My husband and I have been using the BodyMedia LINK armband for a little over a year now. We both feel that the ability it gives to track and monitor our calories burned, steps taken and other fitness data gives us huge motivation to keep pushing forward. When Fitbit released a wristband version of their popular fitness tracker, I read a ton of good reviews and wondered if it was better than the older BodyMedia armband. In this Fitbit Flex Wireless Wristband review, I’ll tell you whether or not it worked out.

Advantages

• Lightweight, simple and comfortable design
• Wireless Bluetooth syncing with your phone
• Tracks steps taken, distance covered, calories burned, minutes active, as well as sleep habits
• App lets you track food intake, too
• Gives you “badges” for hitting milestones and reaching goals
• LEDs show you where you in terms of daily progress
• Battery lasts 5 days per charge

Disadvantages

• Looks a little silly, like a cheap watch with no face
• Less accurate than other options
• Software lacking compared to other options

I’m just one person and this is my opinion, be sure to check out the literally thousands of reviews this product has on Amazon!

Motivation To Lose Weight, One Calorie At A Time

Before I get started with my review, I want to explain why this type of device in general has been so helpful to my husband and myself. It all has to do with being able to see even the smallest amount of progress.

Most workout programs immediately throw you into a heavy exercise regimen. This is great for some people, but most of can only push ourselves so hard before life gets in the way. Raise your hand if you’ve ever started some new exercise program only to quit a week (or less!) later.

If you use a device like the Fitbit Flex, Jawbone Up, or BodyMedia LINK, you’re able to see hard numbers related to your progress. They may be small, but this is actually to your benefit.

By presenting you with daily activity stats, calorie wristbands give you the feedback you need to push yourself further, even if it’s in small ways.

If you’re a runner, you may look at today’s stats and decide to do another quarter mile tomorrow. If you’re more in my boat, you might see you took 500 steps today, and raise the bar tomorrow by taking the stairs instead of the elevator in the morning.

The Basics About The Fitbit Flex

The Fitbit Flex wristband looks a little bit like a cheap plastic or rubber watch, but instead of a face it just has 5 LEDs. It’s a pretty simple design, but as far as aesthetics the Jawbone Up looks more like a piece of jewelry a grownup might wear. I got a lot of “What is that thing?” questions when I wore the Flex.

Overall, it’s a fairly comfortable device to wear, like a watch. It’s waterproof, too, so you don’t have to take it off in the shower.

Like other products in this category, you wear it 24 hours a day, and it keeps track of how many steps you take, how many calories you burned, when you’re active and when you’re not, and at also tracks your sleep habits.

It pairs wirelessly with your Android or iPhone. One thing I didn’t like was that the app only shows so much information, and to get the full view and breakdown of your stats, you have to go to the website.

I Give The Flex Points For This…

The Fitbit Flex is compatible with all the major fitness apps, so when I switched over from the LINK I was still able to continue using MyFitnessPal.

You can track your food intake, which most people will find helpful. Let’s face it, we are doing it for our health! Like tracking other stats, doing this gives you motivation to keep moving forward with eating healthy.

And if you’ve tried to lose weight before, you know it’s a lot easier if you have a partner. Or two. Or a bunch of them. The social sharing features of the Flex make this super easy.

The LEDs on the wristband itself are a nice touch. You can set daily goals for steps, calories, or distance, and the LEDs will light up each time you reach another 20 percent of that daily goal. Great for a daily push!

I also like the alarm feature, which silently vibrates me awake to get ready for work while my husband continues snore.

But I Have To Take Points For This…

The Fitbit Flex Wireless Wristband is definitely more accurate than just a regular cheapo pedometer. If you enter your stats like height and weight, it can give you pretty good estimates of how many calories you’re burning, as well.

That said, it will sometimes register steps taken when you’re not walking. I’ve had it register 50 steps when I drove across town. It also fails to register steps if you’re not moving your arms, for example when you’re pushing a shopping cart.

The biggest disadvantage, though, is that the software is lacking compared to other options. I actually believe this is temporary, and they’re probably working on the apps right now, but for the time being it’s just not the best.

