Trying to shed a few pounds, increase your daily physical activity, improve your sleep, or otherwise smooth out your health takes constant vigilance, at least at first, until you develop solid habits that turn into a lifestyle. All the factors, when mixed with real life, can become cloudy and difficult to track. Fitbit ($99.95, direct) is a smart pedometer that tracks how many steps you take in a day, the flights of stairs you climb, the distance you travel, the number of calories you burn, and even how much restful sleep you get. It automates much of the hard work of keeping tabs on your health, and uploads the data to a companion Web account where you can add even more statistics, like what foods you've eaten and other activities that Fitbit can't track on its own, like cycling.
Design
Inconspicuous and sleek, the Fitbit pedometer measures a compact 2.1 inches by 0.75 inch by 0.56 inch (HWD) and weights a scant 0.4 ounce. The device itself is matte black, but is available in two accent colors: blue and plum. A single button lets you cycle through a blue LED display that shows the time, as well as activity recorded so far that day, such as miles traveled, stairs climbed, and feedback about your overall activity in the form of a flower that grows taller the more you move. The battery has remarkable staying power. I only recharged the battery every three or four days while testing, and never once did I see it dip below 25 percent.
Clip Fitbit onto a waistband, the fold of a dress, a belt loop, or hide it out of sight by attaching it to the center front of a bra, and the Fitbit securely stays in place. I wore our Fitbit review unit for more than a month, clipping it anywhere between hip and chest height, and never saw it budge.
Fitbit also comes with a USB base station, used for charging the device and wirelessly uploading data from Fitbit to your Web account whenever you are within a few feet of the base. You also get a Velcro wristband that holds the Fitbit while you're sleeping if you want to track your sleep.
Set Up
Out of the box, Fitbit is functional and ready to roll, although you have to set up your Web account and prepare the device to sync to it (which requires a small download, too), and this is where I found the device less user-friendly than it at first seems. Very little information is provided in the product packaging, and the online instructions are simple, but don't provide enough details about troubleshooting or explaining what you should see once the sync is successful. What's confusing is the pedometer will charge up, record your steps, and seem to be functioning just fine, even when it hasn't tethered to your Web account. The time will be off, and it will calculate a 24-hour day starting whenever you took it out of the box and charged it (rather than resetting at midnight), but other than that, it works.
After a few days of suspecting something was wrong (why was my data not showing up online even though the pedometer was counting my steps?), I started over again with the syncing process, and the second time, it took. The key piece of information to look for is a line that reads "Synched: date and time" in your profile. When I tried the set-up process a second time, it worked, although the small downloadable software that facilitates the initialization actually crashed at the end. It still took, but it wasn't entirely smooth.
Features
Fitbit uses both an accelerometer and an altimeter to count the number of steps you take and the stairs you climb. The online account uses that information, in conjunction with some personal data, like your height and weight, to also calculate how many calories you burn.
The altimeter works surprisingly well for a $100 device, able to account for changes in pressure that aren't caused by climbing, like car doors opening and closing. However, while testing the device, I rode my bicycle several times over a bridge that's several stories high, which did affect the reading.
Bicycling and other most activities aren't fully supported the same way running and walking are. You can log into the website and record these activities?even noting the time and duration so that Fitbit can align the activity readings with those noted exercises?but it isn't automatic. Only running, walking, and jogging work without effort.
The feature that most caught my attention, the sleep monitor, also requires you to enter time data using the online dashboard. You can tuck Fitbit into the pocket of a wristband and wear it while you sleep, and the accelerometer will watch for movement all night long. The Web application graphically shows periods when you were very still, and thus in a deep sleep and times when you moved enough to not be in a REM sleep. It also records how long it took you to fall asleep, though this data relies on you entering a precise and accurate time when you got into bed.
If you're trying to lose weight, Fitbit can be used in conjunction with another weight-management tool called Lose It!, which has both a website and smartphone app?see the review of Lose It! for iPhone (free, 3.5 stars).
When Fitbit Fits
Fitbit performed well in all my testing, doing a good job of collecting, aggregating, and displaying data across walking, running, stair-climbing, sleeping, and eating. It excels as a pedometer, but classifies only as a lightweight when measured against other fitness tracking devices.?When I spoke with Fitbit's CEO, he likened Fitbit to the Nintendo Wii?not as powerful as its competitors, but certainly less niche.?True fitness buffs will want to pay more for a device that simply does more, like show maps of their running routes based on GPS coordinates. But if you're not training for a marathon and only looking to boost your exercise and activity levels modestly, the Fitbit delivers.
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