There has been an explosion in health and fitness tracking devices over the past year or so, it seems to be the killer app for wearable computing. There’s the Fitbit family of products, which range from the Zip that just tracks activity to the Aria wireless scale and of course the app. There’s the Bodymedia Fit, an armband designed to support weightloss. The MotoACTV, which tracks fitness and brings music into the equation. The Striiv play, which claims to make activity-tracking fun. The Nike Fuelband, which measures activity and challenges you to do more, the recently re-released Jawbone Up, which positions itself more as a holistic health and wellness device, Adidas micoach, which focuses on tracking performance and comparing yourself to others. And a whole slew of GPS watches by the likes of Garamin and Polar. As if that wasn’t enough, there are a few coming soon: the LarkLife, a clunkier butBluetooth enabled Up-like device, and the Shine by Misfit, which looks like it will be a sleeker Fitbit.
Some of these devices are positioned against weightloss. Others focus on collecting more metrics and enhancing sports performance. A few, like the Up, Fitbit and the Fuel, are a bit more generically oriented towards helping you lead a healthier life. Since I’m not about to go on a diet, or train for a marathon, those are the ones that interest me the most. I’m curious about what features and functions are motivating and which are annoying, and whether wearing these devices will indeed make me healthier. I’ll be writing about my experiments with them over the next few months, starting with the Nike Fuelbank, which arrived about a week ago.