Inateck’s ultra slim 4-port USB hub: Great for small spaces (Review)

Sometimes it just doesn’t feel like we have enough USB ports on our laptops and PCs. We do have lots of USB devices like thumb drives and the other countless accessories that we charge. If you’re in the market for a USB hub for your computing device then you should take a look at Inateck’s Ultra Slim 4-Port USB Hub.

Review

Inateck has a large portfolio of great products to choose from and this one couldn’t get any simpler. As the name implies, Inateck’s hub gives you four extra ports for any laptop or pc and provides 5Gbps of data transfer speed, depending on your device’s capabilities.

This portable hub measures in at almost four inches long and is not even one inch thick. Needless to say, this thing is small. I have a small work space where I do my writing. I barely have enough room for a mouse at my workspace. Since the Inateck hub is not so big and clunky, I don’t have to worry about my limited space.

As a kid, I never really understood voltage and the like. Frankly, I was curious and would experiment by attaching different adapters to my devices, and the next thing I would smell is something burning due to being fed to much voltage. Since this has the built-in overvoltage protection I don’t have to worry about my curious kid doing the same things and ruining all the expensive gadgets I own as an adult.

The final thing I want to talk about with Inateck’s Hub is compatibility. You can attach any USB 1.1, 2 or 3 devices to any USB 2.0 or 3.0 capable PC or laptop. The 5Gbps data I talked about works on any USB 3.0 devices. So keep that in mind when using this hub.

Summary

With the excess of USB ports we need, it’s essential that we make sure the adapters we use are compatible with the devices we hook them up too. It’s important to make sure you’re not getting some knock off product that can cause damage. I’m confident Inateck’s Ultra Slim 4-Port USB Hub will do the job for you safely.

Buy Inateck’s Ultra Slim 4-Port USB Hub

NBA LIVE Mobile: Basketball in your pocket (Review)

The confetti has fallen, the fans have celebrated and the NBA Finals are over. The Cavs have been crowned champion and now that it’s all over what do you do next? Well, I’ll give you one option. Head over to the Play Store and register for the new NBA LIVE Mobile app. The fast-paced NBA action in the palm of your hands is sure to get you ready for next season.

Developer: Electronic Arts
Cost: Free with in-app purchases

Getting started

Like all apps, the first thing you have to do is go through a set-up process. This includes setting your age, login preference, username and favorite team. Afterwards, you go through the tutorial that includes teaching you how to shoot, pass, you know the basics. And of course, they will walk you through the app itself. After all, that you’re ready to play.

Game Play

NBA LIVE Mobile isn’t too far off from another EA game called Madden NFL Mobile in terms of gameplay. While I won’t go into great depths explaining all the ins and outs, I’m going to give you the brief overview of how to get started in building your dynasty.

You are given four modes of play that include live events, head-to-head, season, and leagues. In order to play these modes, you have to build a team. You are given starter packs of players in which to play. These players have divided up automatically into different lineups based on different skills.

When playing a game of any kind you will choose which lineup you want to use unless otherwise noted. Some games require certain lineups for the challenge presented. Once you buy new player cards the are inserted into the appropriate lineups.

Let’s touch on the different modes of play. Live events consist of your season games and various skill challenges that help you improve your skills. Some may be locked until you reach the appropriate skill level. Head-to-head games show all the people who are playing those games. You may challenge anyone to match-up.

NBA LIVE has an interesting take on head-to-head. Each player takes control of a quarter. Meaning, if you start a game with an opponent, you play the first and third quarter vs the other team’s AI team, and they take the 2nd and 4th quarter vs your AI. With this style of gameplay, there is less chance of lagging and ruining a game which makes it more enjoyable.

Playing a season is not much different than playing a season on traditional consoles. The exception being you don’t play as many games and each quarter last two minutes. But you do play the finals, but I couldn’t tell you what that’s like since I’m not very good. That means you’ll need to play and tweet me the experience. That’s a joke of course, except the part where I suck at the game.

Finally, the last mode of gameplay is leagues. There are already a number of leagues that you can join or for 5,000 coins you can create a league. I would suggest joining a league to start.

You should also note that all events cost you stamina to play. You start off with 15 stamina and with each level you gain, you gain the ability to have more at one time. So after level ten you may be able to have 16 stamina instead of 15. After you use your stamina up it replenishes after a certain amount of time, or you can buy more with in-app purchases.

