Withings Pulse O2 review: A smart fitness tracker

Chaitanya GudipatyMoneycontrolWithings Pulse O2 is one of the many fitness trackers available in the market. Pulse O2 remains true to its motto and motivates you to maintain and if need be step your health goals.

You can track your fitness both on the device and through Health Mate app which can be downloaded from various app stores. It monitors your steps, heart rates, calories burnt, blood Oxygen levels and sleep.

You don’t need to be an expert to use Pulse O2 or set up the app. Just fill in a few details (age, weight and gender, etc) and both the app and the tracker work in tandem to show your progress.

For those who wouldn’t want a fitness tracker on the wrist, Pulse O2 can be attached to a trouser’s pocket. Doing this doesn’t compromise the features Pulse O2 offers.

During the time we used Pulse O2, its step counter tracked steps fairly accurately. A brisk 200-step jog counted manually stacked against 205 steps on the device. Longer periods of walks or jogging on a treadmill were accurately monitored. With the app you could monitor steps over a week and month.

Although Pulse O2 shows sleep hours to the minute, it doesn’t understand the difference between sleeping and laying still. During work hours, a roughly 10-minute motionless activity while reading an article reflected as a nap on the sleep tracker. The best part, however, is that the Pulse O2 lets you if you should be sleeping more — a key element for a healthy lifestyle.

While Withings stresses on heart rate and Oxygen level monitoring capability of the tracker, using the features isn’t as simple as tracking steps or calories. The back of the clip or the wristband covers the heart rate sensor which makes monitoring the two parameters impossible while wearing the device. You’ll have to remove the tracker and place your finger on the sensor to know your heart rate or Oxygen level in your blood.

A major drawback of Pulse O2 is lack of water-resistance. You can’t just hop into a shower after a sweaty workout wearing Pulse O2. Neither would you want to risk forgetting the device in the washroom after a bath.

Withings Pulse O2 is the right fitness tracker for you should you want a no-nonsense device with health tracking capabilities. At Rs 9,999, a device with an 8-day battery life, an accurate step counter and sleep tracker makes Pulse O2 a good buy.