Withings Pulse - Fitness Tracker

Withings Pulse Fitness Tracker

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The Withings Pulse is a powerful and pocket-sized activity tracker designed to help users achieve personal health and fitness goals. The Pulse adds heart rate measurement and automatic run detection to the tracking of steps taken, distance covered, elevation, calories burned, and quality of sleep. The device syncs via Bluetooth Smart with the free Withings Health Mate App where all the data is collected and displayed in real time.

Weighing just 8 grams and measuring 1.69 inches, the Withings Pulse is designed to be unobtrusive. It can be inserted into a pocket, bag, or used with the included clip on a belt, shirt or bra. The front of the device features a fully functioning OLED touch surface that will allow users to navigate browse a 14-day history of collected data. The back houses the on-board heart rate sensor where users simply place their finger to take their readings.

The Withings Pulse also has you covered when it’s time for bed. Sleep is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle, so with the Pulse, users can launch sleep cycle analysis where they can track their movements throughout the night by simply inserting the device into the included wrist band. The next morning the information is sent to the Health Mate App where users can precisely assess their sleep patterns and actually see how physical activity, or even or lack of it, affects sleep.

So how did the Withings Pulse perform?

The Withings Pulse is a simple but extremely powerful fitness device. Out of the box, the Pulse is already pre-charged. But first I installed the latest iOS version of the Withings Health Mate app. After successful installation and pressing the button on the Pulse, I paired up the unit with my iPhone via Bluetooth. Follow the instructions on the app to configure.

Simple press the button on the Pulse again (there is only one) to change the display mode: steps, elevation, distance, calories, heart rate/sleep. For each of the different screens you can slide your finger across the touch screen (swipe right) to go back in time – history. The Withings Pulse features history browsing which allows you to display the previous 10 days on its screen giving you instant insight on your progress.

To measure your heart rate, place your finger gently on the light sensor on the back of the unit. It should take about 30 seconds or less to get a reading. I had a few problems once in a while but found out that if I gently touch the light sensor and stay still, it will read successfully and correctly. Withings recommend not pushing too hard with your finger otherwise it will not be able to correctly pick up the blood flow changes. The Pulse uses an optoelectronic sensor as well as several green and red LEDs to measure your heart rate through your finger. The sensor will pick up small color changes on the surface of your skin that are in sync with your pulse. These changes are caused by blood flow changes from your heart pumping.

The Pulse displays your last measurement but is able to save up to 20 measurements. All of the saved measurements will be sent to the Health Mate app during the next synchronization.

From my experiences, the measured heart rate (resting and after running) is within 2 BPM of my chest-strap Garmin Forerunner 610 heart rate monitor – similar to the MIO Alpha Heart Rate and LifeTrak Move C300 watches.

As for distances, note that distance is not measured using a GPS so you can’t really expect a correct mileage every time. When running, the Withings Pulse detects this activity using an internal algorithm that is based on your stride frequency. Afterwards, the device uses the height, weight and gender you input in order to assess your distance and average speed. From my experiences, the Pulse calculated distances are off (higher) by about 0.8 miles versus the GPS on my Garmin Forerunner 610 on over a dozen runs. Maybe a runner can override and configurable the stride length in a future version of the Pulse.

The Withings Pulse also show your elevation gain, but not your absolute elevation. The Pulse will count elevation each time it detects that your elevation goes up AND that you are walking at the same time. Standing still on an escalator or in an elevator will not count towards your elevation.

Your Withings Pulse syncs automatically throughout the day (about once every 6 hours). This way you will have your latest step, elevation, distance, calorie and sleep data right on your iOS/Android device. You do not even have to open the Health Mate app to sync your data as long as it is running in the background. If you want to force a sync of the data simply press and hold the Pulse’s button for 3 seconds. Remember it uses Bluetooth so make sure it is enabled and you are in range of your smartphone. Same goes for firmware updates.