GoWear fit Lifestyle and Calorie Management System
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Product Reviews of GoWear fit Lifestyle and Calorie Management System
Product Review: Complete dud and HORRIBLE customer service
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought one of these and it worked for all of 5 minutes (I'm not joking). When I called the company for help, the woman who answered could have cared less, in fact she acted as though it was probably my fault. Then she told me she didn't know anything about using these with Macs and someone would have to call me back.
Still waiting.
Update: Finally got someone on the phone who knew what he was talking about, but I had to call them, they didn't call me. He told me how to reboot the device (which should have been included in the documentation). I did so and it worked. For about 10 minutes. It turned out that every time I wanted to put it on my arm or sync with my computer, I had to reboot. And when I did sync, it wasn't tracking all the info it was supposed to.
After several more days, they finally realized they had sent me a dud. So I was told they were sending me a new one. Hurray!
Oh, except that when they addressed the package, they forgot to put my street address on it, so instead of coming in 2 days as promised, I have no idea when it is going to be delivered becuase it's in some kind of UPS limbo (I actually asked them if they had the correct info when I was told they were reshipping it, and they said they did. ha).
I have no idea if the new device is going to work, but I don't think i have EVER dealt with such hard to get hold of and generally incompetent customer service.
Product Review: Couldn't be more pleased....
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this for my wife and she has used it since right after Christmas. It has been a great tool and several members of her family have purchases their own after learning how it works. This is motivation that you wear on your arm.Product Review: Cyclists WARNING! Device doesn't work for Cycling!
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought the GoWear Fit and the display device a few weeks ago.
Setup was easy. Interface was done well. Connection and data upload was efficient.
I went on my first ride with this thing last week (Mountain Bike). Average speed was 15.6 MPH for a duration of 53 minutes (really aggressive fast riding on pavement).
I uploaded my first workout to the website and was checking out my workout information and noticed that my calories burned were 404. I was extremely disappointed. I assumed my total burn was around 800 for this ride (I do this particular ride a LOT). I continued to use the GoWear Fit for the last week, riding every day my same ride and got the same sad results *around 400 calories burned. I called the company yesterday, and spoke to some guy about my issues. He told me that different people blah blah... different results blah blah... THEN I mentioned cycling and he said "You're a CYCLIST? Well that changes everything, let me email you information on how to use the GoWear FIT for cycling." GREAT.. I wasnt crazy and I WAS actually burning more calories than I thought. I received his email a few minutes later and was EXTREMELY disappointed - here it is:
FROM GARMIN: It is important to note that the program is not intended to measure a specific activity. Rather, the success and intent of the program is to measure the user's total energy expenditure throughout the course of their daily activities.
With that being said, we do not claim any specific validity when it comes to biking. We recognize that this activity, whether road biking or stationary biking, is an area that we continue to improve. Our strengths are with what the average consumer spends their time doing as well as where they accumulate the majority of their physical activity. With that, we tend to concentrate on resting, walking and running.
With biking, we do have a few suggestions that may help improve accuracy:
On a road bike - check that the armband is worn in its normal position, on the upper arm, with the armband closer to the shoulder than the elbow, at the back of the arm. On an exercise bike, also called a stationary bike, some people may feel they deserve more calories than the bug gives them credit for. This might be because of the exercise bike's geometry and handle bar style. In this case, just for riding the exercise bike, try wearing the bug lower on the arm, closer to the elbow than the shoulder, *and* rotate the armband a little to the outside of your arm. With your arm hanging at your side (not sitting on the bike or holding the handle bars), the armband would be in line with your wrist watch. When you have finished riding the bike, pull the armband back to its normal position.
I ordered a Garmin 405CX right after I read his response.
Todays ride with the Garmin says my average HR during the ride is 163. According the my Garmin 405CX I burned 905 calories on my ride today. Now that's more like it. (RHR is 45. Max is 191.)
Overall I'm pretty irritated that this INFO (device doesn't work for cyclists) wasn't given upfront (BEFORE) I spent $280 on the whole package.
