Tell Fitbug your tips for squeezing exercise into a regular day and read MNers feedback on the Fitbug Orb. Chance to win two free Fitbug Orbs. NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the 50 Mumsnetters who tried Fitbug Orb.

Here’s what Fitbug say: “The system sets you personal targets each week for steps and food, helping you improve your lifestyle at a rate you can gradually adjust to, so it’s not a hardcore exercise regime or a diet that you do for a short time, but a way of improving your habits for the long term."

Testers: We’d like you to post on this thread twice. First with your initial impressions, and then a couple weeks later letting us know how you got on. Please answer the questions below but feel free to add any other thoughts you may have.

First impressions:

Q1. Why did you want to take part in this product test?
Q2. What were your first impressions of the Fitbug Orb when you opened it? Did you like the look of it? If so, why? If not, why not?

Non-testers: What’s the easiest form of exercise that you manage to squeeze into a regular day? Do you have any tips to fit exercise easily into your day to share with other Mumsnetters? Maybe it’s taking the stairs to your office on the top floor of the building, or walking your children to school each day. Whatever it is, we’d love to hear it.

Everyone who adds their thoughts to this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a pair of Fitbug Orbs (worth £50 each).

Thanks,

MNHQ

[marssparklesdownonme]

sorry wrong thread

[Dutyfree]

Mine arrived today at long last!

Set it up reasonably quickly and set off on a walk with DH (we are both trying to up our exercise levels).

According to FitBug I've walked 6.5 miles, nearly 21000 steps and burned 1218 calories

All great so far as haven't worked out how to add the bottle of wine and fish and chip dinner we had at the end of our walk!

Will get back later to leave proper feedback.

[avidlounger]

Non tester

I stopped driving to work on a trial run to see how it went. £13 quid cheaper than driving plus no parking tickets. I get up earlier and dash for 25 minutes to the station. I'm more awake at work by 8 am the I had been driving in for 9 am after the walk then the train. Plus the walk home again. It's been brilliant and I wish I could do it all the time (school arrangements prevent)

[chocolateshoes]

Non tester: I bought myself a cheap pedometer and I can monitor my steps. I find it amazingly difficult to fit 10k steps in one day. Sometimes I end up having to do a load of jumping jacks before bed to up the count! It has made me much more conscious of how I would just sit around in the evening and I've been really surprised at how much effort I've gad to make despite being quite an active person.

[whimsy]

Non tester. I've stopped driving to school three times a week and have started taking the stairs instead of the lift.

[cookiefiend]

Q1. Why did you want to take part in this product test?

The last time I really lost weight, I was a member of a gym and I think part of what motivated me is they had a gym computer system which tracked your activity as you logged into each machine and it would email you periodically so you knew you were doing well. I am competitive and liked trying to achieve the challenges I had set. For some reason I found this better that using a paper based system at the most recent gym I was a member at. Now that I have a young daughter, going to the gym is not an option for me so I hope that the fitbug will challenge me similarly and motivate me to lose weight.

Q2. What were your first impressions of the Fitbug Orb when you opened it? Did you like the look of it? If so, why? If not, why not?

I was sent a pink bug which I would not have chosen, but the bug itself is cute. On the band it looks like I am wearing a child's watch and is really bright so I feel a little self conscious wearing it. I wore it on my bra one day which I preferred, but it has to be on your wrist to track sleep so you have to remember to change it to the wrist band at bed time. I am sure I will get used to doing that. I am sure it looks better in black as the shape and everything is nice. If I were back at work yet from maternity leave there is no way I would wear the pink one to meet clients etc. Oh and what everyone else said about the neck lanyard- it is only the size if the wrist band. It would not even come close to going over any human head. So I am not sure what you are meant to do with it.

So the box looked ok, I would be happy wrapping it and giving it as a gift. The instructions inside were very limited and it came with an extra set of links printed ina piece of paper that you could look at to get help. These would be really fiddly to type, but you would have to as when you go to the fitbug homepage there is no mention of using the fitbug, is it one massive advert for buying one. Why the homepage does not have an easy link to the users site I do not know. So I was not impressed with that. It was not terribly easy to set up, especially given that most technology now comes at least aortic ally set uo so that it works straight from the box. The battery was wrapped in the same plastic as the neck lanyard so it took me a minute or two to find it. Once I had downloaded the app into my iPod touch (the only piece if technology it will work with though we are quite a techy household) we got them to sync.

Unfortunately as others have said really the only thing you can do with the app is look over your stats. All the set up of goals etc has to be done on the website and if you want to use it to log your calories, that can only be done on the website. Since I do not usually have my ipad or a laptop with me at all times and even if I did I would not always want to draw that much attention to what I was doing, the calorie tracker part is rendered a bit useless. I know you could put in your food when you get home at the the end of the day, but that is going to be a bit time consuming. Also I think there is something about the immediacy if having to admit to having had a cookie and being put off having it there and then that would be good.

