BodyMedia LINK Armband Weight Management System

I have had my new BodyMedia BW for several days now. Unfortunately, I tried to pre-order it on Amazon but was one of many who were told it would take 1-3 weeks to ship on the release date. Bummer. I ended up ordering it directly from BodyMedia instead. I am a Mac user and initially needed to download one driver for the unit from the BM site and then Java to get the Activity Manager to work from Safari. None of these items will work with Firefox, but not a big deal. Overall, a very easy set-up that only took 10 minutes even with the downloads.

I find that wearing the unit is very comfortable so far for the entire day and while sleeping. I remove it to sync and shower. It is also comfortable under clothes.

Syncing with my iPhone is relatively easy. Just one push on the unit while the app is open and my phone and the most recent calorie/step count/activity data will be displayed within the app. One minus though, once your phone times out to conserve battery you lose your Bluetooth connection and must complete the sync again. Not a big deal, but it could be improved. The capabilities of the app are more limited to the on-line AM, but I am hoping in time it will be upgraded.

You must use the USB cord to officially download/sync your unit to the Activity Manager (website based). You cannot yet do so with the Bluetooth capability of your computer. Another bummer, but possibly will improve in time. Also, be aware that your food input and calorie information on your phone will not automatically appear on-line within the AM, you must do a hard-line sync with the USB. Another little minus, but again minor. One the plus side, current data from the on-Line AM WILL immediately update into your app.

I have seen some comments where people are not happy with the AM food list and search capabilities for tracking calorie intake. I have used Spark People, LiveStrong, and the Lose It! app for iPhone and I am so far generally pleased with the on-line food list (as well as the app). In addition, entering my own food is very easy and the nutritional input area is very user friendly if you are into the details like I am.

So far, I am very surprised at how accurate the activity and sleep data is. It is exciting to see the spikes from a vigorous workout, but even walking up a few flights of stairs will show as a quick "spike", confirming that you did something more than your baseline. It also reflects long periods of sitting or laying down...need to keep those to a minimum :)

The Activity Manager interface is well laid out and shows general numbers and charting. Overall, polished and easy to use.

I also wanted to add that the customer service for BM has been satisfactory. This company appears to be trying very hard to make all of us new users (and current users) happy with our devices. There is also a Facebook page where the customer service reps will answer questions and are very responsive to users. This has helped me to learn more about the device and answer more questions. They also list promotions for sales from the BM website and discuss releases for other retailers where the unit is available.

One last downside...the price. At the current rate of two-fifty for a unit they are not cheap. Certainly more than I wanted to spend, but for the motivation is worth it for many users struggling to really get a grasp on the calorie-out part of the weight loss/maintenance equation.

***UPDATE***

I have been using this unit now for about 6 weeks, and I continue to be satisfied. The biggest surprise for me has been that I needed to INCREASE my caloric intake when my weight plateaued for two weeks. I was able to run a detailed report from the data that has been collected over several weeks and it was clear that I had too large of a calorie deficit each day. Show me another weight loss/health product that can do THAT! The reports are a great tool. A recent update to the iPhone app has just been released as well which fixes some bugs and adds to the utility of the app's use.

to get full benefits of device there is a monthly subscription fee of almost $7___i haven't found that highlighted in any of the recent reviews_ so just be aware= you may benefit from a less expensive device if you don't want all the info that this device would provide via the subscription fee.

i also noticed this comes with a free 3 month subscription_ costco is selling there's with a free 12 month subscriptionthat's 9 months at $7 per = $63 value.

please click if this was helpful to youthanx

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I've been wearing the new BodyMedia BW armband for about a week now, and although it was a rocky, frustrating set up I'm loving it now. I starting wearing this right after Thanksgiving and I've already lost the extra turkey and pumpkin pie pounds I gained thanks to this!

Due to some of the other reviews posted, I think some clarifications are in order. First, all the data that is being collected is actually stored on the armband. The only thing the phone does is act as a display of data that's on the armband (just like how the watch/display works with previous versions, by the way). But it's able to do a lot more than the old watch display by taking additional information like the food log and give you an up to date snapshot to show if you're consuming more or less calories than you're burning. Just like with previous versions, you still have to "download" the official data to the Bodymedia activity manager on your computer via a USB cable.

