Product wise worth it. Pretty good as a tracker, though how you find it depends upon what you expect from it. Here's my take: Pros: 1-Solidly built, has watch like strap that is impossible to come loose easily.
Rajat Shukla Certified Buyer , Pune. The fuse works perfect if and only if you are using it as a heart rate monitor. Using it for 3 months now, the battery is pretty good holds up for 2 weeks with regular jogs in the morning. The app is decent , apart from the heart rate monitor every other reading such as calories, steps, distance are manipulated and not accurate.
So if you want a heart rate monitor as your primary requirement this will not fail you. Gunashekar D Certified Buyer , Bangalore. Amrit Certified Buyer , Gurgaon. I purchased this item in the May 15, sale for a effective price of only which is way less than any reputed company's wrist band having heart rate sensor.
I upgraded the smart band after I received the product which took some time because it wasn't getting connected in the beginning, but within around 20 minutes it got upgraded to latest version. The main feature, i. Arrived on time, The unboxing and setup was easy and it does what it does the best 'the most accurate heart rate monitor' I am surprised to get it at Please note this is not just another health band which displays heart rate monitor.
Questions and Answers. Q: Will it fit on a very small hand of 5 inches. A: It's hard to fit in that small hands.
Report Abuse. Q: Does it have vibration alarm features?? A: Yes for Heart rate activities and No for customizable alarms or smartphone alerts. Rohit Mathew. Q: This is compatible for I phone 6s? Flipkart Customer. Q: Does it show phone or message notification? Nubia Alpha Smart Watch 4. Alpha mechanical chronograph men's watch display back Brand New. Almost gone. Global Version Nubia Watch 4. Free returns. Alpha Explorer mechanical automatic men's watch sapphire crystal Brand New.
Alpha men's mechanical automatic watch Brand New. Alpha Sundial automatic men's watch Brand New. Alpha Datejust mechanical automatic men's watch sapphire crystal Brand New. Alpha mechanical automatic watch Brand New. Shipping not specified. Amounts shown in italicized text are for items listed in currency other than Canadian dollars and are approximate conversions to Canadian dollars based upon Bloomberg's conversion rates.
Whichever is most comfortable for you. The unit uses an optical sensor to measure your pulse. It does this by emitting a green light into your skin, which allows the unit to then more clearly read your pulse. You can see the green light below:.
It only does heart rate. But, it does it really darn well. And in particular, it does it with a focus on athletics. You can see a photo I took of the Basis watch below.
As you can see, it looks relatively similar. But of course, looks are deceiving. Some of this come down to technology. That running often includes significant jostling, bumping, and just in a general a non-smooth ride. In fact, the technology was exclusively licensed from Philips Medical the company that makes hospital level stuff.
Which, brings me to my next point. None of this optical technology is new. In fact, hospitals have been using it for years. Typically in devices like the one below. And by functional, I mean one that can work while you run. When it comes to tightness, many folks presume it must be boa constrictor tight.
I can get good solid readings in most cases without it being annoying tight. Just snug, but not super-tight. Note that comparing Basis to Alpha is like comparing a fighter jet to a business jet. Yes, they both fly optical HR , but one carries guns, missiles and bombs, and the other carries passengers and champagne.
Totally different purposes. As I noted above, the unit is pretty basic in that it only transmits your HR and displays it. When you start to ask yourself what functionality the unit might have, the easiest way to obtain the answer is to ask yourself if the same functionality is found in a heart rate strap. Here, let me give you example:. Q: Does the unit record your distance?
A: Does a heart rate strap record your distance? Neither does Alpha. Q: Does the unit display your location like GPS? A: Does a heart rate strap display your location like distance? Q: Does the unit transmit your current heart rate? A: Does a heart rate strap transmit your heart rate? So does Alpha. Q: Does the unit record your heart rate for downloading later? A: Does a heart rate strap record your heart rate for downloading later? Now unlike a heart rate strap, you do have to turn this on.
It will NOT start transmitting any value zero, null or otherwise until a heart rate is found. And, when using a phone app, it also works the same way. From there the unit will pair with the app. Again, not a big deal for most people especially today with virtually no Bluetooth Smart watches out , but worthwhile mentioning.
This means that your phone has to be Bluetooth Smart compatible , which means it has to have Bluetooth 4. And some Android phones and some Windows Phones. Let me repeat that again.
The app has to be specifically written to communicate with Bluetooth Smart. And today the number of apps that do that is decidedly thin. So, as a general rule you can use the Wahoo Fitness site to lookup apps that are compatible with their Wahoo Blue HR strap. Usually within about seconds of each other. For example, in the below picture you can see that the data from my heart rate strap fed into the FR on the left is off by two beats from the Alpha unit.
