Moov Now Activity Tracker & Coach – Sports Wearable of the Year
The historic Shoreditch Town Hall in London’s Tech City was the place to be for the first ever Wearable Tech Awards with 200 tech founders, executives, designers and invited journalists enjoying the bash.
One notable winner (see the full list below) was the Sports Wearable of the Year that went to… Moov Now.
Pushing aside competition from Garmin and TomTom takes some doing, but the innovative, affordable wearable coach that’s geared towards helping you be better at the sports you love and embodies exactly what wearable tech should be all about got the prize.
The Moov Now is second generation, (Moov was the first in 2014) that is more refinement both in terms of design and features. The original was a dedicated sports coach, designed for running, cycling, swimming and boxing – but the Moov Now returns with daily activity tracking added to the mix, as well as a heavily modified design.
Moov Now has been shrunk to a third of its original size, and still packs an accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer – the trio of movement sensors that enables it to provide so many coaching stats.
Moov’s new strap is also a stroke of design genius – a silicon band with a tight pouch that the sensor slips into and never falls out.
A large and small strap is included for you to position the Moov Now around your ankle for running and cycling tracking. Moving to a watch battery was another great shift with up to six months on a single charge.
Six individual apps from the previous device is now down to one with the daily activity tracking the biggest notable addition to the mix.
Get this, user feedback asked for step and sleep tracking to be added and Moov obliged.
On the home screen of the app you can keep a tab of your active minutes during the day, and sleep at night.
Where Moov has always excelled is sports, and it’s important to emphasise the coaching element. A running watch is not a coach; it will not make you a better runner.
Running and cycling get the most coaching, while swimming (it will detect and count your swimming strokes) and boxing (the power of your punches on the boxing bag) sessions are tracked and reported. Finally the app will guide you and count reps for 7 Minute workouts, helping you progress from level to level as you get stronger.
Moov features a host of training plans designed to help you achieve goals and then uses a voice coach to affect your performance in real time.
When you go out for a run, you can choose training plans from running efficiency, intervals and open training. It’s the stuff hardcore runners want, and presented in a way that’s not scary for newbies. It’s a great selection of training plans, for all levels of ability.
When you head out for a run, the voice coach will explain what you’re trying to do, and then keep tabs on the metrics and tell you when you’re getting it right – and more importantly, how you can do it better.
It works in a similar way for sprint intervals and speed endurance programmes, with the coach’s voice giving you tips as you go, based on real time stats. These stats that make Moov so unique. Stealing GPS from your phone for all the usual pace, distance and time stats it also tracks range of motion in your legs, g-force through your foot and cadence.
The brand new app that encompasses all sports is the biggest change to Moov ecosystem. Straightforward, easy to use, the app displays your daily stats front and centre, enabling you to switch between individual sports by tapping the icons across the top.
To begin a session just tap the Moov’s button to seamlessly pair it. Third party heart rate monitors can connect into the mix as well, providing they use Bluetooth and not just ANT+.
The long and short is that Moov does a better job at promoting and tracking your progress in your training than other wearables. Whether you’re doing your first 10k or going for a sub-3 hour marathon, it’s that attention on your personal achievement rather than spitting out data that stands it apart.
Cost: $79
Available from Target: click here.
Waerable Tech Awards 2016 Winners:
Wearable of the year – Apple Watch Series 2
Fitness Tracker of the year – Garmin Vivosmart HR+
Health & Fitness Platform of the year – Withings Health Mate
VR Headset of the year – HTC Vive
VR Experience of the year – The Lab
Fashion Tech Collection of the year – Fossil Group
Hearable of the year – Bragi Dash
Smart Home Platform of the year – Amazon Echo and Alexa
Startup of the year – Loomia
Save The Day Project of the year – Fitbit Group Health