Controls

Controls are a short area to go over but let’s get through it quickly. At the bottom left you’re going to have your “joystick” to move your player around. Over on the right, it’s broken into two categories, offense and defense. Offense consist of pass, drive (sprint) and shoot while defense has two controls, guard, and block. Going through the tutorial will explain how to use these.

Here is a quick tip they don’t tell you that I learned while playing. When you hold down the guard button while on defense, letting go of the button and tapping it will help your player steal the ball.

Everything else

To acquire all the extras, head over to the store and purchase various random player packs. You can use real money, or money you’ve earned by leveling up after games or beating certain challenges. The better you play, the more experience you get and faster you level up. If you want a specific player or want to get rid of excess players you can use the auction section. This is the feature they have that I didn’t even know I wanted but makes perfect sense.

Review

EA has certainly stepped up its game with this amazing pocket version of basketball. The graphics are very smooth showing no signs of lag or hiccups. You can only do so much with graphics on mobile, but the movements and look of the players are exactly how they should be and not all, for a lack of a better word, janky.

I personally believe where most games like this fail are the controls. Developers seem to forget no matter how much you want it to be, it’s just isn’t a normal control pad. EA stepped up and made the controls the right way for mobile. Don’t think you’re going to get the same experience as a Playstation, after all, it’s still a phone.

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Summary

NBA LIVE Mobile is an overall fun game to pick up and play. It’s simple enough for a novice to understand yet elegant enough for a seasoned gamer to enjoy on the go. I don’t normally see these games translating to mobile this smoothly.

It is still in beta but expected to come out this week. So head on over and preregister to get notified when it releases.

Preregister at the Play Store

Syllable G600 headphones (review)

It’s not necessarily a rare thing to find a great pair of headphones for $30. On the other hand, finding an amazing pair of headphones for $30 is. I have made such a discovery with the Syllable G600 Bluetooth Studio headphones. Here are my thoughts.

Technical Specs

• Active noise cancelling technology
• Dual audio drivers on each side
• 2 hour charge time
• Up to 12 hours of playback time
• *250 hours standby time
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Built in HD microphone with noise cancelling technology
• 1 year manufacturer warranty

Design

These headphones look great. The exterior is made of a shiny black plastic with a Porsche red, rubber interior padding. The headphone cups themselves are also constructed from a shiny black plastic with a matte black padding inside.

On the right earphone you will find the power, volume, fast forward and rewind keys. The fast forward and rewind keys also double as the volume up and volume down keys. I personally do not like this design choice but it gets the job done.

On the left earphone you will find a 3.5mm headphone jack. The addition of this jack is fantastic because it allows you to the use the headphones wired if the battery has died. All you need to do is plug one end of the included male 3.5mm to male 3.5mm cable into the headphones and the other end into the device of your choice.

As much as I love the design of these headphones, they have one glaring flaw: the word “SYLLABLE” monogrammed in giant, white letters on both sides of the headband. Even with this small flaw, these headphones look and feel great. The build quality is superb and really makes you feel like you are using a $100 pair of headphones instead of a $30 pair.

Sound

The Syllable G600’s sound great. These headphones, hands down, are the best I have ever used. In fact, I would stack the G600’s against any pair of Beats by Dre studio headphones and wager that users would not be able to tell the difference in a blind test. But I must disclose that I have not owner a pair of Beats.

The bass, highs, mids and lows all sound phenomenal and in perfect balance. I literally have no complaints about the sound produced by the Syllable G600’s.

Battery Life/Functionality/Comfort

Even with extended use, the Syllable G600’s stayed pretty comfortable. There might have been some minor fatigue here and there, but it was so slight that I didn’t feel the need to take the headphones off because of it.

On the battery life front, I got about 8-12 hours of use with the Syllable’s connected to a Bluetooth device (usually my tablet). The included 3.5mm male to 3.5mm male cable allows you to continue to use the headphones after the battery has died. I love this feature and I am so glad that Syllable had the forethought to include it.

As far as the Bluetooth connection goes, I have no complaints. I noticed little to no skipping in my music while using the Syllables, and any that I did expereince was more likely caused by the device the headphones were connected to versus the headphones themselves.

Verdict

Without a doubt, the Syllable G600 Bluetooth Studio headphones are the best headphones I have ever used. They are comfortable, reliable, built well and sound fantastic. You will not find a better pair of headphones at this price; and as stated before, I would wager that these $30 Syllables are every bit as good as a pair of Beats.

