Get and Stay on Track! Pivotal Living Fitness Band Review and Giveaway!

Hey!  Guess who... I know.. it's been much too long since my last blog post, so I apologize.  Life, work, holidays etc etc...    anyway, back at it now and time to catch up on some reviews of some great products!

Pivotal Living

So let's get to it with a review of the fitness tracking band offered by Pivotal Living.  Check out the review, and then stay tuned at the bottom to enter to with a Pivotal Living Band! 

I'll preface this review by noting that I have never used a fitness band before, so I can't really provide any comparisons to other types of tracking bands.  

But what really drew my attention to Pivotal Living was the price tag on the Fitness Band.  How much?  $12.....  well, $15 with shipping.  But significantly less than other bands out there...  so, what's the catch?  Well, its $12 per year... BUT, each year you get a new band, which will include any updates/improvements made to the device, and you are good to go for another year. And 7 years of new bands to equal a $99 Fitbit.   For $1 a month, I thought it was worth a try to see what it was all about. 

So, after getting my band, and charging it up, I downloaded the free Pivotal Living App which is a free download available in the iTunes Store, or on Google Play. 

So what can you track?  The Band is designed to track sleep, activity, steps, calories burned, as well as weight/hydration (via manual inputs in the app). 

The app and band is easy to set up, and you can develop your personal profile and targets for the app/band to track.  The band syncs to your smartphone via a bluetooth connection and will update when you swipe the screen down on the app.  In between syncs, the band itself tracks steps, activity, and calories with short reports you can see on the band with the press of the button. 

Besides the activity/step tracking, I found the sleep tracking to be very interesting.  By pressing the button on the band twice, you signal the band that you are going to sleep.  Based on movement etc, it calculates the length and level of sleep.  I've found that it seems to be fairly accurate, or at least does a good job of tracking if I wake up/get up etc. 

The step tracking feature is pretty accurate as well, especially if you allow it to connect/share data with any tracking function on your smartphone.  It cross checks data there to enhance accuracy. 

As far as hydration goes, you have to just swipe your finger across on the hydration line to add ounces consumed.  Good way to track towards a goal, provided you remember to update it! 

Ok... so now you have the basics of the band/app.  Pretty straightforward, and not a lot of frills etc.  I ended up getting one for my son, and my wife as well and each of them has used it off and on.  Based on our family using these for about 6 months or so, here's the feedback. 

Pros:  

• The price is right!  I really like this model of pricing with an annual fee, and a new device each year. The model that is available right now already contains improvements over the version we have. 
• Relatively simple app, and band.  It was helpful to read over the startup info and to play around with it, but for the most part it is intuitive
• Accurate..  as I've noted, distance (via step count) is pretty accurate, lining up with what I see on my phone, as well as distance run on my Garmin etc. 
• Daily targets on the app can help with motivation by providing feedback and reminders (if you set it up for that)
• Light weight and comfortable to wear. 
• Nice alarm feature and stop watch.
• Battery life is great... I usually charge once a week, but I think it could go longer without a charge.  Band has a meter, and app shows battery level when sync'd as well. 

Cons (or wishes):

• There can be hiccups when trying to sync, and sometimes some data can be lost. This only happened a few times, and I remedied by following some advice from the FAQ's (i.e. make sure the time remains sync'd between your phone and band)
• Prior days data can only be seen in the app.  I REALLY wish there was a way to download months worth of data into an excel sheet for each of the measurements. These would be great when talking to your doctor etc to see sleep patterns, activity levels etc over a long period of time.  The folks at Pivotal Living tell me they are working on this. 
• Readout on band is difficult to read in bright light (latest models have a new color and are noted as helping with this)
• Band is not waterproof
• Scratches easily (another improvement in the latest model, not the one I tested)

So, overall, I certainly feel the Pro's for the Pivotal Living Band and App outweigh the Con's for sure. The rest of my thoughts are just about fitness bands in general.  

I know that when I first got the band, I was always checking my stats, drinking/moving more to hit my daily targets etc.  But over time that initial excitement kind of waned, however I still wear it daily, and track my steps (which are tough to get working from home on days I don't run!), and my sleep etc.  I'm finding it hardest to get in the habit of tracking my hydration, but I'm going to try to do better!  AND... I can look forward to the new and improved band around April when my year is up!

If you have anyone on your Christmas list looking for a fitness band/app, I think Pivotal Living would be ideal!  Plus at $15 you can get them for everyone on your list!  But, since you've suffered through another lengthy review of mine, I'll give you a chance to win one for yourself! 

I'll run this giveaway until Saturday December 5th, 2015 at 10PM MST.  Contest is open to residents of the US.   Enter via the Rafflecopter widget below... thanks and good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks again for tuning in... stay tuned for more great reviews coming up...

Happy trails!

Jeff
barefootinclined@gmail.com
http://barefootinclined.com