Over the years I have experimented with many different fitness trackers. I've used Kate Spade's SmartWatch, Fitbits, Jawbone Up (RIP to that brand), and more in between. They were all fine, I liked them enough but eventually, I got sick of using them. 

They felt like a chore, an annoying thing to wear on my wrist and at some point, I just stopped wearing them every day. That is until I got the itch to start wearing one again and of course, needed a new one to go along with the renewed habit.

The want for a new fitness tracker started at the end of 2020. I wanted to keep it simple: just track my steps and my sleep. It was around the time Amazon and WW were partnering on a new tracker called 'Halo' and I immediately bought it. I was less than impressed and quickly returned it because it just wasn't my vibe. It had no screen, it was uncomfortable and it seemed a little over-complicated for my liking. 

I purchased this generic one from Amazon instead, and that novelty quickly died down because it was honestly just not a good tracker and felt too bulky for my liking. However, at the start of the new year, I wanted to get back on the grind and saw that Amazon and WW partnered on a new version of the Halo called 'Halo View' and I was quickly sold.

It's been about two months of using the Halo View and I really like it! There are virtually no cons to it and I am definitely not even using it to its full potential but I figured I'd do a check-in review and let you know.

The Look & Feel

The Amazon Halo View has a little screen that doubles as a watch meaning it shows me the time. It doesn't send many notifications (I might have this feature turned off) and it has a few different types of bands that you can easily switch out. I bought the green band version and then recently upgraded to a nude-colored band. 



Sometimes the band does feel a little tight and I can 'feel' the entire tracker on my wrist but that might just be a sensory issue I have. Otherwise, it's fairly low-key and doesn't scream fitness tracker. It's small and mighty. 

What It Does

The Amazon Halo view does everything you would want a fitness tracker to do: it tracks your steps, your activity, and your sleep. It also has a heart rate monitor which I think comes in handy. There are two other unique capabilities the tracker has that I haven't tested out yet -- tracking your tone of voice and your movements. 

The voice tracker is supposed to let you know how you sound to other people: do you generally sound angry, happy, aggressive, passive while also helping you change your tone... it is very interesting and sounds a little invasive but I'm intrigued. This is something that needs additional set up with you speaking into the tracker so I haven't done that yet.

It's similar to the movement feature as well; you do a few stretches and the tracker will tell you how to improve your form, posture, and other everyday movements.



Within the Amazon Halo app, you can also track your nutrition (you can create a weekly menu and the app has recipes and other suggestions) and your body fat, which I will not be doing since I'm on a journey of not weighing myself. 

The app also provides guided meditations and workouts, in addition to the recipes which makes it for an all-encompassing health app which I think is very cool. That's definitely part of the program that I haven't utilized, probably because I use WW (which my Halo View is hooked up to and tracks my activity/steps) and Headspace.

Sleep, Steps & Activity 

I would say that the Amazon Halo View does a decent job at tracking my steps. I feel like it's pretty accurate and I like knowing how much I'm moving. You can also track your activity, so if you do a workout you can highlight that within the app.


When you calculate your steps and activity, you get a score and within a week, you should aim for a score of 150 which they say has been designated by the American Heart Association for a healthy lifestyle. If you hit that score within a week's time, the score resets out of 300 and your goalpost is moved. I've hit 300 a few times and really do try to aim for 150 because it helps me feel like I'm on track, though I'm not obsessive about it.

The interesting thing about the score is the more you sit and are 'sedentary', you will lose points. This is hard when you're at a desk all day but definitely incentives you to move a bit more... it also gets complicated when I decide to take the tracker off for a bit because it sits 'unmoving' on my desk. 




In terms of sleep, I am thoroughly impressed with the metrics. It counts my light, deep, and REM sleep every single night as well as how much time you spend falling asleep and any disturbances you might experience in the middle of the night, even if you are not fully conscious. It's fascinating and opens up an entirely new world when it comes to what we know and doesn't know about our bodies when sleeping.

Just as with the activity scores, you get a sleep score every night and it measures that against other Halo users. For instance, two nights ago I had a score of 94% because I slept pretty soundly for almost 10 hours and I was in the top 1% of Halo users in terms of sleep. It's all so interesting and gives me all the information I want, without being overly invasive. I think if I did the body mass and tone of voice features, it might be a little over the top but I will keep you posted.

My Final Thoughts

If you are looking for a new, low cost (under $60) fitness tracker with a ton of features I think this is perfect. It's not connected to your phone in terms of emails/texts but the app and information it gives is useful without being overbearing. It helps me stay on track with my exercise and allows me to work toward goals without being obsessive. 

Out of all the fitness trackers I've had, I think this is my favorite because it is an all encompassing health hub and that's what I really want. Do I think I will wear this thing forever? No, of course not. I am not giving it the power to control my life and will come and go with it as I please because I think where people go wrong with these trackers is the obsessive behavior that comes along with it... you feel like you need to always be with it but I don't feel that way with this.

Tangent over... the Amazon Halo View is a great piece of technology and if you've been wondering about it, I do recommend it!

xoxo
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