BodyMedia is a company that is quickly on the rise; the line of body monitoring armbands the company offers is gaining popularity among those looking to get healthy or lose weight. It’s easy to see why: the system consists of an armband worn constantly that tracks movement, temperature, and more to determine how many calories you are burning throughout the day. Working in conjunction with an online activity manager, the armband is a full-featured system intended to accurately track a user’s daily burn. Although this system sounds like a godsend for some people, it does have some caveats.
The Armband
The armband is a simple, comfortable piece of the system. It is meant to be worn on the upper part of the user’s left arm at all times, except when the user is showering, swimming, etc. It does take a few days to get used to, but once you are in the daily routine of wearing it, it’s virtually unnoticeable. The band itself is made of soft fabric, while the recording unit is a small plastic square with two flat electrodes that contact the skin. Finding the correct fit for the armband is also troublesome and requires a lot of trial and error; if the armband is too tight, it will become uncomfortable after a few hours of wear, and if it is too lose, it will lose contact with your skin or even slide off. The system also uses beeps and LED lights to signal different things, so it will draw the occasional weird look in public if something goes wrong, like the electrodes losing contact with skin.
It should be noted that the instructions clearly state not to wear the device for more than 23 hours a day. After wearing the BodyMedia armband for more than 23 hours, it begins to become very uncomfortable and causes numbness/pain in the user’s hand and arm.
Syncing
On Bluetooth-enabled BodyMedia armbands, synchronization for quick viewing of data is a piece of cake. Simply press the button on the armband and it will connect to your Bluetooth enabled device to dump its stored data in the BodyMedia app. There you can see your daily calorie consumption, steps walking, active time, and calorie burn (of course, calories have to be input manually).
On the other hand, syncing without Bluetooth can be very difficult. First, you must install the driver software for the armband on your computer, then it has to be properly configured to work with the BodyMedia website. As with all driver software, this can be very difficult if your computer is not perfectly compatible. Once everything is set up and working, the armband must be taken off, the recording unit must be taken out of its clip on the armband, and it must be connected to the computer via USB cord. If everything is still working at this point, the data will be uploaded to the BodyMedia activity manager and will be viewable there. Overall, this process can become very difficult and is a bit time consuming even on a good day.
The Activity Manager
Although its design is not great, the Activity Manager on the BodyMedia website gives a concise overview of the day’s data from the device. You can see calories burned, calories consumed, calorie balance, steps taken, sleep duration, and weight change. The interface is very limited, however. Calorie tracking can also be problematic, as a lot of brand-name foods are missing from the database; the best solution to this problem is to use an external tracker like MyFitnessPal and copy your daily caloric total to the Activity Manager. The activity manager does offer graphs that give a very nice breakdown of the day’s activity, which can help you pinpoint the activities that burn the most calories.
Pricing
The whole BodyMedia system is not for those with thin wallets. The cheapest armband unit is $150, while the subscription for the system is $6.95 per month. Without the subscription, the armband is useless. The armband unit is only recognized by the driver software, and the only way to get the data is to upload it to the activity manager. If you do decide to purchase a BodyMedia armband, be prepared to pay the monthly subscription fee if you actually want to use it.
Overall, the BodyMedia body monitoring system is a nice system barely worth the price tag. Although it has all the bells and whistles to make it the more appealing option, the high price is hardly justified. If you can afford this system, it is great for detailed monitoring of your daily activity. If you are on a budget, this system is not for you.
Nicholas Anderegg - Nick Anderegg is an experienced freelance writer who has done everything from working as a contributing writer for several online ...
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