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I was wondering if anyone wears their fitbit on backcountry canoe trips? I got one a few months ago and I am debating if I should wear it on my upcoming trips. Thanks for any input.
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I don't have one but I say why not? What would be the possible downside?
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Well, they're not waterproof but are water-resistant which Fitbit says means they are rain and slash proof. They don't recomend showering with it. So, a rainy weekend or a dunk may do it in.
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I wear mine when I go into the backcountry and have not had any issues.
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Does a fitbit recognize paddle strokes though? It would seem pointless to be canoeing all day and have your fitbit tell you you've only gotten in 1500 steps, based on a couple of portages along the way...
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Yea, it does (as steps). Sawing too.
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I don't. For me the purpose of the Fitbit is to make sure I am moving -
Not an issue on a canoe trip - Plus for me the focus on steps would take away from enjoyment - but if it works for you then take it!
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Absolutely. It's cool to see your stats after a trip.
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nope, at my age any amount of moving around is beneficial, dont need a gadget to tell me that.
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I wear mine on trips. Love the bonkers numbers a full day of paddling/portaging gives you. Kind of an unfair advantage in the weekend warrior challenge though. 
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How do you recharge your Fitbit, mine needs recharging every 3-4 days so on a 7 day trip it would be useless for almost half the trip
Mind you I do have a solar charger for charging my cell phone which we take for its camera function ( cellular and Bluetooth turned off so it does last the week but if on a longer trip we decided it would be a good idea to bring a small Renolgy solar charger
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I always have a charger with me for my phone/GoPro. Bringing the Fitbit cable doesn’t add much weight so I’ll do that if I think mine might run out before the end of the trip
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I usually always bring mine - i just recharge it with a battery bank or solar charger.
I average 35-50k steps per day while tripping - 25-35k a day while at work in the busy season.
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I have a Garmin Instinct which is waterproof, has a program for tracking "kayaking" which can be updated to "paddling" later on and does GPS tracking so I can get the map of any segment I track. It was definitely worth taking the Garmin on my last trip.
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I also have the Instinct and was surprised how much I used it. Whether it be just the compass, barometer, or HR, little things helped. What I really liked was the ability to know how far along the portage I was. I'm famous for dropping the boat about 150m from the end of longer portages. It also helped me when I made a wrong turn down an old road instead of the trail.
I get about 1 week per charge depending on the satellite usage. Won't leave home without it now.
Last edited by IanTendy (11/09/2021 2:48 pm)
Got the Instinct as well. I love how when camping I hit all my daily goals (steps, stairs etc...) early on in the day.
I also make sure to drop a marker when arriving at camp. Never know if I'll get lost when looking for wood or searching for the thuderbox. 
Funny enough this summer when paddling to our site we found a beer can in some shallow water. It proved too risky to fish it out with the boat full of gear so I marked it with the watch.
Later in the trip I used the tracker to bring me back to the location and successfully retrieved it!
Last edited by RCSpartan (11/10/2021 7:21 am)
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