I love the Fitbit. The main reason: It makes you move. I play a fun little game where I try to get more steps than yesterday, more than my husband, or my Sister-in-law or my neighbor. I do everything I can think of to rack up steps: I park far away from the store, I do as many loads of laundry as possible, I play tag in the yard. Anything and everything. I’m obsessed.
The app is very cool. Probably the coolest thing about Fitbit. I love the ‘Friends’ feature.
The graphics are great
It all started with the Fitbit Flex. I got it last year on my birthday (October 2015.) I loved it. I loved tracking my steps. I obsessively checked the App on my phone. You see the Flex doesn’t tell you your step count. It just has 5 dots. Each one represents 20% of your daily goal: 10,000 steps. It buzzes and flashes when you reach it. But, I desperately wanted it to at least tell me the time.
My husband had used a pedometer for a while so he was happy when he got the Fitbit Zip that Christmas. It tells you your step count and the time! Jealous.
At the same time, my kids got UNICEF Kid Power bands as Christmas gifts from my lovely cousin who works at UNICEF. Score. Saved us having to buy them Fitbits (which we really weren’t about to do.) These things are amazing! They tell the time, step count, power points (get enough points and you can contribute to kids around the world.) A great way to trick your kids into moving as much as possible and teach them about helping others. Bonus: they can get a little wet (they’ve survived the pool and the washing machine) and we received free replacement when one stopped working.
So, by now I was seriously wanting an upgrade. I held off until March when I impulsively ordered the Fitbit Alta. It wasn’t the top of the line but it was simple and sleek and an obvious improvement from the Flex. It tells the time! And step count and active minutes and mileage and calories. It tracks your sleep and has silent alarms. It doesn’t track your heart rate or amount of stairs climbed but I didn’t care. I was also so happy to switch from my now grimy orange band to a black one that goes better with my outfits. Best thing about it: It vibrates when I’m getting a phone call or text and the name or number of message scrolls across the screen. I’m in love. The charger stopped working a fews weeks in but Amazon quickly replaced the whole thing.
I was very happy with the Alta, I wore it all the time.
But…
On my birthday this year I got the big boy: the Blaze. I was SO EXCITED. I might have screamed. Yes, I did. Like a girl. The Blaze does everything! On top of what the Alta does, add heart rate, stairs climbed, notifications (like you can read whole texts), music controls. And it has that Apple Watch look.
I really liked it. It has so much cool stuff. I hate to even say this, but I just didn’t love the graphics and the interface. It had some features I just wasn’t going to use. And the more I thought about it I thought the design was just to clunky. I asked my husband if he would be very upset if I took it back. I kind of just wanted the Alta back. But I had already given it to him. Not only did he say he didn’t mind if I returned it, he had been wondering why I didn’t want the Apple Watch, it was so much cooler.
So after much agonizing — if I should spend more money, if I should get the 38mm or the 42mm, if I should get black or white — I went ahead and did it. I got the Apple Watch. I knew immediately it was the right choice.
I’ve only had it for a day. We’re still getting to know each other. If you’re interested, I’m happy to write a more extensive post about all it’s features and functions.
Through all of this I have sort of cringed at spending the money. A part of me thinks its a little showy. But I justify it like this: if it gets me to be more active and healthy (and encourage others to do the same) it’s so worth it.
(This is not a sponsored post. I did link the images to where you can purchase them though.)
