FitBit One and Withings Pulse Comparison

I previously mentioned my desire to try out both of these products--and as of the mail delivery yesterday - I own them both.  Here is what you can learn from me.  I've had the FitBit One for a little over a month - and while I purchased it only to "get me by" until Pulse was released...I've grown very fond of it.  I've had the Pulse on for about 24 hours - so the comparison here may not be my "final vote".  I wanted the Pulse because it works with Android.  Both devices run around $99.  The FitBit has been around longer and can be found online and in stores (Best Buy / Target / eBay).  The Pulse is available on Withings website - checkout through Amazon or Google+.

FitBit One - Pulse
Good battery life.  It goes about a week between charges.  It sends an email to me when it is running low.  Reports a two week battery life.  Charged fast with a USB. (Don't know how it will tell me when it is low.)

Good online community.  There are "groups" and message boards - the groups are hard to search as there are thousands and NO search feature. Duh.  Also, if you join a group, you are following EVERY post in that group - sometimes annoying.  I like the online competition.  It ranks your steps vs. others.  For this reason alone yesterday, I found myself walking in front of the TV to surpass my steps goal by about 4,000...had to bring my ranking up!!! I will admit, I have avoided adding "high steppers" as friends as I need someone that is in my ballpark range so there is hope of catching up .This feature is said to "be coming" for Pulse.  Will see how annoying this is with the timeline and also if the community is accessible from laptop or only from phone.  The lack of this feature does leave me feeling a little sad.   :(

It is sweat and splash proof.  Not shower or pool proof.  (Though several people have reported accidental dunks and survival with the rice drying method.)  Reported sweat and splash proof - however, it does encourage you to wear it where it will get the less contact with sweaty body...so that doesn't inspire confidence.  

It "talks" with My Fitness Pal.  So you get credits for your steps / activity on My Fitness Pal automatically.  I still had to play around with where to add an Exercise (MFP is the answer for me) but the tools work well together.  Does not work with MFP - so info currently would have to be plugged in.  

It tracks sleep - reports how long it took you to fall asleep, how many times you woke, how much time was restless.  I look forward to this data every morning.  It also has a silent alarm vibration - it is a nice way to wake up.  Others report they have used this alarm to remind them to get up and move.  Tracks sleep.  Very similar data.  It does offer an additional App to go with it for more sleep data - I haven't explored yet, but curious.  

Records calorie burn based on BMR - if you are more active your calorie burn is higher.  I like that it shows calorie burn for all life events - because you can clearly see how much energy it takes to run your body and compare that to how many calories you are consuming.  Only counts active calorie burn.  I haven't decided if this is a pro or con yet.  On the good side - IF it begins to work with MFP, it will only share calories burned from activity.  This also means I could hit my steps goal and still not look active on MFP.  

It allows you to set your own step goal - I started mine at 7,000 because of my desk job.  Steps seem to be accurate. It does not allow you to adjust your goal - daily suggestion is 10,000. 

And how do you get this data?  There is a plug for charging (USB) and a plug for transmitting info to your computer - so all the groups / rankings can be accessed on your laptop.  When you are close by it auto-syncs every 15ish minutes.  If you have an iphone it syncs to that as well.  If you don't it has VERY LIMITED Android friendliness.  So my phone dashboard is only as accurate as my last sync.  On the FitBit device you can only view TODAY's stats!    Data syncs to Android with Bluetooth connection at the push of a button (which I will admit is slightly annoying).  There is no computer setup but there is also no access with your computer to your dashboard.  The Pulse will allow you to view several days data on the device.  

Both devices track walking up an incline - the Pulse refers to this in feet climbed, which is at least a standard measurement.  FitBit tracks flights of stairs - how many stairs is a flight?  Who knows.  Sometimes a hill is a flight of stairs, sometimes it is 2 flights.  I have not figured out the measurement.  You can set a goal for how many flights you would like to hit each day.

Pulse has the ability to take your pulse.  It is not meant to be a Heart Rate Monitor.  It is meant to compare your resting heart rate - by taking this early each day you can see if you have lowered your resting heart rate.  Lower resting heart rates are healthier.  It's a cool feature.  

I haven't' decided which one is for me yet - apparently I have 7 days for a Pulse return.  It's going to be tough choice. But if you are in the market for an activity / sleep tracker these are two of the top in the market to consider.