Which one is correct? Well, hard to know. On the flip side, once it does find it, I never have any issues with HR dropouts or spikes. It just works…the entire run. The reason being is that on lower-intensity runs the watch basically stays put.
But on higher intensity runs with more jostling, it ends up sliding down her arm towards her wrist she has to start it up higher, because the band is too big. Below you can see a heart rate chart from one of her runs. Simply put, the band is too big. Update: Here are the photos on her wrist. You can also start the timer that I mentioned above. This gives you a simple total time display while the unit is running. From easy workouts to hard workouts, short intervals to long runs.
And by and large, it works just fine and records generally accurate data. And typically, those spikes last for prolonged periods of times i. Versus a 1-second drop on the Alpha. Of course, seeing is believing. Beyond that, the units track fairly well against each other. This is probably one of the clearest example of the Alpha unit performing perfectly, compared to a typical HR strap doing initial spikes on a cold day.
Note all the wonkiness at the start with the chest strap, then compare it to the Alpha which mirrors what my HR would have been. It was an easy run, just starting off easy and then holding a steady heart rate. In this case, you see that the Alpha did a better job getting the initial heart rate, whereas the Garmin strap lagged initially.
They both tracked quite well, though it looks like the Alpha had three drops towards the end. Given I never stopped on my way back out and back course , these seem a bit odd. Weather was generally miserable.
Rather unpleasant. In this example, you see a single errant point sorta towards the beginning a couple minutes in. Things then track fairly well until the last couple minutes. This was just a 50 minute indoor trainer test. I was doing a lot of other data gathering on power meters, so I decided to knock out two birds with one stone in this test. I see one tiny blip around the 5-minute marker with Alpha, but otherwise spot-on. Just to briefly point out that in addition to doing athletic monitoring, the unit works pretty darn well for doing continuous HR monitoring.
I wrote a fun post up on it back a couple months ago, showing some of the capabilities, where I recorded my heart rate from waking up to falling asleep — which included a full day trip for work on the high speed train and back. Fun stuff. You can dig into it here. In addition to simple all day tracking of non-athletic endeavors, just today I also did one all-day tracking while skiing.
At the end of the day, I really like the Alpha from the standpoint of accuracy, functionality and ease of use. As a product, it does execute on exactly what it claims to do. No more, no less. It transmits your heart rate via one of two standards, and displays it — and it does it really well, bug free, without a heart rate strap around your chest. Yes, I understand that it has multi-million dollar optical HR sensing technology.
Thus, from my overall recommendation standpoint, it comes down to your own cost-basis determination. Is the cost worth it to you? Long term, I think this technology is FAR more valuable licensed out to other companies. For example, seeing this built into the back of a GPS sports watch.
Or perhaps, with the display removed entirely and just as a sleek heart rate watch wrist band that simply transmits just like your heart rate chest strap, but for your wrist. Today, only the Bluetooth Smart version is available for purchase.
Hopefully you found this review useful. You can pickup the Mio Alpha unit below. By doing so, you not only support the site and all the work I do here — but you also get a sweet discount. Additionally, you can also use Amazon to purchase the unit or accessories though, no discount on either from Amazon. Or, anything else you pickup on Amazon helps support the site as well socks, laundry detergent, cowbells. Thanks for reading! And lastly, if you felt this review was useful — I always appreciate feedback in the comments below.
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Subscribe me to the newsletter. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can click here to Subscribe without commenting. If they had one product that supported both, I might well give it a go.
But this is a luxury — its replacing a HR strap that I already have. And its expensive. Love the comparison. Point proven. Anyways, I completely agree. Does the unit work for swimming?
I recognize that the watch requires a device to record the data, but suppose one wanted to just have the instant read capability and was less concerned about being able to recover the data later.
Any update on that story? Or, at least, a bad idea if it was going to be a half-arsed sub-standard watch. I do hope things move more in the Amiigo direction, regardless. I think wearable sensor platforms that focus on more than just BPM for tracking workouts have a lot of potential. I can see oximetry, GSR, thermal both skin and external , among others, all having uses. I think the only challenge with Amiigo that I see is the inability to clearly segment portions of a workout.
The example I just gave to someone a short bit ago that asked was where they talk about swimming and showing data from that. Which is cool. But nobody takes their expensive iPhone out onto a pool deck, let alone into the pool. It also comunicates with several training apps. I must admit some bias. Eventhoug I have not seen any reviews. I think this will be my first not positive only comment on your reviews… Sometime back I noted if the unit would work for a swim when placed on the wrist right next to a XT or XT.