Syllable G600 Bluetooth Studio Headphones – Amazon.com

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*photos courtesy of Amazon.com and Google Images

AUKEY Bluetooth 4.1 Audio Receiver: Bluetooth for your car at an affordable price (Review)

Just a few weeks ago my wife and I were discussing cars. More specifically what discussed what we wanted in the next vehicle we purchase. Despite the fact we are a couple years away, it’s never too early to get a headstart on it. One of the things I mentioned that I want is Bluetooth capabilities. We had the chance to have that put in our current vehicle but I was being a cheapskate and didn’t pull the trigger. But it’s really a no-brainer to have this in your car in today’s world of hands free requirements.

Fast forward a few weeks and guess what I ran across? Aukey’s Bluetooth Audio Receiver. Think of it as the old cassette adapters we had for our CD players in cars, if you are old enough to remember them. It makes playing music and making calls from our phones to our car easier.

Let’s learn more.

In the box

• Wireless audio receiver
• microUSB charging cable
• 3.5mm audio cable
• 3.5mm audio connector
• User manual

Design and Functionality

Aukey’s Bluetooth Receiver is a small compact Bluetooth device that measures less than five inches long. It has a built-in microphone, 3.5mm input and a microUSB charging port. Overall it resembles a tiny version of the Amazon Fire TV remote.

The front of the receiver is where the controls reside. There are three buttons that are multi-function controls. The plus and minus buttons control volume and skip tracks, where you short press for volume and long presss for tracks. Your last control button is the multi-function button. This controls the play/pause and answer/hangup portion.

The controls for the volume/skip track seems reversed to me. I find myself wanting to short press to change tracks and long press for volume. While this isn’t a deal-breaker, it should be changed if they decide to build a newer model.

The Audio Receiver’s built-in microphone worked flawlessly. It was placed around two feet away from me, and the person on the other end of the phone call could still hear me talk as if I were in the room. The Bluetooth technology worked without any hiccups. As I walked away from my car, I tried to connect with the Audio Receiver, and it still picked up between 25 and 30 feet away.

It doesn’t have a very long battery life, two hours in fact. So I would use it sparingly away from a power source. When I try to use it while connected to the charger, it doesn’t seem to work. I have to unplug it from the charger before it decides to connect to Bluetooth.

Summary

This is one handy little device for older cars that doesn’t have Bluetooth. In today’s world, it’s almost a necessity. Most of our music is slowly going away from physical form and into digital form. So just jump on board with Aukey’s Bluetooth Audio Receiver for $13 on Amazon. You’ll be glad you did.

Buy AUKEY Bluetooth 4.1 Audio Receiver 

The Hottest Android apps and games around (July 1)

Welcome to Week 6 of The Hottest Android apps and games around!. On top of pulling the top 10 downloaded apps and games from Google Play and the Amazon Appstore I have also included the top 5 New apps and games from Google Play and Amazon’s Underground project.

If you are not familiar with Underground check out this Article, but it’s basically Amazon taking apps that normally cost money and making them free, even the in-app purchases are gone so you pay nothing for an app that normally cost money! Leave a comment below if you download any of this weeks apps.

Top 5 New Free Apps and Games (Google Play)

1. Farm Heroes Super Saga

2. T-Mobile Tuesdays

3. Pets Unleashed™

4. Ice Age: Arctic Blast

5. Rodeo Stampede: Sky Zoo Safari

Top 5 New Paid Apps and Games (Google Play)

1. Teeny Titans – Teen Titans Go! $3.99

2. Wheel of Fortune PUZZLE POP $0.99

3. Pocket Arcade Story $4.99

4. Toca Life: Vacation $2.99

5. Zombieville USA 2 $0.99

Top Actually Free  Apps and Games (Amazon AppStore Underground)

Sonic Dash

 2. Flow Free

 3. Word Twist

 4. Flow Free: Bridges

 5. WorldCraft : 3D Build & Craft

Top 10  Free Apps and Games (Google Play)

Messenger
Snapchat
Facebook
slither.io
Farm Heroes Super Saga
Instagram
Pandora® Radio
Netflix
GO Speed (Clean & AppLock)
iFunny 🙂

Top Free Apps and Games (Amazon Appstore)

slither.io
Sonic Dash
Facebook Messenger
ES File Explorer
Goat Simulator Waste of Space
Amazon Video
Netflix
YouTube
Color Switch
Facebook

Top Paid Apps and Games (Google Play)

Minecraft: Pocket Edition $6.99

Nova Launcher Prime $0.99

Teeny Titans – Teen Titans Go! $3.99

Wheel of Fortune PUZZLE POP $0.99

Ultimate Guitar Tabs & Chords $0.99

Sleep as Android Unlock $0.99

Minecraft: Story Mode $4.99

Geometry Dash $1.99

Bloons TD 5 $2.99

Poweramp Full Version Unlocker $0.99

Top Paid Apps and Games (Amazon AppStore)

