Vivofit thoughts

So, back in the summer, Andy’s brother was given one of these fitness bands for his birthday. I used to have a pedometer, but got a bit fed up of the noise, and also it counted steps while I was driving and things, so it was not that accurate.

More recently I read Anna’s review of her vivofit, and started looking into them. There are other bands out there, but the Garmin one appealed as I already have a Garmin GPS, so I could use the Garmin connect software to see all my activity. Plus, I did not want one that vibrated, or beeped or anything like that. Sometimes at work I have to sit still (long assemblies or meetings) so I liked that the Garmin one just had lines on the screen.

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I looked a few times on John Lewis (as I had some vouchers) and one day in half term I decided to go ahead and treat myself. I went for the grey, even though I really liked the green as I wanted it to go with everything.

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It comes with two straps- I went for the smaller one but on one of the largest settings as I don’t like really tight things.

Apparently you can wear them in the shower and everything, but I have been taking mine off for that.

Setting it up was so simple. I mean, I am a bit of a technophobe still, but I followed the little guide, turned on the bluetooth on my phone, and straight away it was there. You can add your height, weight and birthday and then it apparently works out calories used, but I would take that with a pinch of salt.

I don’t normally have my bluetooth on (it seems to drain the battery on my phone pretty quickly) so I tend to turn it on once in the evening, synch the band (you just press and hold the button until “synch” appears on the screen), add my sleep time and then turn it off again.

The strap seems pretty secure- I read some reviews where people had lost them after a few days, but I think perhaps they had not clipped them in properly. There is a little additional strap that goes around the part where it is fastened, but I wore it for a few days without and it stayed on the whole time.

The screen is pretty clear- again some reviews complained about it not having a lit screen, but I would not be looking at it while running in the dark anyway, so that doesn’t bother me at all. You can flip between the different displays (time, date, steps, steps til you meet your goal, miles or calories)- I tend to leave it on the time screen and wear it instead of my normal watch. But at home I quite like seeing the steps mount up. If you are inactive for a while a red line begins to show along the top of the screen, which gets longer the more you sit still.

Although I don’t think the mileage is very accurate -one day I did an 8 mile run first thing in the morning (listening to a Richard Herring Leicster Square podcast, which is well worth hunting out by the way- the Russel Brand one was hilarious and very disturbing) and it thought I had done 11 miles or something by the time I got home- it will of course track patterns and I can compare if I did more or less steps than the day before. Mondays are now a day spent out of class, mainly in front of a computer, and I walk loads less, but I have been making the effort to have a walk in the evening as I am more conscious of it now. These past few days we have had Ofsted at work and on both of those days I did over 10.000 steps (although I was at work from 6.40am-9pm)- this was more rushing about than usual although I do tend to walk about quite a bit when teaching.

I am really glad I got it anyway- would you be tempted by something like this? Andy has got himself an app on his phone that tracks when he walks, but it would not work for me as we are not allowed phones on us at work, so mine is in my bag in my cupboard all day as I am rushing about everywhere, but if you had your phone in your pocket all the time some sort of fitness app thing would be a lot cheaper than a band.

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20 thoughts on “Vivofit thoughts”

  1. I only just started showering in mine after talking to friends about it at the weekend. I’ve had mine since the start of October but was too nervous in case it got flooded and stopped working!
    I love my Vivofit though and I’ve found that I’m much more likely to go out for a walk in the evening now when I see that little red line creep up!
    I hope everything has been OK in school with Ofsted in. I’ve been lucky enough to avoid them since my NQT year but the whole school atmosphere changes once that phone call comes in!

  2. Hope Ofsted went well! I really like my vivofit but agree about the mileage. It’s spot on when tracking steps while walking (I’ve done a few experiments of counting then checking and the worst it’s been is 2-3 out) but running is a different story. I don’t mind because I use my forerunner for tracking distance but it a bit annoying to see 6.3 miles when I’ve only ran 4!

      1. Someone told me the other day that you could enter details about your stride length online to get an improved distance covered but I haven’t had a chance to look into it yet.

  3. I am definitely coming round to the idea. My manager has a Jawbone that looks interesting, and I think it syncs with My Fitness Pal so I think that’s a bonus point if you’re tracking calories. I dare say I’ll get one eventually – in the meantime, I’m just weighing things up and reading reviews.

  4. Oh I’m so glad you like it! I love mine and it really encourages me to move more regularly. They say sitting, even if you’re a regular runner, is so bad for you but walking around regularly can help counterattack the bad effects. As an office worker who sits pretty much 9-5 it’s great to have a reminder to move.
    I agree about the mileage, I’m sure sure it’s something to do with stride length. Interestingly when Ben and me were in Berlin we walked pretty much the same amount (though not on marathon day obviously) but my steps were always higher but our mileage was the same. But when I watched how we walked Ben would have huge strides whereas I’d take little steps. *shrugs* no idea really!

    1. That is interesting- I am not quite sure how it works it out- as I am sure I don’t always move my arms about when I walk (if I am carrying something).

  5. I can’t make my mind up about these, part of me wants one but I think I might get a bit obsessive over it! I use a pedometer from weightwatchers and that has definitely motivated me to get more active throughout the day, and is very discreet as I keep it clipped to my bra strap, but I like the idea of tracking sleep patterns etc too.

    1. I like the sleep tracker aspect as mainly it is making me focus on how little sleep I get and trying to get a bit more- I know I don’t get enough but it is hard to be strict with it.

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