Not just activity, but calories too!
The Fitbit Tracker contains a motion sensor like the ones found in the Nintendo Wii. The Tracker senses your motion in three dimensions and converts this into useful information about your daily activities. The Tracker measures the intensity and duration of your physical activities.
FAQ
- How does the Fitbit Tracker work and what does it track?
- How accurate is the Fitbit Tracker?
- Does the Fitbit accurately track calories from cycling/biking?
- Does the Fitbit have a display?
- How does the sleep tracking work and what will I learn?
- Is the Fitbit waterproof?
- Can multiple Fitbits be used in the same household?
- Do I need to be always within range of the base station in order to use the Fitbit?
- How do I track the calories that I have eaten?
- How long does the battery last before I have to recharge the Tracker?
- When will the Fitbit Tracker be available?
- Will you be shipping outside the US?
- What does the Fitbit Tracker come with?
- Do I have to pay anything for the website?
- How do I get data from the Fitbit to the website?
- Do I have to use the website? Is there a way to dump data to my PC?
- How do you calculate Calories Burned?
- How does the Active Score work?
How does the Fitbit Tracker work and what does it track?
The Fitbit Tracker contains a motion sensor like the ones found in the Nintendo Wii. The Tracker senses your motion in three
dimensions and converts this into useful information about your daily activities. The Tracker measures the intensity and duration of your physical activities, calories burned, steps taken, distance traveled, how
long it took you to fall asleep, the number of times you woke up throughout the night and how long you were actually asleep vs just
lying in bed. You can wear the Tracker loosely in your pocket or clipped to your clothing, even bras.
How accurate is the Fitbit Tracker?
Calorie data from the Tracker is very similar to those from energy expenditure measurement devices used in clinical research. The Tracker will give you a good sense of how your activity levels change from day to day.
The Tracker is also one of the most accurate pedometers. We've tuned the accuracy of the Fitbit step counting functionality over hundreds of tests with multiple different body types. For most wearers, the Fitbit should be roughly 95-97% accurate for step counting. We spent a lot of time ensuring that this accuracy is achieved even when you wear the Fitbit loosely in your pocket.
Sleep data from the Tracker correlates very strongly with results from polysomnograms found in sleep labs.
The Tracker is also one of the most accurate pedometers. We've tuned the accuracy of the Fitbit step counting functionality over hundreds of tests with multiple different body types. For most wearers, the Fitbit should be roughly 95-97% accurate for step counting. We spent a lot of time ensuring that this accuracy is achieved even when you wear the Fitbit loosely in your pocket.
Sleep data from the Tracker correlates very strongly with results from polysomnograms found in sleep labs.
Does the Fitbit accurately track calories from cycling/biking?
The Fitbit is optimized for walking, running and general
household/lifestyle activities and gives you a good general 24 hour
picture of your day. It's not going to be that accurate for things
like biking, but the website will allow you to manually log
activities, so that an estimated calorie burn for your biking can be
included in your daily totals. If you are only doing the biking for an
hour or so a day, the Fitbit will give you a good overview of your
activities for the other 23 hours.
The Fitbit is really for people to get a general sense of their day
and get motivation from improvements in their general day to day
trends.
Does the Fitbit have a display?
Yes, the Fitbit Tracker had a blue OLED display that shows your steps, calories, distance and a picture showing your overall activity level.
How does the sleep tracking work and what will I learn?
It's important that you get a good night's sleep. Recent studies have shown that sleep quality is linked to overall wellness.
Have you ever wondered why you still feel tired even though you think you've gotten a full 8 hours of sleep? The Fitbit Tracker
will allow to "see" what your body is actually doing at night.
When you get into bed, you slide the Fitbit Tracker onto a wristband that is provided with the Tracker. As you fall in and out of sleep, the Fitbit tracks the movements that your body makes and can tell you how long it took you to fall asleep, how many times you woke up throughout the night and the actual time you were asleep vs the time you were in bed.
When you get into bed, you slide the Fitbit Tracker onto a wristband that is provided with the Tracker. As you fall in and out of sleep, the Fitbit tracks the movements that your body makes and can tell you how long it took you to fall asleep, how many times you woke up throughout the night and the actual time you were asleep vs the time you were in bed.
Is the Fitbit waterproof?
No, the Fitbit is just water-resistant, so it is not recommended that you wear it while swimming. The Fitbit is also not meant to track calories burned while swimming.
Can multiple Fitbits be used in the same household?
Multiple devices can coexist in the same household and can sync to the same base station or multiple base stations. In your house, at a minimum, you will only need to hook up one base station to a computer. Each Fitbit has a unique id, so that data will upload automatically to the proper person's account.
Do I need to be always within range of the base station in order to use the Fitbit?
No, the Fitbit can record detailed daily data (minute by minute calorie burn and sleep data) for 7 days and summarized daily data (daily steps, calories and distance) for 30 days.
