The Orb, made by London, UK-based Fitbug, is the latest wrist monitor to hit the market that can track calories burned, quality of sleep and number of steps taken during the day. The key differentiation factor of the Fitbug Orb compared to competing products such as Fitbit Force and Nike Fuelband SE is the price point of $50. Having tested the Orb, we feel that for the price, the product does well to provide the user with important metrics regarding daily activity and sleep. The Orb works with a companion iOS or Android app that allows to set exercise goals, manually log workouts that the device cannot accurately track, and also allows to record food consumption to track the number of calories consumed. The app also provides continuous feedback regarding one’s “walking zone” so that the user knows whether to speed up or slow down to be in the optimal walking speed zone to gain maximum health benefits. It also produces a unique metric called “aerobic steps,” which are steps taken following an initial 10 minutes of continuous walking. Like other tracking devices, the Orb syncs to smartphones via Bluetooth, but unlike the Fitbit Force and Nike Fuelband SE, the Fitbug Orb provides multiple wearing options including as a wristband, belt hook or an underwear clip. The Fitbug Orb does not need recharging and the company states that the battery can last up to 6 months before needing a replacement.
Upon using the Fitbug Orb, we feel that this is a great product for the cost conscious exerciser who wants to track his or her daily activity, but the device is by no means the most advanced fitness tracker on the market. It lacks an easy to read display like on the Fitbit Force and the user interface for the iOS app needs to be made more user friendly as entering the baseline health stats in the app was rather cumbersome. The product does not come with instructions on how to exchange the battery, and the process of doing that can be made easier than requiring the use of a coin to twist open the back lid with some amount of force. While being fairly accurate with running or jogging, the Orb did not perform very well when tracking activity that required significant movement of the arms, like when playing tennis or racquet ball where the calories burned depend on motion other than the number of steps taken. We are confident that Fitbug will improve on these drawbacks in the next generation of the product, but for the $50 asking price it’s already a great option for the cost conscious athlete.
Product page: Fitbug Orb…
