Form Factor Winner: Fuelband
Like roughly 80% of the people that I’ve talked to about the Fitbit, I sent mine through the laundry. The form factor of the Fitbit seems pretty fatal based on the anecdotal examples people have shared.
While the Fuelband is a little cumbersome to wear, I’ll surely never wash and destroy it. It’s also easier to wear with any kind of clothing.
Since both devices are $100+, the chances that I’ll replace the Fitbit are very low. It took me less than a couple months to wash it the first time.
Accuracy Winner: Fitbit
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The difference in captured data between the Fuelband and the Fitbit was pretty consistent last week: the Fuelband captured far more steps and activity.
Until yesterday!
On Saturday I ran for a few miles at Fort Funston with Pixels, walked around SF quite a bit, and ended the night at Zeitgeist for a friend’s birthday. Below are the oddly close measurements from each device:
Fitbit
Fuelband
Menu planning!
Week 1 charts
The aggregate difference between the two weeks is pretty funny: I walked either 30 miles or 10 miles. :-)
Fuelband, first week: 
Fitbit, same week: 
Neither device captures workouts well
One of the reasons that I bought these devices was to track my fitness as I completed the P90x program and became more physically fit. Instead, a funny pattern is emerging.
On days when I don’t work out, it’s almost always because I’ve been more active than usual whether it’s because of walking/playing with Pixels, cleaning the house, or doing something like going out with friends.
As you can see below, both devices are better at measuring walking around than weightlifting or more energy intensive exercises.
Fuelband on a workout-less day: 
Fuelband on a day I worked out: 
Fitbit on a workout-less day: 
Fitbit on a day I worked out: 
What’s next
Now that I’ve seen these patterns emerge, I’m going to change my goal on the Fuelband to 4500 from 3000. 3000 is the recommended goal if you work out once a day; 6000 is the goal if you’re active all day. It’s too easy for me to reach 3000 just by running errands or playing with Pixels. For the Fuelband to serve as the motivational heuristic that it’s meant to be, I’ll need to set a bigger goal.
I refer to this list of compulsive loops for game and product design work. These are present in both games and utilities. Each hook is a tight little loop of expectation and delivery that is the most basic behavior. In games, they’re called “mechanics” and are the itchy fun. I use the words mechanic and behavior interchangeably, though that’s probably wrong. A finer distinction can be made about whether the behavior is thought of as one in a system of dependent behaviors or as something that originates within a person, but that’s not what lists are good for.
The Hooks
Stats for yesterday, April 19th 2012:
Nike+ Fuelband
Fitbit
My overall exercise
I ran 1.14 miles after work to and from Duboce park where I played fetch with Pixels, which included doing high knee jumps on the way home, uphill. After vacuuming the house (500 sq. ft. of it, maybe) and doing some laundry, I did the P90x Chest and Back workout which is mostly a lot of pushups and pull-ups. I was also supposed to do Ab Ripper X, but by then it was 10:30 and I was exhausted.
The data
I can already see that the Fitbit shows I’ve traveled less distance but burnt more calories; the Fuelband shows that I’ve traveled farther and burnt fewer calories. Fuel seems to capture “effort” better than the Fitbit, though. You can see that the spike from my short run is much bigger than the late night workout, whereas it was actually less effort than doing a shit ton of pushups. The Fuel graph (above with the other data) shows the peaks as being closer together in effort.
Trends over time
These devices seem to be more about the trends of activity over time than actually quantifying anything with precision, which is disappointing. I guess it’s naive of me to think that a bracelet or a dongle would be an effective measurement too. So if these aren’t accurate reading devices, what are they?
Motivational tools
The community that’s active in the Fitbit forums seem (from my brief perusal) to be a little older and more female than the “athletes” that are targeted by the Fuelband product. The difference in the calories-burned measurement definitely makes me feel like the emphasis is on weight loss, whereas the greater measure of activity shown by Fuelband is more motivational to me as someone who mostly wants to be fit and combat sloth.
Merely 3/4 of a day in (and no workout yet) the data difference between the Fuelband and the Fitbit is huuuuge.
Fitbit
Fuelband
Fuelband versus Fitbit
I’ve been using the Fitbit for barely a month; yesterday I received my Nike+ Fuelband. I’ll be comparing the data from each device as well as my experiences with the software and the companies.
A bit of background
I’m currently doing the P90x workout regime, but I’m not really following the diet guidelines strictly. I tend to eat more veggies and protein than the average bear; I hardly eat sweets (except for the occasional fit of baking); I drink Diet Coke maybe twice a month. Overall I’m just trying to establish good exercise habits.
I started getting in shape with the P90 program in August 2011 after not being very physically active since high school when I swam butterfly and played trumpet in the marching band. After a couple months of P90 I started a new job and stopped working out for a month. When I started working out again, I felt like I’d plateaued and was ready to start P90x.
My short-term goal is to get in good shape for a late June/early July family surfing trip in Costa Rica. I’ve been in the water on a surfboard off and on since I was 11, though I’m loathe to call that “surfing” because I’ve always been terrible. Becoming a strong surfer has been a lifelong desire of mine and I decided that the trip to Costa Rica was my opportunity to make a deadline for myself. My sister Joy and I are taking surf lessons the weekend of May 5th in Pacifica with Adventure Out to make the most of our time on some of the world’s most famous surfing beaches.
The setup
The setup for both devices was error-prone. The first Fitbit I got was a straightup dud - it just didn’t track. After poring over the forums I found a couple other people who had had the same issue and emailed Fitbit customer service. The immediate reply was that my new Fitbit was in the mail. That was one of the top five customer service experiences of my life. :-)
The Fuelband website suffered from terrible UI while I was trying to recover my password, prompting me to post this tweet: “If hitting the return key while on a form modal actually closes that modal without submitting the form, you are an asshole.”
After finally recovering my password, it took me about an hour of trying off and on to get the Nike+ desktop client to connect to nikeplus.com, even though my browser was able to connect just fine. The Fuelband Twitter account did try to help me, but they didn’t understand my issue at all.
Other data I’m tracking
I’m awaiting the results of a cholesterol test; I’m also long due to start tracking my blood sugar. I weigh myself sometimes, but my weight has remained consistent as I’ve lost fat and built muscle.
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