Ben Brooks - Personal Information Tracking via The Fitbit:

Giving the Fitbit a goal of 5,000 steps a day is useless. It’s useless because it does’t count that I walk up and down 12 flights of stairs everyday. Useless because it doesn’t know when I am carrying additional weight while walking (unloading groceries, carrying a computer bag, etc.). The amount of steps I take each day in no way correlates with how active I was.

I think I understand his point, but I’m not sure I agree with the “useless” part. When I have my Fitbit with me I am always more active. I have a goal of 10,000 steps per day. That’s a lot of steps, and so each time go anywhere I take the long way. I do things like park as far away from entrances as is reasonable. I go up 2 extra floors to use the bathroom. I hit the office Walkstation for an hour. I walk the dogs even if I don’t feel like it. All this because a little passive device in my pocket makes me want to.

Yes, it’s silly, but on days I forget the Fitbit I tend to skip the extra steps simply because I’m not getting credit for them. So, while he’s right that the Fitbit doesn’t actively help me, and it can’t tell how active I am, I’ve found it incredibly useful. If walking more a good thing, then the Fitbit has fulfilled its purpose for me.

Ben also says…

It syncs with your computer only through a special cable.

I wouldn’t call it a “special cable.” I’d call it a USB dock. The Fitbit, once set up, syncs wirelessly via this doc. After setup the only thing I use the dock for is to charge the Fitbit and that only happens once every 10 days or so. I love how it syncs automatically every time I get anywhere near the dock. This is much more convenient than the UP, which (I believe, since I don’t own one) requires that you remove the cap and plug it into your iPhone to sync every time.

His comment that…

…these activity tracking devices are about as good as the Palm Treo was when all we were looking for is an iPhone.

…may be true, but right now I’m finding the Fitbit to be darn helpful. For $99, I’m not going to wait for what’s next, but I’m certainly looking forward to it.