This past couple of years has been undoubtedly the golden era for wearable gadgets. There are tons of functional and fashionable Multi-sensor wearable gadgets that are based on `accelerometer' sensor that track your vital statistics. Some even take a step further by adding more sensors and expand the horizon by recording your `heart rate' or give you a pedometer step count, estimate burnt calories, calculate your skin perspiration, temperature and much more.
Being a gadget enthusiastic as always I have been trying out various wearable technologies to see how these devices can make your life better. Basis health tracker just like most other wearable gadgets is a `multi-sensor' based wrist watch that does what accelerometer based wristband fitness trackers do - tracking every movement from pedometer reading to a continuous heart rate reading.
This Basis health tracker wrist watch takes this to next level by automating the whole process by clever programming which detects and tracks various workouts may it be walking, running, biking, even sleeping without any user intervention to activate a specific tracking process. It also automatically displays the activity once you start performing the activity - This is very smart programming. The programmers at BASIS have given considerable amount of thought into designing the firmware. For example, just simply twisting your arm automatically illuminates the back-light on the watch - Genius! All you have to do is wear it 24 hrs a day to make it all happen.
I have been wearing this watch for about a week now and I must say BASIS does a very good job in capturing every moment fairly accurately. The Pedometer is nearly perfect; the heart rate monitor is hit or miss especially when you start running or jogging as it loses reading and either stops or gives off the chart readings. The perspiration level and skin temperature is new in these category of wearable but seem accurate. The calorie counter is so and so as it seems to overestimate the calorie count in my humble opinion but still within acceptable limits per day.
The new feature unveiled in this wearable is to track your sleep patterns, Basis captures this and gives you sleep statistics like daily sleep total time, times you got interrupted in your sleep and a `sleep quality' score! BASIS also shows the quality of your sleep and shows statistics like `deep sleep', `light sleep','REM sleeps' and records your tosses and turns.
The beauty of this wearable watch is not the watch itself but how well the data gathered by the device is presented to you on the company's website. I must say WOW - The data gathered is presented superbly and motivates you to accomplish your goals. There are various point based system you can activate called as "My Habits" like "Wear it", Don't be a sitter" for example. There is also excellent communication via email whenever you accomplish your goals and award you with points to activate additional My Habits.
It is like your personal fitness trainer who motivates you, awards you, keeps track of your habits, makes you chose better habits for a healthy fit body - Best of all, it is FREE and no additional charges for using the web based My Habits or the APPs for Android or Apple IOS. There are no on-going charges either like most other fitness trackers.
Having said, here are the PROs and CONs of this wearable watch.
PROS
Being a gadget enthusiastic as always I have been trying out various wearable technologies to see how these devices can make your life better. Basis health tracker just like most other wearable gadgets is a `multi-sensor' based wrist watch that does what accelerometer based wristband fitness trackers do - tracking every movement from pedometer reading to a continuous heart rate reading.
This Basis health tracker wrist watch takes this to next level by automating the whole process by clever programming which detects and tracks various workouts may it be walking, running, biking, even sleeping without any user intervention to activate a specific tracking process. It also automatically displays the activity once you start performing the activity - This is very smart programming. The programmers at BASIS have given considerable amount of thought into designing the firmware. For example, just simply twisting your arm automatically illuminates the back-light on the watch - Genius! All you have to do is wear it 24 hrs a day to make it all happen.
I have been wearing this watch for about a week now and I must say BASIS does a very good job in capturing every moment fairly accurately. The Pedometer is nearly perfect; the heart rate monitor is hit or miss especially when you start running or jogging as it loses reading and either stops or gives off the chart readings. The perspiration level and skin temperature is new in these category of wearable but seem accurate. The calorie counter is so and so as it seems to overestimate the calorie count in my humble opinion but still within acceptable limits per day.
The new feature unveiled in this wearable is to track your sleep patterns, Basis captures this and gives you sleep statistics like daily sleep total time, times you got interrupted in your sleep and a `sleep quality' score! BASIS also shows the quality of your sleep and shows statistics like `deep sleep', `light sleep','REM sleeps' and records your tosses and turns.
The beauty of this wearable watch is not the watch itself but how well the data gathered by the device is presented to you on the company's website. I must say WOW - The data gathered is presented superbly and motivates you to accomplish your goals. There are various point based system you can activate called as "My Habits" like "Wear it", Don't be a sitter" for example. There is also excellent communication via email whenever you accomplish your goals and award you with points to activate additional My Habits.
It is like your personal fitness trainer who motivates you, awards you, keeps track of your habits, makes you chose better habits for a healthy fit body - Best of all, it is FREE and no additional charges for using the web based My Habits or the APPs for Android or Apple IOS. There are no on-going charges either like most other fitness trackers.
Having said, here are the PROs and CONs of this wearable watch.
PROS
- Excellent statistics tracked and presented on the BASIS website
- Support for PCs and Free APPs for IOS & Android devices
- Fully automated no user-intervention needed to show and record statistics
- FREE motivational point based `My habits' program on BASIS website
- Fairly accurate readings from various sensors
- Decent battery life (Lasts a whole week without charging)
CONS
- *MUST* have internet access & ONLINE `account creation' to activate the watch
- Cannot be substituted for a chest strap based heart rate monitor
- Display is very poor dim & difficult to read especially in poor light conditions.
- It is uncomfortable to wear this 24 hrs /day especially while sleeping.
- It is definitely not for ladies as it is bulky even for men in my humble opinion.
- The USB cradle to charge is awkward design but mostly usable
- No Alarm feature yet (It does have a beeper and may get activated in future?)
- No reminder feature yet depending on the 'My Habits' ongoing activities.
- Data gathered by the watch cannot be used in any other APP
- There are no diet tracking based on calories or suggestions yet on BASIS website.
- No My Habit apps yet on Skin Temperature and perspiration data readings
- No GPS, Speed or estimation of distance walked or jogged & or elevation tracking.
With all that said, there are some very smart programmers at BASIS and I really like the statistics presented on their WEBSITE which is second to none! Kudos for that and I am positive that things will improve with firmware updates in the future, but with the current hardware design BASIS (Black) just fell slightly short of my expectations primarily because of the current bulky hardware. I would have rated this with 5 stars if the display was better to read & watch was less bulky to wear.
I am positive that next generation of wearable watch from BASIS would be much better and this version can be further improved via Firmware update to make it much more useful. As it currently stands, I am rating this with '3' stars. Hope this review proves useful to you.
EDIT JAN 16, 2014 (Strap becomes loose after 10 days of usage)
I was reading other reviews and noted earlier that their straps was seen to come loose for some odd reason. At first I thought they might have a defective strap as mine did not exhibit that problem till today. But now I must agree with those honest people who shared that their straps becoming loose and the watch falls apart from your wrist even with a slight bump. There is a serious design flaw when I saw the strap contraption with my own eyes when it fell apart. There is no way it is going to stay put in that place once it comes off. The permanent fix would be "Super Glue" the strap to the body of the watch.
More and More I am losing faith in this watch's build quality... If I see any additional issues I will be forced to rate this with 2 stars soon!
Thanks for reading my review.
You can get one of these from Amazon by using the link below: