these are the most comfortable work boots.i am on my feet all day and do not feel like taking them off when i get home.
MY CUTE IMVU CLOTHES! MOTOACTV 8 GB GPS Fitness Tracker and Music Player (Electronics) ********************* 190-mile update *********************I had planned my next update to be around the 250-mile mark, but Motorola's dropped the ball recently, prompting a reconsidered review (now down to two stars).First, the portal bugs have increased--not the direction you would expect with new software versions. For instance, elevation data is all over the map. And speaking of maps, the route viewer has been broken for a few weeks now.Second, forum support has completely disappeared. No one from Motorola has posted a lick of information for a long, long time. Does this have anything to do with the Google/Motorola Mobility merger and announced layoffs? Regardless, all the forum users and Motoactv owners have been essentially abandoned.Third, the reports of liquid (read: sweat) damage have increased, as have reports of Motorola refusing to fix devices that have been damaged by sweat. Keeping in mind that the box says "Sweat Resistant" and the warranty precludes sweat damage, this follows the letter of the law but seriously flaunts the spirit of the law. Seriously, Motorola, you will not stand behind a workout device (for which you manufacture a specialized wristband) if it gets damaged by sweat? What next, a phone that stops working if it touches an ear?Finally, my own unit has started to show telltale signs of sweat damage: the wired headphones no longer work (I've tried several: they all cut out from the slightest jiggle of the cord and plug). Moreover, Motorola won't provide a loaner piece while they examine my Motoactv, and I don't want to be without a heart rate monitor for a few weeks (turnaround time is getting longer and longer according to the forum). All that, and there's no guarantee they will fix it under warranty--indeed, there's plenty of evidence that they won't.I still *love* the functionality of the Motoactv, so I decided to spare myself the frustration of the repair process and buy a bluetooth headset. I will continue to use it, but I can no longer recommend it to anyone until Motorola stands behind its products.********************* 110-mile update *********************Almost two months and over 110 miles into using Motoactv, I have to dock the device another star, leaving it with five. The pluses are all still there--all the features I want, music and GPS and motivation to run, easy data storage, etc. I've had two main complaints, however.First, the ghosts in the machine: on a handful of occasions, I've had mid-run hauntings. The music would stop playing, and/or various metrics would stop recording or displaying. Usually, restarting the device would fix the weird behavior, but sometimes it would come back after a few runs. There are no patterns to the disruptions; but the spirits, when they appear, show displeasure.Second, the forums are more haphazard than they appear: not all questions are answered or followed up on or fully addressed. The moderators are certainly hardworking, well-intentioned, and excited about getting the device to work smoothly. But you get the sense that they're more of a ragtag team of misfits than a well-oiled machine supporting a high-tech expensive device.******************** Original Review ********************The question of whether Congress may create a market in order to regulate it was hotly debated during the recent healthcare arguments in front of the US Supreme Court. For me, Motoactv did something similar, at least in spirit, to what Congress may or may not be allowed to do: it created an incentive for working out via regulating the process of working out. I mean, it's so fun/rewarding/useful that it makes me want to work out more just so that I may work out with it.You might argue that the market already existed before the Motoactv, and to some extent you'd be right, but so far Motoactv is the only workout (specifically, running) device I know that combines(1) GPS,(2) MP3 player with bluetooth,(3) Heart rate monitor,(4) Wrist portability, and(5) Easy stats managementin one unit. I used to have (1) and (2) in a smartphone with armband, and (3) and (4) in a heart rate monitor, and (5) in a manually entered Excel spreadsheet, or in RunKeeper if I didn't care about heart rate data. All was fine and workable, but I had no idea how immensely pleasurable having all five features in one device would be, so pleasurable that the spiffiness of the gadget is a motivator in and of itself. The device has created the market that it regulates.I'll go into each of my five favorite features in more detail, but I should first mention that these make up a small proportion of Motoactv's functionality. The device supports multiple sports (including golf and some customizable options), it allows you to custom-build your workout routine and schedule it in advance, it blurts out useful coaching bits of advice during the workout, it analyzes which songs most motivate your performance and can play those for you at crucial low-energy moments, it plans out training schedules that are race-specific and take your fitness level into account, and it even gives you a fitness level test. None of these were features I desired. I just wanted (1) through (5) in one device.