Gadgetory

hey everyone this is Jimmy with Jim's review room now I've been waiting a long time for this band as I didn't get a chance to try the Eric basis carbon steel from last year so this year I sure had to give the new model for really data-driven individuals like myself basis seems like the go-to band for understanding ourselves and our habits now with their newest model this year the basis peak is priced at 199 dollars and I'll show you what features this has how it performs and hopefully help you decide if it's worth buying so without further ado welcome to Jim's reviewer going over to physical features first the ban is made of this very soft silicone with many notches to fit all sized rests although the look is subjective on the underside of the black version is a very nice red to give some contrast and although I admit it's not as easy to see when worn once in a while having a glimpse of it does seem very pleasing now this appears to be a pretty large watch but after my time of wearing this 24/7 it really became natural and didn't seem large at all now wearing this with short sleeves still seems fashionable enough but wearing this with long sleeve dress shirts it just snagged a better right at the cuffs I also weight lifted with a new basis and flexing the wrist forward and backwards to me was not an issue something that anyone should look into when buying a large activity band in general now going over some of its physical features first and the back side are all of your biometric readers there's a perspiration and skin temperature reader and last which blinks brightly in green here is a heart rate monitor and I'll go over how well these features work when discussing the screen in the app by going to the front here the basis pic offers Gorilla Glass 3 the same glass found on most smartphones these days just to help prevent scratches and dings which during mine usage does hold up pretty well the only gripe is that glass is recessed instead of raised causing dust and other nastiness to accumulate inside the edges of course this can be easily wiped off but if you're considering this as a fashionable accessory you may take that into consideration the screen itself is very responsive with a gentle swipe scrolling through the bands information now the first screen here is always on it's the time that's being displayed in huge numbers or numerix here and with a single tap reveals briefly your month day and battery remaining now scrolling left offers your watch menu features with manually syncing your device and other miscellaneous actions which are all self-explanatory and then scrolling to the right instead reveals your heartbeats per minutes regardless if you're doing an activity or not but one caveat as many mention in last year's model does somewhat ring true here for the heart rate monitor to continuously function and keep a connection the band does have to be worn pretty snugged and for some people they do consider this tight and uncomfortable for me it's not too bad for casual workouts but running through the park gets oddly enough the heartbeat sensor would lose contact from time to time indicating that the band was searching for my pulse now I tried to wear this very tight now man this would still lose that tracking ability for a minute or so and then find my pulse later during the jog now I still believe chest heart rate monitors are far more accurate and also provides data in real-time but it depends on the individual and if they like to wear something snugged around their chest instead when working out nonetheless the peak still provided data in real time but it wasn't a hundred percent consistent in its connection and moving out here from this screen you can push up to see your total steps and calories burned so far for that day or you can scroll right instead from the HR monitor and this will review the most recent active session you just performed now this includes walking running swimming and outdoor cycling now it indicates how long ago this was done the total steps duration and also the calories burned and overall the band the screen is easy to read in all light situations and I believe it's one of the few bands actually that performs well in bright sunlight not many activity bands actually do that now it's not an issue either in low light settings as swiping upwards glows a light to read the information now pervasive with all this news the rechargeable battery should last up to four days which is very much only low-end compared to other competitors now over the course of testing this band I averaged about three and a half days of news before needing to recharge the device before it dies again just a very low battery life in general now the app experience is as important as the physical band itself now what you're looking for is something easy to read but yet provide useful information that helps you improve your lifestyle starting with a dashboard your three most basic information is always revealed resting heart rates steps taken and calories burned so far the second row reveals habits now these diamond shape patterns has goals underneath each with a color of line going around each diamond as you make progress now what's interesting about the app experience is it really tries to change your daily routine through this feature such as quote-unquote move it that tells me to move at least thirty minutes for that day to habit like sleeping and waking up at certain times consistently and over time as you complete more habits different habits are unlocked and the requirements or difficulty on each existing ones do increase it's a system that gives you baby steps first and you work your way up now the garmin vivosmart that i tested here and jim's review room does provide reminders when you haven't moved for some time but basis does take it one step further in providing specific activities to perform now at the time on this video basis unfortunately does not have notifications available but per their website basis will eventually provide habit notifications to be shown and your wrist reminding you to get ready for bed or suggest a run etc which i find highly beneficial as a reminder to keep me on track during my busy lifestyle now of