Minecraft – Pocket Edition $6.99

Teeny Titans – Teen Titans Go! $3.99

Plants vs. Zombies $0.99

Geometry Dash $1.99

Minecraft: Story Mode $4.99

Five Nights at Freddy’s $2.99

Bridge to Another World: The Others Collector’s Edition (Full) $2.99

Toca Life: Vacation $2.99

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 $2.99

Terraria $4.99

Sennheiser PRESENCE wireless headset review

It’s funny that the “phone” part of “smartphone” has somewhat gotten lost. Many of us prefer typing to communicate rather than frightful human interaction. Then there are those who rely on vocal communication to function on a day-to-day basis. Especially for the business folk, phone calls are still crucial.

Bluetooth wireless headsets have been helping such users for a while now, but that doesn’t mean that aren’t improvements to be had. Today, we’re looking at a new one from Sennheiser, called the PRESENCE.

Sennheiser is a long-standing audio manufacturer most known for high quality, leading headphones, but it also has a say in the wireless communication space. The PRESENCE comes with the promise of functionality innovations and exceptionally effective audio. Let’s check out if it delivers.

Design

The PRESENCE makes a nice impression right away, because it comes in a fancy and sturdy carrying case. Opening it reveals an organized layout of the headset components.

Laying it all out, we have the earpiece, four different ear tip sizes, a Bluetooth dongle (for use with a computer), short microUSB to USB cable, and car charger. It’s important to know that the PRESENCE is available in variants. If you don’t care for the carrying case or USB dongle, then you can pay less for what Sennheiser calls the PRESENCE Business. Our package is the PRESENCE UC.

The wireless earpiece has a functional but sleek-looking design. The materials aren’t the most premium feeling (it’s all plastic construction), but that in-turn makes the unit very lightweight.

Three are three physical buttons total – a primary button on the glossy strip that runs down the middle and two small volume buttons towards the back end. The center button initiates all the functions, like pairing and answering/ending calls.

The ear support arm is attached sturdily and rotates any which way, and it’s easily removable if you don’t care for it. You’ll also get ear support from three of the ear tips, which have a small extension (fin) that fit within your inner ear. The ear tips aren’t anything special; it’s typical silicone.

On the back end, you’ll see an exposed microUSB charging port (which I’m not sure is best in regard to durability; it could rain on you while you’re on a call) and an LED status light directly above it.

Function

The PRESENCE has more to it than meets the eye. It doesn’t just throw in Bluetooth and call it a day. Sennheiser put a huge focus on a clear and distraction-free audio experience. The unit has various technology to filter out noise. The goal was to maintain sound presence (hence, the product’s name) in the midst of noisy office coworkers or a windy outdoor environment.

The microphone voice input is also efficient. A voice detector reacts when you begin to speak and utilizes three digital microphones to deliver consistently clear sound to the listener.

The earpiece wear is fairly standard. It’s not the easiest to don, but once you do, it stays put and is comfortable (you barely notice it). A nice feature is the boom arm (the silver rim around the unit extends out). You turn the earpiece on by pulling the arm out, and vice versa. I prefer this method over holding down a button.

The functions are pretty simple; it just takes a little playing around to figure out the what different presses of the primary button do. But it’s pretty intuitive if you’ve used a Bluetooth headset before. To get started, hold down the center button for a few seconds to initiate pairing and simply find the PRESENCE in your mobile device’s Bluetooth settings. Double pressing it will have it call the most recent phone number. And holding the button for one second will initiate the phone’s voice function (i.e. Google Now).

The battery is said to last up to 10 hours of talk time. If you do run out, fortunately, the charging speed is no slouch. 30 minutes replenishes half its capacity. And the Bluetooth range can go up to about 80 feet (depending on the environment).

As expected, the call sound quality is solid. Even with a noisy environment, the caller’s voice comes through distinctly and clearly, albeit, a little tinny-sounding. It’s pretty great when your surroundings aren’t able to drown out the sound that you’re trying to focus on. You’re able to give the caller your undivided attention.

Final Thoughts

Sennheiser did a fantastic job on this earpiece. It’s packed with a lot of behind-the-scene technology, which I think accomplishes the goals of efficient and clear audio. It’s not the cheapest Bluetooth headset out there (the price ranges from $100 to $150, depending the model), but if you really value communication performance, then look no further.

