GOQii Fitness band Review: After a month of use

It was a little over a month back when GOQii invited me to try their fitness band for a review. Of course I am a travel blogger, but I do love gadgets and often review them here, especially if they are related to travel. So read on for my Review for the GOQii Fitness Bands.

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M already had a fitness band from another brand, and as soon as I got one it was competition time for us. We would compare everything we did at the end of the day - number of steps, sleep quality and so on, and the more we did it the more addictive it got. I also realised that when she was away for a week, I started walking less as there was no one to compete with. So first lesson when it comes to fitness technology - always have a fitness partner! You can motivate each other, and a healthy competition actually helps a lot!

GOQii Fitness Band review

So what worked for me?

When it comes to fitness, having a schedule is important and a fitness band actually helps in this. It’s on your wrist all the time and that’s a constant reminder that you need to walk. Also, the app which gives a slight nudge if you are falling behind your daily targets is useful. I also think its important to not get obsessed about it, the band can only help you as much in your overall fitness needs.

I used the band not just to compete, but also play. I would sometimes make random targets for the day and do all sorts of crazy things to achieve those - like climb on the Vetal Hill twice, jog both in the morning and the evening, take a walk to the canteen instead of the car and so on. 

Oh, and I also used twitter also share my fitness goals and that helped me to make a few more digital friends with who exchanged notes and tips online.

@sid_travel @GOQiiLife @vindee And thrice have crossed the benchmark of 10,000 steps :) #BeTheForce #BeSummerReady

— Nikhil Wad (@MrCoffeekhor) March 20, 2015

@sid_travel @GOQiiLife @MrCoffeekhor Wow! ... Me between 8-9km on an average & am pretty chuffed! #BeTheForce #BeSummerReady

— Deeba Rajpal (@vindee) March 20, 2015

This weekend didn't walk as much, but regular reminders from @GOQiiLife certainly helped & made me walk :) #BeTheForce #BeSummerReady

— Siddhartha Joshi (@sid_travel) March 24, 2015

And how can I not mention my coach! With a subscription, you get a coach as well and he/ she helps you to first set and achieve your fitness goals. As for my experience, in the beginning, I was quite regular and interacted often with my coach. However, with time that interaction came down to zero and became completely one way. My coach was great, but I could simply not catch up with her! And when I started failing more regularly, I stopped talking to her. My bad!

There was one feature of the band which I barely used - Karma. I still have about 22 days left before my subscription runs out, so I still have some time to explore that.

Though my overall experience of using the band was quite positive, I also had a few challenges with using the band and took me a while to master it. They could be frustrating for some of the users in the beginning. With my solid training in Industrial Design, I know that the user is never wrong. Ever! So with this review, I would also like to make recommendations for improvements:

1. I often found it difficult to wake up the band, especially when I wanted to have a quick glance at the time. Similarly, I found it difficult to go into and come out of sleep mode.
2. I also found that with heavy use the GOQii core got loose and now it comes out very easily from the band. It has fallen off twice already and I hope I do not lose it!
3. You need to take out the core from the band for charging, I would ideally like it to be charged while in the band
4. And finally, I would love it if the band can be used while swimming as well. For some of us, swimming is the primary exercise and currently this doesn’t get accounted for.

GOQii core

So what’s my overall review for the GOQii fitness band? I think it's a cool product to start on your journey to achieve your fitness goals. I am not sure still if this would be useful while one travels, except for the fact that it looks quite cool on your wrist :)

Check out the following video to know more about this product. Or check out the GOQii website here.