course you can always turn off those notifications as you'd like though then the next row of information provided is recent activity where they're sleeping or walking this displays the most recent duration and its information along with it it's pretty self-explanatory and works similar to how the band displayed this information as well now the only grep that i have here with the dashboard is it doesn't display your entire day's worth of information as a whole basically now after testing many bands of the markets nearly everyone else offers a very simple and overall glance of your performance on that one screen now all other information is obtained by clicking the menu option here on the top left revealing a deeper breakdown now going down the list here habits is shown again with a weekly timeline instead of your performance and how many hours you've been wearing the band for what time I normally wake up and a button to add new habits to achieve over time and what basis does is prevents you from heading any new habits until you accomplish your existing ones now this might be great for some as it does provide a lot of guidance and structure while others might feel it's quite limiting and in the beginning now you can be the judge in that aspect now going back to the menu here next is Activity Feed now what seemed confusing to me at first and this applies to the entire app not just the Activity Feed basis records and shows segments of each recorded activity now let's say you walk down the hall to make some copies at the office and then return back to your seat during that time although it's quite short it's counted and it's considered as a separate activity now looking at the vertical illustration it shows I walked starting at this time with this many minutes then scrolling to the next activity you can see there's just a huge gap and it's very much because I was sitting stationary working at my desk or something simple like I may be eating dinner or so and this is identical for sleep as well it literally just breaks down every segment and you literally have to piece everything together it doesn't show your entire days at a glance but backing out here let me show you chart view which I felt has a little bit more information on the screen on the top you have your heart rate steps calories burned your skin temperature and perspiration levels now by tapping on this information you can toggle between maximum levels or your average but pay close attention to the timeline here it's only and always displayed in three hour increments or intervals again you have to scroll back and forth to really see what your day was like again pacing your day together and running out the last few features on this app itself device shows or allows you to make adjustments to the time and day displayed with options of manually syncing your data and updating the firmware and one last time here backing out settings are to change your personal profile in setting up your weight height etc and last as support as a quick button that opens up your email clients to email basis about any issues or questions that you may have and the one last perk that I briefly mentioned earlier similar to the polar loop and jaybird rain that I've tested this can automatically tell what kind of activity you're performing basis cause this body IQ walking running outdoor cycling and swimming are all detected automatically and pervasive the band will adjust its calculations to ensure the proper calories burned are measured for each said activity now for the most part that seems very accurate in knowing when I do start a jogging when I do stop up now when I do start my run the watches screen turns white indicating that I'm in a session with it's pertinent information displayed and before I forget to mention the peek can stream heartrate information via Bluetooth to apps like Strava RunKeeper etc now the only items I didn't see which can be found on competitors are GPS functionality to show where I have ran and my estimated distance and I was come somewhat shocked though that basis did not include this especially the estimated distance so overall I can really see a lot of benefits behind this band like the habits as it's the most robust that I've seen on any band that I've tested so far as indicated by basis a new firmer update will provide smartphone notifications that will show text email phone calls and app notifications not to mention habit reminders and your watch in the near future now the gray areas for me is of course wearing the band very tight and I still can't achieve that same accuracy and heart rate monitoring as a chest strap and speaking of those biometric measurements basis and its apps does nothing to provide information if my heart beat is at a good level or not while running does my perspiration level matter or even explain why my skin temperature is even important or even displayed and recorded now I'm paying for these features but for the average consumer these features are not explained with the product but items like the lack of GPS and estimated distance the lack of real comparable history for your days weeks months and years are very critical to me there's no vibrating alarm presently available although the watch it does vibrate there's no social or friend aspect so you can't compete with personal or online friends and the battery life is dismal now one compared to a lot of other bands that I've tested and reviewed over the past year the peak does very well in certain areas and offerings but not offering some very key yet very basic information is somewhat of a downfall for a 200-dollar very high tech band now let me know your thoughts in the comments below let me know what kind of band you're thinking of getting yourself or what kind of band that you want to see me review so hope this review helped you in some way if you do like my work add me on either Facebook too or Google+ that way you can see what I have a reviewing down the road and also some personal uploads I put up from time to time now be sure to LIKE and subscribe to this video as every little bit helps and bring you more content again this is Jimmy with Jim's review room you guys take care and I'll see you on the next one bye