Sennheiser PRESENCE product page

Tansfer money securely with Circle Pay (review)

Hamburger Menu

In today’s digital age, it has become common place for us to want to want to do everything from our mobile devices, including banking. Speaking for myself, I hardly ever carry cash anymore. If someone asks me for money I have recently been resorting to, “Why don’t I pay and you can pay me back?” or vice versa. The next dilemma is paying them back. I again look to my mobile device for answers. Circle Pay offers an easy way to send someone that reimbursement with a simple text or email.

Impression

A simple, free download from the Google Play store and you can launch the app. The only setup required is to register an email address for your account. Upon login, we find warm and inviting colors matched by that classic material design we all feel comfortable with. Taking a look at the home screen, we have a hamburger menu in the top left, an ellipse menu in the top right, our account balance in the center and below the balance, we see our recent activity. Finally, in the bottom right of the screen, we have a “+” button that allows us to initiate sending or requesting of money.

Hamburger Menu

Home Screen

When we try to dig a little deeper we find how simplistic Circle Pay really is. The whole basis of the app is quick, convenient money transfer. From the hamburger menu, you can quickly send money, request money, add money to your account (yes, Circle Pay has its own account balance) or Cash Out (put you balance back into your Bank). The only downside is the $300 per week limit for deposits which is understandable for a free service and can be increased if you are a frequent user. On the other hand, cash out, spend and receive is unlimited.

Great, sending and receiving money is easy but where does the money come from. Simple, Circle Pay allows you to link directly to your bank account or debit card for free and, if you so choose, you can convert your money to Bitcoin right from the app (after accepting all potential liabilities that come with Bitcoin of course).

Settings and Security

More Settings and Security

Along with discussions of money and technology comes the ever looming question of security. Circle Pay has you covered. By default, it requires two-factor authentication to sign in and to send or receive anything over $30 (this can be adjusted in the settings). The app also allows you to easily create a PIN number that must be typed in before you can access the app. Finally, there is an option to hide your account balance from the home screen if you are worried about prying eyes over your shoulder.

Looking ahead, the developers tell us that there will soon be support for the Euro as well.

We will soon open Circle Euro support to consumers in Spain as the first part of a broader European-wide rollout to come over the coming month. We are currently working with the regulators to finalize our approach, but are excited about the opportunity.

Conclusion

Circle Pay has succeeded in what it has set out to do, become an easy way for people to quickly share funds. They have not skipped out on security, functionality, or style. I would love to see the app grow into becoming more than just a money sharing app but an all purpose purchasing app. If you think Circle Pay might be just what you need in your life, click the link below and get started today.

Download Circle Pay from Google Play

Fitbit Blaze review

As the company’s first take on the traditional every day watch design, the Fitbit Blaze falls somewhere between a smartwatch and an activity tracker.

On paper the wearable matches up with the likes of Samsung’s Gear Fit family and the Withings Activite Pop. Running a proprietary OS, the Blaze technically offers less practicality and flexibility than an Android Wear watch or Apple Watch.

The Fitbit Blaze doesn’t blaze any new territory and does pretty much the same stuff you’ll find in various Garmin models. Heck, it’s not unlike a number of other Fitbits when it comes to function. Pricing is listed about $200 but there are other bands and accessories which can be purchased, too.

What does all of this mean to the average user? How does the Fitbit Blaze work in the real world? In short, it’s a great little device that does more for wearers than they might expect. But, it comes with a small adjustment and acclimation period.

Design

Introduced in early 2016, the Blaze looks like a first-generation approach to smartwatches. It’s angular and the black and silver aesthetics are decidedly masculine. You might be forgiven for thinking it’s more of an enhanced techie watch than a fitness tracker. Should you want something a little less serious there’s also a plum/silver and blue/silver option. On the other end of the spectrum is an all-black unit.

The watch is considerably lighter than it looks and doesn’t feel as if it constricts movement in any way. The default band is a tad wider than we might have liked but it is generally comfortable to wear.

Features

The Fitbit Blaze tracks just about any fitness-related activity you might think of, including steps, flights of stairs climbed, heart rate, and sleep. It’s very similar to its sibling, the Fitbit Surge, but this one adds in the touch-friendly color display and side buttons while swapping out the standalone GPS.

Should you want to track a bike ride or run you will need to have your phone nearby; the GPS comes from the handset and talks to the app/watch combination.

