Do you ever wonder how many steps you take in a day? What about translating those steps into miles walked? What about cycling or swimming if you are more prone to do that than running or walking? What about your sleep activity and how that is a huge part in being active throughout the day? I didn’t really think much about any of this until January 2009 when I decided to make a change in my life and become more active. For someone who didn’t think much of walking, it has become such a huge part of my life that I now walk 5 miles a day. Keeping this regimen going continues to motivate me to remain healthy.
You can imagine how excited I was to learn about the Misfit Shine because I was looking for something that would be an all-around tracker; calories, steps, distance, cycling, swimming and sleep monitor. Before hearing about it, I had been using the Garmin Forerunner to track how many miles I had walked. That is where it stopped; it could only track so much but it couldn’t track sleep and it could only help with tracking swimming if you had purchased a particular Garmin. I needed something that would be all-inclusive and track more than one thing. I feel that I found that with the Shine.
What’s in the Box
- Shine
- Battery
- Battery Tool to pry open the shine to insert the battery into it
- Clasp
- Sport Band
- Quick Start Guide
The App
I couldn’t believe how easy it was to sync the shine to the app. I downloaded the app from my IPhone; it is available on android devices too. After the app was downloaded then all I had to do was place the shine onto the phone so that the one I had would sync to the app. No charging! After the shine was synced to my phone then I set up my personal profile so that I could start using it. After setting up your personal profile, it will give you an idea of how much you need to walk, run and swim to meet the goal you set for yourself. This helps keep you motivated throughout the day so that you are continually moving and not sitting around. One thing I love about the app is that you can sync it as many times throughout the day to see where you are in your goals. In syncing the app, it will tell you how many miles you walked, calories burned as well as steps taken. One thing I found when going through the app is that if you click on the + then you can track which activity you want to focus on and not the ones set for the amount of points you are trying to reach for the day. I tend to walk more than run or swim so if I click on the + than I can track how much I have walked by tracking it now. It has other activities that you can track at the time you are doing them if you want to do that i.e. basketball, tennis, soccer and even dancing. You can even log the exercise you have done.
Sleep Monitor
I knew I wasn’t sleeping throughout the night so it was important for me to see how much restful sleep I was getting vs. light sleep where I would wake up in the middle of the night. I set my goal for eight hours but you can set it for as many hours as you want. The Shine works off of your movements throughout the night and breaks them down into restful and light sleep. I was surprised that the ‘restful sleep’ was shown at 4 hours and 56 minutes since I thought it would have been a lot shorter than this. As for the ‘light sleep’, I thought it would have been more than the 3 hours and 1 minute that was calculated. I loved knowing that I was getting more sleep than I thought I was; clearly I still need to work on the number of hours I sleep through the night.
Activity Tracker
I have only used the Shine when I am walking but you can use it to track various activities such as basketball, tennis, swimming, soccer, cycling, running and walking. Besides tracking these activities, you can log these exercises to keep track of what you have done. This includes logging yoga and dancing since you can’t track those activities but you can log in the amount of time for them.
One thing I found on the activity tracker is that you can work on the goals you set for yourself. It works off of a point system where you can change your points for the day from 1000 to 1500. The more strenuous the activity, the more points earned. For instance, I might walk faster and harder later in the day but walk at a slower pace in the evening. In doing this, I receive more points when I am walking at a faster, more strenuous pace than I am if I was walking at a leisurely pace. The Shine shows me how many minutes and the time I was working out at the vigorous activity vs. light or moderate activity. It breaks it down for you; points earned during these activities bringing you closer to your goal for the day. I admit I have fallen short of my goal a few times but this helps keep me in check so that I can strive to meet the goal I have set for myself.
Pros
- Bluetooth Connectivity, syncing made easy for android and iOS phones
- Clasp – Love that it is versatile in that you can attach it to belt buckle or shoe lace when playing tennis or basketball and not rely solely on sport band for activities
- Monitoring sleep and the amount of ‘restful’ sleep on any given night
Cons
- Had problem syncing a couple of times when I wanted to check on my progress throughout the day. Tried to sync a few minutes after initial problem of syncing and wasn’t able to sync. Problem didn’t occur every time.
- Not being able to see the miles or number of steps taken on the Shine itself. Have to sync through the app to see my progress
Summary
Overall, my experience with the Shine has been great, minus a few glitches with not being able to sync it up when I wanted to, especially with all of the fitness and sleep monitors on the market.
- Love that I can track my sleep and can see the breakdown of ‘restful sleep’ vs. ‘light sleep’
- Love that I can change my goals for the day instead of calculating that I need to walk a certain number of steps or miles. By relying on the point system, it helps push me farther then I thought it would since I can set the number of points I want to achieve for the day
I feel the Shine is a great option if you want to become more active and fit.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a free sample from Misfit for consideration of review purposes only. This is solely my opinion/experience
