Anybody here wear a Fitbit while riding? Do you feel it accurately monitors your activity level? If so, what kind do you use? Thanks!
I just got an Alta. I had a lesson yesterday which it called a 21 minute run, then went on a short cooldown trail ride before it got dark which it called a 17 minute walk. Overall it said I exercised for 98 minutes, so I don’t know what it called the rest of the time.
I figure close enough - I’m more interested in the 98 minutes of real activity (it doesn’t count my normal daily walking around work as exercise) than I am in calorie counts. It says if I don’t exercise and eat as I have for years I’ll lose 25 lbs in the next 6 months, so I figure that aspect of it is not going to help me a ton… just know I am burning fewer calories than the normal person would.
I use a charge HR. I do believe it tracks my activity level well. I look at my HR and can tell if my lesson was easier or harder on me, and when it’s up, I definitely had a harder ride.
I don’t know how well it counts calories for it? But I assume part of it is based off of heart rate and I feel that would help it be more correct.
I also have a Charge HR. I just watched a news segment that tested a few of them against each other, focusing on steps and calories burned. The HR was most accurate on steps, but worst on calories (I want to say it counted twice as much). So take that as you will. I’ve found that the heart rate counter is hit or miss.
I think it rates my steps pretty accurately while riding. I spent a few hours at the barn the other day, rode for 45 minutes or so, and it said I had taken about 13,000 steps! It also said I had been in the “fat burning zone” for about an hour, so that was relatively accurate. IDK, I like mine a lot! But I just broke my foot, so not as useful for steps now…
I have the Alta and I feel like it is okay when it comes to riding. I have checked it after a run versus riding and I don’t feel like it overly torques the step or calorie count. But I really ride - a FEI dressage horse with a killer trot, and conditioning rides on a prelim eventer, so I can’t speak to what it might do to step/calorie counts on a lazy trail ride.
I had a fitbit flex and hated it. I really don’t feel like the activity level was accurate, and it was frustrating that I couldn’t see any information without checking my computer or phone. I recently switched to a polar a300 and love it!! I wear a separate heart rate chest band and that really gives the most accurate information. I wear it and record when I’m doing barn chores too!
I have been wearing my Charge HR while riding and I find that if I’m having an active ride (wtc) then it measures roughly the same number of steps I would take for a 45min ride as I would take on a brisk 45min walk.
I’ve fallen off the wagon as far as counting calories in/out so not sure what the accuracy is there. I do have the fitbit notify me when I’ve reached my calorie goal for the day, and the time of day that goal is reached varies quite a bit based on how much I’ve done that day.
I just recently got a smartphone and I really like that I can check stats right on the phone… and I also like that my fitbit will show my call-display if I’m getting a phone call. If my phone’s ringer is off I won’t hear it in the next room but my fitbit will vibrate and show me the phone number, and I love that.
I wear an apple watch and it counts riding as “active calories” versus “run” or “walk” etc.
I rode for about half an hour the other day, jumped some jumps, it counted it as 21 minutes of “active calorie burn.”
It gets calorie burn from heart rate.
I love my apple watch. Did not feel the same about the series of fitbits I have had.
I have ridden with both the Charge and now the Charge HR and I think it’s pretty accurate as far as steps. I know I’m working my butt off on my rides, so I don’t feel guilty counting those steps at all.
What I do find fun is to log in to my dashboard after a lesson and I can usually see where we really worked on a forward lope, or some bending, or whatever according to the activity level.
Riding in two full lessons today, so it should be doubly interesting.
I use the Fitbit One. I don’t like the wristband types.
I ride at least two horses a day, and get a lot of miles walking as a working student. I don’t think it “knows” how to interpret the movement of dressage riding, or any riding! It seems to take W/T/C as walking. Mine tells me that I walk anywhere from 9 to 12 miles on a working student day, with up to 24-26K steps.
I did an experiment on a shorter day I did not ride but did barn work. It still recorded 9-ish miles. If anything, I think it UNDERestimates activity, at least in intensity. I’ve consider getting one with a heart rate function, but haven’t done so. I’m ok with the estimate.
Note to developers: riders need a monitor that can “read” the motion and intensity of riding, please!
I have a Charge HR as well and I feel like it’s pretty accurate! Obviously, it tracks all my horses steps as my own…:lol: but it’s nice to see how it monitors my heart rate and stuff. I can definitely look back and tell if it was a light or intense ride.
So I had a couple challenging (to me, physically, as we worked on me) rides in a clinic this weekend. An hour of riding with tons of trot/canter, and it said I had 2000 steps including the hand walking after the ride. By comparison, just my packing up and loading my horse on the trailer efforts put me at 9,000 for far less than an hour of steps. My horse’s steps were definitely not completely counted! That’s ok, though, it just challenges me to make more steps. 
I use a Charge HR along with myfitnesspal and track calories using myfitnesspal. I think the real trick to getting valid information from the fitbit and myfitnesspal is getting it set up appropriately. It definitely took me some trial and error to get there.
In the end though I’ve lost over 55 lbs and I credit the Charge HR with a lot of my success. I love being able to see how my heart rate has changed during various activities as I’ve gotten more fit and I’ve been able to trust the calories burned and eat more when I’ve burned more calories. I do think that sometimes the calories burned runs a bit high on a very active day (20k steps plus), but honestly that didn’t effect me until I started getting close to my goal weight and really any weight fluctuation could be from other things as well like the fact that I sometimes drink wine on the weekend or eat more sweets, lol.
One more thing is that the company is great about the warranty. My fitbit started having a battery issue and I contacted them via chat and got a new one sent to me quickly and easily. I really appreciate good service!
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions I can help with!
I have a fitbit flex and was liking it until - I volunteered at a horse trial where much of the day I was driving around in a golf cart - the dang thing exploded with all my high achieving exercise for the day LOL. I shook it off as a bumpy golf cart. Of late I don’t think it is tracking my exercise accurately - days where I know I have done more is coming in under the 10K and days where I’m more of a slacker I meet or exceed the 10K.
I think I might check out the Charge HR Thanks to those who posted
I’ve had a Fitbit Flex for about a year now. I think it’s pretty darn accurate as far as steps. When they changed how they were counting, my barn days dropped from 24k to around 16k. 
but…that’s more in line, I am sure. If I ride one horse on a weekday, I usually meet my goal. On the weekend, when spending hours at the barn and riding one horse, I am between 16-21k.
On work days, especially when I work from home, I call it my Inactivity Tracker. Wow…those are sad days. 
I have to log riding as exercise on my app/computer if I want to be really accurate. I figure it’s 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of another and let it count as walking.
I don’t use the calorie counter or water or sleep functions. Too much effort to log that stuff. I’ve never been a list maker and that feels so much like making lists. I think there is a way to make it do that automatically now, but I’m just not that interested.
I have been using the Flex for 2++ years.
I only use it for step counting …I am not overweight and could care less about calories or my sleep patterns.
But yes. …it counts some ‘steps’ when I ride.
Is that ‘cheating’? Maybe…but I figure its exercise and who cares!
