GoWear fit Display Device
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List Price: Our Price: $79.99 You Save: $20.00 (20%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Health Care See more product details |
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Customer Reviews of GoWear fit Display Device
Customer Review: Great- as long as you don't lose it
Summary: 4 Stars
I had wanted to get the gowear fit for quite some time, since I expected the constant display of information would greatly help me to be motivated. It certainly has, and I've been able to get myself to make a million little choices that have added up to a lot of success. So far, I've lost 7 pounds in 2 weeks, just through the constant feedback of this display device. I have been psyched, and able to picture this taking me all the way to my goal of losing about 100 pounds.
The display device beeps reminders when I meet my daily goals for steps, calories burned, moderate activity, and vigorous activity. This adds a simple reminder to my day-to work a little harder, cut out calories, and add a little exercise. For me, this whole program isn't too much effort, and it's fun to see each goal reached throughout the day. The constant, small reminders based on information that I see as quite accurate are the best motivator I've found.
Now, the one problem- the display device is a separate piece from the "watchband". It twists into place, and is clearly supposed to lock with a slight "snap" in its final position. In the two weeks I've owned this, it has fallen out of the band three times. Since you still feel the band, you don't feel it fall- you only discover that it has fallen out when you happen to look down. That moment is pretty scary, since it could be anywhere, and it's $80 to replace. The first time it fell out, I thought that I must not have locked it in place properly. I decided to be extremely careful, and start checking that it was fully rotated into place every time I look at it. Look at the display, grab it and rotate to the fully-locked position, again and again. I noticed that it often was slightly twisted towards the "unlocked" position, and thought that my constant re-locking of it every time I looked at it would take care of that. The second time it fell out, I figured out that it was going to be an ongoing problem. I decided to be even more careful while I figured out how to "glue" it into place in a non-destructive way. It fell out again before I could achieve that. This time, I couldn't find it. So now, I have a system that is not nearly as useful, and I need to buy another $80 display device. I would suggest that if you purchase this device, work out a way to "glue" this in place that won't cause harm- I was thinking a little bit of silicon seal might be strong enough, but removable. I've yet to verify this with GoWear.
Overall, the GoWear system can be very effective, especially when combined with this display device. Be careful to do something to insure you don't lose the display, and go get healthy!
<UPDATE>I got ahold of GoWear, and they said it seemed likely that it was a defect, and gave me a return label to return the "watch band" part-and they will ship me a new display device and band. Outrageously good customer service form the manufacturer, effective ongoing reminders- if you want to improve your fitness, go get this system now. If you're having any problem, call GoWear and give them a chance to fix it.
Customer Review: Waste of money because it's inaccurate, gets out of sync
Summary: 1 Stars
1. I have been using GoWearFit armband and display for several months. I have lost close to 30Ibs since Nov.
I waited for a while to give both a fair chance before writing a review.
2. I did quite some research on the product and in particular on the display before the purchase. The best review and comparison of GoWearFit and BodyBugg I read was here: [...].
Even though it advises against buying the display, I purchased it. Why? I called GoWearFit customer service and asked them if the display gives real-time info on the calorie burnout. They said, yes. I bought it.
Here are my conclusions:
ARMBAND
The armband along with the Calorie Management System is a decent product. It does deliver in the sense that if you accurately log your meals (calorie intake) and burn more and create a calorie deficit, you will loose weight. I sync it with GoWearFit database several times a day to see how much I have burned. Keep in mind, it is at best 90% accurate according to their own studies.
DISPLAY
The issue I debated with before the purchase was, "is the display worth $80?" My other option was to buy a heart rate monitor (HRM) instead. I did buy the HRM from Polar as well. It was a much smarter choice.
The issues with the display are:
1. It does not sync with the armband very well. It gets out of sync frequently. I contacted customer service. They send me instructions to reboot it. It did nothing. They said they would replace it. Never did despite my email to them. It hardly syncs if I wear a jacket, etc.
2. The worst part is that it is terribly inaccurate. Even with vigorous exercise, it says I am burning 6-7 cal/min. When I see the numbers on the graph after loading my data to their Calorie Management System for that exact same time, it is more like 11-2 cal/min. So much for real time display!
The one area where I did find it somewhat useful is as a pedometer. If you were set to take 4000 steps daily, the display will tell you, OK, you are done when you have actually completed taking 4000 steps.
My advise is get the GoWearFit armband and a good quality HRM instead of the display. Do your research, the HRM gives a more accurate estimate of your calorie burn for cardio. I actually take the armband off when doing cardio, get the calorie burn from the HRM, then enter it into GoWearFit Calorie Management System. It gives "Edit Time-off" option when the armband was taken off for more than 30 min.
Good luck loosing/maintaining weight and don't waste $80 on this.
Customer Review: Love my GWF: A suggestion for the display
Summary: 4 Stars
I have had my GoWear Fit (GWF) and display for 2 weeks and all the great reviews are correct. I am not going to list all the positives, because I totally agree with all of them.
