Product Review: Mio Motiva Pink Exercise Watch
As I mentioned in my last 25 Days of Christmas post, for Christmas Ryan got me the much anticipated exercise watch that I have been wanting forever! He is awesome, and I am so spoiled. :)
I thought since it is an exercise watch that counts your calories, heart rate, and boosts your workout experience, I would do a little product review for you guys in case any of you are interested in one of these!
In this product review, I will first explain some of the features this watch offers, then the things I like about it and what I would change about it if possible, so when you are researching a workout watch, you know what to look for!
Product Review: Mio Motiva Exercise Watch
The features of this watch are navigated by a mode button, and then you can set it using the other buttons on the side of the watch (there is much better directions in the manual that comes with the watch, I have no problem running my watch after reading it!).
The "Workout Timer" mode can be set so that it counts up, down, intervals (so if you run for five minutes and then walk one), and it counts down and then counts down again (say you run for 20 minutes and then do a 5 minute cool down). There may be more that I'm not remembering.
My favorite is the counting up, because then you can continue to count your afterburn calories as long as your heart is beating fast.
This watch comes with a book that gives you a list of common foods and how many calories are in each of them. As I've mentioned, I don't count my calorie intake anymore (although I did when I first starting losing weight), so I don't use the net calorie counting feature. What it does, is you can input how many calories you take in my simply entering a total amount (it doesn't have any foods to choose from, you must know their calories before you enter it). When you burn calories throughout the day, it automatically subtracts them from your net calorie count. You can then tell how many calories you took in at the end of the day.
The calorie burning feature is under the workout timer. The watch only counts your calories burnt when you have the workout timer running. If you workout more than once a day (or do another activity that burns calories and you turn your timer on), then this feature keeps track of your total calories burnt along with your calories burnt from that one workout you are in right now.
In this case, I burnt 293 calories on my run, but total for that day I burnt 778 calories because I turned my timer on when I was at work that morning. If you didn't reset your net calories, the total will also show in the net, but with your caloric intake added in.
The recovery feature does exactly as it says: measures your recovery time. You take your heartbeat as soon as you get done working out,
and then it waits a minute and you take your low heartbeat.
Then it rates your recovery time as "poor", "fair," "good," or "great." I haven't had much luck with recovery time after runs (apparently I could be in better running shape!) but when I do other cardio I have.
In case you are wondering how it knows how many calories you burn, you enter in personal information such as age, height, and weight under the my mio setting. You can also set your name, which is cool cause it's like my watch is talking to me! (I know I'm weird.)
Overall, I love this watch. I don't think I would trade it for another one, because of the following reasons, and that is just because these are the things I wanted in an exercise watch. Ryan met my criteria perfectly! You may be looking for something different in an exercise watch, so you will want to look for one that has some of the features mine doesn't, or one that has less than mine if that is what you are looking for.
1. There is no chest strap.
I really didn't want a chest strap that I had to wear with my watch to take my heart rate, because although it is more accurate, I wanted to see how many calories I burn walking to class and at work, in which it would be a hassle to keep a chest strap on. If you want something more accurate that is going to be strictly for working out, you may want a watch with a chest strap.
I know it is hard to find a smaller exercise watch, but because this one is fairly simple, it is a reasonable size and I can wear it throughout the day without bothering me, like I wanted. Again, if you are looking for something with more accurate features, or more features in general, you will have to sacrifice the small size for something a little heftier.
3. It counts calories burned.
That is the only thing I really wanted with an exercise watch! The plus is that it also counts calorie intake, if that is what you are interested in.
The readings are more accurate than the calories burned on a treadmill or other exercise equipment, because it is constantly taking your heart rate and it knows your age, height, and weight, which all need to be taken into consideration when finding out how many calories you burn in a workout.
Because you sacrifice some of the luxuries, this watch is actually in an affordable price range.
I wouldn't actually change anything about this watch, because then I would have to sacrifice the things I love about it such as the size and the fact that I don't need a chest strap (and Ryan would say the price!). But these are some things that I would suggest looking for if you are interested in an exercise watch:
1. It doesn't track your distance.
This watch doesn't have a GPS, so if you are running outside you won't have a track on how far you go. For me, that's not usually my goal. I go by the length of my workout (because I am not training for a marathon or anything) versus the distance. If you want a watch that has GPS, it will either be more expensive or larger on your hand.
2. It may not be accurate on your heart rate.
As mentioned, because you aren't wearing a chest strap, this watch probably isn't quite as accurate as others in the amount of calories you burn and your heart rate throughout your workout.
Overall, this is a great product and I would definitely recommend it to my readers!
