Misfit Shine Activity Tracker

My colleague came to work last week with a new toy.  The Fitbit Flex.  I'm embarrassed to admit that I have never heard of this.  I've heard of pedometers sure, but not something like this.  She was showing me how it shows her activity on an iPhone app.  It didn't have a display but you can double tap it to show progress for the day.  If 2 out of the 4 led lights came on, means you've fulfilled 50% of your daily 10,000 steps.

Why 10,000 steps a day you ask?  It's scientifically proven that walking has a direct correlation to improved health and walking 10,000 steps a day (approximately 6km/ brisk walking speed of about 1 hour) can reduce risks of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes type 2, obesity, etc.  It's not a lot to walk but I think most of our daily routines are pretty sedentary.  At best we clock in about 2,500 steps a day?  Probably going to lunch at that.

I thought about buying the Fitbit Flex for SGD$129.  I even went to the store and looked at it and put it back.  My friends told me that I would only wear it for a month then chuck it aside.  That didn't satisfy my urge to buy it.  I did more research about the different activity trackers there are in the market, their price, what they could do.... finally I decided on the Misfit Shine.

After work I headed straight to Epicentre at Wheelock Place and got one... it was priced at SGD$169. But since I was a member, I paid SGD$161.  Although it cost more than the Fitbit Flex, I felt that the SGD$8 I saved was such a bargain haha.  A tad disappointed that they only carry the silver colour one here, I had my eye on the black one.  I ripped it open in the car and put it on straight away.

Let me tell you why I chose this above the others.  The Misfit Shine tracks other activities like swimming, cycling, tennis, basketball and soccer.  It is also waterproof up to 50 meters, not just water resistant.  The battery doesn't need charging, only needs to be replaced every 4 months thereabouts.  It can be worn anywhere or put in your pocket, it comes with a sports strap and a clasp so you can wear it on your wrist or clip it onto your clothes, shoe, bra, belt, etc.  There are no cables required, syncing with your phone is easy via bluetooth, you just have to tap the Shine on the phone.  The Shine also doubles up as a watch so you don't have to wear a watch.  Best of all, it's actually quite stylish so you don't have to worry about it spoiling the look of your evening gown. 

I must say that after my first day of wearing the Shine, I'm pretty happy about it.  Totally money well spent because today, I clocked more than 15,000 steps.  It's ideal for people who need a bit of motivation to get moving.  Just a reminder, staring at it and telling yourself that you shouldn't waste the good money you paid for it and get moving haha!

 

The Misfit Shine even tracks your sleep.  It shows you how much you slept and the report shows a breakdown of deep sleep and light sleep.  There's even an alarm that you can set to wake you up during the light phase of sleep.  Waking up during the light phase actually ensures that you wake up feeling rested.  I'm going to try that tonight.  At the moment I'm still excited about it so I keep checking how many steps I do like every half hour.  The app also shows you how many calories you've burnt and distance you've covered.  There's a weight tracker where you manually enter your weight and the graph shows your progress.

Hopefully this helps increase my daily activity.  Despite doing HIIT exercises, I think increasing activity over the course of the day is very important and beneficial.  Don't forget to drink enough water.  How much water is enough? A good guide is your weight in kg, multiplied by 0.033.  You will get the number of litres you should drink each day.  Let's get healthy everyone!