I do have a few comments for you to be aware of:
1. I almost lost my display today. That would have been a really expensive shock/disappointment. I was not using the wristband since it is pretty big and clunky for all day, and I have a pretty Chico's watch I prefer to wear. So it has a clip feature, to clip it on your clothes (the face comes off the wristband). I had mine clipped on different shirts for 2 weeks, and it was fine. Today I had it clipped on a silk sweater and it slid off. I thought I had lost it somewhere on my way to work. This display is NOT inexpensive!!! I was UPSET!! Luckily, it must have fallen off in the bathroom, and I found it slipping down my pants leg.
I am going to construct some chain and safety pin set-up so I can double-clip it onto my shirt, so I don't lose it. Maybe they will improve the display clip feature, but I suggest you think about this. Alternatively, you can just leave it in your purse in a safe place, and look at it from time to time.
2. The velcro armband is sometimes uncomfortable, and I do not have skin allergies. I loosen it and it still works, but in the future, maybe they'll design an armband of cloth instead of elastic and velcro... I don't know if this will become a nuisance. It is something you really wear all day and night every day and night.
3. Suggestion: Amazon.com had a sale where you could buy the GoWear Fit and get the display for an additional $19.99 which was a GREAT price! You can see that now the display is $69.99 (too expensive). So if you can wait and watch; put it in your cart and wait a month and see if there is a sale.
I am really really happy with this. I have had a very hard time losing weight, and even though my calories were low: 1350, I didn't realize how inactive I was during the day other than my 1-hour of weights or cardio. (Some days I only move/burn 1600 calories)... not enough of a deficit. This gets me moving during the day! It's terrific!
Customer Review: Misleading Data
Summary: 1 Stars
I hate my bodybugg. I purchased it and latter the digital display device at 24 hour fitness. It's been nothing but one headache after another. I bought my bodybugg 01/25/2010. I asked 24 hr fitness if it was compatible with Mac. When I tried to install my bodybugg at home I found out that I needed a Mac OS 10.5 with an intel pentium processor and I have a Mac OS 10.4 with powerpc.
I really wanted to get the most out of the training sessions that I purchased so I got the digital display to constantly see the calories that I burned through out the day. I thought I could load the bodybugg data at the gym, since I can't do it at home. For some reason my bodybugg info can't be loaded at the gym in Arvada Colorado (where I meet my trainer) but it can be loaded 30 minutes away at the Denver gym (weird).
I just loaded my bodybugg info for the first time tonight. The digital display monitor said that I burned 2200 calories and the web site said 900. The technical support guy said that the web site has algorithms to process the raw data and the digital display device does not. That means the digital display device shows the raw data from the bodybugg and how much I burn while watching TV. The web site does not count calories burned during inactivity, as a result the tech guy said that the web site is more accurate. In conjunction with working out at the gym I push two 30 pound toddlers in a stroller two blocks to get their big sister to school. I have twin 2 1/2 year old boys that I have to keep up with during the day. I told the tech guy that the web site is showing too many valleys of in activity compared to the digital display watch so he said that I would have to upgrade the Firmwear.
It's been about 3 weeks and I have been logging my food, meeting with a trainer and I have not lost any weight. I guess my wallet has lost considerable weight but I plan on remedying that by getting my money back for everything!!! What a hassle.
Customer Review: Take the Guessing Game Out Of Your Weighloss
Summary: 4 Stars
Before beginning a weight loss regiment I decided that I would toss all diet plans and products providing false promises. Instead, I was going to base my plans on real data about MY body and needs. I ordered the GoWear armband and display. In addition, I also use a heart rate monitor and the application "loose it" on my i Phone. I log all my meals on my i Phone for the simple reason that I always have my i Phone with me. I transfer the calories into my GoWear software daily. This takes less than a minute. I work out using my heart rate monitor to secure the best zone for my heart-rate. The GoWear soft-and hardware pulls all my data together. It matrices the input and output in VERY easy data reports for a quick overview. The aggregated data helps to discover trends for weigh-loss obstacles and reasons form plateaus. I spend about 3 minutes daily on keeping up with the GoWear data. During this time, the armband charges up. I spend about 5 minutes weekly on the reports for the past week and month to check if I need to make changes.
Setting up the GoWear was super easy. Also, I had to call customer service for a quick question. the wait time was short and the representative super knowledgeable.
The display item motivates me daily since it sends me messages when I have reached the daily goal for calorie expenditure and steps.
The software for the GoWear could still be developed a bit more. There are some areas where I could see improvement.
The one feature that I really LOVE is the data on my sleep pattern. Since using the GoWear I discovered that I slept too little. I now feel more accountability for my sleep and have improved my sleep to be in a healthy range. I would not have done so without GoWear.
I am very glad I spend the money on the GoWear since I need to see the data in order to make needed changes. Data affords me the accountability that I need in order to be successful. I lost 40 pounds so far.