The red-and-black Goqii fitness tracker works as a cheaper option to the popular Fitbit. For starters, the device is comfortable to wear and made of soft plastic that easily adapts to the shape of your wrist. The wrist band has two ridges on one end, with eight slits along the opposite end to make it adjustable for a range of wrist sizes.
The process of charging the band is a little problematic. It only needs to be charge twice a week, but to do so, you need to remove it from its plastic encasing and put it on the plastic portable USB charger; fitting the small rectangular device into the USB charger is a task. Further, the absence of an adaptor means you’ll find yourself searching for your laptop or cell-phone charger each time for the adaptor, which can be a hassle.
The small screen (2 cm x 1 cm) on the tracker displays the number of steps you walk or run each day, and the band resets itself every 24 hours, starting at 0 again. The Goqii Band will vibrate to alert its user once she/he completes the 10,000-steps mark.
The band is connected to the Goqii app, and it also provides a subscription to personal trainer whose role is to understand your fitness goals and train you accordingly. The app is connected to the tracker via Bluetooth, and updates it periodically. Improving your fitness all on your own can be challenging, so the well-developed network of people aiming for similar goals comes as a blessing, with the app providing you the option of connecting with them. Beyond this, it also helps you retain a sleep, water and food log to identify your eating and sleeping patterns. The lifestyle coach guides you through exercises that can be done both at home or outside, and checks your food and exercise log weekly to review your progress.
Ultimately, while a remote coach is better than no coach at all, it can’t replace the kind of motivation and actual fitness programme provides, and the success and failure of the fitness system depends on your commitment. It is very easy to just turn the app off, and let that fitness session go down the drain as you kick back to old habits.