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Stay fit on a budget with the Fitbug Orb (pictures)

With a price tag under $50, the Fitbug Orb is an affordable fitness tracker that connects to your computer or mobile device via Bluetooth.

Lynn La
Lynn La covers mobile reviews and news. She previously wrote for The Sacramento Bee, Macworld and The Global Post.
Sarah Mitroff Managing Editor
Sarah Mitroff is a Managing Editor for CNET, overseeing our health, fitness and wellness section. Throughout her career, she's written about mobile tech, consumer tech, business and startups for Wired, MacWorld, PCWorld, and VentureBeat.
Expertise Tech, Health, Lifestyle
Lynn La
Sarah Mitroff
Fitbug_Orb_35566975-2808.jpg
1 of 8 Josh Miller/CNET

The Fitbug Orb health tracker

Lightweight, portable, and sweatproof, the Fitbug Orb keeps track of your health and fitness, as well as your quality of sleep. It is available in three colors (black, white, and pink) and has a competitively low $50 price tag.

Fitbug_Orb_35566975-2819.jpg
2 of 8 Josh Miller/CNET

Wearable and portable

Shaped like a small pebble, the Orb is not much larger than a quarter and about as thick as two stacked bottle caps. Included in its package is a matching wristband (seen here), a belt clip, and a lanyard.

Fitbug_Orb_35566975-2832.jpg
3 of 8 Josh Miller/CNET

Measuring the steps you take

Pictured here in its belt clip, the device keeps track of how many steps you took, how long you walked, and how many calories you burned in a day. You can also wear it at night and it’ll measure how long you’ve slept and how well based on your movements.

Fitbug_Orb_35566975-2813.jpg
4 of 8 Josh Miller/CNET

Data on your phone or computer

In addition to collecting this data, the tracker can send all this information through Bluetooth to either your desktop computer (which you can view on Fitbug’s Web service called Kik) or your mobile device via a Fitbug app. The app is available on both Android and iOS.

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5 of 8 Josh Miller/CNET

Keeping up with stats

With the online services, you can see your fitness history for the week or month, set goals, and adjust how often you want the Orb to send all this data. Kik also tracks your daily and long-term fitness and dietary goals, and connects you with a community of other Fitbug device owners.

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6 of 8 Josh Miller/CNET

No charging needed

To keep costs low, the Orb has a simple design with only an indicator light and small control button on the front. There's no LED display that shows the time or your activity stats. It runs on a single CR2023 cell battery that reportedly lasts between 4 and 6 months.

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7 of 8 Josh Miller/CNET

Limited compatibility

Unfortunately, the Orb only works with a handful of mobile devices, but Fitbug did say that it plans on expanding its capability in the near future. Currently, it works with a handful of iOS devices including the iPhone 4S and later, and the iPad. You can also use it with the Samsung Galaxy S4, the GS4 Mini, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tablet.

Fitbug_Orb_35566975-2847.jpg
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You're not the boss of me!

Unlike other fitness trackers, most of which ask you to set fitness goals up front, the Orb monitors your normal activity for one week to get a baseline and then starts to set incremental goals that you can easily work up to.

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