Thoughts about FitBit

Over the past four days I've been trying out a new gadget called FitBit Zip. It's a clip-on device that logs your activity levels and how these compare to your non-active periods. When in range of the laptop it's linked to (via a miniscule USB dongle), data is updated in your online account and graphs of your couch potato shame are generated. Tell FitBit what you’ve been eating and it will calculate how likely it is that you'll shed a pound or two.

Its main aim is to get you thinking about whether you're sufficiently active. A minimum goal of 5,000 steps per day is the preset target, with 10,000 a desirable aim. You get badges and a congratulatory email when you achieve them. You can also set yourself easy, moderate or challenging weight loss goals.

All of this is laudable – and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that despite working from home and not having a set exercise routine I was easily achieving my daily targets.

Once I've spent a solid week or more with the Fitbit Zip, I'll be sharing my considered thoughts in my review for iPad and iPhone User.

There are already a few things I've decided could work better though. A more comprehensive menu list that isn't so geared towards ready meals is one. I made a complete guess of the calorie count when I added Marmite on toast to my custom food list.

I'd also like to see a more positive spin on times when FitBit isn't logging steps. I may not be climbing stairs or going for a swim right now, but writing a report for two hours straight with only one tea break means I'm definitely engaging the grey matter, if not stretching my glutes. FitBit shows as grey any time you’re not apparently up and about doing stuff with your pebble-sized companion logging your every step.

Time spent watching X Factor and Grand Designs are certainly couch potato moments, of course, but FitBit also thinks you're idle when it's lying on your bedside table because you've forgotten to clip it on to your clothes. It's so unobtrusive that you have to remember to take it with you. Maybe it should buzz or glow.

You can manually inform the app that you were busy doing something that it hasn't recorded. You can add activities such as swimming, gardening, hiking or DIY, but unless you associate these activities with another fitness tracker such as Endomondo or RunKeeper

, it doesn't appear to credit you with any steps. You get acknowledgement in the form of coloured slices on the activity log for the day, but any time spent asleep is also taken into account (although the screen suggests otherwise). This means a large proportion of any day is likely to be grey.

Having got off to an excellent start with a four-hour-long walk around undiscovered parts of London, clocking up more than 15,000 steps, it was galling to discover the next day that a well-earned healthy sleep meant I didn't look so keen after all.

It's no bad thing to be shown what your average day looks like, but I'd also like a bit more encouragement and positive thinking from FitBit.