Technology is big business and devices that monitor and record your activity are becoming more advanced and more intuitive. There is now a tracker to suit almost all budgets, with levels of sophistication to match. We weigh the pros and cons of four new gadgets from different brands.
Fitbit Blaze
I’ve had my share of Fitbit fitness trackers – a Flex and two Ones – so I was keen to road test the new Blaze, which has just arrived in the UAE.
The smartwatch is very similar to an Apple Watch and although I’ve never had one of those, I’ve discussed its benefits with my personal trainer and friends who do. Looks-wise, the Blaze does lack the sleekness of the tech giant’s timepiece. It’s very chunky and more visually suited to men, or women with large wrists.
I was impressed by its features. The Blaze doesn’t just count steps. It measures your heart rate throughout the day, tracks sleep patterns and measures how far you’ve walked, which is what most activity trackers do these days. But it also gives you the time and date, has an alarm, receives text messages and buzzes when there’s an incoming call (ideal if, like me, your phone is always on silent). It has FitStar, an app with a warm-up, seven-minute workout and an ab workout, and can also track activities such as running, cycling, weights, elliptical and more. Plus you can control music through it.
The Blaze works in conjunction with the Fitbit smartphone app (which means it also drains the battery), allowing you to keep note of things such as how much food and water you’ve consumed and your weight (this is especially easy if you also have the Fitbit Aria scales, which automatically sync with the app).
The best part is you don’t need to think too hard about how to work the Blaze, or remember to wear it – it’s your watch and fitness tracker in one. I just wish they made them in a more feminine style.
Fitbit Blaze, Dh999, is available at Virgin Megastore and major sports and electronic stores.
Amanda Tomlinson
Mio Fuse
With any fitness regime, you want to monitor what sort of progress is being made during each session. I began to monitor my daily activities with the Mio Fuse heart-rate training and all-day activity tracking device.
It’s a wristband worn throughout the day that monitors your steps and calories burnt during daily activities, and can be set to monitor your sleep patterns.
Press and hold on the wristband to begin monitoring your heart rate during workouts, which also includes water activities. A flashing colour-coded light lets you know when you have reached peak intensity levels during your workout. Intensity code levels are set by you via the mobile app, which you must download to your mobile device or computer.
The device is not intuitive, so carefully review the user guide online before getting started.
Mio Fuse, Dh649, is available at Emax, Virgin Megastore and major electronic stores.
April Robinson
Jawbone UP3
When I got the Jawbone UP3 to test, I was tentative, because apart from the fact that I hadn’t used a fitness tracker before – I’m technologically disadvantaged – I wasn’t sure I wanted to know how few steps I did each day. At first I had a little trouble getting the device to sync with my iPhone 6, but after overcoming that techno drama, I was off and running (well, walking).
I had to grow accustomed to having something snugly attached to my wrist all day and overnight, especially with five sensors digging into my skin, but I got used to it. The Jawbone UP3 tracks heart rate, sleep and daily activity. It automatically logs steps and heart rate, but requires you to log your food intake, mood and weight, which I often forgot to do.
Apart from the number of steps I’d taken (I was nowhere near the recommended 10,000 a day), I found myself most interested in my sleep patterns. The tracker told me I get less than an hour of deep sleep a night. For the number of hours I sleep (between six and seven), the recommended amount of deep sleep is between 90 minutes and two hours – which explains why I’m often tired and sluggish in the morning.
It became second nature to wake up and check my sleep log. I’d also check the number of steps I’d clocked often, and that would motivate me to get up more and try to eat more healthily. Apart from having to remember to log my meals and the times I ate, I found this device very easy to use and such an eye-opener. It provides personalised insights and suggestions for how to increase sleep and energy, and offers a score out of 10 based on food intake, which helps evaluate nutrition and calories consumed. The other bonus is that with a battery life of seven days it doesn’t need constant recharging. The takeaway? I must move more and try to get my sleep and eating patterns in check.
The Jawbone UP3, Dh689, is available at major electronic stores.
Melinda Healy
ActiFit
The ActiFit tracker from Dubai-based Merlin Digital has several useful features – it tells time, tracks steps, has caller ID, text notification and social-media alerts, and even eases the selfie-taking procedure with a remote shutter control. Plus, the battery life is fantastic – charging it for just 30 minutes holds you in good stead for six days.
There’s no need to undo the strap each time to physically connect it to your phone or computer when you want to know how many steps you’ve taken or hours you’ve slept – thanks to Bluetooth it’s already there, both in the display of the rather futuristic-looking dial and on the Zeroner app that you need to download and register with.
The device has a GPS function with a stopwatch to monitor your daily goals, and it shows the number of steps taken, calories burnt and distance walked in a line-graph form.
A disadvantage – and it’s quite a big one – is the sleep-monitor output, always an interesting thing to learn about yourself. Because the wristband is sensitive to touch, each time you turn in your sleep or move your arm, the dial vibrates into life, often waking the wearer. Thus a device meant to track light sleep and deep sleep turns abruptly, and quite annoyingly, into one that causes several minutes of no sleep. And then the cat’s awake.
For an entry-point product, priced at Dh195, though, it’s worth buying if only to gauge how often you reach the 10,000-step mark and, of course, for those easier-to-take selfies.
ActiFit is available at Virgin Megastore, Dubai Duty Free and www.merlin-digital.com.
Panna Munyal
