Reuters Health - Even though many people swear by fitness trackers to help lose weight and stay in shape, a review of existing research confirms that many of these gadgets are not very good at measuring how much energy we burn.
For the analysis, researchers examined data from 60 previously published studies that tested the accuracy of energy expenditure measurements for 40 different devices worn on the arm or wrist. Accuracy varied widely, but it was a bit better when devices factored in other measurements like heart rate to calculate calories burned.
When fitness trackers overestimate exercise, people who need more exercise to maintain or lose weight might get too little activity, increasing their risk for obesity and other chronic health problems, the researchers note in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. I check my iPhone. Time has slowed to a crawl and, according to all of these gadgets, so have I. My heart rate is a mere beats per minute. I adjust one of the three monitors strapped to my chest and pick up the pace.
I want to get a better idea of how they track calories. All of these gadgets promise to help you get in shape by tracking how much you move and how many calories you expend during a wide range of activities.
This is especially true of wearables, as these gadgets are known. Every device takes a different approach to calculating the mechanics of moving your body a certain distance at a certain speed. For instance, fitness trackers feed step counts and even sweat rate into their equations, while GPS watches lean heavily on heart rate. To establish a level playing field in benchmarking these gadgets, I need to do each test with every device strapped to my body. I look like I just escaped from a lab.
Before hitting the bleachers I ran 5 kilometers. This followed the minute plyometric workout and 2-mile walk I did the previous day. I endured the same routine three times in two weeks. For each activity, the calorie counts reported by these exercise monitors were all over the map.
These algorithms attempt to discern your rate of caloric expenditure using measureable or self-reported metrics like heart rate, distance, weight and age. Each device I tested crunches the numbers differently. Wahoo Fitness, for instance, calculates burn rate in its iPhone app using the same two algorithms for every activity.
The formula for women is [ For men it is Everyone else declined to reveal their algorithms, citing the usual pending patents and trade secrets. So suffice to say the Fuelband has a tendency to miscount steps and in turn inaccurately calculate miles walked and calories burned.
On March 9th the Fuelband calculated that I walked 5. Okay, so the pedometer is hardly accurate, so what about the calorie counter? Would you be surprised if I told you that it over counted my calories burned by a two fold while exercising? During a few trips to the gym, where I ran and lifted weights, I wore a heart rate monitor and accompanying watch. After burning just calories according to the heart rate monitor the Fuelband said I had burned more than calories.
Also, following my workout, which mind you is inside a relatively large gym, the Fuelband said I had taken over steps — just not possible. It would seem that Nike, in their attempt to capture all things workout related, created too much of a gray area for the Fuelband to capture data. Run, lift weights and perform any type of exercise and Fuelband records it.
I asked if there was perhaps a way of calibrating the Fuelband, but I was assured that if entered my age, weight and height correctly that it would accurately capture my steps and thus my calories burned and Fuel consumed.
Bottom Line: Unable to accurately count steps and thus deduce calories burned. However, the design and coolness factor scores big points. Wonderful web site. Lots of useful info here.
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Do you know if the band can charge directly from the computer or where i can get a new charger??? It does charge from the computer and you should be able to plug it into any 5v wall charger that has a USB input.
I found this not accurate at all. I left it on the table overnight and it registered fuel point. I set my goal to be and I was only doing minimal activities, driving to a place to eat lunch perhaps walking 1 flight of stairs, and I reached my goal at mid-day with fuel points. Anyone feel the same about that or is it just me? Maybe your band was broken! I really like it. I like being motivated to move during the day.
I recently got one for my birthday…as I was always wearing an Omron pedometer, which was very accurate but not so great looking. This Fuel band is cool, looks great on, and it fun to use with the sync and messages, but is NOT accurate and there is no way to adjust it. I have been wearing the pedometer and the Fuel band simultaneously for a while to see how off it is…just during breakfast in the kitchen it can already be steps off.
At the end of a day it can be thousands of steps off, which of course makes the calorie counts off. At this point I feel it is recording about double what it should.
I agree that for accuracy, you should take it off when you are just at work or in the house, because certain arm movements will record as multiple steps. Changing arms does not help all that much, as we use them both about the same other than writing. It still can be motivating but it should really be made to perform better through software if possible.
Perhaps they will work on it with an update. Well you ARE moving your arm. This measures movement!!! Lol i think your band was defective?
You do know right that when you drive you move your legs as well? Is that kind of misogyny even necessary in a gadget review? Its not misogyny just the social stigma that is attached to these devices rightly or wrongly. I will say though that the only 2 people I know who use pedometers are my mother and a female work colleague, both are in their 50s and both overweight.
The people who say that it recorded some ridiculous amount of activity from nearly nothing are either mistaken or they had a flawed unit. If I purchase a product, it should do as advertised. Well, Nike did not sell it that way so why let them get away with that.
Accelerometers measure contact forces or said another way, changes in relative motion. If you could run without changing the input to the device, it would measure nothing. Each shake, drop, twist…relative change, is what is measured. A relative motion sensor is great for accurate physical activity sensing only when coupled with an absolute motion input I. In any case, it is hard for me to believe that Nike could have overlooked this fact, given that it is such a well funded company.
So, the alternative is to believe that they took a minimalist approach, assuming the bulk of the population to be stupid enough to not know the difference. Looks like success ;. I think this review was thorough and sincere — that being said, many will either disagree or agree.
It is the best review I have read, because it examines the product from as many perspectives as possible. I still want to buy this product, but I have a clear view of what I am getting into.
Thank you! I was a walking, talking, turbokicking advertisement for the Ruelband where ever I went. Until two weeks ago which is why people who review a gadget should re-do it after several months of use-is it still working?
Two weeks ago one row of lights stopped appearing. I called them and they sent a replacement. I got it going just fine, but last week it stopped syncing. Now I understand they were re-vamping their website, however…then on Sunday it synced and all of my stats were back relief! Then yesterday, and today-it says today is June 18th; several of my record stats have been replaced with arbitrary numbers.
I cannot get it to sync anymore. I think they have a recipe book When caller A says this is the problem, say this…etc. I wasted another 3 hours trying different suggested solutions, all the while suspecting they had little to do with my Fuelband which continues to show correct stats-but begins anew each day which is why they need to be synced and more to do with their website.
A visit to their Nike Plus Facebook page shows just how big a big problem this is for many, many users, and for many devices, not just for the Fuelband.
All the while they continue to release more gadgets and apps. I think the company they hired to do the programming is not sophisticated enough to get it together. I also think Nike is going to be on the short end of the stick soon if they do not admit they are having problems to their customers. This is not an isolated problem for a few users. Got mine, test for e few days and have a serious question FitBit had been counted , 10 steps as nearly cal burned by a person of my complexion , FuelBand counts the same 10 steps as cal and 18 just only cal.
How it comes? Double check that and let me know. I have been seriously disappointed to see that after starting at 7am and an entire day of non stop rushing around and 13, steps of activity.. I am sad to say I am losing faith in my Fuelbands reliability :. It just sounds like he is bitching. Not really a review, more of a bitchy whine. It is designed for middle aged women. Get over yourself. You think your opinion matters?
Sorry you feel that way.
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