Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Picked up my fitbit flex last night at best buy, and I've had it on for the last 24 hours. Wanted to throw my thoughts into the ring to help you make your buying decision. Pros: +lightweight and comfortable, you'll forget that you even have it on +unobtrusive and understated, matches well with professional and casual dress +water-resistant, so you don't have to take it off when you shower +since it's on my wrist, I'll never forget to take it with me when I go about my day +battery life is supposed to last 5-7 days, and charges up in a couple hours via my computer's USB port +love the LED lights that give you a quick snapshot of how active you've been for the day (5 lights total, each representing 20% of your goal - they fill up as you go about your day) +when you achieve your pre-set daily activity goal (10,000 steps is default), the LEDs go nuts and the band vibrates to congratulate you +wireless connectivity to my iPhone 5, Macbook Air, and Windows PC works flawlessly Cons: -accuracy: since it's my first pedometer, I have nothing to compare it to. Going for a 25-minute car ride resulted in the flex recording about 30 steps, and using the computer for most of the day probably added a few steps too. All in all, today's data (14,000 steps, 7 miles) is I think a slight overestimate of my day's activity, but it's probably pretty close. -iPhone app is a little bit anemic when it comes to interacting with or viewing all your data. The website is much more robust, but I'd prefer being able to access the same fancy charts/graphs on my iPhone that I can on my desktop. -have to manually enable "sleep mode" by rapidly tapping the fitbit for a few seconds, and then do the same when you wake up. I just know that one of these nights/mornings I'm going to forget to enable/disable sleep mode. -food tracking kind of sucks on the iPhone app Hit/Miss: -the strap was initially a bit hard to put on, but became much simpler after a few goes at it. Plus, you're only going to be taking this thing off about once per week to charge it anyway. -strap is a tiny bit thicker than I would like -setup was straightforward, but would have preferred a "quick-start guide" or something to be included in the fancy box. Bottom Line: I really like this device so far. The key really is to have the appropriate expectations of what a device like this is going to do for you. It's a wrist-based pedometer, and that means that if you're doing any activity that over or under involves your hands/arms, it's going to throw off the accuracy of the step counting, regardless of how good fitbit's accelerometer algorithms are. I've heard that the Fitbit One is more accurate, since it's supposed to be clipped to your torso. If you're someone that's pushing a stroller or shopping cart around every day, or you get most of your exercise on a bike, you're going to be disappointed with the flex. If however you just want something that you can "set and forget", and at a quick glance have it give you an idea of how active you've been during the day, and you don't care whether you've taken 9500 or 9600 steps, then you'll love the flex. (This by the way is the exact reason why I chose the flex over the jawbone up. The Up has no display and can't give you real-time feedback on your activity without plugging into your phone first.) Update: 8/5/13 I've owned my fitbit flex now for just about 3 months, and I wanted to update my review. I haven't gone a single day, maybe not even more than an hour at a time without having the thing on my wrist - I feel naked without it! Kudos to fitbit for designing something that's been so easy to integrate into my life. Completed my first ever marathon with it a few months ago too! (unfortunately I forgot to charge the thing before I left for my trip, so it died about 10 miles in). Speaking of battery, it's solid. Easily get 4-5 days of use, but I've gotten into a habit of just throwing it in the charger when I sit down at the computer for a bit. Accuracy seems to be pretty good, but again I can't quantify it without a second pedometer attached to my body. If anyone wants to send me one to test, I'll gladly do it :-). HOWEVER - I've decided to dock a star for the following reasons: -although the band and the tracker are waterproof, water always finds its way into the slot in the band where the tracker goes. It doesn't really affect anything, but it is kinda annoying because you'll see a water droplet through the window on the band when you check to see how many lights you've hit. Funk from sweat isn't really an issue though, maybe cause I shower with the thing on too. -Sleep mode is a pain. I forget to enable it probably 25% of the time. Wish it would automatically detect non-movement and enable sleep mode like the jawbone. -the see-through plastic window on the band is really easily scratched up, but this is pretty minor -BIG DESIGN FLAW: through repeated instances of taking the tracker in and out of the band to charge, my band has now started to separate and tear apart right at the inside of the band where the tracker goes in. It's not just my band either - I bought my mother a band around the same time that I bought mine, and her flex band has separated in the exact same spot that mine has. I sent off an email to fitbit asking for a replacement, and they responded within a few hours letting me know they would send me a new one. Good on them for really great customer service, but shame on them for selling a $100 pedometer with such an obvious design issue. This here would be a deal-breaker by itself without their impressive CS. I will update this review again in a few months, but all in all I still love my Fitbit and can no longer imagine my life without it. Update 05/06/14: I meant to update this thing a while ago, but thought I'd write in to say that I've decided to make the jump to the Garmin Vivofit, which I think is overall a better fitness band. It has numerous advantages over the flex, which I detailed. Garmin Vivofit Fitness Band - Black.