The basics
You’ve probably never heard of the Misfit Shine - its creator’s last big hit was an glucometer for iPhone owners with diabetes. It’s the David of the fitness band world, taking on the likes of Fitbit, Nike and Adidas for a spot on your wrist in your daily life - and it just might have what it takes to topple Goliath. It’s waterproof, works for most sporting activities, and runs for up to six months on a charge. On paper, it sounds perfect: how does it work in practice? We strapped one on and hit the track to find out.
The good
The Misfit Shine is far more stylish than anything Fitbit or Withings has to offer - and much more subtle than Nike’s Fuelband too. It’s a tiny little disc the size of two 10p coins, it weighs less than 10 grams and it’s waterproof. You can wear it on your wrist with the bundled sportsband - and the lights that indicate progress towards the daily goal that you set also show the time - or clip it to your clothing, even hide it underneath your shirt cuff. It’s an elegant design that’s almost invisible.
It’s invisible because all the tracking data is outsourced to an iPhone app: you sync it just by holding the Shine on your phone’s screen for a few seconds. Despite this simplicity, it does a lot however: you can triple tap it to begin logging a certain type of activity, which can be anything from cycling to sleeping, and see how you did afterwards using the handy graphs it generates. Between the daily targets and statistics it provides, you’ve got a real personal coach you won’t find yourself hating after a few days.
What makes the Misfit Shine so extraordinary however is its battery life: because it uses Bluetooth Low Energy, it can run for up to half a year on a single battery - and on a simple cell you can replace yourself when it’s drained. We can’t emphasise enough just how convenient this makes the Shine: no having to remember to charge it up via USB makes for a much more useful activity monitor you’ll actually end up wearing all the time.
The bad
At a little under £100, the Misfit Shine isn’t the cheapest fitness band on the market. Fitbit’s line of activity trackers start at around £35 for the Zip, hitting £70 for the Flex, and if you’re in need of something more sedate - a simple pedometer rather than a monitor for tracking lengths in the pool - they’re arguably a better bet. That said, you get plenty in the box with the Shine, including a variety of clips, and we’d also argue that epic battery life more than makes up for the extra cost.
Cyclists and ramblers should also be aware that the Misfit Shine also lacks an altimeter. Though it can track your bike rides and long walks, it can’t detect altitude, so if you’ve got dreams of snagging the white and pink Tour De France jersey, this isn’t the device for you.
Lastly, like the Nike Fuelband, it only works with iPhone, so Google phone owners will have to wait. The good news is that Misfit does plan to launch an Android app sometime soon, optimised for Google Nexus 4 and 5, Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S4 phones - though other Bluetooth 4.0 compatible Google gizmos may work too.
The bottom line
All of the wristband fitness monitors we’ve seen so far have suffered from one flaw or another: one doesn’t show the time, another doesn’t work with Android, some are useless for cycling and swimming. So it’s refreshing to have a newcomer stroll right in - or should that be run - and beat them all with an affordable fitness band that does just about everything, and does it well. Ignore this lesser known gadget at your peril, get-fit fans: it could be the perfect device to help you stick to your New Year resolutions.
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