Everybody loves wearable fitness gadgets, gear, trackers, etc., but choosing the right one for you, and your lifestyle, can be difficult. If you’re anything like me, before purchasing an item like this, you’ll surf the web for the answer to your seemingly never-actually-fully-answered question. Your google searches might look something like this:
- “Best fitness tracker”
- “What’s the best fitness gadget on the market?”
- “Jawbone Up24 vs FitBit Flex”
- “Best wearable gadget for working out”
- “What’s the best gadget for losing weight?”
- “Best gadget for tracking my sleep”
- “What’s the best fitness band that tracks workout, food, and sleep?”
OK, I think you probably get the point by now, and if you’ve purchased a wearable fitness gadget or are looking to purchase one, I’m sure you’ve googled some variation of above. But really, how will you know if Joe Schmo, who wrote an article about how amazing the FitBit Flex is, is actually legitimate? And how do you know if you have a similar lifestyle as Joe? He may be looking for a gadget that accurately monitors his sleep, whereas you may not really care about the sleep aspect, rather you’re looking for a stellar running tracker. OK—it’s time to forget Joe. He’s got good intentions, I’m sure, but it’s not really helping you out. What will help, however, is taking each of those fitness bands for a mini test drive. Thanks to the new Lumoid Home Try-On service, you can now try your band before you buy it. (Here’s where I start telling you why I think this is a super awesome idea.)
Let’s say you’ve already done your research with Joe but you’re still not completely sure which one is right for you. No problem. Lumoid lets you “rent” up to 5 fitness gadgets of your choosing, for a whole 7 days. That’s kind of amazing. Switch ‘em up each day, or go all out and wear multiple gadgets at once to compare measurements. (I’d go for the one that says I ran the farthest. Just kidding. Maybe.)
Not completely satisfied with 7 days? Ask Lumoid for an extension, as long as someone else isn’t waiting for the bands, they’re happy to accommodate. After your trial, you can actually purchase the gadget of your choice, for the retail price, directly from Lumoid. OR, you can choose not to buy any of them and it will only cost you $20 and a trip to the mailbox (note: this fee applies only if you choose not to purchase one).
Of course, with services like these concerns will arise, like what if they don’t have the gadget I want to review? That can totally happen, but you can always make a request and they may be able to honor it in the future. Either way, this seems like an awesome alternative to dropping a few hundred bucks on a fitness gadget that you end up hating, in my opinion.
What do you think? Would you consider “renting” fitness gadgets from Lumoid before making your final decision? Do you have any concerns with the service? Comment below or email me at [email protected].
Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)