Unique wearable includes lots of features.
I have been fascinated with fitness trackers since they started becoming popular and I’m fortunate to say that I’ve been able to try many of them in the market. And today, I’m happy to bring you a review of a rather unique one from Oregon Scientific.
It’s very simply called the “Activity Tracker” and it’s got a lot of the same features that other fitness wearables do. So, I will just start with the basics. The Activity Tracker from Oregon Scientific comes in either pink or black rubber bands. It will track your movement through internal sensors and will analyze your sleeping wellness based off of how much you move during your sleep cycles. These are pretty standard options with fitness wearables. What is special about this Activity Tracker is that it will also track your heart rate and send notifications from your phone to your wrist. This function is typically something you only see on more advanced wearables and smart watches.
My first impressions of this device were generally good. It was comfortable and connected easily with my iPhone. It does require an app for connection, but that’s true of most fitness wearables. One thing I noticed right away was the digital display. A display is one of my ‘must haves’ with fitness wearables. This one shows activity and notifications. Plus it measures steps, calories burned, distance traveled, active minutes, inactive minutes and actual sleep time.
Unfortunately, I had some issues with the Activity Tracker functioning properly 100% of the time I was testing it. First of all, the battery seemed to drain unfashionably fast. The specs state that you should charge it at least once per week. I had to charge mine once a day. Also, the Activity Tracker is rated as water resistant up to 1 meter and it’s protected against accidental splashes, but I washed my hands at one point while I was testing it and after I dried it off, the tracker locked up and wouldn’t reset until the battery completely drained and I recharged it.
Based off of my experiences with Oregon Scientific’s products, I believe that my Activity Tracker may have been defective, but I felt that I needed to note these issues.
I did really enjoy the iOS app interface. It was very easy to read and the tracker synced flawlessly with my phone whenever the app was opened. It has very easy to read icons and a progress at-a-glance view. One thing I would have liked to see was an easier way to enter sleep mode. In order to enter sleep mode on this tracker, you have to open the app. There are many trackers that have similar option, but only require that you tap a button on the device to enable it. I’d love to see this option incorporated into future versions of this tracker.
You get a lot with this feature packed wearable. For a fraction of the cost of some of the fitness bands out there, you can do a lot more.
For more information, visit http://oregonscientific.com.
