It’s Fall and school has started.  Time to get my exercise schedule back in line.  I love walking, it’s my main exercise regime.  I’ve been using fitness trackers for years now.  I love being able to track how far I’ve walked and measure how many steps more to walk to make my 10,000 step goal.

This Summer I have been testing out a number of fitness trackers.  One of my favorite ones is the Withing’s Pulse.  It’s one of the first trackers to came out with a pulse sensor to detect your heart rate.  You can check your heart rate any time – while running or while at rest (though for best results, you should be still when measuring).

Unlike many of the latest fitness trackers, the Pulse has a OLED display to tell you your steps, stairs climbed, calories burned etc. (Yay!). Another very interesting feature is that the Withings Pulse also can track your blood oxygen saturation level (SpO2), which gives you a better way to review your overall efficiency level of your respiratory function.  I have enjoyed tracking my blood oxygen saturation levels right after exercising as well as when at rest.  Ideal SpO2 levels should be anywhere from 95% to 100%.

Withings Pulse

Features:

• nice-sized touchscreen OLED digital display of your stats
• tracks steps, stairs, distance, calories, and duration and quality of sleep
• automatically senses when you are running or jogging and starts tracking distance and time until you’re done
• tracks heart rate and blood oxygen levels when finger is placed on sensor
• comes with clip and sleep wristband for better tracking
• your  last 14 measures are browsable on the Pulse
• Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
• Built-in Lithium-ion battery

I have to say the Withings Pulse is one of my favorite fitness trackers I’ve tested in a while.

Pros:

• lightweight at just 8 grams
• comes with a clip for the waistband and a slip in bracelet for at night
• you can see your progress right on the tracker
• pretty accurate heart rate tracker
• is great with the Withings app – you can track your weight (with the Withings scale), heart rate, and fitness here
• only wearable fitness tracker I know of with a blood oxygen sensor
• the charts/graphs on the app and website are very useful

Cons:

• waist clips tend to get lost easily (I know from experience!)
• you need to turn on when you go to sleep, it doesn’t automatically know
• comes in one color – black – not as fashionable – it it is sleek
• it is not waterproof

 

The Withings Pulse is a great all around tracker.  With its accompanying app, you can easily keep track of your daily steps, sleep, and heart rate, along with a percentage indicator that tells you how close you are to reaching your goal for the day.  You can also track your progress over time.

And if you’re like me, you’ll love the stats the Withings Pulse gives you for sleep.  Stats include:

• Total hours/minutes of sleep
• How many minutes in bed
• How long it took to fall asleep
• How many times I awoke during the night
• How much time in deep sleep
• How much time in light sleep
• What percentage of your goal did your previous night’s sleep come close to

 

The Withings Pulse works with the following phones/tablets:

iPhone (3GS or later), iPad (except  original iPad) or iPod touch (4th generation or later), with iOS 6.0 or later and Internet access (mobile data or Wi-Fi). Bluetooth-enabled Android smartphone or tablet with Android 2.3.3 or later, Internet access (mobile data or Wi-Fi).  I have used it with my iPad and Lenovo Yoga tablet as well.

The Withings Pulse sells for $119.95 and is available at Amazon.com with free shipping.