Alta HR Review

I love fitness trackers.  They give me a lot of incentive to move a little more.  And since I also love food, like LOVE food, I'd rather move more than have to diet.  Deprivation does not work for me.  I've had various fitness trackers over the years and tend to bounce from tracker to tracker.  I loved my Fitbit Charge HR, especially since you can manually record any exercise from pilates to weight lifting to the elliptical.  The same was true for the Apple Watch, however, I ultimately gave up the Apple Watch due to poor battery life.  By 5pm on most days my watch would be at the verge of dying after only going on a walk at lunch.  That just didn't work for my fitness needs.  Plus I didn't use most of the functions of the Apple watch and it is big and bulky. 

Which brings me to the Fitbit Alta HR, my current fitness tracker.  I wanted something that was smaller and more delicate than the Apple Watch or Fitbit Charge HR and the Alta HR seemed to fit the bill.  Plus I like that you can switch out the bands and Amazon sells adorable and affordable metallic leather bands.  Aesthetically, I like the Fitbit Alta HR more than other fitness trackers, but it falls short when it comes to functionality.  If you want to manually track exercises you need your iPhone with you and the only exercises you can manually track are running, walking, or hiking.  Additionally, the Fitbit Alta HR is supposed to auto recognize exercises after 10 minutes of activity.  This has been hit or miss in my experience.  It seems to recognize walking and elliptical workouts with fairly good accuracy (continue reading on for more on that). 

On Wednesday I worked out on the elliptical wearing both my Polar RCX3 heart rate monitor and Fitbit Alta HR.

Yes, I forgot to change the time after daylight savings... sue me.

 

The Alta HR was accurate at recognizing the length of my workout (25 minutes), but it underestimated my average heart rate and thus calories burned.  A 40 calorie difference is not that significant and I would rather have an underestimate of calories than think I can consume more food and eat more calories than I should.  If that makes sense.

On Thursday I went for a long walk because mama had to run an errand.   

I did pause my workout on both my Polar monitor and Alta HR and the Alta HR reflected this pause correctly (total time walking was 31 minutes).  Once again the Alta HR calculated that my average heart rate was significantly lower than the Polar monitor.  Because of this the Alta HR estimated that I burned 75 calories less than the Polar monitor.  Now I was cool with a difference of 40 calories, but 75 calories?  Come on now.  Of any workout the Alta HR should be able to most accurately track walking, but clearly it doesn't.  (And on a side note I was shocked that the elliptical was more accurate then walking.)

And don't get me started on any activity that doesn't involve walking or elliptical like movement.  I did a exercise class this afternoon with the following Polar heart rate results:

 

The Alta HR gives me credit for 30 activity minutes (I already did 9 minutes this morning walking), but it doesn't auto recognize the activity 

I thought the point of the Alta HR was to be able to auto recognize activity after 10 minutes of an elevated heart rate.  According to my Polar heart rate monitor, my heart rate average 150 beats per minute during my exercise class.   It is disappointing that the Alta HR didn't even recognize any activity other than giving me credit for 30 more minutes of activity.  So if I didn't wear my Polar heart rate monitor I wouldn't know how long I worked out, average heart rate, or calories burned.  For the record 304 calories burned means I can have dessert!  And frankly, the Alta HR only recognized my walk from this morning because I manually tracked it through my phone.  I've been doing this since the Alta HR is so unpredictable with auto recognition.  I'm ready for a new fitness tracker.

Fitbit just missed the mark with the Alta HR.  I've already had to replace my Alta HR once after it stopped tracking my steps and I only bought this tracker in March.  I regret buying this model over the Charge HR, since I was super happy with that tracker when I had it. 

Overall verdict on Fitbit Alta HR: Save your money and buy a better product.  If you want the most accurate device for recording various different types of workouts and resulting calories burned get a heart rate monitor with chest strap.  I've had my Polar RCX3 for years and I still love it.

Anyone else feel this disappointed with the Alta HR?  I'm ready for a new tracker.  What is your favorite fitness tracker and why?