Just a lot of irons in the fire work, life, blog, run-bike focused training. Ray, how do you explain the significant difference in avg.
HR on your Run 2 example? After the Garmin stabilized around the 1 mi mark the two plots seem to match fairly well, EXCEPT the Garmin data is shifted higher by about 10 bpm the entire time. Thoughts as to why that would be? That way I never have to hear the HR zone beeps. Works perfectly. Which phone and app do you use? Your wife should try wearing a sweatband around her wrist. That might keep the watch from slipping down to her hand when she is running. Oh, forgot to ask.
No comparison to that. This device is a great idea except that if I use another watch to track my workouts like a , where does this thing go? On the other wrist? If they could give you the option to use it as a HR strap only and put it on an ankle I think it would be a FAR better and more useful device for some people.
I have the same issues as you, Denise. Super nerdy look, but works fine. I have, however, been too embarrassed to do it at the gym! Meant to add at the risk of jinxing things that the pairing with my XT is pretty instantaneous — much quicker and more consistent than e. That, I have been very pleased with. I received one shortly after shipping.
I train for marathons using the Maffetone Method aerobic training. I gave up on Garmin due to inconsistencies. Tried various straps with Garmin. I moved to Polar RC3 as soon as it was available. It is easy to set up a training zone with Mio and relatively easy to stay in zone while running. With Polar I have to look at watch far too often and closely.
A glance at Mio serves purpose. I have the same problem as your review with occasional drops with longer mileage. The Mio will suddenly show heart rates to then drop down to then slowly correct itself to my training heart rate of This will happen over a minute or two. This has happened on several occasions. Really needs GPS. Not a bad investment. I will use during off season during warmer weather. Most serious runners I know have a garmin of one sort or another.
I would buy one now, but I need it to work with a Garmin. You just have to chose which version when buying. So, you just have to chose. So, if you go out and buy a new unit today, the only choice is Bluetooth Smart. I actually own an Alpha, and I am somewhat ambivalent in my assessment of it at this stage. This, I must say, is rather frustrating. For steady-state efforts its seems to track much more accurately.
I can see people using this if they hate HR straps. The feature is there in certain Android OS versions on certain models to connect to Bluetooth Smart devices, and in fact, some devices already do. Take for example, the Fitbit. They just released their Android app in the last two days, to connect via Bluetooth Smart to the Fitbit. I have had the alpha watch for approx 1 month now, and I have also been comparing training with my garmin watch.
But I have noticed that the alpha gives lower heartbeats than cheststrap does. I use the bluetooth version I used the runkeeper app for recording the alpha, and I also have a program that converts the garmin to runkeeper.
Also been trying the wahoo fitness app. I also have the basis watch. Andre, you actually have a MyBasis watch? I was starting to think they were just a myth even though they claim they had shipped some.
The technical info on their site is very weak. What do you think? Does it work as expected? And seen images from folks as well. A few units went out in late December. Then in theory a few more back in January. Despite trying Glide, Band-aids and everything else I get a huge abrasion on my chest after any lengthy run with a chest strap. Those showers afterwards just hurt, and the blood stains on the shirts are a little too dramatic for group runs.
And I have clients that just plain cannot get their HR strap to work usually females. As someone pointed out above, the market of Garmin and other ANT users out there is huge; so to cut them all out of the equation is leaving money on the table.
Im guessing they are already some way down the road of licensing with Garmin and the product will not compete with Garmin product which will feature the optical HRM. If you are training by heart rate zone then the dark is no problem. It blinks Blue if you are below your target zone, Red if you are above your heart zone, and Green if you are in your zone. When Garmin gets their hands on this technology and incorporates it into their fitness watches, such as or , I would be very happy to burn my HR strap and pay extra for the watch.
Needless to say, if the entire unit was also waterproof swimming and consistently accurate we may have a near perfect sport watch! With the chest strap is the only way to go. The watches that rely on wrist or other measurements are very inaccurate. Not mentioning they are much more accurate and convenient, using them with smartphones gives you access to functionality provided by dozens apps on appstore and google play.
It uses the most reliable and energy-saving technology available at the moment. You can find out more on their site: link to beetsblu. Is it anything other than a re-branded wahoo fitness strap? It claims it works in the water. But with what device? Compatible with mio pai app personal activity intelligence. To add all day activity tracking, easily update your firmware via mio go app.
Store up to 25 hours of workout data. Dinu das. Tech specialist. Prev Post. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Close Privacy Overview This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website.
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