Misfit Review

Misfit is a wearable electronics company based in San Francisco, California. The company has released several unique fitness products over the last few years, including everything from smart socks to fitness trackers to sleep monitors.

Learn everything you need to know about Misfit and its lineup of wearable fitness products today in our Misfit Review.

What is Misfit?

Misfit is based in San Francisco, California and sells a range of different fitness tracking products. Its two flagship fitness trackers are the Misfit Shine and Misfit Flash.

Both trackers are designed to be worn on the wrist, but can easily be detached to fit on other parts of your body. They can clip into a shirt, for example, or slide into the special Misfit “smart socks.”

The Misfit Shine was actually launched after a successful IndieGoGo campaign. That campaign had a $100,000 project goal and it reached that goal in 9.5 hours. Within a few weeks, it had raised nearly a million dollars – so clearly there was some interest in the Shine.

Misfit Products

Misfit has released a number of fitness products over the last few years, including all of the following:

— Misfit Shine: The Misfit Shine is a wrist-mounted activity tracker which tracks your fitness progress throughout the day. You can detach the Shine from the wristband to wear it with other Misfit products – or just slide it into your pocket. It’s priced at $100.

— Misfit Flash: The Misfit Flash is priced at $50 and measures all of the same qualities as the Shine and can be clipped anywhere on your body. It’s made from a cheaper material.

— Technical Tee: Features a special pocket for your Misfit Shine or Flash and features reflective logo stitching to stay safe when exercising at night.

— Beddit: A sleep monitor which measures your respiration, heart rate, movement, snoring, and ambient sound as you sleep. You simply place the device on your mattress, and Beddit will transmit all important data to your nearby device. There’s even a Smart Alarm that wakes you up at the optimal time.

— Fashion Accessories: Misfit aims to be one of the most fashionable wearable companies in the world today, and it’s released a number of attractive fashion accessories. The idea is that you place your Shine or Flash tracker into these devices and nobody will know you’re wearing a fitness tracker. There’s a necklace for fancy occasions, for example, and sport bands or metallic bands for your wrist.

— Sport Socks: Features a small holder for your Shine or Flash near your foot, which makes it easier to track cycling activity.

Misfit Shine

The Misfit Shine is Misfit’s flagship fitness tracker. It lets you track all of the following personal metrics:

— Steps
— Calories Burned
— Distance
— Sleep Quality and Duration

The battery lasts for up to 6 months and there’s no need to recharge it: just simply replace the built-in CR2032 coin cell battery when needed.

The Shine keeps you updated on your progress using a ring of LED indicators around the outside edge of the watch face.

The Shine is also waterproof for up to 50 meters underwater. It features a 3-axis accelerometer to measure your movement in all three dimensions.

It’s also compatible with most major mobile devices, including the iPhone 4S and above, the iPod Touch 5, the iPad 3 and above, and all Android devices running Android 4.3 and higher. It’s also compatible with Windows Phone 8.1 and above.

You will need Bluetooth, however.

The Shine is priced at $99.99 and is available in 10 different colors.

When you buy the Shine, you’ll see that it comes with a sport band to be worn around the wrist. However, you can detach that band from the Shine and wear it in your pocket, clip it onto your shirt, and use one of the fashion accessories available at the Misfit store – like the necklace, smart socks, or smart t-shirts.

Misfit Flash

The Misfit Flash is available at half the price of the Shine ($50 compared to $100). In spite of that huge price difference, both devices track the exact same metrics, including:

— Steps
— Calories Burned
— Distance
— Sleep Quality and Duration

The main difference between the two devices seems to be that the Flash is made from a cheaper TPU/polycarbonate material, while the Shine is made from anodized aircraft-grade aluminum.

The Flash is also waterproof up to 30 meters, while the Shine is waterproof to 50 meters – which is important if you spend a lot of time swimming deep beneath the ocean, I suppose.

Basically, the main difference is that the Flash feels a little cheaper in your hands, and the band is a little flimsier and less stylish.

Aside from that, the Flash uses the same Misfit app as the Shine and lasts for 6 months on a single battery. It’s versatile and can be detached from your wrist to be placed on a necklace, shirt, socks, or other Misfit equipment.

The Flash is available for $49.99 and comes in seven different colors.

Misfit App

The Misfit app is available for Android and iOS devices. It works in a similar way to most other fitness tracking apps, although it tends to have a more minimalistic interface.

The app will display your daily activity, for example, and break that activity down into different periods: whether you were running, walking to work, or biking.

You can also view your sleep cycles: the line graph will separate your sleep into light and deep sleep, making it easy to see how effective last night’s sleep may have been.

Like most fitness trackers, you can connect with friends using the Misfit app and compete against them for daily activity goals.

Disadvantages of the Misfit Fitness Trackers

The Misfit products are minimalistic, effective trackers. But they’re not perfect.

Here are a few of the disadvantages to consider:

— No altimeter

— Sleep monitoring isn’t as in-depth as other devices, like the UP24

— Users have reported major problems with the Android app, including inaccurate tracking and crashes

— You can only track “points” and “calories burned” when you’re measuring a certain activity. If you’re running, then you won’t be able to see your average pace or even your distance. You just see how Misfit would judge your activity based on points.

Is The Misfit Flash or Shine Right For You?

The Misfit Flash and Shine are two minimalistic wearable pieces of fitness equipment. They look like a standard sport watch and come with a diverse range of attachments – from necklaces to shirts.

You don’t need to charge either Misfit tracker: they’re powered by watch batteries.

The competitive price tag also makes the Misfit Shine ($100) and Flash ($50) more attractive.

That being said, the Misfit app isn’t perfect: you can’t view detailed data about your physical activities. Instead, you can simply view your “points” earned, calories burned, and steps taken.

If you’re looking for a competitively-priced fitness tracker which offers basic sleep and activity tracking, the Misfit is a good choice. If you’re looking for detailed activity breakdowns and superior sleep tracking, then there are better options out there.