As the much-anticipated Apple Watch will ship on April 24, I have been exploring the world of wearables to find the ideal solution for my technology needs. While I’ve tested a lot of devices and found a good solution for fitness tracking, I’m still seeking the right mix for technology and design.
For those of you who only have the Twitter era attention for a wearable product review, I’ll provide a quick summary of my favorite devices and the features that took them to the top of the list.
1. Jawbone UPMove and UP24: versatile, accurate, design, IoT ecosystem and great app
2. Striiv Fusion: design, simple user interface, notifications and third-party apps
3. Fitbit Zip: compact with screen, clip on option, accuracy and nice app
3. Samsung Gear Fit: notifications, interface, customization and future plans
It is still early days for a wearable that provides optimized technology features such as notifications, quick glance statistics, design, fitness tracking and IoT ecosystem integration. There are more devices coming out every day though, and it should be an exciting year for wearables. If you’d like to learn more about my experience with each of the current devices on the market, read on for more detail.
A Closer Look through a Variety of Activities
I’m sure I have been quite a sight in my exercise routine. Biking, hiking, running, elliptical, P90X and yoga strapped up with a multitude of wearables. I added weight to my routine with all my electronics, and despite being a sight to see, I kept going. I tried to strap, clip and buckle each device so it had enough space to operate without interference. I was still a little surprised with the wide variety of results I received for the same activity. As I wondered if wearing multiple devices was disrupting their accuracy, I enlisted my family members on hikes and runs to see if it made a difference in the accuracy of tracking. Rest assured though, no animals were harmed in this experiment. The family pet was not enlisted in this endeavor, although it was suggested.
As I experimented with a variety of devices I came to realize that all the wearables I tested would do a decent job of tracking steps, but some are better than others for specific activities and purposes. The first time I tracked my elliptical workout I was really disappointed with the results as there was a wide variety in the tracking. My elliptical is an Android iFit and I knew from the machine I had done a bit over 7 miles for my workout. It may be a tougher movement and activity to track, but the results were widely varied for the 7 miles tracked:
- Basis Peak: 3,653 steps, 246 calories burned
- Fitbit Flex: 6,207 steps, 2.5 miles, 982 calories burned
- Samsung Gear: 2,773 steps, 2.5 km, 115 calories burned
- Striiv Fusion: 3,649 steps, 1.5 miles, 151 calories burned
- UpMove: 7,646 steps, 4.3 miles, 423 calories burned
I have to say it is still early days for a truly compelling solution that covers both fitness and technology functionality. Having worked in the mobile industry and being a guinea pig for all new prototypes I will admit that I probably have higher expectations than the average consumer.
Samsung, Basis Peak and Striiv Fusion
As I am familiar with Samsung’s plans for SAMI and SIMBAND I was expecting a lot more from the Samsung Gear Fit. I had read some positive reviews about the Samsung Gear Neo. Receiving notifications on your wrist is a nice feature and the Gear Fit was my favorite device for receiving notifications. I do anticipate Samsung will offer great health insights in the future given the investment in the SAMI project and the ecosystem. However, the current offering didn’t convince me that I needed it now. I’d rather wait for a more robust solution that offers greater value for the money with compelling features.
Here you will see a screenshot of the S Health app which works well with the phone, but didn’t meet my expectations for the Samsung Gear Fit wearable. As you can see my 90 minute cycling was only captured for 0.3 of a mile because the Bluetooth connection with the phone broke. The reason I want a wearable is so that I can leave my phone behind for my workouts. I did like the notifications feature, but I’m not sure it is compelling enough to warrant a purchase. The ability to get notifications on my wrist and check them quickly was appreciated, but I’m not willing to pay the acquisition cost to save me the time of reaching for my device in my purse. I often keep my mobile phone on the table when I’m out so the notifications are a ‘nice to have’, but not a necessity.