Out of the box, the watch gives users quick access to nearly all functions. Additionally, the watch can double as a timer or stopwatch. Wearers can go into the app on the smartphone to toggle other details and customize a few settings such as watch face and notifications. It’s also in the app where you can track how many glasses of water you’ve had or set up a meal plan to help lose weight.

Where to Buy

• Amazon
• B&H Photo Video
• Best Buy
• Target

Wearers will notice the watch can show incoming phone calls, calendar reminders, and message notifications from a variety of apps. Moreover, there’s also a music player with basic controls that handles songs from your phone.

The Blaze will detect and record “active exercises” when it notices you’re doing something more intense for a period of ten minutes or longer. Along those lines, the software makes it so that you’re just a few taps away from manually tracking a number of physical activities, too.

Battery

Touted at one week, we found the battery life on the Fitbit Blaze to be excellent. This was good, because the method of charging was wonky to say the least. To charge the battery you are required to remove the main square component from the watch and place it inside of a cradle. Moreover, the cradle locks down similar to a roller coaster harness. Yeah, it’s weird and somewhat awkward, but thankfully you’re only doing this once every six to seven days. We charged in a Monday night and went into Saturday before throwing it back on a charge at bedtime.

General Impressions

As someone who normally has an Android Wear-powered watch on, it took a day or so to get acclimated to a less “smart” unit. Conversely, it was great to have all of these health and fitness options so readily accessible. It’s nice to not have to go digging for an app or launching something if I want to track water intake or a particular exercise.

The display automatically turns itself off, which is a great way to preserve battery. A quick flick of the wrist or tap of the screen pulls up a watch face that shows time and usually some aspect of tracking. We wished there were more than four faces to choose from or some elements of customization. But, given this is a fitness and activity tracker, we understand it’s not all about the watch aspect.

While we do understand that the watch is designed to help track sleep, it’s somewhat odd to wear the Fitbit Blaze to bed. After a long day of doing whatever it is we do, sometimes the last thing we want is to have something wrapped on our wrist. For us, sleep monitoring isn’t the key reason to own this, so we’d recommend a different wearable for that use case. But, if you don’t mind the “confinement”, the Blaze is great at detecting heart rate and sleep.

There’s plenty of discussion about how accurate of a pedometer you’ll get in a watch, regardless of band. Wear any two products in a day and you’re bound to find different figures in the end. Along those lines, we’re not sure how accurate the Fitbit Blaze is as compared to other models; we didn’t wear it in conjunction with any other brand.

Staying with accuracy, we liked that the watch would help us with tracking different activities. But, let’s be honest here, there’s no way the Fitbit Blaze knows how good your form is when lifting weights or doing jumping jacks. The silent buzz prompts are a nice touch, but it’s mostly like having a coach blow a whistle for you. A coach who has his face in his phone and not paying attention to whether you’re doing things properly.

We really appreciate the way in which Fitbit held our hands in designing a meal plan or goal for losing weight. It’s a simple process of putting in a starting weight, desired goal, and determining how aggressive you want to be. The app can be used to forecast the date you should reach your goal, help track foods (barcode scanner for the win), and let you know whether you are on pace for the day. Our advice is to stick with it once you start. Doing it sporadically won’t help you in the end and you’ll not be able to mine your data very effectively.

Optional Accessories

Fitbit offers a number of accessories to choose from for its Blaze, including other elastomer bands, leather straps, and steel-link straps. Pricing ranges from $30 to $100, to $130, respectively with color options along the way.

Conclusion

It’s easy to find a fitness tracker in 2016. There are plenty of models to choose from, each with a variable reason to consider. Heck, Fitbit alone has more than a couple devices to choose from. You’re not going to go wrong if you pick something from Fitbit. You’ll just want to figure out which model speaks to your needs.

If you’re mostly interested in tracking basic stuff like steps taken or heart rate, there’s plenty of other, cheaper options. But, should you wish to step things up include distance, water intake, weight tracking, and meal plans, the Blaze is a terrific option.

The Fitbit Blaze occupies a space somewhere between a generic fitness tracker and a smart watch. It’s not going to have the overall flexibility and intelligence of an Android Wear or Apple Watch, but it’s excellent at what it does. We would have liked for a waterproof design, but understand that lines have to be drawn somewhere. The same goes for not having an internal GPS. Going this route might nickle and dime us into a price point that turns people away. With a recommended $200 price tag for the Fitbit Blaze, it’s definitely attractive enough to justify its cost.

The post Fitbit Blaze review appeared first on SmarterWatching.

Where to Buy

• Amazon
• B&H Photo Video
• Best Buy
• Target