I am a great fan of In Style Magazine. A long (we don’t say old) friend gave me a subscription years ago for my birthday. She was surprised I did not know about the magazine. I think she wanted me to be more up to date than I am. I guess only wearing black clothing, shoes and accessories needs some assistance. So, I think she would be very disappointed when one of the things that caught my eye to actually buy, in the May 2013 In Style Magazine, was black. It was listed under “what’s NOW!, of course, and said, “Gimme that Gismo, FITBIT FLEX. “ Here is what In Style said:
These cool new fitness bangles may be the best activity monitoring accessories yet. An internal accelerometer (yes, that’s a real word) tracks both exercise and sleep, giving you a 24/7 health snapshot. It’s also effortless to us, wirelessly syncing data to a free app. With a battery life of up to seven days, it keeps your goals right within reach.
Wow! It is eally sleek looking. Never take it off is for me. Effortless is for me. Goals within reach is for me. Is FITBIT FLEX for me? Can I now check to see the difference in activity in my day to day life versus my grandma life? Where do I expend more calories!
I went to fitbit.com where it sells for $100. Here is the long and short of it from the official website:
FLEXT WIRELESS ACTIVITY & SLEEP WRISTBAND
This slim, stylish device is with you all the time. During the day, it tracks steps, distance, and calories burned. At night, it tracks your sleep cycle and wakes you silently in the morning. Just check out the lights to see how you stack up against your personal goal. It’s the motivation you need to get out and be more active. Syncs with computer and smart phone. Get full picture with charts, graphs, and tools.
Of course, I want to check reviews. There are links directly to reviews. So I first clicked on the reviews on the website itself. Let’s hear what people who love it and whom the company thinks I should hear from have to say. Well. . . .even giving it a 9 out of ten, one reviewer says it does not show steps walked. I remember that another long friend has one of these things that shows how many thousands of steps she walks a day and she thinks it is an important thing to know that information, which this would not give me.
On Wired Magazine, I read that Matthew Honan, the same reviewer who gave it a nine out of ten and said it does not show steps walked, says “Nearly Flawless, Buy it Now.” He continues:
It also has tools to help promote weight loss. You can enter a goal and it will tell you how many calories you are allowed per day to get there, based on your activity. But this means manually entering the caloric values of your meals into its database, which is still sort of a chore. You have to be really dedicated to keep up with it.
Finally, the sleep tracking stuff is also quite good. When you go to bed at night, you either tap the device five times, or hit a button in the app to tell it you are going to sleep (and again when you wake). If you forget, you can manually input the hours that you slept. Either way, it will look at your movements to report back with how well you slept during the night. It also has a vibrating alarm to wake you, which is really great.
Never Mind. No need to go farther. This Grandma is mechanically challenged. I cannot figure out kid toys. This is no kid toy.
I already know I expend more calories when I am with grandchildren. I also know I ingest more calories, eating and finishing their food and snacks and desserts. I wonder if it can read that on the gizmo and do I want to really know?
What’s Now is Not for this Grandma. Now can they make one gizmo you program by voice and it does everything for you and gives you voice answers? That would be
Joy,
Mema
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