Trackers: Fitbit Charge HR vs VivoSmart

Is There Really a Difference Between Activity Trackers?

Summer is here!  That means tank tops, shorts, and swim suits.  Fitness trackers are a great way to help you meet your summer time fitness goals.  However, there are so many fitness trackers on the market today, it can be difficult to determine which one is right for you.  Recently, I tried out the Fitbit Charge HR and the VivoSmart by Garmin.  Both are high quality devices with pros and cons.  Let’s find out which one is right for you!

Fitbit Charge HR

My first reaction to the Fitbit Charge HR was excitement.  The tracker itself fit well on my wrist and was comfortable throughout the day.  On the wristband display, you can toggle through time, steps, miles and flights of stairs.  The display will also alert you of incoming calls and display the name of the caller.

On the inside of the wristband is the sensor, which is how the heart rate is determined.
The Fitbit app is where the real magic happens!  The wristband connects wirelessly to the app on your phone.  Be sure to double check that your phone model can connect before you purchase the Fitbit, as some older models are not supported.  You can check if your phone is compatible here.

One of the greatest things about the app is that you can set 5 different daily goals.  The dashboard shows you how many steps you have taken toward your goal (typically 10,000 steps per day).

The second goal is the number of flights you have gone up.  Fitbit sets the goal at 10 flights of stairs, but it is adjustable.  In addition to the daily steps, the Fitbit sets a goal of 5 miles per day.  The other two daily goals are total calories burned and active minutes.

It is an exciting challenge to look at multiple fitness goals, rather than one area.  When tracking runs or a specific workout, you are able to look at your pace and distance, as well as your heart rate throughout the activity.  The Fitbit Charge HR can also track your sleep patterns and the quality of sleep. It is sometimes it is frustrating to see how little quality sleep you actually get!

One of the advantages the Fitbit app has is the ability to track your food intake within the app.  Based on your account settings; age, weight, height, and activity level, the Fitbit app calculates the approximate number of calories your body burns each day.

Based on your goals, you can choose to maintain your weight or lose weight.  Depending on how many pounds you choose to lose per week, Fitbit will calculate how many calories per day you should eat in order to get to you goal weight.

In addition to the app on your phone, you can also access your information through the Fitbit website.  Below you can see a day when I helped a friend move.  Over 18,000 steps!  That was a day full of badges and “rewards”.

Now let’s talk through the heart rate monitor.

First off, a heart rate monitor is beneficial for a couple of key reasons.

1.)  As an athlete, knowing your heart rate zones can help you train more efficiently.

2.)  Secondly, tracking how quickly your heart rate slows down after a workout can help gauge your heart health.  The heart rate can help calculate your calories burned more accurately.

The Fitbit Charge HR uses “PurePulse™ LED lights on your tracker reflect onto the skin to detect blood volume changes and finely tuned algorithms are applied to measure heart rate automatically and continuously.”  Although this is convenient since it is tracked on the wristband itself, this HR monitor is not as reliable as a chest strap monitor.

In my experiences, I found that when I was inactive or lightly walking, the HR monitor was pretty accurate.  However, when I did intense workouts like HIIT Training, or Tabata workouts, the HR monitor was not accurate.  I would take my own pulse and compare it to the monitor.  When at my peak workouts, I measured my heart rate around 175 beats per minute while the device would show 150 beats per minute.  The Fitbit website says this:

“With high-intensity interval training, P90X, boxing, or other activities where your wrist is moving vigorously and non-rhythmically, the movement may prevent the sensor from finding an accurate heart rate. Similarly, with exercises such as weight lifting or rowing, your wrist muscles may flex in such a way that the band tightens and loosens during exercise.

Try relaxing your wrist and staying still briefly (about 10 seconds), after which you should see an accurate heart rate reading. Note that your tracker will still provide accurate calorie burn readings during these types of exercise by analyzing your heart rate trends over the course of the workout.“

For me, this was a critical flaw, since I purchased the Fitbit Charge HR specifically for the HR monitor feature.  Overall, I loved the Fitbit Charge HR.  The app was user-friendly, the number of goals that you can set was motivating, and tracking the food within the app was seamless.  The Fitbit Charge HR can be purchased at Amazon starting at $142.77.

Vivosmart with Chest Strap Heart Rate Monitor

The Vivosmart tracker is similar in size and weight to the Fitbit Charge HR, although it is slightly thinner.  One of the first things I noticed was the direction of the words on the screen versus that on the Fitbit.  When holding your arm up to your face, the Fitbit reads perpendicular to the strap.  By this, I mean if I put the Fitbit up to my face, the words read from my arm toward my fingers.

The Vivosmart on the other hand, reads parallel to the strap – almost as in a circle around your wrist.  You are not able to adjust the orientation of the text.

When I synced to the Garmin Connect app, my first impression was that it seemed bare bones.  It gives you all of the information, but it is does not have all of the bells and whistles that the Fitbit app contains.  The dashboard shows you progress toward your goals.

