Point of sale comments:
Bought mine today at a Best Buy. This particular Best Buy has a huge (almost one side of the entire store) WINDOWS section, it's very inviting and has every Windows based device that they sell in that section(one of the HP laptops shocked me at how good it looked,lol)...except the band. The band display was in a small "wearables" aisle completely on the other side of the store. While it's needed in that section too, Microsoft should make certain that the band is prominently displayed in that huge 'all things Windows' section as well, people need to be able to see it even when they aren't looking for it (good marketing).
One more thing, there were no samples in the store to try on, I actually had to buy one in order to try it on. I bought a large, stood right there at the counter, unboxed it and tried it on and promptly handed it back and asked for a medium, then I had to go over to cust svc and make an exchange. That was ridiculous, there has to be a better way. Microsoft should at least provide some dummy samples for fitment at point of sale.
The band:
This is my first fitness band so I don't have much to compare it to but...so far I love it. Haven't had time to test a lot of the fitness features yet but everything else is working great, texts(receiving and replying), emails, notifications, cortana, love the rotate function for the clock, calendar, FB notifications, etc. As far as the HR monitor goes, it seems to be fairly accurate based on what I know about my own heart rate but I do plan to compare it to the heart rate shown on my home blood pressure monitor (I'll report back).
I've been able to change the theme/background with several apps: Fanband (for my sports team); Pimp my Band, and perhaps the best...Live Lock & Band. The band wallpaper on LL&B is clearly better than the rest. Hopefully I'll get to test out the golf app pretty soon, which as an avid golfer, is what attracted me to this device in first place. Good luck with yours folks!