Fitbit vs Apple Watch

[honglong1976]

After owning a Fitbit Zip, HR, Charge, Flex, Surge and Blaze I thought it was now time to upgrade to an:

Apple Watch.

I liked my Fitbit but build quality was awful, each one felt like they were made by Fisher Price and only used to last a few months before dying.

I traded my Fitbit Blaze and Flex for an Apple Watch Stainless Steel (S0 model) at CEX.

The Apple Watch build quality is at least 200 times better than any Fitbit. Battery life is over 2 days. I can track my sleep, compete with friends, HR, steps, etc.

With the share price going down lower every time I looked I felt Fitbit wasn't the company it was 1 year ago, definately not 2 years ago.

Shame really!

Good Luck to Fitbit in the future! I will still use MobileTrack and if they bring out a decent device! Who knows? I may go for it, but for now it's adios!

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[honglong1976]

I guess you never saw this:

https://www.marketingweek.com/2016/10/10/fitbit-aims-for-the-mass-market-with-the-x-factor-sponsorsh...

[PureEvil]

@bbarrera,

I'm not debating whether there is branding on the devices.  Never debated that...

I'm pointing out that the branding on Macs changed from facing the owner of the computer (when the lid was down) to it being right side up for everyone else...  I am currently looking at two Lenovo laptops; the branding on both are upside down for the observers and right side up for the user.  As far as I know, Dell has always had the logo right side up for the observer.

Can you name any other OEM where the orientation of their logo has changed to cater to the observer rather than the user?

Can you name any other OEM that has their logo glowing on the back or their lid?  And configure it so that you cannot disable that glowing?

Can you name any other OEM that builds their 'protective' cases for their phones in such a way to leave a hole in the case in order to reveal the logo?

How about this?  If the device that you is not driven by others' perception...  Why don't you change the signature on your phone's e-mail to "Sent from my Blackberry.", and leave it that way for a few days while you send mail?

[bbarrera]

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@PureEvil wrote:

Can you name any other OEM where the orientation of their logo has changed to cater to the observer rather than the user?

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As I understand it, the logo was upside down because Steve Jobs insisted on that orientation. After Steve the orientation was 'corrected' - a decision I agree with as the upside down logo looked dumb to my eyes. Apple pays more attention to little details than the average tech company. They also make mistakes, and later fix them, like resizing windows from any edge. 

My MacBook Pro doesn't have a glowing logo. On the older MacBook Pro the light source was the LCD/LED backlighting, hence it couldn't be turned off without turning off the display. And there were stickers in the box to cover it, or you could buy a decal or case to cover it (my daughter has an Ironman decal on hers).

Whatever. It seems that in your world, paying attention to details like that call the motivation of everyone into question. I see it differently, its about buying a quality product from a company that warranties the product (not just original owner). And this product generally requires lower maintenance and headaches than the alternatives - I've been using Unix, Linux, OS X, and Windows consistently since 1986, the last 10 years I've been running OSX/Linux/Windows 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

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@PureEvil wrote:

Can you name any other OEM that builds their 'protective' cases for their phones in such a way to leave a hole in the case in order to reveal the logo?

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Hmm, I just went to the Apple website and couldn't find a case made by Apple with a hole for the logo. Maybe Apple offered such a case at some point in time over the last 10 years of iPhone sales, not sure as I've never been interested in such a case. I've always used protective film (no case), or the thinnest case I can find. I hate bulk and phablet size phones. 

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@PureEvil wrote:

How about this?  If the device that you is not driven by others' perception...  Why don't you change the signature on your phone's e-mail to "Sent from my Blackberry.", and leave it that way for a few days while you send mail?

---

I'm an engineer in sales, and we keep a copy of email conversations in a database for future reference (so anyone can jump in and quickly assist a customer, without requiring a conference call for background info). In my job I routinely process 50-100 emails a day, and I'm one of a handful of people working with customers and the customer email database. Because its so easy, I just searched back to 2007 which is a huge number of emails, and the results are:

- 5 emails with "Sent from my iPhone"

- 10 emails with variations of "please excuse brevity/typos"

- 604 emails with "Sent from Android"

- thousands of emails with 3rd party Android email client signatures

Your mileage may vary.

@PureEvil ok, time to agree to disagree. You appear to believe Apple that purchases are largely driven by status, and I believe Apple delivers a higher quality product that is well supported and generally works better than the alternatives. 

[Erinclose]

Are you happy with the fitness tracking on your Apple Watch? I have been reading reviews and most specify that Apple lags behind with the fitness tracking side. Because fitness tracking is a priority for me I am hesitant to switch. That being said I am not interested in spending so much money on ANOTHER Fitbit. I agree that the quality of the product materials are cheap (or at least poorly designed/built) I have gone through two surges already. Customer service replaced one but I am afraid to waste money on something I feel will fall apart. As I sit here I am wearing the replacement they sent me just over a year ago and it is already superglued together where the strap meets the watch face. I treat my possessions with great care and expect them to last. With Fitbit it has not. Even my scale is stuck kn a permanent error code and with all the research I’ve done ive concluded it cannot be fixed. I am seriously researching new options and I feel like the Apple Watch 3 is my best option. How have you found it so far for fitness tracking?

