Review: Misfit Shine – a glimpse into the future
Misfit Shine
Pros
- Looks great
- Small and light
- Good battery life
- Water-resistant
- Price
Cons
- No heart rate tracking
- No GPS
- Provides limited data
The Misfit Shine is an elegant activity and sleep tracker that aims to inspire you to live a more active life. Shine emits a halo of lights that show your progress towards your daily activity goal, while looking like a fashionable accessory. By seeing how active you are during the day, Shine aims to help motivate you to reach your goal every day.
| Design Ease of use Use of information Motivation Overview |
Design
The device has one of the best design of any of the activity trackers out there. You really can’t appreciate how nice it is until you hold and feel the little metal disc – incredibly light. It is coin sized and designed to collect data on your activity, while also offering basic watch functions.
The grey, silver or black aluminium Shine is a mere 9g in weight and made of high grade aluminium. The tough material guarantees that the Shine will last as long as you need it, especially in high-impact activities like football or skateboarding.
Looking more like jewellery than gadgetry, out of the box it can be worn in either a flat-profile silicone wristband, or in a tiny clasp which means it can be hooked to anything, most likely a belt loop or laces on a shoe.
The Shine can be worn for any occasion. The range of sleek accessories include a sports band, leather bands, necklaces and clips designed for comfort, versatility and style.
The device uses a CR2032 battery that will last up to six months. That is far more than most activity trackers, and means that this is one less device you need to worry about recharging.
Ease of use
Shine tracks running, walking, cycling, swimming and other sports. The Misfit app then takes all of your hard work and turns that data into easy to read charts. Around the edge is an orange line that represents how far you’ve walked as a percentage of your daily goal. When all 12 lights shine, you’ve reached your daily goal. The lights around the border definitely add to the wow-factor of this unusual looking activity monitor. Through the mobile app, you can activate Watch Mode and with two taps to the face of the Shine, you can check the time, too.
Syncing Shine with the app is easy, though it can be slow. You’re supposed to tap Shine onto the phone itself, or sync it over Bluetooth from close-by. If the app is open, it will automatically sync with the Shine.
Whenever you want to check your fitness progress, you can either double tap the Shine to visually see how much progress you’ve made throughout the day – or you can use the app to view more detailed data.
Use of information
Shine records your physical activity and sleep. It claims to be able to recognise the difference between various different sports, including cycling, swimming, tennis, basketball and football. In practice however, you need to choose the activity manually as there is no automatic recognition. In addition to tracking your activity level during these activities, it estimates calories burned, automatically tracks sleep, and estimates distance travelled. The Misfit Shine contains a single, 3-axis accelerometer that tracks body motion depending on where it is clipped.
Despite a recent redesign of the app, the analysis side of the equation still leaves a lot to be desired. When you delve in, there is little data to peruse or analyse. A simple graphic shows your steps, calories and miles walked, with two graphs showing goal progress and the points you were most active in the day.
On a positive note, the Shine provides detail on your nightly deep, light and REM cycles. All importantly, the Shine automatically knows when you are asleep so there is no missed data. The low profile means it is comfortable to wear at night, maximising its effectiveness.
Motivation
Seeing your daily stats like steps, calories, distance and sports activities allows you to see where you are in terms of achieving your goals. In some ways however, the Shine is not as motivating as it could be as it has no messages prompting you to move or get active and it has no rewards system. Some might consider this a good thing, but it’s all too easy – partly because of the great design – to forget all about the device.
Overview
The verdict
With zero cables, an elegant design, and no need to recharge – the Shine is one of the best-looking, lowest-maintenance activity trackers. The device, which tracks a good deal of activity, can be worn anywhere as it is very small and light.
Other positives include its Bluetooth connectivity, the long battery life, the fact that it is waterproof, the automatic sleep tracking, the low-profile design and the choice of where to wear it. The Shine is also able to sync to Apple Health and a host of third party apps.
 | Misfit Shine |  |
On the minus side – the Shine does not track heart rate data, something that it is becoming standard these days with new activity trackers. It also lacks a screen. The small size means that it is easy to lose it if it pops out of the band, and even easier to forget to wear it.
Misfit made activity tracking accessible for everyone with the Shine. In a way, the device is a glimpse into a future where wearables blend seemlesly into our life. As something to look at, The Misfit Shine really works and we love its low-maintenance status and reasonable price. For people who want to be more proactive about their health and are interested in basic information but dont want to wear on obvious device – the Misfit Shine may be the perfect fit.
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