I have had the Fitbit Ultra for about a week now. This is my second pedometer, I used the Nintendo DS game Personal Trainer: Walking for over a year and I use a Garmin GPS watch for running. I am very impressed with the Fitbit and it is easily better than the Nintendo game (even though it is also a decent pedometer itself).
The device is well made. It doesn't feel like it would break open if it got dropped. The button is hard enough to push that you won't push it by accident, but easy to push when you want to. I was surprised to see people recommending a pedometer leash for it, the thing clips to whatever I am wearing and does not budge. Jeans, a belt, running shorts, it doesn't matter, it's snug. So snug that attaching it to softer clothing takes a bit more work to get it attached. It does include a holster type clip for thicker clothes/belts, but I have not had to use it.
The display isn't too bright and is easy to read inside. Outside in bright sunlight it is almost impossible to read unless you shield it. Which is fine, the only issue is when you are trying to verify you started/stopped an activity outside. When using the device to sleep the light from the display is not bright enough to be a distraction (not that it lights up much, just sometimes after it hasn't moved in awhile).
I wear the thing everyday, all day, and the battery has been fantastic. I have charged it once for an hour during the week and the web page still reports the battery level as "high". The only time you can see the battery level on the Fitbit itself is when you plug it in to your computer using the adapter, it gives you a battery indicator then which has been almost useless. I plugged in one day and the battery indicator came up saying it was empty. I removed it and reinserted it on its adapter and the display said full. Luckily when it does it's wireless sync it records the battery level there more accurately. It's been 3-4 days since the last full charge and the web page still says "high".
For daily use it has been fun to use and track my activity. You can press the button at any time to see your calories, steps, mileage, floors climbed, and your activity level (displayed as a flower).
How accurate is it? That's hard to tell. Unlike some other pedometers that only measure steps after a few seconds of activity as to avoid counting shifts as you sit, the Fitbit seems to measure as soon as you stand up and walk. It seems to do a great job of not counting shifts as you sit as a step. It will count bumpy car/bicycle rides as random steps though, but there is no avoiding that unless you could turn it off. Comparing the results to what I would get with my former pedometer, it seems pretty similar.
Mileage of course is off by a decent amount. I don't find that important, since even if I calibrated it for my step, throughout the day I take different size steps depending on what I am doing, so it always going to be off. This does make activity tracking fairly pointless though. For instance I walked for an hour, using my GPS watch or phone app I know I walk at about a 13-minute mile. The Fitbit recorded it as 17 minute miles, although it did a good job of counting my increased pace with the step count saying I was "very active" for that hour. If you want to track your walking/running activities, you are better off getting an app for your phone. I will say for everyday just walking around, it's not bad, and it's fine for comparing the mileage one day to the next with what it tracks.
The floors climbed counter is surprisingly good. The GPS watch I use for running has an altimeter and the altitude on it never really settles down, even when sitting still so I was skeptical about the Fitbit's accuracy. It works well though, I go up about 6 flights of stairs a day, and the Fitbit is always right on the money unless I did a lot of walking around where the gradual hills may add up to an extra floor climbed for the day.
Sleep accuracy is another recording I was surprised at. The included wristband you insert the Fitbit into is very light and hardly noticeable, I got used to it to the point I forget it's on. To measure your sleep you press the button to start an activity when you get into bed. The issue here is that if you lie very still, the Fitbit thinks you are asleep. I noticed usually I fidget though so it has done a pretty good job of detecting my sleep. When you look at the chart the next morning it tells you where you woke up, which doesn't necessarily mean you woke up, you could have turned over or moved. Usually you can tell if you were really awake though if it lasted more than a minute. The waking up part has been a bit iffy if you don't remember to hit the button again to stop the activity. Sometimes it says I fell back asleep when I knew I hadn't.
And finally to tie it all together is the web page. Which is nothing short of great (unless you want to count calories). Histories for everything it measures, activity logging, badges you win for passing checkpoints, places to share/compete with friends. I have a Withings scale which automatically imports it's data to the Fitbit web page as well. The web page is very well done. For calorie counting it would be nice if they could do a deal with the Daily Plate, because the food database on Fitbit is just not very good.
I highly recommend the Fitbit. If you are someone who gets motivated by stats it will get you out and moving. I found myself more likely to get out from my desk at work or took the half empty garbage out just to make sure I am getting some steps/floors climbed in to meet my daily goal. I would say the Fitbit with the webpage is the almost perfect pedometer. It's not great for exercising logging, but no pedometer is. If you want to measure your basic walking activity, you couldn't ask for more.
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