The Flex’s software will take all your stats, your daily activity and sleep data and your food intake and everything, and smash those numbers together to give you more personalized information. The thing is, it’s just not as good or detailed as the Up’s Insight Engine, and doesn’t come close to the BodyMedia LINK’s FIT coach, which is practically like your own personal trainer.

If I was in charge of developing the Flex, I would make big upgrades to the stat analyzing software so it was comparable to other available options. Then I’d put it in a better looking package that would look good on anyone’s wrist and look good in any setting.

Before that happens, though, I just can’t recommend the Fitbit Flex Wireless Activity and Sleep Wristband when there are better options on the table. To read about them, check out my husband’s BodyMedia LINK review or our friend Darren’s Jawbone Up 24 review.

Or CLICK HERE to find out what other users are saying about the Fitbit Flex Wireless Wristband!

In the years between high school and turning 30, I went from an athlete to a regular old pudgy guy. It was partly my slowing metabolism, and partly my lifestyle- I work at a computer most of the day, and used to just come home and sit on my ass every night. However, I’ve lost about 30 pounds in the year and a half since I turned 30. It was largely a result of my own willpower and determination, but in this Jawbone Up 24 review, I’ll explain how this calorie counting wristband (and the earlier version) helped out immensely.

Advantages

• Simple, lightweight, comfortable design – definitely the best looking design of these types of bracelets
• Wirelessly tracks calories burned, steps taken, distance covered, active vs idle time, and sleep habits
• Some of the most accurate tracking on the market
• You can also log meals
• Insight Engine analyzes all these factors to give personalized info and suggestions
• Syncs with other popular fitness apps like MyFitnessPal
• Smart alarm can silently wake you up, and also encourage you to get off your butt
• Battery lasts a good week per charge
• Waterproof enough to leave on in a shower

Disadvantages

• 24-7 bluetooth connection drains your iPhones battery
• You also need to keep your phone with you 24-7
• Currently iPhone only – no Android support (Android users can use the original, non-Bluetooth Up)
• Bracelet is a little thick and can get in the way sometimes

See more UP 24 by Jawbone reviews and ratings or check current price here!

It Worked For Me- Here’s Why!

When I turned 30 about a year and a half ago, I made the decision with my friends Jim and Erica to get back into shape. Together we tried a bunch of different fitness products and diets. The problem when you first start trying to lose weight is that a lot of these products are aimed at people with what seem to have superhuman determination. What I mean is, we would try something new and it would go well a week or two before our enthusiasm would fizzle out.

Enter calorie armbands. First we were using simple pedometers and heart rate monitors. The thing about these types of fitness trackers is that they give you solid numbers to show you were you are, and more importantly, to encourage you to keep moving.

For example, most people can’t just jump right into something like The Insanity Workout. It kicks your ass for a day or two, and then you give up. But if you look at your pedometer and took 300 steps today, it’s easy enough to park a little further away tomorrow and beat your score.

For me, this type of tiny incremental progress feedback and reporting was exactly what I needed to slowly but surely push my way back into better health!

The Jawbone Up 24 Bumps Fitness Tracking Up Another Level

After I finally started to lose a couple pounds with the simple pedometer approach, I decided it would be worth it to invest in one of the more full-featured calorie counting gadgets.

I tried a couple different gizmos, including the BodyMedia LINK and the FitBit, but in the end I settled on the Jawbone Up, which I updated to the wireless Jawbone Up 24 back in December.

Both versions of the Jawbone Up have a very simple, sleek, streamlined wristband design. If you didn’t know it was actually a gadget, you’d probably just think it was a bracelet. Hands-down, it’s the best looking of these types of gizmos, and the most comfortable for my money.

It’s also waterproof, so you don’t have to take it off to get in the shower. It’s recommended that you don’t submerge it, but I have accidentally while washing dishes and it was fine.

The Jawbone Up 24 pairs wirelessly with iPhones only (though I assuming they’re working on multi-platform functionality now), while the original pairs over a wire and can work with iPhones and Android phones.

