A few weeks back I received a new activity tracker to review and after having damaged one and lost another I was super pleased to receive this one and to be able to see how I am doing on the trek towards a fitter Mich.
I had not heard of the Misfit Shine before receiving this but it is a really stylish looking tracker that can be worn on the wrist, around your neck or clipped to your shoe or clothing, I like how versatile it is and boy does it look nice too. At first I choose to try out the Shine as a bracelet and wore it on my wrist for a couple of weeks. The rubber bracelet slips into the side groove on the shine very easily and has an adjustable strap with cute press button closing the same as the shine itself.
I loved how easy the Shine was to set up and the fact that I got a very easy to follow booklet with it was a bonus too. I really appreciate when companies send you an instruction leaflet with a product as so many just expect you to go online and read that way nowadays. Basically you use the battery tool to insert the battery, download the app onto your phone, sync the phone to the app and it asks for a few basic details, gender, height and weight and that is it, you are off and can use your tracker.
As well as wearing the Shine on my wrist I wore it using the strong magnetic clip on my neckline and this was good for work as I could hide it with a scarf or under a cardie, although it is so nice looking it does not really matter if anyone sees it.
When you are wearing the Shine you can tap it twice and see how you are doing towards achieving your days goal. There are 12 lights and basically they will give you an indication of how close you are or if they all light up and dance around, you have done it and achieved your goal!
The lights can also act as a watch by telling you the hour first and then the minutes, I confess I turned this off as I was totally confused and wear a watch anyway. I'm sure some people might like it, for me it was a waste of time.
Syncing the Shine to my iPhone was easy and it also works with Android devices (selected models that run Android 4.3 and over, and have Bluetooth 4.0). You just go in the app and then tap the Shine to the display and it uploads the data via bluetooth, easy and quick and can be done anywhere as there are no leads or such, I love this as it means I can upload the data straight after a workout at the gym to see how I have done. You do need to be aware though that once it syncs it loses the progress lights and you go back to the first light, so you don't easily know how much you have done that day and how far off target you are.
I was a bit confused the first time I synced and then looked at the data in the app as it counts things in points and asks you to set a goal by points and it gives you an idea of how that might translate to walking, running etc. I initially went for 1000 points and was consistently busting it but sadly the Shine didn't encourage me to reassess or to up my game.
In the app if you tap the inner circle where it shows the points you can see your steps, calories burned (including those your body is naturally burning just by being alive and awake) and the mileage walked. You can also see a graph at the bottom with the times of the day so you can trace when you were most active.
It is easy to move between days and if you tap the calendar icon you can see how you have done week on week and evaluate which are your more busier days and I now know I hardly move on a Monday!
If you drag up the graph you get some more data and boxes give you a little low down on how you are doing, if you were very active and for how long or you might get a trophy or personal best. Nice little reminders that things are going well. As I said before though no mention of pulling your socks up, pushing yourself harder or doing better.
I discovered there is also a food journal part to the app and if you find it helpful you can create a visual diary of what you are eating. That would certainly remind me what I need to cut down on.
The Shine also tracks your sleep and I found this quite good as I literally continued to wear my Shine and paid no thought to it and it seemed to just go into sleep mode itself. To be honest I didn't find the data it gave me that useful but then this is not a function I was after.
Plus points
- Excellent battery life, lasts up to 4 months and no charging necessary
- Water resistant, so I can wear it in the shower or swimming
- Easy to sync and immediate data
- Looks fabulous and is super light
- Wristband and magnetic clip both included
Not so great
- When you double tap it, it does not always show you your progress and once you sync it, then you tap the shine it goes back to zero and does not show you your progress against goal for the day so far.
- The watch is really confusing
Conclusion
I love the misfit Shine it is a fabulous tracker for someone like me who wants to wear something a bit more elegant that a big chunk of rubber. It does exactly what I need it to and at around
£64 on Amazon it is a good price too.
Disclosure: I received the Misfit Shine free of charge for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.
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