Fitbug Review

By George Harding

This is one of the many health-related devices that were shown at the Consumer Electronics Show. A small circular object, called the Orb, mounts in various ways on your body and tracks steps, distance and sleep. It tracks you 24/7.

The Orb is about an inch in diameter and looks sort of like an eye. It has a battery and an accelerometer. It can be attached to you in several places: wrist, belt, underwear, pocket or around your neck.

The Orb collects information on your activities and is able to send it to your smartphone app on demand, by beacon (transmits continuously) or by stream (as you walk). The app shows you how you are doing compared to your pan.

When you register the unit, you are asked several questions, height, weight, waist and what your main objective is (lose weight, improve fitness, monitor health, tone up, maintain weight, gain weight. Next is inserting the battery. I had trouble with this and the screw-on cover may still not be properly attached.

The web site tracks you through the steps to set up your Orb. It is pretty clear if you have the proper device numbers. I was not able to register initially, but Support helped me out.

Then you download the smartphone app for iOS or Android, as applicable, and press the small button on the Orb to connect it to the Fitbug app. You can push the Orb’s button once to transmit data to the app, press twice for streaming or you can set up beacon mode to transmit data periodically and automatically. Pressing the button 3 times puts into Sleep mode to measure your sleep time.

KiK is your personal coach that analyzes your activities and sleep and advises you how you can do better. It comes free with Fitbug.

Available at small extra cost are several KiK Plans to help you achieve a particular goal.

Fitbug comes in 3 dramatic colors and is available for iOS, iPhone 4/4s and above, many Android phones, as well as iOS and Android tablets. If you don’t have any of these, there is a dongle to connect to your PC.

What’s in the box: Orb, wrist strap, belt clip, underwear clip, lanyard, Quick Start Guide.

Fitbug digital fitness device        
www.fitbug.com             
 Price about $50