Once paired, you use your phone to see your fitness stats. It tracks not just your steps, but also calories burned, distance covered, time spent active, and how well you’re sleeping. It shows you graphs to see how you’ve progressed, and will also show you milestones like taking your millionth tracked step or reaching your calorie goal.

You can also enter your daily meals, and there’s an option to just scan barcodes to quickly pull up nutritional information.

Then it takes all this information you’ve tracked and entered, runs a bunch of numbers on it, and spits out personalized data about your progress. In this way, the Jawbone Up 24 and original Jawbone can give fitness advice catered specifically to your needs!

More Accurate Than A Pedometer, Too!

If you’ve ever played with a pedometer, you probably know that shaking it can give you a false reading. I’ve had pedometers claim I took 1000 steps when really I was just riding in a car!

I was a little worried the Up would have the same issue, but shaking my arm while wearing it didn’t produce any false positives. The FitBit failed this test, which is one of the reasons I didn’t end up using it.

The Jawbone Up 24 also lets you select what kind of activity you were doing after doing your workouts, to better calibrate how many calories you actually burned.

While the BodyMedia LINK boasts the best accuracy on the market, I would contend that is a very close second. I feel the numbers it gives are pretty damn close, and the number of pounds I’ve dropped seems to match up to that 🙂

Other Noteworthy Features

One of the things I like about this is the silent Smart Alarm. You can use it to help you ease out of sleep at the optimal time, and since it doesn’t with vibrations it doesn’t jar you out of your slumber in a way that makes you want to smash your alarm clock.

I also find it useful to use the alarm while I’m at work, so I remember to get up from my workstation and stretch every 20 minutes.

The Jawbone Up 24 also has social sharing features, so if you have friends who are also trying to lose weight you can compare “scores”, which can be incredibly helpful when it comes to exercise and getting in better shape. (We’re all in this together, guys!)

A Couple Things I Don’t Like

I like the design, though I wish it was thinner, or at least thinner on the bottom. I find it can get in the way if I’m doing something where my wrists naturally rest on a surface, like when I’m typing on my laptop or cutting things on a cutting board.

I did find that my brain seems to automatically adjust for these things, so it’s easier than when I got the Up, but I’ll still take it off sometimes for these kind of tasks.

The battery life on the Up wristband is fantastic- I only charge it once a week. The downside is that since it pairs over bluetooth, and it’s connected 24 hours a day, you’re going to have to charge your iPhone more. There’s just no way around it.

Since it’s paired all day, you also need to have your iPhone with you all day, but most people do, anyway.

For my money, the Up 24 by Jawbone is the best fitness tracking wristband on the market. It’s small and stylish, comfortable enough to wear all the time, and provides you with a wealth of data for you to watch your progress and keep improving your health. It costs slightly more than the BodyMedia LINK, but doesn’t require a monthly fee like the LINK. (Click HERE to see Jim’s review on the BodyMedia armband.)

See more Jawbone Up 24 reviews and check current prices over at Amazon.com!

I’d like to say I’ve struggled with my weight my whole life, but honestly it’s more like I just gave in to my weight my whole life. Even when I was little, I was bigger than all my classmates, and I figured I would always be that way. It wasn’t until my father-in-law had a heart attack a few years ago that I actually wanted to get in better shape. My wife and I tried all kinds of diet, workout, and fitness products before figuring how much help simple calorie counting armbands would help us shed the pounds and get in better shape. Eventually, we settled on the BodyMedia LINK Armband Weight Management System as our everyday fitness tool of choice, and in this review I’ll explain why.

Advantages

• Most accurate calorie burn tracker on the market
• Also tracks steps taken, activity levels and sleep quality 24-7
• Analyzes this data in real time, giving you super accurate stats to track your progress
• Wirelessly works with your phone and/or computer
• Can be paired with exercise and diet apps
• Gives diet and exercise recommendations tailored specifically for you
• Charge lasts 4-5 days

Disadvantages

• Requires a paid subscription after 3 months
• Can get uncomfortable at times

Click here to see hundreds of other BodyMedia LINK reviews and ratings!

