Brief flirtation with Gear Fit 2..........or..........

[Nate Silver]

.........the grass is not always greener!

So, being a fitness band junkie, I was eager to give the new Samsung Gear Fit 2 a try. I have one of the original Gear Fits (unfortunately bricked), and it did have some things going for it, and I wanted to see what the new beast was like. Long story short, its going back today, sadly.

What I liked:

1. Design - really nice, reminiscent of what the Band could be!
2. The screen - beautiful, colorful amoled screen, somewhat larger and brighter than the Band's.
3. The strap - very comfortable, and somewhat slimmer, more supple, nicely textured.

What I didn't like"

1. Automatic activity detection. I've never seen this successfully implemented yet. Mowed the lawn this morning (push mower) and the Fit was convinced I was cycling. Finally had to manually start a 'Other Exercise' activity to get it to quit telling me I was on the bike. I get it, legs moving, arms not moving and stuck out in front of me. But that's why automatic detection doesn't work.
2. Heart rate while in an activity. Did a 45 minute session on the indoor trainer, with four nine minute intervals. Watched my hr strap report my hr raising steadily to 135-145, while the Fit stubbornly remained at 82 to 86. I've had issues with the Band accurately tracking indoor cycling, but nothing anywhere near that bad. Yesterday I did a session on the Elliptical where my strap was reporting 105-120, while the Fit was reporting 170 to 190. Really? I'm 61 years old and on blood pressure medication. If I push to the point of puking, I can maybe hit 165. Trust me, I was nowhere near that point.
3. The clasp. Yup, great strap, lousy clasp. Its one of those push the button through the hole type, that have always had a problem with getting caught on something and popping open. This one does too. Admittedly, it also has a loop that you pass the strap through first, so you're not as likely to lose it completely. Granted, you can use a 'band-keeper' type device to slide over the clasp to keep it covered and closed. But still.

I could easily overlook/overcome the clasp, and I can get around the auto-detection issue. But the inaccurate heart rate tipped the scale for me. As I said, its going back, and the Band is back on my wrist. Too bad, the fit is a rather beautiful device regards design.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Design vs functionality
It will be a couple of years before these fitness trackers are at a level to give accurate information all the time. For now, they are still in the development phase, much like how the first pcs were

 

[Nate Silver]

Agreed. There are so many variables involved in what folks want in a fitness wearable. And on top of that, my belief is that optical heart rate sensing is rather more an art than a science, at least at this point. Some manufacturers seem to have it figured out more than others, but none seem to be perfect. There has been a lot of progress in the last two years or so, though. Really quite incredible what the tech is capable of.

 

[DroidUser42]

Found a positive review on ZDNet. Let's hope that Band 3 will have a answer for this.

Samsung Gear Fit 2: The best, and least expensive, GPS music playing activity band available