Gamification of life with the Fitbit Flex

Earlier this year, Jenny got a Fitbit Zip, it’s basically a pedometer, but with the added cool-factor that it can synchronise over Bluetoooth with your computer (and some mobile devices), so that you can see statistics about your daily step count, active times of the day, etc. all online.

Fitbit also introduces a gamification side to this, allowing you to earn badges for step “milestones” and beating personal bests, and the like.

When she first got the Zip it sat unused in a drawer for a while, so I decided to give it a go. I used it for a couple of weeks, and I found that the gamification made the act of walking more interesting, and made me want to walk during occasions when I would otherwise take the bus, or something.

After seeing how much fun I had with the Zip, Jenny ultimately decided she wanted to use it, so I had to give it back, and then spend a little while without the thrill of getting badges for walking.

After a while I decided to buy my own fitbit.

I thought the Zip was cool, but it’s the low-budget end of the products that Fitbit sell, so I had a look at their other current products:

After mulling over the features of each device, I settled on the Fitbit Flex.

The Flex is worn like a watch. It would be cool if it functioned as a watch as well, but sadly it doesn’t. It does, however, function as a vibrating alarm, which I’m sure will be an interesting/discrete way to be woken up (maybe I’ll update this post with more on that later).

Unlike the Zip, the Flex doesn’t have a LCD display, rather it has 5 white LEDs that blink in a particular way to tell you what it’s doing. When you double-tap the Flex the LEDs come to life to indicate your progress towards the days goal of 10,000 steps (1 LED for 20%, 2 for 40%, 3 for 60% and so on). When the Flex is syncing (with your compatible bluetooth-enabled mobile device, or to PC/Mac via the dongle), the first and fifth LEDs light up together.

It’s painfully simple, and very nice.

One thing that I like about Fitbit is the online dashboard you get, which shows you the breakdown of your activity through the day, calorie usage (and consumption if you can be bothered to track your food and activities), and distance travelled through the day.