D2jasper's Journal, 16 March 2018

I have a cheap xtrax and it does exactly what my sister's fitbit does... 

I'm curious if any of them work without having a smart phone. My mom wants to know! 

I have a cheap MI Band 2 and it's brilliant. Does everything a Fitbit does but also has a hypoallergenic wrist band. Also battery lasts a month between charges - most of them only last a few days! 

Fit Bit has less trouble than my Garmin did with syncing. You have to do updates through your phone with the Fit Bit but for the daily syncing, you can use your laptop. I have the Blaze and the Premium subscription so when I log in on my laptop, I can get all kinds of benchmark information. It has really helped me to know if I am burning enough calories a day through activity and overall. 

all I can say is I love my Samsung gear, and its made to work with my Samsung Phone. 

best part about the Samsung gear is it is rechargeable, and the battery lasts a few days on a charge! I got it, because it is waterproof, and I am a swimmer, it also counts laps 

my Samsung gear, also tracks water intake, caffeine, how you sleep, and quality of sleep, like hours of restless sleep compared to motionless sleep, It has far too many functions to mention here, the support is awesome, I called them and they actually remotely accessed my watch, through my phone, and set it up with me, so, I never owned any other device, so not sure if they all do these things! But I sure give my Samsung Gear 5 stars! 

I use a fitbit and I like it. Although if you are carrying things it doesn't accurately track your steps.  

If you're looking for an activity tracker there are lots of great models in both fitbit and garmin as well as a few other brands. Note; heart rate (HR) tracking accuracy from a wrist based activity tracker has really improved in the last two years, although not perfect, most are perfectly usable for better daily (and activity) calorie tracking as well as tracking training intensity. Good luck!! 

the garmin's are better made and more solid but pricer of course i'm comparing charge h2 fit bit to garmin 735. the garmin fits extremely well on your rest but i took it back and got a charge hr. could not justify the price and all the fancy featurees for eg triathalons etc i could never figure out how to use the thing. i like simple and fit bit is that. when it breaks (my daughter's broke after 1 year) i may up grade to a more simple garmin like the 235 garmin runner.  

Hey Rubato...I've been using a Garmin Vivosmart HR+ for about a year and a half, not perfect (sometimes syncing issues) but pretty good...waterproof, pretty accurate heart rate, good battery power and really reasonable...I think +/- $180 @ Costco or Amazon. Does need a smart phone to get best usage from the Garmin Connect tracking app though. I use it to track indoor elliptical sessions, downhill skiing, cross country skiing, road & mountain biking as well as daily steps, calories, heart rate and sleep. If it crapped out I'd get another... 

I have a Fitbit, had it for over a year, I am really pleased with it, good luck in which ever one you choose