Nudging You Along Towards Better Health

Now, the entire reason I love these kind of devices is that tracking your progress with your fitness, even incrementally, helps push you along and motivate you so you keep going. By showing your hard numbers and graphs to show how you’re doing, it keeps you wanting to do better, or at least keep up with yourself.

I actually started with simpler devices like pedometers and heart rate monitors to do this, but after doing some research on wristbands and armbands that track health data, I found that the BodyMedia LINK has the most accurate calorie burn measurements available right now!

The first few days, though, I actually thought there was no way the readings could be right, but after talking to customer service I found out that the LINK is actually more accurate the longer you wear it. Sure enough, it got to learn my body and metabolism and the readings looked a lot more realistic.

It Works A Little Something Like This

You wear the BodyMedia LINK all day, even to bed, and you only take it off when you hop in the shower. It keeps track of your movement in 3 dimensions, your body heat and sweat levels. Using this data, it will generate reports showing how many calories you burned down to the minute!

Now, all I was looking for in the first place was an armband that could track my burnt calories, and this fits the bill, but that’s really just the tip of the iceberg.

You access all your progress information using your phone or computer, and it can pair with other apps to track your exercise and diet habits. I use MyFitnessPal for this. I can actually just scan barcodes and it will enter the food into my log, but if I cook something myself it doesn’t take much longer. So it’s really easy to track my calories going in and the ones I’m burning up.

But one of the best things is a feature called the FIT Coach, which takes all this data, crunches all the numbers, and gives you pretty damn specific advice on what to eat and how hard to push yourself.

The FIT Coach makes the BodyMedia LINK like having a top-notch personal trainer with Godlike knowledge of your body and its needs!

OMG! My Own Experience With The LINK

So when I decided a couple years ago to try to get in shape, I really had a really hard time. I had a little luck with changing my diet, but I couldn’t stick to any kind of exercise routine.

Somebody suggested getting a pedometer, and that actually helped motivate me a lot. Each day I’d try to beat my score, or at least keep the same number of steps per day. Slowly but surely, the pounds started coming off.

I was so excited by the slow progress I was making, I started looking at other gadgets that would track my steps more efficiently, and I started finding these wristbands and armbands that could track my calorie burn and more. I actually went through a few different ones before settling on the LINK.

Now that I’ve really been doing it, I will have to agree with everyone that says it’s mostly YOU- you have to be willing to put in the work. But for me, personally, the BodyMedia Armband was able to give me that extra go-ahead I needed to keep my ass moving.

In 2013, using the BodyMedia LINK Weight Management System, I lost over 50 pounds!

My best monthly record is almost 15 pounds, but believe me, it was a journey to get where I am. I really believe that having access to real time, accurate fitness stats about my progress was a huge motivator, and the FIT Coach was certainly a huge help in giving me specific advice.

It Has A Couple Minor Downsides, Though

The first thing that made me unsure about the BodyMedia LINK was that it doesn’t track your heart rate, which was something I had been looking for. It turns out this is typical for calorie armbands, but you can pair it with a Garmin Heart Rate Monitor. Even without it the LINK tracks your burnt calories more accurately than punching your pulse into a calculator.

Another issue is that since you wear it all day, every day, it can get irritating at times. Some people have gotten blisters, but all I’ve gotten was a little minor redness and irritation. I now switch arms every day to avoid that. It is overall fairly comfortable and I sometimes forget I’m wearing it.

Finally, the biggest issue I have, and a lot of BodyMedia LINK Reviews mention it, is that after the 3 month trial is up, you actually have to pay $7 a month to use the Online Activity Manager and FIT Coach and everything.

If you consider how much you’d pay for a personal trainer, though, and how much weight this thing can help you lose, I do believe it’s worth it. I can just take the money out of the money I used to spend on Coca-Cola every day LOL! 😛

IMHO, the BodyMedia LINK Armband Weight Management System is one of the most powerful tools for weight loss out there. Its tracking system has been a very, very powerful motivator to get me moving more and shedding those pounds, and the FIT Coach is a powerful training system that can help give you an extra boost. I recommend it for anybody struggling to get rid of extra pounds.

Read more BodyMedia LINK reviews or check the current price here!