Misfit Ray review

Fitness trackers are getting more complicated and expensive every day. With features like heart rate monitoring, temperature monitoring as well as calorie burning calculation. Can we get any more healthy? But if you are looking for something a little simpler, something that tells you when you’ve reached your goals, but does not have that traditional display. Something that works for fashion as well as function. Misfit, the makers of the Misfit Shine, has brought out their newest fashion forward fitness tracker, the Misfit Ray

Note: Images can be clicked to view a larger size.

To be honest, I am a big fan of the Misfit Shine having worn one for over a year now. I like the battery life (although I do not get the optimum 6-month battery life it is more like 4-5), I like the way it looks and feels on my wrist and the color (red), so when the Ray was announced I was excited to try it out.

The Misfit Ray is an inch and a half metal cylindrical tube with a band on each side. The Ray features:

• Vibrating alerts (for calls, texts notifications, movement reminder, and alarms)
• Smart button enabled
• Swim-proof
• Anodized aluminum cylinder
• Multi-color LED display
• Noncharging replaceable batteries

The Misfit Ray comes with the following:

• Misfit Ray
• 1 Band (sport or leather)
• Batteries
• Quick start guide

The top of the Ray has the multi-colored LED

The bottom of the Ray had a black dot on the side where the battery compartment slides out. The dot seemed tp have worn off during use.

The battery compartment slides out from the side and holds three “393” button cells. You place the batteries in the compartment, slide it into the Ray and give about a quarter turn to lock it all in place.

The software package is pretty much the same package I use for my Shine, with an activity tracker and a sleep tracker being the selling points for me. You can also track weight and food intake but those are entered manually. Steps, distance, and calories are tracked automatically. The Misfit App also allows you to monitor your workout and sleep trends and it can sync with other third party apps such as Apple Health and MyFitnessPal. Misfit also has a series of Ray compatible apps to allow you to use the Mistfit to do such things as snap pictures, turn on lights and skip music tracks on your iPhone. Although I found them interesting, I did not have time to really review them as the functionality with the Ray for some of them was limited.

The Misfit Ray is designed to be worn in various ways, but most will wear it on the wrist with either the leather or sports band. I was sent the leather band version. Before I go further and as you may notice in the picture above I am not wearing the original leather band on my Ray. The reason for this is because the leather band broke at the buckle with the pin holding the band to the buckle popping out and would not stay in place when I put it back on. To be honest, this is not the first time I have had issues with the stock bands for Misfit products. My Shine has a rubber sports band that is great, but the Shine tends to pop out of it once in a while. This is a common complaint with the Shine. I originally owned a Misfit Flash but took it back when the plastic bezel holding the Flash in place on the band cracked. When my Ray’s band broke I ordered the Misfit Ray Paracord 4-Pack from the Misfit site and replaced the broken band with one of the Paracord bands. To me, being a guy, I actually think it looks better than the slim leather band.

Using the Ray is fairly simple after installing the app on my iPhone 6 I connected my Ray to it. There was an update available for the Ray so it was downloaded and I was ready to go. I entered all the relevant data, height, weight, workout goal into the iPhone, the app synced and I was off. To tell how you are doing on your daily workout goals all you need to do is tap the Ray twice. The Ray will flash its LED once in (red) for 25% of your goal being met, twice (red, orange) for 50%, three times (red, orange, green) for 75%, four times (red, orange, green and white) for 99% and will rapidly flash all colors repeatedly when you have reached your goal. You can also check your status via you iPhone and get more detailed information. The Ray will also send you notifications from your phone. All of the alerts will cause the Ray to vibrate with incoming calls making the LED flash green, incoming texts blue and alerts purple.

So, what’s my bottom line here? I will have to admit, I am a little biased about this product. I loved my Shine and I love the Ray. If you can live without having your step count or other info on your wrist this is a great device. The fact that it does not need to be recharged every day (batteries last up to six months) and the Ray is water resistant for up to 5 ATM (I wear mine in the shower) makes it a plus in my book. Prices for the Ray range from $99.99 to $119.99 (for the leather band version). Available in carbon black or rose gold (with several new colors coming soon) the Ray should fit almost anyone’s style. The Misfit Ray is available from the Misfit store along with a host of other accessories to set you apart from the crowd.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Misfit. Visit their site for more info and Amazon to order one.