Wearables have been around for a while now. Many of them exist just for the heck of it and some really adds a charm to your lives. Many fitness trackers bands in the market today just get your data and show it back to you. Some go a step forward and display the same on an attractive dashboard. GOQii Fitness Band makes you think a little different here. It doesn’t just collect data, but also offers you something really special which helps you keep going. This review exactly talks about that.
The retail box comes with a couple of bands, the core Unit, A charging unit (for the core), and a bluetooth dongle to be used on PCs which doesn’t have a bluetooth module built in (primarily for syncing) and a subscription activation card. GOQii isn’t one gadget which you buy it once and forget using it, the subscription model keeps you going and pushes you hard to maintain your activities.
The GOQii Life 3 Month Plan, Unisex can be purchased from Amazon.in at Rs. 3999/-. You also have an option to buy a 6 month Plan at an additional cost. You can also opt for the colour which you like the most. Ensure, you select the right size.
The quality of construction on the GOQii Fitness Band definitely feels premium. The band fits comfortably (make sure you choose the right size); and the band is sweat proof and water resistant as well. The band offers a Touchscreen OLED display, which shows how long you stay active, distance traveled while you are active, calories burnt during your day, a toggle to measure your sleep routine and of-course even the time, so that you do not miss your watch.
The GOQii is equipped with a 360-degree Motion sensor which not just measures the activity but also your sleep quality. If you are kind enough to not wake-up people around you with your alarm clock, you can also setup the same with your GOQii. A designed vibration can be setup to wake you up instead of the loud alerts. GOQii works on the Bluetooth LE Technology to wireless Sync the data with your app on the smartphone. This mobile app also helps track your nutrition, lifestyle and Karma Points.
With doing all this, the GOQii offers a very very good battery life; while I posted this below tweet, it still had some juice left. It was a good 4-5 days on a single charge. That’s impressive!
Been using the @GOQiiLife for 4 days now with just one single charge; the battery is very impressive #BeTheForce pic.twitter.com/0jOaJsaiHw
— Vijay Raj (@rajvj) March 12, 2015
A tap on the band’s screen wakes up the display, and repeated swipes on the touch-screen cycles between the number of steps logged, the time duration of the activity, distance travelled, number of calories burnt, and the Karma points accumulated for the day. The clock settings of vertical and horizontal display is a neat addition too.
“Collecting data is one side of the story; making sense of it is the most important one. Goqii helps you exactly with that. Turning numbers into meaningful actions.”
We all love personal touches in the products we love. GOQii takes it one step ahead. It not just provides you a great customer support but also a personal coach who would be around you most of the time. The coach program is the USP of this product. The coach helps you analyse your data and sets goals, suggests changes in diet, physical activity, sleep, water and food intake and also offers tips to keep you more active. You stay in touch with your couch using daily chats and calls.
The App support is very impressive with GOQii. They are available for Windows, OS X, iOS, Android and even for Windows Phones.
The karma points is a nice little thing which tags along with your GOQii. All the activity you do on your GOQii band gets converted into Karma points. These points can be donated on various social causes. You losing(your weight) can help in others gaining something valuable.
The community/and online support is pretty neat on this product. If a product founder can take time and respond to your question, nothing better than that.
@rajvj @GOQiiLife u can enter cycling as a special activity in the app and Log the data
— vishal gondal (@vishalgondal) March 8, 2015
Upon the reply I got from Vishal, I did log-in to the portal to add my cycling activity; and I saw lot more options there. Be it Dance, Swimming, Yoga, Cricket, Tennis etc. You have to define the intensity and the duration. Its basically to record your progress and update your coach about the activity you did.
To be honest, some things about the band could’ve been better. The automatic activation of the Sleep/Wake Mode than the need to toggle every night and next morning is definitely one of them. I would’ve also liked a micro-USB charging core unit; this could’ve made life so simple, especially when I travel.
Summary: The GOQii Band is a good investment; considering that, its not just a gadget, but you also have a virtual coach who is constantly monitoring your progress and pushing you forward. You can always choose to renew your subscription, or continue to use the band and the associated app forever just like other fitness bands.
All in all, I like the experience of wearing a fitness band finally; and using the GOQii was just the cherry on the cake. Oops, did I say Cake? Arghh…