My family were all aghast when I chose to wear my FitBit on my wedding day. I reasoned that you couldn’t really see it behind the bouquet of white roses, and even if you could, I’d bought a special gold band for the day, to match my shoes and wedding ring.
As fellow step counters will appreciate, I wasn’t letting those 14k steps go to waste by not counting them. I was on a Workweek Hustle Showdown challenge with four fellas from Denmark so I couldn’t afford to get behind.
The ability to buy new bands and swap them around is one of my favourite features of the FitBit Alta. Alas the excitement of the wedding was too much for my fitness tracker and it died soon after.
Or rather, it didn’t exactly die, but it stopped being able to hold a charge for more than a day or so. So after around three years of use, I was forced to replace it.
Nothing Lasts Forever said Echo and the Bunnymen, and they were right
I would rather not have had to replace it, but it seems that even in these days of technological advancement, expecting a gadget to last longer than three years is like expecting a politician to tell the truth. Just not gonna happen (unless you are Caroline Lucas, in which case I LOVE YOU).
Since I bought my last one, the FitBit Alta has now mutated into FitBit Alta HR. I didn’t especially want my heart rate measuring, for fear it would turn out that I didn’t have one. After all, I am the only woman who doesn’t like Mamma Mia, so clearly I am at least partially dead inside.
Anyway, after three months’ use of the shiny new model I thought I would report back to you on how I got on.
Turns out I LOVE the aul heart rate monitor business. I especially love when it tells me that I have an excellent fitness level.
I don’t love it when it loses contact with my pulse and declares that I have a heart rate of zero. That’s quite scary the first time it happens, but I’ve got used to it now and am at peace with the confirmation that yes, I am partially dead inside and should at least give Mamma Mia another go.
I also love that the battery on this one lasts up to a week. Top tip BTW – it you are buying a second hand FitBit from eBay, check on the promised battery level. Some of them are quite cruddy. Look for one that can still hold a charge.
I enjoy the sleep tracking, which is a big improvement on the previous model. You get a graph of the previous night’s sleep and a mark out of a hundred depending on how well you slept. Extra points for a lie in so be sure to have plenty of those.
This is what the FitBit Alta HR band can do:
- Track your steps (obviously)
- Track your distance
- Number of calories burned per day/week
- Continuous (ish) heart rate tracking
- Track your sleep quality
- Wake you up with a gentle alarm (I don’t do this because I think waking up with a buzzing arm would give me too many bad robot dreams)
- Display phone calls and texts as they come in (this is quite handy if your phone’s in another room or at the bottom of your bag)
- Long battery life up to 7 days
- Nudge you to move if you haven’t done 250 steps in an hour
- Track your periods (if you’re into that sort of thing)
- Set up step challenges either alone or against other FitBit users around the world (I LOVE these. Get in touch if you want to be FitBit fwends).
What it can’t do is get up off your arse and go for a walk. You still have to do that bit.
See, I knew there was a catch.
FitBit Alta HR product details
Officially, the FitBit Alta HR is now discontinued, so you won’t find it on the FitBit website. But it’s still quite widely available in many outlets. I bought mine from Amazon, where it’s currently priced from £78.95. (affiliate link)
More posts about my FitBit adventures here