returned mine after 25 days

[mtalinm]

with just a few days to go on the return window, I decided to take back my Band. I'm still conflicted about it, but here's why:

1. phone's battery life seemed noticeably worse. I had hoped it would help as I wouldn't be turning on the phone screen as often, but the BT must have had the opposite effect. note: I have a Lumia Icon, which won't have low-energy BT until the Denim update...sometime in "early 2015" which could mean June 30 the way Verizon is going.

2. could not find a good charging routine. I'm out the door in about 20 minutes each morning, so that wasn't a great time. left a charger at work, but then I would find myself forgetting about it for hours. if I had a more regular driving commute I'd charge it in the car. especially given how GPS sucks the battery, it was a problem.

3. my phone already counts steps and of course has GPS, so these were not big gains for me. if I were a runner it would be nice to leave my phone home, but I'm not. the galvanic thingy sounds cool but it not even used yet. and I didn't find the heart-rate monitor all that informative.

4. lack of desktop app or even web interface for viewing MS Health data was a bit pathetic.

5. cortana on my wrist seemed awesome at first but I quickly became frustrated with it. the microphone was terrible compared to my phone, and it was in general slower than pulling out my phone. this was very sad as a former officemate works on Cortana.

I do miss the cool notifications, and i'll really miss waking up in the morning to see email notificaitons from the night before. maybe when Denim is released I'll try again. or maybe I'll wait for version 2, which I'm sure will drop a few sensors and be thinner (not that I found it all that uncomfortable, except when sleeping).

I do hope your mileage varies. I love most things Microsoft, but this one just didn't work out

 

[eyecrispy]

#1 and 2 were big reasons why I sold mine. #2 especially.

 

[bobsentell]

I've found a pretty good routine to charge my Band and as for Bluetooth battery drain, I've not noticed anything major on my AT&T 1020 beyond what can be accounted as age. But to each their own. This device will only work for certain people, not all. Probably why Microsoft was caught off guard by the demand.

 

[lostlogik]

I'm now in two minds about selling mine as I've started wearing my Pebble again (and keep being amazed when I check its battery gauge and find it hasn't moved). I like the concept of the Band and that it worked with my 1020 but something just makes me think maybe not. Not sure...

 

[Dima Habenko]

I contemplated selling mine too as I was frustrated with many of the issues you describe as well as lack of any development from MS. But looking at the current market for wearables, there is really nothing better at available at the moment. I would wait until more info is known on Apple Watch and some advanced reviews start to appear. Dissapointed in Google Wear as it is seriously dysfunctional at the moment and I am not sure they are moving in the right direction. Apple watch with biometric security, NFC payment and health sensors may be a better fit, but battery life and integration into iOS would be critical for it to achieve any market penetration.

 

[vedichymn]

Looks like mine is getting returned too. My clasp is having issues and just this morning I discovered the band hadn't been syncing for the last week. Only solution turned out to be factory reset on the band and I lost all my unsynced data.

 

[Shobin Drogan]

Sad to hear, it looks like a lot of people had returned their bands, what is up with MS and failing the first time? Hopefully the get it right the next time with the successor

 

[mtalinm]

MSFT rushed this to market b/c it's a device category not dominated by others. I predict v2 will be lighter and more comfortable. heck, they might even have a website...

 

[Tim Stone]

I've had mine since the release. I have tried the alternatives but they all have issues.

• The Fitbit Charge models have MAJOR issues with display scratching, and CS is very poor. Also the auto sleeep detection is not stable
• Most other brands cannot be used with Windows Phone.
• All of the brands have issues on accuracy reported on their user forums.
• Heart Rate detection on all are still in the early stages of implementation and vary widely
• The clasp on many is problematic, and the bands fall off undetected and are lost.

Since these devices ( and I've tried many, researched all ) are in their early stages of development, rather than invest in others, I'll stick with the band for now and see what the future brings. The biggest downside I hear about the Band is "comfort" yet I have absolutely no issue with it. I haven't worn anything on my wrist for many years ( though I have a nice collection of watches ) but I acclimated to this quickly and it really works out fine.

 

[TheBadGuy_88]

I'm keeping mine simply because I didnt pay for it. this is definitely a beta, just like most other wearables so far. I definitely wouldn't have paid for it and I didn't pay for it because of its shortcomings. I'm trying to work with it being it was a gift and all. they need to throw some solar panels on this thing to at least help the battery. Casio has it on most of their watches, and rocket science is pretty accessible nowadays. do it. I would also add maybe some kinetic energy generator so movement helps charge it as well.

 

[Jazmac]

Reading these comments makes me know I make a good choice waiting for the actual use reviews. I'm not interested in paying "development' fees for new devices anyway. I still have the Fitbit and it doesn't seem to impact my battery if at all. 25 days huh? Sorry it didn't work out for you. Almost a month of wearing it, you probably got a little bit used to having it.

 

[mtalinm]

yeha, I do miss it. might get another if and when Denim is finally released for Lumia Icon