GOQii Fitness Band Review

Most of the fitness trackers out there are either an incomplete product or are too complicated to even understand and moreover have a real use in your life. I have been using fitness tracker/bands for quite a time now, the one thing that struck to mind is that, why we really need a fitness tracker with us always. The answer to this simplest question is easy, being busy in their corporate/private life, people tend to forgot about their health, and it’s simple enough that if you don’t take care of your body, it will not remain fit without any actual attempts of exercise.

Though, the most important thing that lacks on almost every tracker is the push of the motivation. It is not the health data that pushes you to go an extra mile or be active most of the time, it’s a push for a real person that helps you achieve goals. And this is what GOQii (pronounced Go-Key) is trying to prove with its unique subscription of a Coach service, which comes bundled with the wearable device.

If you are or were a fitness tracker user, and experienced the same lack of motivation, as it is not available on most of the popular fitness wearables like Garmins, Fitbits, Jawbone Up, Nike Fuel Band or say Samsung’s Gear Fit band, then, we suggest you try this unique fitness service created by the Indian Entrepreneur, Vishal Gondal, CEO, GOQii. We have been using this service for quite a time now, the one thing that GOQii provides is the experience of real coaching, which is currently not present on any of the fitness trackers available in the market. The device which has been only around for few couple of months, but has already created waves in the wearable space, per say the fitness trackers.

What does it do?

This wearable tech is more than just a fitness tracker as we have established that with its unique service of Coach, which allows its consumers to get motivated on the daily basis, basically it is a full-fledged ecosystem for your fitness needs. It lets you track your health even when you are not active, but unlike FitBit trackers, it will specifically show you how many minutes you were active over the day’s time. For example, let’s say you get up three times from your desk to get water, while it only took you few seconds to do that, the X numbers of time you did that during whole would reflect on your active time, which is not exactly present on any of the FitBit trackers or per say not in most of the popular trackers.

Design

The build quality of the product is excellent and very sturdy, as the band is entirely made up of the hard resin rubber, which sure can stand a few hard falls, though, we did not test that. The design is neatly design and is water resistant as well as boasts sweat proof sensor display, if you are wearing it on your wrist. But it is preferred that you should not wear a fitness tracker on your wrist. Like most of the trackers, the device is in similar size to the FitBit One, and can be put into pocket or wore on wrist when stuffed inside the bundled band. It is another advantage, as the bands are swappable and can be switched between different colors to suit the style or making it less mundane.

GOQii Coaching and App Experience

Company’s official website shows that the GOQii app is currently available on two platforms, Android (4.3 and above) and iOS, though, we were not able to find the GOQii app for any iOS device. While the Windows app is not yet out in the market.

The app allows you to sync up all the data from your GOQii band and has a lot to offer than just analyzing the steps taken or distance travelled over the period of usage. It lets you set targets for steps, sleep hours as well as log the food and water intakes within the app. You can get the idea of how it shows the weekly progress of your health.

The motivation to be active is one of the important things that need to be there as it will allow us to stay in shape and conscious about our health, which we more often ignores a lot. But for the self-disciplined people it is a different case and this fitness wearable thing might not actually needed to them. Although, this service from GOQii will not only help you get motivated, but might help in simple consultation cases like we experienced and can be noted on the below conversation with Coach.

Even though, it is quite a advantage that a Coach, who are certified nutritionists and health experts are just a click away to get consultation from them, but it kind of gets bothersome as you get notified from your coach every few times, which I’m sure you will not like if you are busy in a long meeting or going for trip with your family or friends. For that, there has to be some kind of snooze button that allows you to take a kind of day off from your regular active schedule.

Another interesting angle on your health is the karma points that you would be rewarded according to how much calories you have burned in a day. And those karma points can be utilized to various social causes, as you can donate your karma points which is equivalent to the amount of rupees. It is being done in partnership with the Oxfam foundation, and like that your health improvements will end in giving someone a better life.

Pricing and Comparison

Coming to the pricing, the GOQii band comes in bundled with Coach service, which is available in two subscription formats, one at a cost of INR 6,999 for 6 months and another is a year-long subscription for INR 11,999 excluding the taxation. At the end of the subscription you took, you don’t necessarily need to renew your Coach services, as users can continue to use the band and its application at free of cost. But once you have purchased the subscription, it is a high possibility that you will likely continue the coach services as they are the best motivating factors of a fitness band, present only on GOQii.

What can be improved in GOQii?

• Like most of the fitness trackers, it lacks a feature called Floors Count, which lets you know how many floors you have climbed. That apparently means, the altimeter sensor is not present on the GOQii, as it is the only sensor that calculates the altitude based on the atmospheric pressure.
• The another feature that we would have loved to see on this personalized wearable, is the ability to automatically find if someone is sleeping, depending upon the movements and time frame mentioned by user. As you always have to manually set it to sleep mode whenever you go to sleep, and remember to wake it up whenever you do to, otherwise it would not track any of your activities.

Why you should use it?

Coach service is the most important reason that you should use this product, as you will have a better chance of improving your health when motivated frequently. Though, most of all you get a subscription to a virtual gym at your convenience. And that’s what set it apart from the other fitness trackers in the already crowded market.