FitbitFlex Wireless Activity Plus Sleep Wristband, Pink

So I got my second flex last week, after the first one was broken out of the box. I can't say enough how easy it is to return defective products to Amazon, very user friendly. Now for the flex. I'm totally sold on fitbit, yes I have a few. . I started out with the Surge. The surge is a great product in its own right, but is too bulky for me to wear every day in the hot summer. If you need all the bells and whistles the surge is the way to go. The surge also costs 250.I needed heart rate monitor sometimes because my health sucks. I'm 46 and I've had 2 mild heart attacks and now have chronic idiopathic pancreatitus. I spend a lot of time in bed, but I still need to do some easy physical activity, which for me is walking. Since the surge was too sweaty and bulky for me in the summer months, I tried the Charge HR next. I really like that one too, but it cost 149..but it's alot less bulky and has a great accurate enough heart rate. But it still got sweaty under the wrist and I was worried about it getting harmed when I do my housework. So then I got the flex.. The flex is very slim and can be loosely worn because it doesn't track heart rate.. Which for me is fine for most days when I don't need all the features. So no sweaty wrist, and, you can purchase many different types of replacement bands to match your outfit. The flex does track, steps, calories, miles and sleep which must be turned on manually. The flex also only costs about 80 bucks so I'm not as concerned about it getting wrecked doing heavy duty spring cleaning. The cost also makes it easy to get introduced to fitbit. The software and app are amazing and very social and user friendly. The app also allows you to hook up different trackers and set your goals up for what you want to do. Having friends on the app allows you to compete and stay motivated too. The flex uses 5 LED lights to help you see how you are doing through the day. Each light represents 20% of your goal. For me, I find the lights more motivating than having the raw data on my wrist because you have to work harder to get all the lights and complete the goal for the day. And, unlike the surge and charge that need to be charged every 3 days, the flex only needs to be charged once a week which is a lot easier if you like me have a crazy busy life.. So get a flex, you will love it and the fitbit community.

Fresh out of the box, my Fitbit will not sync to either my iPhone app or the Fitbit software I downloaded to my computer. I exhausted all of the troubleshooting options listed on Fitbit's website, and when that didn't worked I consulted the Fitbit Community forum. Lesson learned, folks.Apparently, this is a pretty common problem. About 40% of customers are evidently able to resolve the issue by doing a hard reset on their Fitbit, but the remaining 60% (including myself) are just SOL. Some of the customers who still couldn't get their Fitbit to pair up with the software accepted Fitbit's offer to send them a new unit, but that seems to be pretty hit or miss too. One customer said he's working on his third Fitbit Flex and he's still having the same problems. Given the sheer volume of complaints on the forum alone, I'm pretty surprised Fitbit hasn't taken more aggressive steps to address this. I mean, a Fitbit that won't pair to any software is useless, there's literally no way to view any of the data it's logging. It's just a rubber lame duck tied to your wrist.Two days after I contacted customer service about my issue, I got an email back from a representative who said, and I'm not making this up, that Fitbit had "confirmed [my] Flex tracker isn't paired yet on [my] Fitbit account" and to resolve this, I should follow the link included in the e-mail to setup my Flex tracker on my iOS device. So to summarize: in order to fix the issue of my Flex not pairing to my iPhone, I should pair my Flex to my iPhone. I responded immediately to the e-mail trying to clarify what the problem was, since they didn't seem to understand, but they still haven't responded.Honestly, when it works this is probably a 5-star product, but this level of frustration isn't really worth it. If I was the only one this had ever happened to it wouldn't be that big a deal, but there dozens of similar complaints. I wish I'd done more research on their website and scrolled through their user community a bit before I pulled the trigger. I'm definitely returning mine, and I think I'm going to go with the Jawbone UP2 instead. It doesn't seem to have the same problems, and the bracelet isn't quite as clunky.

I bought this Fitbit to start off my new year and increase my excersie routine and thought it would be helpful to track my steps and sleep pattern. The battery life was very good, mainly because there is a very small screen so it uses less battery. The only problem I had was deciding when to charge it because I wanted to track my sleep but I usually charge my electronics at night so I decided to charge it while at work when I wasn't walking around the most. Tracking my steps and sleep were very helpful mainly because it connected straight to my iPhone. I do wish that I went for the one with the larger screen because it's more interactive and you don't need to go to the iPhone app. In regards to tracking steps I noticed that on the days I went walking with my friends my steps were more than if I walked alone, even if I walked a shorter distance with my friends than alone. I talk a lot with my hands so because the Fitbit tracks motion I ended up adding some steps because of my hand talking. I do reccomend this for someone who is not trying to track every single step they take but for someone who is beginning their fitness journey and wants to set general goals each day to reach. Packaging wise everything was in prime condition when it arrived and it was very easy to set up and connect to my phone.

This device lives up to its hype and it is a good purchase for anyone who wants to live an active lifestyle with one caveat, the instructions will tell you that if you are syncing the data from your device to your phone all you need is a Bluetooth connection which is true but not ALLLL the truth. What's not mentioned is that you also need to have a data connection or WIFI connectivity on your phone first before you can sync your data and even to log the food you've eaten. Which brings me to another issue I have with Fitbit. Its food database is not very wide and not as easily manipulated like MFP's database. What this means is that Fitbit's food database is very American and British and adding food is not as easy as it is in MFP, I live in the Caribbean and cassava isn't portioned out in grams, ounces or pints; nor is it either served raw or as chips ( I kid you not Fitbit's database has 18 varieties of cassava chips, 3 varieties of cassava flour and as this writing just 2 varieties of cooked cassava).It integrates with other fitness apps great though.

Updated review: After 6 weeks, it fell off somewhere and is now lost. Although I loved it when I had it, I have to knock off 2 stars for the band. When I first got it, the holes were so hard that I couldn't get the Fitbit on myself and had to have my boyfriend press it on and even he struggled. After I few times, I was able to get it on myself, but I only took it off to charge because it was a hassle. I always made sure that it the band was secured all the way, but even still, it fell off yesterday. I hadn't removed it since last Saturday, and hadn't done anything strenuous with my hands, so it should've been fine. I recommend that Fitbit replace the band with a watch-style one, so that it this doesn't happen to anyone else. I will be replacing my Fitbit with a Charge HR.Original review: I've had my Fitbit for only a week now, but it works great and is a simple, unobtrusive way of reminding me to walk more and be more mindful of my eating and sleeping habits. Since I am a competitive person, if I'm close to my goal or to a round number, seeing it pushes me to meet the target. The silent alarm works great too. I haven't found it uncomfortable to sleep in at all and it holds up well in the shower and pool. All in all, very happy!