[honglong1976]

Yes.

1. Offline syncing. No internet required. Syncs to the phone

2. Accuracy. HR and Steps are much more accurate than Fitbit. Drive and no steps are counted. It knows you are cycling, driving, etc. Whereas the Fitbit will count hundreds/thousands of steps

3. Vibration. Superb. Not a buzz, more of a knock. Amazing!

4. High quality. Absolutely superb quality.

No.

1. No automatic activity detection (coming in Watch OS 5 Sept)

2. Sleep tracking (apps do it but not natively)

3. Battery life (better on the new models but no amazfit bip (30 days+)

[PureEvil]

@Erinclose,

Just a couple of more bits of information about Fitbit vs. Apple Watch...

Fitbit is multiplatform; Apple Watch is strictly iOS...  This means that you may spend hundreds of dollars on a fitness device and if you should ever think about moving phone platforms (like that new Galaxy S9?), you'll have a paperweight for a watch.

Fitbit battery lasts for days.  I believe the shorted rated Fitbit device battery is still over four days.  I have friends with Apple Watches and they literally charge their device every single day...  Is sleep tracking important to you?  ...because that's when many of them charge their watch.  If you should dare make a phone call on the device, the battery will only last one hour.  I have a friend where I can tell which days she intends to go to the gym, because those are the only days when she wears her Apple Watch.  If you're not going to wear it (she also complains about the weight), it's not an effective fitness device.

Lastly, if you participate in challenges on Fitbit, then you will no longer be able to participate with your friends.  Fitbit only accepts activity from Fitbit devices.

If I may make an observation?  You mention that you have superglued the strap to the device...  This leads me to believe that you don't have the Blaze (maybe the Surge?).  Well, all newer Fitbit models (Blaze, Charge 2, Alta, Alta HR, Versa, Flex 2, Ionic, and Versa) have replaceable bands (you may get them to accessorize)...  In other words, they have already addressed this problem.  The tracker will outlast the band; this is also true about any watch.  To continue to label Fitbit as 'quality of the product materials are cheap' would be similar to keep the perception that iPhones drop calls after the just-don't-hold-it-that-way iPhone 4.

Just my 2¢.

[bbarrera]

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@PureEvil wrote:

...

I have friends with Apple Watches and they literally charge their device every single day...  Is sleep tracking important to you?

... 

Lastly, if you participate in challenges on Fitbit, then you will no longer be able to participate with your friends.  Fitbit only accepts activity from Fitbit devices.

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Second point is not true. My iPhone is my Fitbit tracker, and I participate in step challenges.

Regarding battery life, I have an Series 0 that is now over 3 years old. I get about 24 hours of battery. I have no problem sleep tracking using my watch, but prefer to let me skin breath at night and use Sleep Cycle on my phone to track sleep. For me, the most interesting feature of Sleep Cycle is that it tracks snoring. I'm now in my 3rd year of cycling and my cardio / breathing has improved so much that I rarely snore these days.

If Fitbit sleep stages (Sleep Cycle has it too) has caught your eye, keep in mind that Fitbit published its own research last year and a summary is available the conference abstract:

http://www.sleepmeeting.org/docs/default-source/attendee-documents/abstractbook2017.pdf?sfvrsn=2

on page A26 the Fitbit author's abstract states 69% accuracy of identifying wake/light/deep/REM sleep states. Cohen's kappa is considered a better measure, versus %, and the Fitbit authors give accuracy ranges from poor/fair (0.38) to fair/good (0.66).

Everyone has different priorities. I lift weights and ride a road bike. I don't even have to wear my Apple Watch to get move/calorie/step credit. If I want more accurate HR tracking then I can pair a bluetooth chest strap, can't do that with Fitbit. The build quality of Apple Watch is higher than all of the Fitbit devices I've owned. Battery life is not an issue for me, even with a 3 year old device. I thought battery life would be a big deal, and with Fitbit it was a big deal because of the clunky charging system. The Apple magnetic charger is great. Ironically in 3 years of wearing Fitbit, and 3 years of wearing Apple Watch, I had more dead batteries on Fitbit. Neither last long enough to track my long hikes and bike rides. I can put my phone into airplane mode and GPS track for 17 hours, almost 2x Fitbit Ionic and 3x Apple Watch. And I can charge my phone while tracking with a lipstick size battery case. There are high-end multisport watches with 24 hour gps tracking, with incredibly collection of features, but I haven't felt the need to go that route because of my gps bike computer and 17 hour gps phone tracking.

Others value the Fitbit app and dashboard above all else, and Fitbit did a good job despite some obvious omissions like being able to see weekly running miles/minutes, or weekly cycling miles/minutes.

If you really want sport specific metrics, then look at Garmin or Suunto.