Once the Fitbit is within range, it will automatically upload any stored data that it has recorded.
How do I track the calories that I have eaten?
There will be a tool on our website for you to manually enter that information from our database of 50,000 foods. We will make that process easy by allowing you to bookmark your favorite foods and by allowing you to create custom meals containing your favorite foods.
How long does the battery last before I have to recharge the Tracker?
On average, the Fitbit can last about 10+ days between charges.
The Fitbit Tracker will start shipping in late summer of 2009. There will be limited quantities available. In order to reserve a Fitbit, you can place a pre-order. Your credit card will not be charged until
the Fitbit Tracker is shipped.
Will you be shipping outside the US?
Sorry, but we will be shipping only to the US, initially. We have to
pass government certifications for wireless and product safety in each
country and we are focused on passing the US tests first. We plan on
making the Fitbit available for international orders a few months
after our US launch. We will let you know when that happens.
What does the Fitbit Tracker come with?
The Tracker will ship with a sleep wristband and a belt holster for thick belts.
Do I have to pay anything for the website?
No, the website is free. Once you buy the Fitbit Tracker, you will not have to pay anything additional in order to use the website.
How do I get data from the Fitbit to the website?
The Fitbit is wireless and ships with its own base station. In order for the wireless functionality to work you will need to
install a tiny piece of syncing software. This software will run on Mac OS X and Windows XP/Vista.
Do I have to use the website? Is there a way to dump data to my PC?
Yes, you must use the website. We do not provide any way to dump data to your PC, but the website will have an extensive XML and JSON API. You will be able to access most of your data through the API.
How do you calculate Calories Burned?
When nothing much is logged, we try to guess how many calories you have burned if you were sedentary. (Sedentary means you got out of bed, got dressed, went to your day job, came home and did nothing much more than walk to your car.)
Once you start logging activities, we assume that you know best and we stop estimating; we use the data you provided. If you only log a small portion of your activity, we'll be missing a lot.
For steps, we convert the steps to an estimated distance, then assume they were taken while walking 2.5 mph. We do the distance estimate by computing stride length using the stride provided if you entered one. Otherwise we make a guess based on your gender and height. Walking at 2.5 mph means you will be burning calories at a rate of 3 METs. This means your calories will get burnt at 3 times your BMR (Base Metabolic Rate). So in the example above 11,000 steps is a bit over 2 hours for an average woman who, according to government data, is 5'4". To figure out how many calories you burn during this period, divide your BMR by 24 hours. Then multiply by 3 for the METs and again by 2 for the number of hours. This will give you the number of calories you burned during this period including your BMR. Thus to get your total calorie burn you would do BMR - BMR*time/24 + calories computed. You have to subtract the BMR so you don't double count. (Sorry if this sounds a bit confusing. We like letting the computer take care of the math since it tends to be good at it.)
If you log your activity, you should probably also log 8 hours of working at a desk (assuming that is appropriate) and 1 hour or so of house work (cooking dinner burns calories) to get a better picture of how many calories you are actually burning.
For steps, we convert the steps to an estimated distance, then assume they were taken while walking 2.5 mph. We do the distance estimate by computing stride length using the stride provided if you entered one. Otherwise we make a guess based on your gender and height. Walking at 2.5 mph means you will be burning calories at a rate of 3 METs. This means your calories will get burnt at 3 times your BMR (Base Metabolic Rate). So in the example above 11,000 steps is a bit over 2 hours for an average woman who, according to government data, is 5'4". To figure out how many calories you burn during this period, divide your BMR by 24 hours. Then multiply by 3 for the METs and again by 2 for the number of hours. This will give you the number of calories you burned during this period including your BMR. Thus to get your total calorie burn you would do BMR - BMR*time/24 + calories computed. You have to subtract the BMR so you don't double count. (Sorry if this sounds a bit confusing. We like letting the computer take care of the math since it tends to be good at it.)
If you log your activity, you should probably also log 8 hours of working at a desk (assuming that is appropriate) and 1 hour or so of house work (cooking dinner burns calories) to get a better picture of how many calories you are actually burning.
How does the Active Score work?
The Active Score captures how active you were compared to if you were completely sedentary all day. Your score will be 0 if you were sedentary, and
typically a 3-digit number if you were active.
You may prefer the Active Score over Calories Burned, because the Active Score just captures your level of activity and is not dependent on your height and weight, as calories burned is.
For those who understand what a MET (Metabolic Equivalent) is, the Active Score is a rough translation of your average METs for the day (METs = Active Score * .001 + 1).
You may prefer the Active Score over Calories Burned, because the Active Score just captures your level of activity and is not dependent on your height and weight, as calories burned is.
For those who understand what a MET (Metabolic Equivalent) is, the Active Score is a rough translation of your average METs for the day (METs = Active Score * .001 + 1).