As a pedometer so far so good. I like the sleep function as DD i s 11 mo and I no longer pay any attention to when she wakes to bf as we co sleep, but from this I see she wakes at quite consitant times. However it cannot cope if you go to bed after midnight- it puts that sleep down for the next night, as though you have missed a nights sleep on the chat it keeps of its records.

Anyway to sum up, either it needs better printed instructions or an easily googleable fitbug homepage as though we managed fairly easily, not everyone has a DH with a degree in computing! Also so far the app looks disapointing. I am looking forward to trying some of the more advanced feature through the website, but if they were available on the app I would have had time to do this already.

[drinkyourmilk]

I'm having problems inputting food for the nutrition aspect.
Anyone else?

[StandUnderMyUmbrella]

TESTER

Q1. Why did you want to take part in this product test?

I am quite in to fitness apps at the moment and have been impressed with My Fitness Pal for getting fit and healthy so this sounded right up my street and the sleep mode fascinated me and i had to test it out!

Q2. What were your first impressions of the Fitbug Orb when you opened it? Did you like the look of it? If so, why? If not, why not?

I think the design of the product is really appealing and i loved it. I received a black Orb with a pink strip which is probably the colour i would have chosen myself! It was a bit fiddly working out how to do the battery and i did wonder what all the little bits were for until i read this thread!

To be honest i will probably only use the clip on and the strap parts, the rest wont probably be looked at. It was quite straightforward to set up as i went through all of the steps online on my phone. The only part the Orb struggled with was pairing to my device which was sorted when i closed down the website and reopened it again.

It is very discreet and i liked wearing it on my wrist and am currently wearing it on my waistband and have mostly forgotten it is even there.

Having only used it for one night so far, i am very impressed with the sleep mode. To be honest, it is blown me away!! I feel it is very accurate and it is so interesting!! With it measuring my steps, i feel it is more accurate with being clipped on rather than wearing on my wrist but i will see how that goes as time goes on.

Its handy that it syncs with My Fitness Pal although i havent used it yet and at first glance of the website, it is very confusing but this is just first impressions.

[heymammy]

Tester update...I received my dongle, yay! But my PC can't find the drivers, boo! So, back off to email customer services again, this is wearing a bit thin now if I'm honest.

If im using a dongle to push my info to the website then I wouldn't be able to use it 'on the go' to check I'm walking at a good pace etc making this feature defunct. Not really sure if I want to continue.

[HappyHippyChick]

Q1. Why did you want to take part in this product test?

I have just had baby number 5 and need to lose quite a bit of weight. With 3 dc under 4 including a newborn I struggle to find time to squeeze in exercise and I thought this would motivate me to walk more.

Q2. What were your first impressions of the Fitbug Orb when you opened it? Did you like the look of it? If so, why? If not, why not?

I did like the look of it, I have a white one, which I wear clipped on my bra and it is quite discreet.

[KateOxford]

NON TESTER
My tip is to walk everywhere possible and to always push the buggy, even when my husband offers! It's good exercise for my arms, especially since it's normally laden down with bags and shopping. I always walk where possible and when I haven't got my toddler to walk with me I try to walk at a fast pace to burn a few calories. I also always walk a few bus stops down to take the bus into town , it saves 70p each on the bus fare and is good exercise!

[GetKnitted]

zumba DVD after kids go to bed, takes commitment though

[NellVarnish]

heymammy, I've finally managed to get mine to synch to my PC - had an email from customer services to say:

The error message you are getting on your Windows XP computer is an expected error message and it normally occurs on all Windows XP machines when installing software from third party developers. Please click 'continue anyway' to complete the installation.

Not sure if that's the problem you're having or not but might help. Apparently I've still not done any steps today though.

Agree totally with cookiefiend about app, setting up of goals and entering food on website though. I've missed inputting three days of food as not had time to faff about.

[heymammy]

Thanks Nell, I had that message and clicked continue anyway but then it searched for aaaages to find the drivers and finally asks me to "please insert the disk that you received with your dongle"

Gah, it's a bloody conspiracy

(Sounds like its a bit hit and miss even when it is up and running)

[NellVarnish]

God it is seriously doing my head in heymammy. I have faffed around with it for a week now and it's still not working properly. Hit or miss is a very good description.

I also thought Fitbug and Fitbit were the same company at first. Have just been trying to find some online reviews of the Orb, apart from ours to see if I can work out what's up with it.

I'm not thick honest but setting up this bug has seriously made me think otherwise.

[Sleepytea]

My fitbug has finally arrived so these are my first impressions.