Product Review: Daily Food Logging Now Available
Summary: 5 Stars
I just got my product yesterday, so I haven't really been able to test it out much (will update), but I do want to address some of the negative reviews I saw here when I was considering purchasing this item. I noticed some reviews that said daily food logging was not available with this product. Well, it is now. This wasn't a huge deal breaker for me as I prefer to write down my food in my food journal, but if you want to be able to track calories in and calories out in the same place, this product will do it. As for the hardware issues, I haven't had any; my GWf charged up in about 3 hours as it said, held its charge all through the night, and only took about five minutes to fully charge again this morning. As for the amazon code issue, I thought I wouldn't be able to use my Amazon code, but you actually enter it on the second page of the billing info, not the first, and I suspect that may have been the issue with the one reviewer (it was actually a little confusing, and I purchase crap on the internet all the time). Further, GWf has right on its website that you can purchase the unit from amazon.com, so I find it doubtful that they wouldn't provide technical support for units purchased there, although I've had no occasion to call technical support.
Once again, I'll update my review when I have more info on how the GWf actually works, but my first impression is that a lot of the negative reviews (which actually delayed my decision to purchase) have been addressed by the company or weren't applicable in my case.
P.S. Just for all the mac people out there, the GoWear fit is mac compatible, and I've had no issues with syncing whatsoever.
Product Review: Decent, but far from perfect.
Summary: 3 Stars
I have worn this product 90%+ of the time for the past 3 months. I would say that it does some things very well, but other areas are noticeably lacking, and for the price I feel the overall performance should be better.
What works:
-The sleep tracking feature was one of the major selling points for me since I have sleep issues. The output seems fairly accurate as long as you aren't prone to lying still in bed while awake much. It tracks your movement to determine whether you are asleep or not, so if you tend to lie still while awake it may overestimate your time asleep.
-Food logging - the daily food logging is actually alright. I was skeptical since I usually log my food in [...] and love that site, but the bodymedia system is straightforward and the database is well populated. I have switched to entering just my daily calorie estimate however because I have so many custom foods entered in sparkpeople, so I enter my food in sparkpeople and copy over the calorie total to body media. Kind of annoying, yes, but not really body media's fault, and at least I do have deficit information tracked that way.
-Exercise tracking for running or walking without a significant incline seems very accurate, both in terms of steps and effort measured.
-I like the reporting tools very much. They are intuitive to use, pleasing to the eye, and the export functionality is great for sharing your data with a physician or trainer.
-The device is unobtrusive on your arm and comfortable to wear. There is a small lump, but it isn't really noticeable under a shirt.
What doesn't work:
-Exercise tracking for running or walking at an incline (especially hiking). For example, I recently did a hike which averaged about a 17% incline, with sections up to 31%. The go wear fit recorded that as burning approximately 300 calories/hr, which is less than walking at a brisk pace on flat ground. Clearly very, very inaccurate.
-Exercise tracking for low-impact activities, especially those without arm swinging, such as bike riding or elliptical trainers.
-Not waterproof, so can't use for water activities.
-I am not sure how accurate it is for weight-lifting. When I compare it to my heart rate monitor's estimation they are usually fairly close, but not always, and there isn't a good metric for really figuring out calorie burn during this type of activity outside of the lab.
-Syncing the device is annoying. You have to log into the site, clicking through a couple of pages, then click through several more pages to actually upload the data. It should be a 1 or 2 click process. I should not have to tell it every time that I want to use the usb cord and not a wireless device to connect (that there even is a wireless device option is news to me). I should not have to confirm that it is connected, or that the right software is installed every time, these are things they can figure out behind the scenes without my interaction.
-I'm not a fan of the subscription requirement for ongoing use. It is just a $$ ploy, and since it also requires me to have internet access to look at my data it's doubly annoying.
Summary:
If the device was accurate for a wider range of activities, and if the syncing process was easier, I would raise the rating to a 4.5. The feedback is motivating, and it has helped me lose weight, but it shouldn't be treated as gospel. The readings may not be very precise for you depending on how much of your activity falls into its weaker areas.