

If you use this device, I'd love to hear about it! Let me know in the comments below!

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