One of the new initiatives for this tech blog for 2013 is to offer long form articles on specific lifestyle areas where technology is taking major strides. These devices and/or services are relatively affordable, simple to use and for the right person, can potentially offer a dramatic improvement in the lifestyle area. These are by definition less nerdy and more consumer friendly. I hope to write about one such gadget segment/lifestyle area every month. I already have topics lined up for the next 4 months and unless something upends it, we are good to go with this column.The first post in the PTWY series as it shall henceforth be referred to, is personal fitness trackers. This post was originally titled "Following my footsteps with the FitBit One" and you'll soon realize why. About a year ago, I came across a product called the FitBit Ultra. It was being pitched as a personal tracker and as a tool for your Quantified Self. One that would tell you how much you exercised in the course of a normal day and how well you slept at night. I was intrigued. For less than $100, here was a wearable gadget that could help you understand some of your key daily body patterns. And it would potentially help kick start a fitness routine that would at once be tracked with the same gadget.I started writing this post about 3 weeks ago and thanks to the explosion of personal fitness trackers spotted at CES, every major publication has written an article about it. You are welcome to check them out here - Wired, The Verge, Forbes. And before you jump on me saying this is nothing but pedometers- yes, they are that but a lot more. Imagine them as Pedometers 2.0.Why do I need a fitness tracker?The first question that I get from people when they see my FitBit One is why?. Why do I need a fitness tracker?. Here is my reason. I'd love to stay fit by going to the gym. I'd love to be running half marathons. I'd love to go hiking every weekend. The reality is, I cant. Between work and home schedules and demands, I don't get to do some of the things that would take to keep me fit as a fiddle. I need something that works within my lifestyle. And to determine that, I need to know where I stand. That is what a fitness tracker comes in. A tracker doesn't make me fit. It tells me when I need to get moving and when I deserve to take a break. It tells me when I need to be climbing stairs and when I need to be sleeping better. And thats a good place to start.How do I use my fitness tracker?I use a Fitbit One
as my personal fitness tracker. It was launched in Fall 2012. It is the second generation fitness tracker from FitBit. It is not waterproof. It supports Bluetooth 4.0 to sync with iOS devices and my laptop with the provided RF USB receiver dongle. The One comes with a small case with a holster like setup and also a night strap. When you register your device at fitbit.com, it sets up a starter goal at 10,000 steps (approx 4.7 miles) and 10 stairs a day. Its a reasonable place to start in my opinion.I put the One in my pocket first thing in the morning. I then forget about it until about lunch time when I take a look at my step count. After 2.5 months of use, I know approximately how many steps I should have done to get to 10,000 by the end of the day. If I am not trending to pattern, I force myself to start walking more - maybe a post-lunch stroll or extra walks within the office. I recheck in the evening. If I am not getting the desired step count, I force myself to walks within the house. Now this might all sound weird, but I tell you it works. I have now developed the habit of forcing myself to walk more based on the FitBit One.On days when I end up tracking ahead of my usual step count, I aspire for greater numbers than before. In that vein, I hit a personal goal of 20,000 steps last weekend. It is a great motivator tool, in my opinion. And it also serves as a signpost during the day.The sleep tracker feature is pretty neat. It tracks your sleep patterns and gives you a fancy chart of when you actually went to sleep, how long you slept, and how often you woke up at night. I have found this to be pretty accurate.
Product SpaceFitBit is not the only product in this space. They are one of the most popular alongside the Nike FlexFuel band and the Jawbone Up. This section describes in brief, some of the fitness trackers in the market.FitBit One / FitBit Flex/ FitBit Zip/ FitBit Ultra:I use a FitBit One and recommend it. It is a good buy at $99. If you plan on buying one, I would recommend that you preorder and get the Flex. It costs $99 and is expected to ship in March. It is a band that is also waterproof- the one missing feature on the One. FitBit also offers the Zip which is everything that the One is without Bluetooth sync.One other cool feature of the FitBit family is that the company offers open API's for its products which has allowed for a good app ecosystem to sync and upload your FitBit data to.Nike FuelBand:The Nike+ FuelBand
was the premium product to the FitBit when it launched. It continues to be in short supply, for reasons unbeknownst to me. It has a band form factor and does much of the same that the FitBit does with one major exception- it does not track your sleep.Jawbone Up (redux):Jawbone is the most interesting player outside of FitBit. They were the first to launch a major wearable computing product with the original Up. But just as soon as it launched, it will pulled off the shelves due to quality issues. The rebuilt Jawbone UP
was launched last Fall and is a very good product from the specs and reviews of it.MyBasis:MyBasis offers its fitness tracker in the form of a watch. It is also the most expensive product of the lot at $199. They claim that they have approached the problem from a health and fitness background and offer additional software tools to manage and utilize the fitness data for a better lifestyle.Misfit Shine:The Shine is a wildcard here. It is backed by ex-Pepsi and ex-Apple CEO John Sculley. It was crowdfunded via IndieGoGo and has a product with an entirely unique and small footprint. It is about the size of a quarter and twice the weight of one. The company claims it can track your swimming, cycling and similar fitness activities outside of the basic run and walk metrics. It is expected to ship in the next few months and I will review it when I get my backer unit.Moves iOS app:And in a sea of $79 and above trackers, here is a free iPhone app launched last week that claims to do much of what the other fitness trackers do. It utilizes the plethora of sensors on the iPhone to get its data. The impact of having many sensors up and running for a while on the battery life of your iOS device could make this a deal breaker. But if you want to get started on the road to fitness tracking, Moves app is a cheap (free) place to start. Android and WP8 versions are supposedly on their way.Bottom Line - Should you buy one?I hope I gave you just enough to get interested in the world of fitness trackers. I think they could be really useful in helping you identify the good and bad in your lifestyle from a fitness standpoint. It is insanely simple to use and pretty easy to get addicted to. Before long, you will be making small but important adjustments to your lifestyle. To me, that alone is worth the price of admission.