It tracks Steps, Calories, Sleep, and Weight.  However, the Garmin Connect does not internally track your calories.  You must use a separate app, My Fitness Pal, to track your food intake and then sync the two apps.  It is not a huge deal, but it does take a few extra steps.

The first day I used the Vivosmart, I was worried I would not like it, due to the app.  However, within the first day, I was thrilled with what it could do and my expectations were exceeded.  First of all, one of the advantages over the Fitbit Charge HR is the ability to get notifications on your wristband.

Unlike the Charge HR, which only can alert you to incoming calls, the Vivosmart can display all notifications.  This includes  not only text messages, but also Facebook messages and calendar updates.  This was fantastic, especially when my phone was in the other room.

OOOPS!  Maybe it defeats the purpose of finding reasons to get extra steps in! I didn’t have to walk over to find my phone every time I got an alert!  It is worth noting that you cannot respond to these notifications, but you are able to read through them.  The other “smart” feature is that the Vivosmart can control your playlist!  You are able to start, pause, or skip songs right from your wrist.  This is extremely helpful when you are running and don’t want to get to your playlist on your phone.

Another motivating piece to the Vivosmart is the MOVE!  feature.  When you have not been significantly active for an hour, the wristband will vibrate and tell you to move.  It will continue tracking and give you the total time you have been inactive.  In my experience it takes a brisk, intentional walk of about 50 yards to reset the wristband.  Casually walking around the house doing chores will not be enough movement to reset the wristband.

In addition to tracking steps, miles, pace, and calories burned; the Vivosmart can also track your sleep.  However, I quickly realized that you must “start” your sleep session on your wristband.  Otherwise, it will use your generic sleeping times that you list on your profile.  Additionally, if you do not wear your wristband to sleep, it will track the time your wristband was off as your sleep time.  As you can see in the screenshot below – I definitely did not sleep for 11 hours!  Those days are long gone!

Viviosmart’s Chest Strap Monitor

As mentioned above, being able to monitor your heart rate helps athletes train and can also show you how much effort you are putting into your workouts.  By training in certain zones, you can burn fat, more calories, and you can train your heart and lungs to be more efficient.

The chest strap sits just under the bra line on women, or just under the pecs on men.  It uses two sensors to on the strap to determine a biometric pulse.  This measures your heart rate.  Every time I have used this strap, the heart rate seems to be accurate to my manual pulse counting method.  I don’t use the strap throughout the day, only during my workouts.

The VivoSmart also tells you what heart rate Zone you are in.  When you input your age, height, and weight, it calculates your heart rate zones.  The Garmin Connect app uses 5 training zones.  This has been a great tool for me during my workouts to ensure I am staying in Zone 4 and getting into Zone 5 during bursts.

Tracking activities is easy.  Typically, when I track a workout, I start the activity and then move my screen to the HR (Heart Rate) screen.  Then, during my workout, all I have to do is to tap the screen to see right where my heart rate is at during any point in my workout.  After the workout, I can save my workout and it will display on my app.  When I click on the specific activity, I can see my minutes, pace and heart rate throughout the workout.  I can see what my peak was as well as my averaged and see how many calories I burned throughout the workout.

The Vivosmart is a powerful tool when you combine it with the chest strap monitor.  Not only can it track your steps, miles, and workouts, but knowing your accurate heart rate during a workout can be a powerful training tool.  Having your phone notifications show up on your wrist is an added bonus!

The Garmin Vivosmart with heart rate monitor can be found on Amazon for $144.94.

Pros: 

Both:

• Tracks steps, calories burned, miles per day, weight, heart rate and sleep
• Allows alarms to be set via vibration alert
• Allows for competitions with other users
• Sends badges for accomplishments

Fitbit Charge HR

• Tracks flights of stairs
• Tracks calorie intake within app
• App is user friendly with charts and graphs
• Notifies you of incoming callers

Viviosmart

• Displays HR zones
• Shows you all incoming notifications, including texts, Facebook, and calendar alerts
• Syncs with My Fitness Pal to track calorie intake
• Vibrates when you have not moved significantly within the last hour
• Able to control your playlist from the wristband

Cons: (Includes both devices, individual cons are noted)

Both:

• Does not have interchangeable bands for design

Fitbit Charge HR

• Heart rate monitor is not as accurate during workouts

Viviosmart

• App is basic, but functional

A Mom’s Perspective

The truth is that no activity monitor is going to be 100% accurate and buying one doesn’t mean you will automatically get in shape.  However, if a device can make you aware of how much you move (or don’t move) you can make choices to adjust your physical activity.

Trackers are a tool to help you make progress in the right direction.  Based on your own goals and how you intend to use a tracker, this article will help determine which is the best suited for you.

If you are looking for something that helps you set multiple goals, track food intake, and see different various view points when it comes to your health, the Fitbit Charge HR is worth consideration.

However, if your ultimate fitness goal is for focused workouts, tracking your heart rate and caloric burn, the Vivosmart with heart rate monitor will give you what you are looking for.  Whichever tracker you choose, remember to get moving and have fun!

*All opinions are my own.  I was not provided with either tracker, but purchased them on my own.