My bottom line - after trying Surge, Blaze, and Ionic, I found that Apple Watch is more valuable throughout the day. I'm hoping that someday Fitbit enters sports specific tracking and metrics (like Garmin and Suunto), either by extending Ionic feature set or introducing new models.

[PureEvil]

@bbarrera,

"Second point is not true. My iPhone is my Fitbit tracker, and I participate in step challenges."

I stand by my statement...

When you added your phone as a Fitbit tracker, did you not tap on the "Set Up a Device" link?  Then your phone is by definition a Fitbit device.  I know that we're splitting hairs on this one, but my statement was more in response to the threads about "why doesn't Fitbit accept data from Apple Health?"  If your activity tracker is an Apple Watch (not talking about the iPhone); it cannot be added to Fitbit in this manner... nor, to my knowledge, can you import that activity (from the Apple Watch) in a way that it can contribute to the Fitbit challenges.

I agree everyone has different priorities.  I can only speak about my friends' experiences with the Apple Watch anecdotally, but their #1 complaint is the battery life.  I tolerate having to charge my phone every day, but I don't wear my phone on my person 24/7 the way that I would an activity tracker.  It's nice to be able to go away for Memorial Day weekend and not need to bring the charging cable for your watch... or crash at your friend's place without guaranteeing your activity tracker will be depleted upon your wake.

[Rich_Laue]

I can't really speak much about the apple watch, most of my apple friends have pitptye AW away and bought Fitbits. most bevausebthey either did more than what the needed or to heavy and had to charge at least once a day

[bbarrera]

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@PureEvil wrote:

When you added your phone as a Fitbit tracker, did you not tap on the "Set Up a Device" link?  Then your phone is by definition a Fitbit device.

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@PureEvil No.

Fitbit explicitly defines MobileTrack as getting step credit without a Fitbit device:

What is MobileTrack?

"MobileTrack lets you use the Fitbit app without a Fitbit device by using your phone's sensors to track basic activity data including steps, distance, and calories burned."

It is possible to participate in step challenges without a Fitbit device.

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@PureEvil wrote:

I know that we're splitting hairs on this one, but my statement was more in response to the threads about "why doesn't Fitbit accept data from Apple Health?"  If your activity tracker is an Apple Watch (not talking about the iPhone); it cannot be added to Fitbit in this manner... nor, to my knowledge, can you import that activity (from the Apple Watch) in a way that it can contribute to the Fitbit challenges. 

as a response to adding Apple Watch as tracker, ok, however I'll just say there are no technical reasons stopping Fitbit from accessing Apple Watch step count. Fitbit created MobileTrack, and Fitbit can easily add Apple Watch as a supported device.

And to Rich's comment, I can count 20+ people in my local area that stopped using Fitbit and only 2 that stopped using Apple Watch. Regardless, I don't think its a valid point. The ones that stopped using Fitbit found it didn't help motivate them to exercise more and lose weight (original reason Fitbit was purchased). 

With Fitbit you need to buy from an authorized retailer, one with a good return policy in case you don't want it. With Apple products the warranty is on the watch, so you can buy used and still have warranty coverage. If you want to buy/try new, then buy from a store with good return policy.

[Rich_Laue]

Interesting.. With the exemption of automobiles, most companies only honor their warranty to the original purchaser or the receiver of a gift. 

[bbarrera]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:

Interesting.. With the example of automobiles, most companies only honor their warranty to the original purchaser or the receiver of a gift. 

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@Rich_Laue No, that is not correct. In the USA, automobile warranties are based on the VIN and transfer to the new owner.

[jenny224]

My apple watch counted knitting as steps! I gave up on it after that and went back to Fitbit.

[AW3]

Dear Apple Watch company,

I honestly think that apple watches are better they have more like a durable design  

[Rich_Laue]

I'm not sure about durability, if I pay 1000 USD for a watch, I would want it to last longer than the expected 3 years lifespan that Apple declares. 

[EulasWashingt0n]

Hey Can we Talk 

[honglong1976]

you can buy for $300 you know 🙂

[Rich_Laue]

That is true @honglong1976 but at $300 dollars Apple still only expects their watch to last 3 years.

This 3 year expectant life span also goes for their $1000 model. If I pay 1000 USD i would expect it to last more than 3 years.

I know many that still use the same Fitbit on their 4-5 year.

We have had people upset that they had to give up their 6 year old Ultra's because Fitbit has stopped supporting it

[honglong1976]

They typically provide firmware updates for 3 years + for all devices.

They are much higher quality than fitbit. Hence why Apple sales are through the roof, while fitbit sales are declining.

If you want a cheap tracker, buy xiaomi. More expensive, buy Apple Watch.

https://www.gsmarena.com/wearables_market_grew_in_2018_led_by_apple_xiaomi_and_huawei-news-35878.php

[Rich_Laue]

In 2018, Fitbit released firmware for the 5 year old  Zip, and Fitbit One the discontinued Charge, Charge HR and the Fitbit One.

Apple doesn't release updated after 3 years since they feel 3 years is the end of the watches