Health Tracker Stats Fun - Jawbone Up24 vs. Nike FuelBand

UP24 vs Nike FuelBand

After being a Nike FuelBand user for several years I’ve got myself an Up24 and decided to compare the data I am getting with both of the devices.  While some of the data, like calorie burn, is subject to interpretation, the other data, such as steps, should have been more or less mechanically calculated.  Surprisingly the data between the two devices had as much as 70% difference with Up24 usually counting more steps and Nike FuelBand generally recording more burnt calories.

Here are a few data points I’ve got over the past week with both devices worn on the same wrist close to 24hours a day:

	Nike Steps	Nike Calories	Up24 Steps	Up24 Calories
19-Dec	13,986	1096	16990	946
21-Dec	8,170	1003	11317	586
23-Dec	6,685	673	5553	272
25-Dec	1,929	319	2491	146
26-Dec	5,684	940	9675	540
27-Dec	2,334	271	3341	184

Here is the difference between the two sensors:

	Step Difference	Calorie Difference	%Diff	%Cal
19-Dec	3,004	-150	121%	86%
21-Dec	3,147	-417	139%	58%
23-Dec	-1,132	-401	83%	40%
25-Dec	562	-173	129%	46%
26-Dec	3,991	-400	170%	57%
27-Dec	1,007	-87	143%	68%

As you can see there is still no consensus on what constitutes a step and how you calculate calorie expenditure.

Up24 is a newer device and also includes a sleep tracker to maybe has more advanced math, but there is no way for me to claim which one is more accurate.  Both devices accomplished one thing well – giving me instant feedback on when I am active and making me feel good about moving around during the day.