Techy Tuesday: Fitbit Zip (Unboxing)

It's been a while since I did a Techy Tuesday, despite all of my best intentions.  Well - I am going to have a few for you in the coming weeks...and all centered around activity trackers!

Some background:

Some of you may be following the saga of my Fitbit.   About a month ago, I featured a review of the Fitbit Ultra that my friend, Dana, wrote for the blog.  That day, I broke down and ordered a Fitbit Zip directly from Fitbit.  A week later, it had still not shipped.  Here I was, all gung ho to get going (and totally sick of charging my iPod Nano every night so I could use it as a pedometer)...and I was forced to wait and wait.   Finally, when their customer service dept couldn't give me an idea of how long it would be til it even left the warehouse - I cancelled the order.   In the meantime, Hubby and I were talking and thought maybe the Fitbit One was worth waiting for and he decided he wanted one too.  We placed a new order, this time with Amazon, to preorder the One.  The site said it was due to ship Nov 5 and we thought that wasn't too long to wait.

On Nov 5, I logged into my account and while the order still said it was due to arrive on schedule - the individual listings said they were out of stock!  Good grief.  I called customer service and she told me that I shouldn't worry - they likely still had them in stock for the preorders but probably sold out after those.

Then, this morning, I woke up to a shipment delay notice!

Yesterday, however, I discovered that the Apple Stores here in Calgary are selling the Zips.  I called Chinook and they had them in stock (in pink, green and white) - so the decision was easy.  I could wait until Dec 17, when Amazon anticipated being able to ship...or I could go in for some instant gratification.

Guess what I chose?

The Unboxing

First impressions?  Holy hannah - it's small.  The people at the Apple Store either didn't realize it came in more colours or they got a new shipment today, because all of the colours were in stock.  I picked up the blue one I had originally ordered. $60 later, I was on my way back to the office and excited to open it up and get moving!

There wasn't a single one in stock that had a seal still in place - but that is likely because they shifted in transit and the plastic "box" popped the sticker open.    

Once you have the box open, the Fitbit itself is inside a secure plastic "cage" to keep it from moving around and to protect it somewhat from the back.

At the bottom is a little flap that you lift to find the manual and accessories.

Included in the box are:

• Fitbit zip
• Silicone and metal clip
• Fob for your computer
• battery door tool
• battery
• manual 

The manual is almost useless - just a series of illustrations about how to put the battery in - which is pretty self explanatory. The battery door tool is just an add-on because you could easily sub in a screwdriver. 

Once the battery is in place - the zip will begin cycling through the screens. To change between screens, you just need to tap it.  The screens are clock, distance, calories burned, steps taken and then a little smiley face that apparently changes as your activity level goes up throughout the day.

It is fairly easy to slip this little guy into the clip - just ignore the photo below and insert the top first then pull the rest of the opening around the zip.

And that clip is SECURE!  I couldn't believe how tight it is.  I have fought my iPod Nano for over a month to keep it on a waistband.  I don't think I will have that problem with this.  I even had my coworker tug on it to see how strongly it held.  The bulk of the clip case is silicone, but the clip itself is silicone coated metal.  I clipped it to my hip, since I cannot see anyway to clip it to a bra without it showing through my shirt.  I will need to experiment some more.

Syncing it to my Fitbit account was a snap.  Because I was at work - I went into my Fitbit iPhone app and connected a new device.  Bluetooth found it and in just a few second synced them to each other and I was off and running.  I did an 11 step test and it registered 11 steps.   Now we just need to see how it goes for a day.

I'm impressed with the quality of it so far.  It seems responsive and unobtrusive.   I am looking forward to giving it a week or two and then weighing in again to let you all know my thoughts!