I’m sure there are a lot of people like me who find that a gadget does wonders for motivation. At least for a little while. Working out has definitely been a place where I find apps and gadgets make it a bit more interesting. You can track steps, heart rate, what exercises you’ve done, make nifty little graphs with all that data… It’s all right there glaring you in the face with whatever triumph or defeat that happened that day. Or it could be just me exhibiting my weird obsession with gadgets and graphs…
Anyway.
When I received a Jawbone Up for Christmas I thought, great! A neat little tool in my mission to get back in shape! Sadly, I found it uncomfortable and tedious to use. i.e. to sync I had to plug it in, switching to sleep mode was a manual task that was easily forgotten, etc. Not a great start.
It didn’t take long for me to delve into the world of fitness trackers to find one that suited me the best. The Jawbone was quickly replaced by the Fitbit Charge and I immediately fell in love. It was comfortable; tracking was a breeze. It might not have been perfectly accurate, but it was close enough for me.
So when I heard that an upgraded version with heart rate monitor was coming out, I was excited. Then hearing that a version that tracked everything the new Charge did, including different workouts, had GPS tracking, allowed you to see text messages on screen, that looked sleek and the band locked? I got stars in my eyes.
I’ve had the Surge for three days now and I like it. I just don’t love it. Functionality wise it’s great. It does what it’s supposed to and it’s accurate enough. The screen is clear (just don’t try to read it in direct sunlight), the heart rate monitor is precise. My biggest problem with it is the size. The Charge took some getting used to, don’t get me wrong, but the Surge is massive on me.
Take a look.
I understand that in order to get all the new-fangled goodness a little bulk is in order but it’s big to the point of being almost unwieldy. I’m constantly banging it on things, it gets caught on clothes, it’s not exactly discreet, etc. As a sports watch, it looks great and I do wear it all the time but it’s not something I can wear on every occasion. I had the small Charge and it fit just right. But I don’t like to be confined, especially when I work out. So I opted for a large this time around. A check of the specs on the website shows that the only difference is in the length of the straps so even if I bought the small it would still be massive.
So do I like it? Yes. Does it do everything it says it will? Definitely. I just won’t be wearing it to any garden parties.