You do have to press the button on the armband to link it to your phone BEFORE you open up the app. Then when it links, the phone will display your latest steps, calories burned, etc. I do this once or twice during the day to see where I'm at and its super easy to link it each time before. If it were constantly connected (as another reviewer indicated he thought that's how it should work) it would kill the battery life of both your phone and your armband bluetooth drains battery life. If you are in an exercise session (say, at the gym), you go to the workout section of the app, and the phone and armband stay connected for that entire session so you can get real time data and work out till you've reached a threshold of burned calories. Super easy.

There's no doubt the setup instructions need improvement. I've seen on other sites that customer service can help, though. As much as I like the convenience of bluetooth it does drain the battery life of the armband. I used to wait two weeks between charging, now I have to charge every 3 or 4 days.

But overall I love this version of the armband. It's a great tool. Should you upgrade from the previous version to the BW version? If you've got a supported smart phone and you like being able to check in to see how you're doing or want real time info when you're at the gym then yes. If you're ok with using the watch display combined with the previous version -then stick with it.

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I was so excited to receive the new Bodymedia FIT bluetooth version, however I am really disappointed. I love technology, but this seems to be much less user friendly than previous versions and they have lost some vital functionality. My main issues:

1. If you turn the phone off or multi-task to another app, the Bluetooth does not stay connected to the phone. In order to reconnect you have to push the button on your armband. If you could hit "refresh" in the app and have it reconnect that would be fine, but having to push the button on the armband is very cumbersome.

Depending on what I am wearing, I can't hit the button through my clothes. So I

have to reach under my shirt (imagine how that looks!) to push a button, which makes a not so quiet beep-beep-beep tone every time I want to check how many calories I have burned.

2. I am not a fan of the BodyMedia food interface so I track my food through MyFitness Pal and enter my calories consumed using the daily estimate feature. This feature is not available on the app. In order to enter just the number of calories consumed you have to use the web interface. That means I can't use the app for food logging.

3. The old version that had the display unit showed your current calorie burn rate in calories per minute. There is no way to see this information on the app. I have had issues with my armband showing abnormally high burn rates while driving in the car. I used the display to monitor this, and would take it off or flip over the armband if I saw it happening. There is no way to check your current burn rate during an activity. You have to wait until you sync your armband at home and try to remember what time it was.

4. Workouts: Several options for it to alert you when you have completed a work out based on minutes, calories or intensity. This is a nice feature. However once your workout is done it is not tracked anywhere. There is no way to review current or past workouts.

I hope BodyMedia does a lot of work to improve the usability. There are so many cool ways to use technology to track fitness/health, and this one just falls flat.

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I bought my Body Media armband through Jenny Craig when I joined about 9 weeks ago. I feel it has been an invaluable tool, as well as a great motivator for me. I have lost 12.5 pounds with the help of Jenny Craig and the Body Media armband. I enter all my calories consumed on a daily basis, and since the device calculates how many calories I have burned, I know exactly where I am in terms of "calorie balance" (surplus or deficit). All the Jenny Craig meals are already in the system, as are many other foods. Foods that are not already in the system can be easily entered ("create new food"). I also invested $25 in a food scale that I bought through Amazon (the EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale) which has been extremely helpful in terms of accurately gaging portion sizes and calorie intake.

This device also calculates how many hours you sleep and how "efficient" your sleep has been.

Out of curiosity, I read a lot of the negative reviews here, and it seems that a large portion of them are due to people having problems with the bluetooth feature and using the device with their phones. I can't speak to this since I do not use the device with my phone, only on my Mac, and I have not had a single problem. I feel that not only has this device been an integral part of my weight loss, it will be essential in helping me to maintain my weight once I reach my goal.

I also want to mention one little "trick" that was told to me by my Jenny Craig consultant: if you're a woman you can actually take the device out of the armband and wear it tucked in the left side of your bra. During the day I wear it in my bra, and at night I wear it with the armband, and in my experience this does not change the performance of the device, and it's great if you are wearing short sleeves/sleeveless or if you just get tired of wearing the armband.