(1) GPS is usually found in 5 seconds, and has never taken longer than 15 seconds to lock in. A repeat of the same three-mile route will result in fairly consistent distances within 0.01 miles of each other, easily explainable by minor variations in the route. In fact, Motoactv's GPS is so accurate it can distinguish between running on a sidewalk and running on the shoulder of the road (you can view your route on a map once the data is uploaded to the Motoactv website--see 5 below). GPS accuracy and functionality have so far been equally good on overcast, rainy days and sunny ones, under tree canopies or clear skies.(2) Songs, albums, and podcasts are straightforward to drag&drop into Motoactv, or alternatively to sync via iTunes playlists. In both cases, the Motoactv needs to be connected to your computer via a USB cable. I suppose it would be nice if the syncing happened automatically, but I don't really foresee changing the playlist so frequently that this would become a nuisance. Unless you're downloading a new podcast each day, you can dump a large part of your music on the Motoactv, and 8GB is a lot of space. I've paired the bluetooth connection with a Jabra Clipper, and it works just fine and responds as it should to the Clipper's buttons. I just didn't like the Clipper's comfort and fit, so my bluetooth search continues. Meanwhile, the headphones that came with Motoactv work OK. Not great, but OK.(3) After some research, I decided to pair the Motoactv heart rate monitor with a Wahoo Soft Strap. The other popular option seemed to be Garmin, but I'm perfectly happy with my Wahoo (that sounded wrong) and don't anticipate switching. My prior experience with a heart rate monitor was a Timex with limited functionality that would have been fine had it not been for the constant interference from power lines and stop lights. The Wahoo-Motoactv connection is via ANT+, using a frequency of 2.4 GHz, impervious to interference. The readings so far have been spike-free, accurate (as far as I can tell), and just the kind of instantaneous feedback that I want during the run.(4) In the spirit of creating and regulating markets, I want to keep track of real-time stats during my run so that I may adjust accordingly. This is why I wanted the device to be wearable on the wrist for easy updates. I wear the Motoactv on the Motorola Wrist Strap; it's a bit bulky and stiff, but not enough to complain about. It is certainly much more comfortable and accessible than a smartphone on an armband. Besides, it's the only available wrist option I know of (what would SCOTUS say about monopolizing the market?). The Motoactv is fully customizable in terms of which metrics it displays on the screen during the workout. However, the more you choose, the smaller the font of each. Plus, too much data can be overwhelming and unusable. After some experimentation, I decided to display pace and heart rate (time and distance are also displayed by default).(5) After every workout, the Motoactv uploads all the data by wifi to the Motorola website (where, earlier, you'd created a profile). The upload happens automatically: by the time I've removed the watch and heart rate monitor and walked to my computer, the deed is done. And this is perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the Motoactv. After all, in this age of virtual living, have I really, honestly, truly run if my run has not been recorded somewhere in the ether? Aside from the gratuitous pleasures of spiffy gadgetry, the stats are useful in all the ways that you'd imagine them to be for managing your workout routine and tracking your progress. One of the coolest features of the data presentation on the Motorola website is the following: you point at, say, a spike in the heart rate graph, and the website displays the location on the map as well as the pace that correspond to the time of the heart rate spike. As with the Motoactv itself, the website offers more functionality than I think I intend to use.Some miscellanea:* The support community is active, and Motorola staff seem to be ever-present and responsive to suggestions for improvement as well as fixes for software bugs. On the other hand, software bugs do pop up on occasion.* The price on Amazon changes from minute to minute--by the time I had placed one more item in my cart and proceeded to checkout, the Motoactv was a dollar more expensive. I waited to check out for another day, and the price had gone up by ten dollars. I ended up buying from a marketplace seller for $20 less than Amazon. Reminds me of airplane tickets.* The complaints about battery life are a bit overblown, but not completely without merit. Running with GPS, ANT+, and bluetooth all engaged consumes about 20-30% of battery life per 40 minutes (yes, I have the latest software upgrade). I wouldn't feel comfortable running a marathon with it. But then again, I'm not planning to run a marathon. And while I would prefer to charge it a bit less often, it's not that inconvenient to plug and unplug. Finally, I did experience a full, quick battery drain on stand-by once; it hasn't happened since I rebooted.I'd dock the Motoactv a full star for the software bug and battery issues. However, it started out with seven stars... Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse
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