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Trying to lose weight can be tough and being aware of how much energy you exert during your day could be useful. But there’s a problem with that. While most fitness trackers and smartwatches may inform you on the number of calories burned after your morning run, they won’t automatically tell you about all the calories you’ve consumed during your high-calorie breakfast after. The ultimate fitness tracker wouldn’t only monitor your physical activity and automatically record duration and quality of sleep, but it would also know what you ate without you logging anything. Hey, we can dream, can’t we?
Well, according to Healbe we don’t need to dream. Their $150 GoBe tracker vows to do each of those things plus other things like measure your stress level and daily water consumption. Are you curious? Then keep reading for a review on the Healbe GoBe tracker.
A bulky piece of metal attached to a dark gray, plastic strap isn’t the most fashionable, but it’s at least comfortable. The good news is that if you don’t care for the gray strap, there is a purple one included for you to use. GoBe has a single button, and the top part is punctured to keep the simplistic LED display hidden.
On the back, you’ll find the metal impedance sensor that sits on your skin; you may notice an itchy feeling with this sensor. There are also two plug-ins for charging the battery which, according to Healbe, will last for two days of normal use. There are an accelerometer sensor and pressure sensor which, together, will provide analysis of your sleep. All three sensors combined can determine activity, calories and heart rate.
If swimming is your thing, no worries because you can swim or shower while wearing the GoBe since it’s waterproof to 3 meters.
The GoBe connects to your Android or iOS using Bluetooth and once the Healbe GoBe app syncs to the tracker, you’ll need to enter some statistics about yourself such as age, height, weight, gender, etc. All of this information helps the app to calculate more exact calorie count and other things.
When you’ve entered all of your vitals, you’ll be taken to the main screen which has five sections:
GoBe uses FLOW Technology, and it’s designed to identify water levels in your body tissue using the impedance sensor. After eating food, this food is converted into glucose by your body; your cells soak up the glucose and then release water. GoBe figures the movement of water and uses an algorithm to transform it into calories. But does it work? Well actually—yes, it’s quite accurate.
Healbe’s message on its website is “Tell it nothing. Knows everything. While GoBe won’t bug you about manually logging in food, you still have to press and hold its only button for 2-3 seconds before eating. Then, for the next-15-30 minutes, the impedance sensor should give GoBe all the details as your body absorbs everything you just consumed.
But what if you’re in the middle of the meal and realize that you were supposed to press the button or you forget about it entirely? Well, there is a back-up plan. For those meals you missed, if the GoBe recorded any impedance data, you’ll be asked about it when you sync with the app; you can also pick the type of meal—such as low-carb—and the size of meal you ate. For instance, it might inquire, “Did you eat between 12:15 and 12:45?” then query, “Did you eat between 12:30 and 1:00?” You may have forgotten your eating times if you sync to the app at the end of a long day. When you’ve finished answering the pop-ups, the app will create a graph showing your consumed calories amount.
The sleep tracking is automatic and an excellent feature of the GoBe. Most sleep tracking features today only measure the quality of sleep by your movement. However, GoBe not only monitors your movement but heart rate during the night as well. The app can then map out accurate information about all of your non-REM and REM cycles in a timeline. The sensors will track duration, start, and end of REM phases, sleep efficiency, restlessness and even takes into consideration your stress level and activity throughout the day.
Since it monitors your pulse, it makes a pretty good fitness tracker too that counts your steps and distance. It also knows when you’re active and when you’re not. It’ll track activities like swimming, weight training, walking, running, cycling and much more. By collecting information from your statistics, how much activity the accelerometer records and the device’s sensor details it’ll roughly calculate your burned calories.
No matter whether you’re trying to lose weight or just stay in shape, it’s handy to have a device for tracking your caloric intake and activity; it makes you responsible for yourself and assists you in sticking to your goals. Although the Healbe GoBe has a few bugs that need fixing (what new gadget doesn’t?), it’s still a very useful tracker and will make a positive change for fitness and health.
Photo Credit: Teknlife
