Misfit Shine [REVIEW]

Misfit Shine Leather Strap Featured

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Activity trackers have become more and more popular and with the likes of the Nike Fuelband SE and Fitbit Flex around, it can be quite difficult creating a brand new product while also getting it noticed by potential users. Enter Misfit Wearables with their activity monitor the Misfit Shine. This elegant tracker looks absolutely stunning whilst retaining all of the features you would expect from such a device.

Design

The device itself is available in 4 different colours grey, topaz, champagne and jet, all of which looking stunning and suitable for both genders. The shine weighs around 9g and is manufactured from aerospace grade aluminium making it incredibly light. It’s similar in size to a £2 coin whilst it has a groove cut in the middle which makes it compatible with the wide range of accessories. This includes the silicone sports wristband and magnetic clasp included in the package.

Misfit Shine Bond Bank

The wristband is very comfy and doesn’t slide up and down your wrist like some watches. The included clasp offers another way to wear the Shine and again slips into a silicone surround. The clasp has a powerful magnet on the other end which when folded then attracts the Shine and grips anything in between. Once attached the magnetic fixing is very secure and even stays in place through a suit blazer, belt etc.

On the back of the Shine you’ll find the battery opening, although it’s very well hidden and you’ll need to pry it open with the provided tool. Inside you’ll find space for a single CR2032 battery. This is great news and means that there is no micro-USB port anywhere, instead you just replace the battery every 4 months or so. You’ll also find a 12 indicator so you know which way is the 12 o’clock when inserting the device into the silicon holders. The Shine is also waterproof up to 50m, unlike the Fuelband SE and Flex which are only ‘water-resistant’.

Back of Misfit Shine

Features

The Shine is similar in many ways to it’s competitors, especially in terms of tracking. You’re able to record a variety of different sports with the device including swimming, football, cycling etc. You can place the Shine on different parts of your body for different sports e.g. for cycling you may want to place the tracker on your ankle, shoe or even in your sock to get a better reading. Not only does the Misfit shine track your physical activity but also sleep.

To use the device you’ll need to download the free companion app available for both iOS and Android. Within it you can select the type of activity you are carrying out from a set list. This does make tracking some activities quite annoying having to keep opening the app and selecting one. You’ll also have to do this for tracking your sleep, if you’ve carried out another activity or sport throughout the day. By tapping the Shine three times it’ll record your chosen activity or whatever your last chosen activity was. This leads to more reliable and accurate readings. Unfortunately though the tapping system didn’t prove to be very reliable and more often than not the Shine just didn’t want to respond.

Wearing Misfit Shine

Unlike on the Nike Fuelband where you receive a nice ‘Goal’ animation once you’ve reached your target , the Misfit tracker doesn’t display any congratulatory animations and does very little to actually motivate you to reach your goal.

If you double tap the device your progress will be shown via 12 LEDs. Once this has been displayed the LEDs will light up for a second time displaying the time in hours and minutes. At first the LED’s can be a little confusing to read but after a couple of days it became easier to understand.

App

As briefly mentioned earlier the companion app is free for both iOS and Android. The Shine actually syncs with the app and displays all of your information and stats. Syncing is done by tapping the Shine on your devices display, although not exactly necessary. Syncing will begin instantly but takes quite a while to complete.

Misfit Necklace Worn

The default display (your Today page) shows your completed walking distance out of your daily goal. You expect to see this measured as the number of steps taken but rather weirdly it’s actually displayed as points – very confusing.

Tapping the screen dial will reveal a few more stats including calories burned, steps taken and miles/km walked. There is also a very simple graph which automatically plots some of the stats for you over time.


Our Verdict

The Misfit Shine is hands down the most attractive activity tracker we’ve ever seen. The little device has a lot going for it including the design and the fact that it never has to be charged.
The app is very basic and could be improved in a number of ways. It’d also be nice to get a little motivation from the device towards your goal, although we’re not quite sure how this would be done with no sort of display present. The Shine’s tap responsiveness is awful and for me probably the biggest drawback.

The Mistfit Shine is available now for £99.95 on Amazon – Click the link below to check it out.

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