Mio and me.
Let’s be honest;
activity trackers can often be a pain in the arse. If you’re busy
fiddling with one, rather than concentrating on your workout, you’re
going to end up massively distracted and not get the best possible
exercise. Plus, the little ones you slip in your pocket can easily
get lost, and if you find the larger wrist-bound tracers aren’t
fully charged, synced, and reset, you might be put off from going for
a run at all. What we’ve always wanted was an activity tracker that
was just there and ready to go all the time. We’re pretty sure
we’ve found it in the Mio Fuse.
The Mio Fuse is a
watch-style tracker that is designed to be worn all the time, even at
night. Like most other bits of kit like this it can count your steps,
distance, calories burnt, and keep the time. However, the Mio Fuse
steps it up a notch by incorporating a heart rate monitor and also
sleep tracking.
The physical unit is
quite pretty, boasting a low profile from the wrist and a nice and
flexible band. That band fastens with a traditional watch strap
buckle, which is brilliant. Many other trackers of this size and
price rely purely on press stud fasteners, which make us feel nervous
that they’ll pop open at any given moment. The Fuse feels secure at
all times and it even features press studs itself… but simply to
lock the excess strap into place so there is nothing to catch on your
clothing.
There are just three
buttons on the unit itself; two either side of the display area (it’s
not a screen but rather embedded LEDs under the waterproof casing)
which are used to cycle through the options like time, distance etc.,
and one central button which is used to start a workout and also to
take a heart rate reading. All buttons are very responsive and
require just a very light touch to spring to life (so light in fact,
that Mio have been kind enough to allow you to programme in a screen
lock function via the connected app, just so you don’t bump your
wrist and start a workout accidentally).
The Mio GO app (Android
and iOS) is nicely laid-out with an easy-on-the-eye black background.
Syncing your Fuse to the app is done via Bluetooth, and we found it
to be a very quick and simple process. The tracker can store two
weeks of data, so there’s no need to transfer over the data to the
app each and every day – which is nice. When you do, you’ll
receive some simple charts and diagrams displaying your achievements;
crucially if you've hit your daily ‘goal’, which is something you
can set for each day with the likes of ‘walk 15,000 steps’.
The heart monitor works
very well, and doesn't involve any additional accessories or chest
straps. The green lights that shine brightly on the underside can't
bee seen from the top side, or around the skin of your wrist, and the
only thing you'll notice while your heart rate is being taken is the
flashing blue LED by the display. All the readings we took, on
several different peoples' wrists, were very accurate compared to
physically feeling the person's chest and matching the heart's beats
per minute. When this data is uploaded to the app it is very
interesting to see where you heart rate increased in relation to the
rest of the workout.
As activity trackers
go, this is definitely one we like. The Mio Fuse stands out in a very
crowded market due to the heart rate monitor and waterproof features,
and once on it really does feels very natural and comfortable. If
you're serious enough about you fitness to want to know everything
the Fuse can detect, this is the tracker for you.
£83.32
Available from www.amazon.co.uk