Ryder Dofit Fitness Tracker Review
I might have mentioned in previous articles that I used to wear a fitness tracker, religiously meeting my 10,000 steps each day then I fell out of love with it and gave it away. But I’ve missed it. I’ve missed the motivation it gave me to make sure I’d accomplished at least 10,000 steps a day. I’ve missed doing the little victory dance that is compulsory when your wrist vibrates to tell you you’ve hit your daily target. So when I was asked by Cycle Republic to review their new activity tracker, the Ryder Dofit, I was a more than willing candidate!
The band itself is a thin black strap so doesn’t feel at all chunky although equally would not look out of place on a man. There is plenty of adjustment in the strap whether you have a wide or narrow wrist and it is easy to take on and off. The first thing I did was charge up my Dofit. Right, where’s the charger? Nowhere to be seen. This is because the strap simply clips off the tracker to reveal a USB style charging point that can either plug into a computer or a USB charging plug. I just used my iPhone plug and a red light illuminated to let me know it was on charge. For those who are not so technically abled, beware, both sides of the strap clip off and I have made the mistake of putting the wrong side in the charger. Note to self, make sure there’s a red light and the right end is in the charger! It’s not hard, I was just being particularly stupid but to be fair I was probably also being asked a million questions by the kids and making tea at the same time.
Next I downloaded the Very Fit app and registered my details and device so I could start tracking! This part was very simple so if you’re not techy, don’t be scared. It was a step-by-step process and very little you could do wrong. Think carefully about goal setting and try not to set unachievable targets. It’s great motivation when you achieve your target and you can always go back into the app settings at a later date and reset your goals if you’re finding them too easy to achieve.
I’m now wearing my Ryder Dofit band daily and even leave it on at night to track my sleep patterns, which can sometimes make for grim reading but generally I get a good nights sleep. I’ve synced my band with my phone so I get alerts when I have texts and calls and you can also set it to receive notifications for loads of other apps such as Facebook and Whatsapp. A gentle vibration alerts you and the message scrolls across the screen.
The activation button is touch screen and I have knocked it a few times putting it into stopwatch mode by mistake. I think the activation point is quite sensitive so consider this when you decide which wrist to wear it on and whether you have the button pointing inwards or outwards. A little tap on the screen and you can easily access your heart rate at that moment, number of steps, estimated distance travelled and calories burnt. This information also feeds into the app on your phone which offers a much greater detailed set of stats. I can now see all of the info from the band as well as activity duration and whether my target has been achieved. There is also a sleep section which gathers all of your data while you rest and you can view how many hours of deep and light sleep you have had during the night as well as any awake time. This has definitely prompted me to assess how late in the day I’m having caffeine.
A great feature to the band is the heart rate monitor, again feeding into the app you can view how many hours or minutes of activity have been in different zones. For example, peak exercise, cardio and fat burning. This is a great tool to show you what activities are contributing to your ultimate goal.
As we are out with our dog daily I was finding that 10,000 steps was very easy to achieve in my daily routine so I’ve increased my target to 13,000. This ensures that I go the extra distance on my slightly less active days and I still get to do a celebratory dance when my wrist vibrates because I’ve achieved my goal.
If you’re looking for an activity tracker, this slim line band has some great advanced features, usually seen in much chunkier style trackers and for a reasonable purchase price.
*Disclaimer: This was a collaborative post with Cycle Republic and I was given the Ryder Dofit Fitness Tracker in order to give an honest review. All words and opinions are my own.
