Runtastic Orbit Review – Your 24/7 Activity Tracker!

MOBILE APPLICATION

The Orbit features the ability to supply information about steps and distance, calories burned, sleep duration and cycles, as well as the ability to track and monitor this information with the Runtastic Me App! While we included the link to the iOS app, it’s important to note that the app is also available in the Google Play Store as well as the Windows Phone Store.

The Orbit features bluetooth connectivity, which is very easy to pair. Once the device has been fully charged, pair it to your android or apple device and you are away to the races!

An interesting feature of the ‘Me’ app was the ability to analyze your last night’s sleep. For us it was interesting to see where and when we woke up, which was actually a lot more than we expected!

The red bars show when you are awake, the yellow represents light sleep and green represents deep sleep. From our example above, we had awoken 17 times! Somehow we still managed to pull of a sleep efficiency of 89%. As we said, the app can track much more, such as your step count, the number of minutes you were active, the estimated calories burned as well as the approximate distance travelled.

TECHNOLOGY X TESTING METHODOLOGY

When it comes to wearables, there really is only one way to test them … to use them! For us the task was simple with the Runtastic Orbit: wear it 24/7. Logging our results was easy because our Runtastic Me iOS application took care of that for us. The comfort of the wristband and clip made wearing it just as easy! So we did exactly that, we wore the Runtastic for days on end and monitored our results.

What is the importance of comparing the Orbit to other devices? The consistency in logging steps within any smart wearable device is the most crucial element of its existence. We experimented with a few wearables at CES, that for all intents and purposes will remain anyonmous, and found our steps to be under-counted. What is the good of a step monitoring device if it doesn’t accurately monitor the number of steps you take?

The graph below showcases us walking on a treadmill while wearing the Runtastic Orbit, Nike Fuel Band and Striiv Touch. While walking we also kept count of the number of steps we took for our 60 minute test. The purpose of this is to see how accurate the Orbit is and how it compares to other devices. To keep things fair, we wore all devices on the same arm as wristbands.

After our hour treadmill walk, we counted a total of 6408 steps. Our Nike Fuel Band was actually spot on, where the Runtastic Orbit was over by 72 steps and the Striiv Touch came in last by short-changing us by 312 steps!

REPORT ANALYSIS & FINAL THOUGHTS

With the latest announcement of the Apple Watch, it is only fitting to discuss a device such as the Runtastic Orbit. Why? With the Apple Watch rumour-mill heating up, we’ve heard that we could see the entry level Apple Watch start at $350, with the possibility of exceeding $10,000 for the Watch Edition. In terms of fitness functionality, besides a heart rate monitor, the Orbit can pretty much do it all – and only for $78!

That brings us to what we would have liked to have seen, a heart rate monitor would have put us over the top in enjoyment with the Runtastic Orbit, but this isn’t overly imperative. We found that the silver button on the Orbit was too easy to accidentally press. One of our testing days, we had accidentally put the device into sleep mode. Unfortunately our steps and caloric output were not monitored. Would we have liked to have seen notification’s pop up on the Orbit from our smartphone? To be honest, not really. The device is near perfect as it is as a 24/7 fitness tracker, smartphone notifications on the Orbit would have just spoiled the fun of walking.

For $78, the Runtastic Orbit is really a great alternative to the big fitness wearables already on the market. With it’s minimalistic look, it monitors pretty much everything you would need to help keep your fitness goals in order! With all of this being said, it is only fitting to award the Runtastic Orbit with our Top Value award!

Check out Runtastic Orbit Pricing on Amazon!