Q1. Why did you want to take part in this product test?
I wanted to test this product because I don't feel very fit at the moment and need some motivation to get moving. I tried a vivofit a few months ago and so I was also interested to see how they compare.

Q2. What were your first impressions of the Fitbug Orb when you opened it? Did you like the look of it? If so, why? If not, why not?
I was surprised by how small the fitbug was. I was chosen to receive the hot pink version. It comes with a bracelet, a clip and a strap. Oh, and a battery which I didn't realise about at first. Then I had a few problems inserting the battery - the instructions need improving. I paired the device with my iPad with no problems. I've spent the day with it attached to my bra where it was forgotten about.

Things I like so far:
I think it looks good, it's small and light.
I like the way it separates steps into aerobic activity and non-aerobic
I like the email updates to help me learn how to use the device

Things I don't like:
I can't see how many steps I've done without looking at the app. I preferred the way the vivofit displays the number of steps done and how many are left to achieve my goal.

I haven't tried the sleep function or paired it myfitnesspal so can't comment on these.

[HeySoulSister]

Q1. Why did you want to take part in this product test?

Loved the idea of tracking my fitness and improving on it. Half marathon training starts up again on sept 1st and have a PB to beat!! Need a bit of support and motivation I guess....

Q2. What were your first impressions of the Fitbug Orb when you opened it? Did you like the look of it? If so, why? If not, why not?

When it finally arrived it was in great packaging, mines the pink one, very straightforward to insert battery etc. love how it looks and love the strength of the clip. Quick and easy to set up and pair with Bluetooth/app/myfitnesspal. Was up and running straightaway. The a stats are easy to understand and as far as I can tell,accurate.

Only downside was I didn't know for sleep tracking it needs to be on the wrist, hence my sleep not recording on first night. Will try again tonight

Both my teenage daughters are VERY interested in this product and want to steal it off me!

[teddygirlonce]

Non-Tester

All about the school-run as the best form of sneaking in exercise - have two hours of walking a day for the school-run which factors in over 12,000 foosteps on school days! It's easy, very much fits in the school day and as it's been a routine for over a decade now, don't think twice about doing it so don't have the issue of rebelling against it .

However, really do notice during the hols, with not having to do the school run, that I get a lot more slothful and it's not always easy to get anywhere near 10,000 footsteps in!

Top tip would be to buy a decent pair of walking shoes/boots and/or trainers because lots of walking in 'fashion' shoes does bad things to feet!

[kslatts]

Non tester - I get off the bus one stop early on my way to work.

[magentastardust]

Non tester-It sounds silly but being 'inefficient' helps me tally up extra steps in a day. Eg I run up the stairs every time I have something to put away rather than make a small pile then take it up in one go.

Whilst I wait for for the kettle to boil, I do some squats or march on the spot-I am sure it looks a bit silly but all adds up.

I have recently lost 3 stone and try to walk as much as I can every day, before I don't think I realised how much I sat on my bum all day ,I haven't walked up my stairs since the beginning of the year , I always run up them now, I take the long way round to get to things.

[MyNameIsInigoMontoya]

Non-tester

I find my best way to fit in exercise is walking everywhere, I did a pedometer challenge for a while and found dropping off 2 DCs in different places, walking to the shop etc made a massive difference to my step counts even without any "formal" exercise.

Also running, because you can just go straight from home even if you only have 20 minutes or so (and shower later on if necessary), or 30-Day Shred which is also short and can be done in the house on nights when DH is out and I have to stay in for the DCs.

[JoffreyBaratheon]

Non-tester.

I set up the bikes and get everything ready so when my husband gets in from work we can go straight out on our bikes. (Every other day). I work from home so keep an eye on the weather forecasts and take every opportunity of decent weather to try and get out on my bike for an hour, too.

[HeySoulSister]

To add... Sleep function worked brilliantly! The graph shows exact times I woke up with the neighbours arguing. I had the orb on my wrist. Today I'm not at work, just pottering, what a difference in steps! Showed the family the graph so they can see how active and busy I am at work!

[msFITs]

Tester, wanted to add a point. I was suspicious of the amount of steps the orb was recording for me on my wrist, decided to sit down for 5mins, browsing net so hands moving but sitting down ...it recorded about 20 steps

Have since been wearing it in my jeans pocket.

[catsofa]

My favourite form of exercise is cycling, I don't need to find time to do it, it saves me loads of time every day! Research has shown that in a city, most journeys of under three miles are faster by bicycle than by car. In London I have even timed a journey by train and by bike, the (overground) train averaged 8mph because of all the stops I averaged 12 mph on the bike on big fast main roads. I just use my bike to get the shopping, get to work, get to the pub or go for a day out - it saves me time and money and it feels like flying