It was Thursday evening, late, and I stumbled upon a Facebook post about the long-awaited, Fitbit Flex. Someone, and it was not me, owned one! He took a snapshot of the device at Best Buy. Okay, +Fitbit what went wrong? Did I offend someone in marketing? Was it the one Sunday when I failed to reach my benchmark of 10K steps? Regardless, I was hurt, over it now, alas, I was hurt. Even more so, perturbed in the news that Best Buy had them in their stores before www.fitbit.com notified their mail list subscribers. Regardless, Friday lunch break consisted a quick trip up to Best Buy to purchase not only one, but also two Flex trackers. One black and the other slate. The black one went to a good friend of mine, we'll call him 007, and he has been awaiting the device since... it was announced at the Computer and Electronics show in Vegas circa Jan. 2013. The color slate is different, though it is growing on me.
Fitbit Flex Packaging - the packaging was nice, a rectangular column package, clear, with the device hovering in a plastic window, similar to a watch case. Contents: one Fitbit Flex, two bands, one large, one small, USB dongle charger, and a USB sync dongle
Workmanship: the Flex has a sleek, skinny, and slender look. The lines are tight, but the rubber, plastic feel of the band is nice! There are nine adjustment holes on the large band to get a good fit. The weight is noticeably light. I even forget is one my wrist at all.
Accuracy: well, today was Saturday and I wore my Fitbit One and the Flex the entire day. The numbers were within about 300 to 500.
Pros
1. Portability is great since the device itself it tiny. About 1/3 the size of the "The One".
2. Waterproof up to 10 feet of water, which is good because you forget it is there when and if you wash your hand, do dished, spill a snow cone - you are covered!
3. LED lights show you the progress as you go about your day. With two quick, gentle taps on the top of the device the light indicate to you how far along you are one light is about 25% and so on.
4. BlueTooth 4.0 - works great! I did a synchronization with my laptop (Apple MacBook) and my Apple iPhone 4S - no problems!
5. NFC (Near Field Transmission) if you have one of the near Android phones compatible with the Flex then all you do is move your phone near the Flex and the Fitbit app opens up and synchronizes your data. Although, I need to add there is a strong rumor the next iPhone 5s "might" include NFC.
6. Cost is almost perfect at $99.95 whereas the Nike Fuel is $149, and the Jawbone Up goes for $129
Cons
1. Those tiny LED lights are, well, too simplistic, I missed the scrolling data of the +Fitbit One.
2. No altimeter... seeing how many floors climbed daily is fun. Well, it is not there, the Flex was downgraded with features for a size reduction, and with wearing the device on one's wrist the algorithms perhaps are not possible due to the up and down movements of one's arm? If you want more than just a blinking LED light giving your 25% or 30% or 51% accuracy you must sync the Flex with your mobile phone or computer. While the +Fitbit One, Zip, and Ultra all had wonderful LED displays independent of another device.
3. Food database - I tried, and the tried again to like my output and input data all in one app; however, the food variety was lacking. Workaround is to the +MyFitnessPal app and then easily synchronize it to your Fitbit account. I have been using the My Fitness Pay app now side-by-side with the Fitbit app and Fitbit One for 116 days - both work great!
Will I keep it and sell The One? After almost 30 hours of my alpha testing, I am pretty sure this device is A: going to be a be gift to a relative, B: returned to Best Buy within 11 days or C: sold on eBay.
Good luck everyone, and you can expect a YouTube video comparing the Fitbit One and Flex in the next twelve hours.
05/05/2013 ~ Fitbit Flex review update...
Okay, I went to bed last night, okay, this morning, and then awoke to find double tracking Fitbit devices attached to me! Nevertheless, I did feel similar to a science project :)
Here are two screen shots after going on a short walk this morning while wearing the Fitbit One attached to my clothes (as recommended by www.fitbit.com) and the Fitbit Flex around my left wrist when the settings on the device as my non-dominant arm. After a nice ten minutes or so, came back and synchronized both devices.
Flex screen shot of data = 1,781 steps
The One screen shot of data = 1,854 steps
Ergo, using basic math learned decades ago... The +Fitbit One device tracked only 73 more steps than the +Fitbit Flex. I plan to execute further testing either later today or tomorrow around an outdoor track. Thank you everyone for reading my content, and good luck today reaching your 10,000 steps!
Day Three with the Fitbit Flex Update: 05/06/2013
Yesterday, Sunday, I ran another test by carrying and wearing two Fitbit trackers. The +Fitbit One was in my pocket, while the +Fitbit Flex was on my wrist. At the end of the day my data was as follows:
One - 11,570
Flex - 11,930
Difference of 360 more steps tracked by Flex then the One. In the big picture analyzing an entire day's worth of minute-by-minute data a difference of only a few hundred steps is accurate enough for most amateur athletes and those wanting to stay in shape...
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