FitBit: Programmed obsolescence?

[swee'pea99]

I have another friend who rides according to his power output. This, to me, makes good sense. He knows what he's capable of, decides on an intensity he can sustain in given circumstances, on a three mile climb for instance, and uses the power meter to monitor this.

Each to his own and all that but I have to confess I find this kind of thing totally baffling. Don't you get all the feedback you need from your body? Why would you defer to a piece of technology instead?

 

[Blue Hills]

Mine doesn't do the REM sleep stuff (I've never checked)

That's when I have my particularly interesting dreams I think - and can usually tell when I wake refreshed. No way those dreams can be reduced to numbers - if they could be I'd be worried about hacking.

 

[Blue Hills]

Each to his own and all that but I have to confess I find this kind of thing totally baffling. Don't you get all the feedback you need from your body? Why would you defer to a piece of technology instead?

agree - it seems to me that it distances folks from their bodies - am not religious but find the human body an amazing thing.
And to think that there are endless tales above about wonky misbehaving tech. Programmed by god knows who.

 

[fossyant]

Each to his own and all that but I have to confess I find this kind of thing totally baffling. Don't you get all the feedback you need from your body? Why would you defer to a piece of technology instead?

I ride to how I feel. I just needed a new watch.

 

[si_c]

Each to his own and all that but I have to confess I find this kind of thing totally baffling. Don't you get all the feedback you need from your body? Why would you defer to a piece of technology instead?

Sure of course if you are familiar with yourself you can self-regulate that way, but a power meter as mentioned above is an absolute measurement so it can be very helpful. For example, if out on an all day ride it is very easy if you are feeling fresh to go a bit too hard early on in the day and suffer later as a consequence, I use mine to ensure I don't go too hard early on or on a climb I can measure my effort to what I know I can sustain regardless of whether I feel good or not.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I had a Fitbit Charge 4 a while back.

Piece of junk. Syncing issues, dropped whole exercise routines, GPS failed on several routes and the Spotify integration was a farce - you had to stop the activity you were carrying out on the Fitbit to actually use it. Duh! Display brightness was pitiful too. Google owned and all they really want to do is to push Google Pay integration instead of the Fitbit equivalent that it currently comes with.

Sent it back to Amazon and decided to combine health monitoring with my bigger outdoor needs (scrambling/hiking/walking) and the various tracking/route recording needs fulfilled by my Garmin eTrex.

Bought a Garmin Instinct on offer at £190 instead of £280 on Amazon.

Amazing piece of kit - includes Livetrack so my wife can watch my route unfold in real time when I am in the mountains or on my bike.

It's a complicated thing and the familiarisation process is a steep learning curve but it is worth it.

Heart tracking functions are good - they make me get a wiggle on when I am on my turbo or treadmill as I can be a lazy bugger at times!

 

[Kestevan]

Another Samsung user here, in fact all the family have one. Excellent piece of kit.

I mainly got it so I could answer the phone whilst on the bike without having to dig the actual phone out, remove gloves etc.. works perfectly.