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Get Motivated to Move with Runtastic Orbit (Review)

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Disclosure: I received free Runtastic Orbit product in exchange for a blog post. If you’re looking for a new activity trackers, get the details on the new Runtastic Orbit and get motivated to run and move more!

Get Motivated to Move with Runtastic Orbit {Review} - FitBetty.com #RuntasticOrbit #SweatPink @FitApproach @Runtastic

I have a confession: I have never owned an activity tracker. This is odd considering I’m a fitness blogger and most other fitness buffs have at least 2 – my husband even has one! I have a heart rate monitor, but have never had an activity tracker until I got the Runtastic Orbit to review. Yeah, I’m mildly square 😉

Get Motivated to Move with Runtastic Orbit {Review} - FitBetty.com #RuntasticOrbit #SweatPink @Runtastic @FitApproach

I had looked at several activity trackers to buy, but never took the plunge. It’s a good thing since I got the chance to use and preview the new Runtastic Orbit that was just released July 31st! We even got this one pre-release, soooo cool! 🙂

Get Motivated to Move with Runtastic Orbit {Review} - FitBetty.com #RuntasticOrbit #SweatPink @Runtastic @FitApproach

The Runtastic Orbit comes with 2 comfortable and adjustable wristbands and a silicone clip. The tracker unit is easy to move from the wristband to the clip and vise versa. There is one button on the Orbit, but most of your settings can be adjusted through the Runtastic ME app (available in both iOS and Android). The Orbit will also sync with the other Runtastic apps as well. You can also use the Orbit as a stand-alone activity tracker without the app, but it works best with the app. Within the app you can check your stats, track sleep efficiency, set step-count goals and alarms, and keep track of past performance.

Get Motivated to Move with Runtastic Orbit {Review} - FitBetty.com #RuntasticOrbit #SweatPink @Runtastic @FitApproach
Some of the cool features of the Runtastic Orbit. My favorite is the sleep tracking!

My favorite thing about the Runtastic Orbit is the sleep tracker and the vibration alerts! When you are ready to go to sleep, you hold the silver button down for a couple seconds to set it to sleep mode. When you wake, you take it out of sleep mode. It tracks how long you have slept and it tracks sleep quality and gives you a sleep efficiency score based on how much you have moved in your sleep. I discovered that I wasn’t getting as much sleep as I thought! My sleep efficiency isn’t too bad, but I really need to be getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night, and some nights I was only getting 6-ish hours.

Get Motivated to Move with Runtastic Orbit {Review} - FitBetty.com #RuntasticOrbit #SweatPink @Runtastic @FitApproach

There are no sensitivity settings for the Orbit, so it does pick up some movement from things like car rides as steps. There is also some discrepancy in step count when the tracker is worn on the hip with the provided clip, rather than on the wrist. It counts random arm activities as steps, like loading the dishwasher or folding laundry. This is pretty normal, though, as far as trackers go. Many trackers have settings to let the device know where you have placed it on your body, but this one is simple: it doesn’t have those settings.

Get Motivated to Move with Runtastic Orbit {Review} - FitBetty.com #RuntasticOrbit #SweatPink @Runtastic @FitApproach

I made some adjustments to help with this: when I’m doing exercise, I use my wrist band to track arm movements (I want to count those bicep curls!). But when I’m doing dishes or cooking, I wear it on my hip to avoid tracking those household duties as steps unless I’m really getting an arm workout. It seems to work pretty well this way for me. Also, wearing it on your dominant hand vs. your non-dominant hand can make a difference in step count, too, so I try to wear this on my non-dominant wrist mostly so the step count is more accurate.

Get Motivated to Move with Runtastic Orbit {Review} - FitBetty.com #RuntasticOrbit #SweatPink @Runtastic @FitApproach
For happiness tracking, press the silver button 2 times quickly to record your happiest times of the day!

 

Overall, I really like the Runtastic Orbit! I love the sleep tracking, and the activity tracking. My Orbit came with just a quick start guide, but you can download a detailed user manual to get details on some of the features, like happiness tracking and ambient lighting. The Orbit also doesn’t track intensity of activity (since it doesn’t measure heart rate), so if you want a more accurate calorie estimate, you can manually enter your activities in the Runtastic apps along with your step counts.

 

I was actually pretty surprised by how many steps I take each day! Most days I averaged well over 10,000 steps easily.

Get Motivated to Move with Runtastic Orbit {Review} - FitBetty.com #RuntasticOrbit #SweatPink @Runtastic @FitApproach

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12 thoughts on “Get Motivated to Move with Runtastic Orbit (Review)”

  1. Do you know if the Runtastic Me app will sync its data with the MyFitnessPal app? I use that for tracking food, and if they play nicely together I will get the Orbit. But nobody seems to be able to tell me. I’ve been waiting 2 weeks for an answer from Runtastic.

    Reply
    • I know the regular Runtastic app will sync with MyFitnessPal, but right now the Runtastic Me app doesn’t connect to MyFitnessPal. You should be able to connect both the Orbit and MyFitnessPal to Runtastic so you can get info for both in that app. If I hear more info from Runtastic about this, I will let you know!

      Reply
      • The Runtastic Orbit, sadly, does not link with Myfitnesspal, neither does it link step and sleep data to my Runtastic account. This is a major flaw of the device. Step and sleep data are only kept, and only viewable in the phone app.

        Reply
        • I heard back from one of the people with Runtastic, and MyFitnessPal doesn’t directly connect with Runtastic Me yet, but they say it’s in the works. MyFitnessPal does connect with Runtastic, and the Orbit links to Runtastic, but I’m not sure if any of that info gets transferred indirectly between the apps and accounts. They are working on this though, so there should be more connectivity in the future 🙂

          Reply
  2. I was just looking this up. I am obsessed with trying new trackers, though I typically always went back to my old old original fitbit. Right now I’m trying the shine and my husband saw this and was thinking it might be up his alley. Thanks for the review 🙂 Nice to see a real user review before buying something so new.

    Reply
    • That’s great! One thing to keep in mind is that this one doesn’t measure intensity (some with built in HRM do), so the calorie estimates are different, but it is a nice tracker: simple and easy to use

      Reply

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