Also see: Best Black Friday Fitness Tracker Deals
Moov Now price & availability
Moov Now review: Design & Build
We’ll start by talking about the design, but don’t be too put off because the Moov Now does manage to significantly redeem itself in later sections of this review. But the Moov Now is ugly. At least the black and white review unit I tried is, anyway. There are two components involved, the first is white disk which itself is modern and pleasing to the eye, but add it to the black rubber band that attaches it to your wrist and it looks… ugly. I’m being a bit harsh, aren’t I? I suffer from Trypophobia, which is a fear of small clusters of holes (do not Google this if you’re concerned that you might have it), so the design is probably not ideal for someone in that predicament. And a male colleague of mine has said he quite likes it and would happily wear it every day. Plus, the good news is that you can choose Aqua, Red or Black Moov Now models in addition to the White, and as far as I can tell all of those are nicer, particularly the black as it minimises the hole situation. In terms of practicality and comfort, the Moov Now ticks all the boxes. It’s very comfortable and super-easy to put on and adjust to your wrist size, which can’t be said for many other activity trackers I’ve tried. I’ve been wearing the Moov Now for weeks, including whilst I sleep, and it’s showing no signs of wear or tear so far which is impressive.
Moov Now review: Tracking features
A durable and comfortable design is all well and good but what can the Moov Now actually do? To find out, you’ll first need to pair your Moov Now with your iPhone or Android device using the Moov app and a Bluetooth connection. Setup is easy – it’s a case of adding your age, weight, height etc and you’re done. Pressing the surface of the Moov will sync it, and it’ll occasionally sync itself throughout the day automatically. Wearing the Moov Now every day will track your activity. The default target is 30 active minutes, and you’ll be surprised how tricky it is to meet that goal when you work in an office. It’ll make you think about going out for a lunch-time stroll rather than eating at your desk, that’s for sure. We’d like to see more detailed information about our daily activity, though. It doesn’t track steps like most activity trackers do – instead you’ll see a breakdown of your most active minutes in a scrollable timeline that leaves a lot to be desired. You will see an estimate of how many calories you’ve burned, though, which is arguably more useful. I personally didn’t miss the step count. The tracking of active minutes motivated me enough to take the stairs rather than get the lift, and to walk home rather than get the bus, so it achieved the same goal that a Fitbit or similar would in this case. But I know that many people would be disappointed not to be able to see how many steps they’ve taken and compare that with friends, so I imagine it’ll put many off buying. And there’s no social element involved either. Even without the step count we could still compare active minutes and workout statistics with others, so it’s a shame that’s missing. Wear the Moov Now at night and you’ll wake up to see how long you slept for and how much of that was restorative sleep. It’s interesting, but not essential and again the data is limited, so I’m not sure how useful it is. Where the Moov Now really excels though is in its coaching. If you like quick workouts at home, Moov Now is the perfect solution. The app offers a ‘get toned in under 10 minutes’ workout that has different move sets to help change things up from day to day. You simply need to wear the Moov Now on your wrist and start the workout. It’ll then show you videos to follow for each move and track whether or not you’re completing the moves by monitoring the movement of your wrist. It’s clever and surprisingly accurate, although it is easy to trick (as I soon discovered when I remembered how bad I am at pushups), but if you don’t cheat you’ll find yourself aching in the morning but looking forward to trying again. Not least because you can progress through almost 100 levels and win achievements as you go, and you’ll see your previous bests and other statistics that your competitive side will strive to beat. But it doesn’t stop there. Moov Now can also coach you through activities such as running, cycling, swimming (it’s waterproof) and boxing. There are workouts designed to help you improve your running efficiency, speed endurance and interval training, and for boxing and swimming you’ll be able to monitor and analyse laps and monitor calories burned. When running or cycling, during which you’ll need to place the Moov Now around your ankle, a voice coach will prompt you with helpful hints like ‘take shorter strides’, ‘be lighter on your feet’, ‘change gear’ and more. You’ll hear real time statistics, too. What’s the best activity fitness tracker for swimmers? And these workouts also have difficulty levels, although not quite as many, which you can switch between as and when you choose. The downside is that you always need to have your phone with you to use the Moov Now for workouts, which for iPhone 6 Plus owners or those with a large Android phone, is less than ideal. But having the phone means you’ll get GPS-based information like pace, distance and time. The battery life of the Moov now is great. It can last for up to six months because it simply uses watch batteries which are easy to replace and cheap to buy. Ashleigh is Tech Advisor’s Head of Affiliate. Providing expert buying advice you can trust is her forte, helping you to find the most reputable consumer tech products and services, and ensuring you don’t spend a penny more than you should.