The Basis Peak was my favorite device for cycling and seemed to be more accurate in reading that activity than of the other devices. I also received compliments from other people on the watch design. I thought the Basis Peak was going to be really big and bulky, but the design grew on me. I also like that the strap can be easily swapped out, but I wouldn’t wear the watch if I were dressed up as it is just a little too big. I did wonder about the accuracy of the device for some activities, but it seemed the best for cycling.
I also received compliments on the design of the Striiv Fusion and I really liked the app. I think it probably ranked second or third on my list of favorites. The app is visually appealing and the device is great with a simple and sleek design. I did not test out a lot of third-party apps, but I felt that the basic solution was well designed and thought out. Initially I was having some difficulty with the Bluetooth connection and contacted customer service. I reached out to them on a Sunday so I worked through the issue before they responded, but they were responsive and continued with follow-up to make sure I had worked through the issue.
One thing I did like about the Samsung Gear Fit, Basis Peak and Striiv Fusion was the ability to have immediate access to quickly view my step data on my wrist. I will also contradict myself and say that for intense workouts I prefer a less bulky device. The Misfit Shine, Fitbit Zip and Jawbone solutions are the most unobtrusive and nice for a lightweight device during a workout. However, Misfit and Jawbone do require you to wait to see your results unless you keep your device and app close by.
Fitbit, Jawbone and Misfit
I had some issues with the Misfit Flash being paired with a previous device and Misfit’s customer service took a while to get back to me. While they tried to follow up a couple of times I was busy with work and they missed the window of opportunity. I do think the versatility of exchanging the Misfit with a clip or a watchband is a nice feature. I have also seen some nice designs as pieces of jewelry for women with Misfit. I like the UPMove and the Misfit Flash design for this reason. I’ll admit to the fact that I enjoy rollerblading and the wrist guards are not conducive to a wearable on the wrist. The clip feature was great for rollerblading as I could just clip it on my waistband. The Fitbit Zip is easily clipped onto the waistband, provides a small screen with data and ranks high in this area of my criteria. The UPMove, Fitbit Zip and Misfit are also nice for the workplace to discreetly wear a sensor by clipping it on the waistband without needing it to match what you are wearing. The Misfit design is nice and versatile, but I didn’t find the app to provide some of the robust data and insights that the other solutions provided.
The Fitbit Flex app provides great insights and seems to capture the right information for me, but I want to track my workout activity without having to use GPS. This was one of the issues I had with the Samsung Gear Fit as well. In my opinion sharing GPS tracking is a novelty that wears off quickly. Years ago I would share my skiing or running routes on occasion with friends, but after you’ve done it a couple of times it is enough. That is just my opinion, but I do expect to track my fitness regardless of where it occurs and how close the wearable is to my phone. The Fitbit Zip, Misfit Shine and UPMove were better solutions for me for that reason. Finding the manual entry of workouts is also a bit entailed on Fitbit as you have to drill deep into the app to find it. I like the Jawbone UP App for this reason as well.
As an IoT geek, I also like that Jawbone, Fitbit and Misfit are looking at a wider ecosystem and adding partners to connect hardware. According to Fitbit, people who connect to a smart scale lose more weight. Jawbone has a wide variety of integrated hardware partnerships as well.
I am probably a bit partial to UPMove and UP24 as they are the primary devices I’ve been using, but I do love the simplicity and versatility of the UP app. I also like that I can add workouts as sometimes I forget my device. I can specify the activity I performed by entering it manually to more accurately determine calorie burn even if I forgot the device.
Conclusion
So my conclusion is that it is still early days for technology wearables cover both fitness and mobile notifications. In my opinion there still isn’t a compelling solution in the market. If you are looking for a fitness tracker you may want to consider your most common workouts and find the device that best suits the activity. For cycling, I would seriously consider the Basis Peak. My favorite solution overall is the Jawbone UPMove for a variety of activities. It does a decent job with cycling and an exceptional job with a wide variety of activities. The app is excellent and the daily insights have been really beneficial to me. I have learned to improve my sleep and my health through my Jawbone solutions. The UPMove by Jawbone provides the best value for the money and the most versatility with a wide variety of appealing accessory options.
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