Charge HR Review

So, for the past few months I've been trying to get a little bit more in shape. I use an iPhone app called MyFitnessPal to keep me on track. This app helps you track your calorie intake from eating and your calories burned from working out.  Recording food is someone easy, as no matter who you are or what your body type is, you know that if they box says you're eating 140 calories for a breakfast bar, then you are eating 140 calories. 
There is no guessing unless you make something homemade, and even then, you just have to know the major ingredients.

Anyway, the exercise is what I always wondered about. Even though I am really good about recording the exercise events (because, duh, that means I can eat more...), I'm always curious to know if what the treadmill says is really true. Because, nobody REALLY holds on to the metal heart rate monitors the whole time they're running. This, coupled with Nathan's new Apple Watch (which records your activity) got me investigating options to record my physical activity automatically.

After some research, I decided on a Fitbit Charge HR.

What I like about the Charge HR:

1. Its very simple. On the face, you can view the time & date, daily steps taken, current heart rate, daily distance traveled, daily calories burned, and daily flights of stairs climbed. It has 1 button, so it doesn't really take long to figure out how to use it.
2. It stays charged for about 5 days. This is way better than charging every night! One way to save your battery even more is by setting it to not automatically sync to your phone.
3. You can easily record specific time intervals. If you are going to go on a run, you can just hold down the 1 button when you start, and hold down the same button when you end.
4. The fitbit app is awesome and the online dashboard is even better! These give you so much information! You can literally go in and see what your statistics are for a specific time or workout.
5. The fitbit app syncs to the MyFitnessPal app. To me, this was a big selling point. This completely eliminates the guessing game when it comes to inputing my calories burned from working out. It also tracks calories burned during activities that you wouldn't necessarily think to record, such as cleaning, or walking the dog.

What I don't like about the Charge HR:

1. Honestly, I like everything about it, except wearing it. Its not uncomfortable at all; I just feel that it is a bit underdressed with some of my work outfits. It looks great with a t-shirt.
2. I don't like sleeping in the fitbit. One of the main advertised attributes of the Charge HR is that it will record your sleep. Well, I don't know if I just sleep weird or what, but its sort of hard to adjust sleeping with basically a watch on. Maybe thats just me tho. I'm starting to get used to it, I think.

I would recommend an Charge HR to someone who is interesting in getting a fitbit-like device for recording your steps walked, your miles traveled, and your accurate heart rate.