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TECH NEWS
Microsoft Band now offers cycling features including Strava
Wearable fitness bands are big in the technology world at the moment and Microsoft’s Band, a fitness device designed to be worn 24-hours a day and launched last year, has been updated with cycling-specific features, including integration with Strava and MayMyRide, which should make it more appealing to cyclists than before.
The Band, which retails for £169.99, has on-board GPS and an integrated optical heart rate sensor, so with the new cycling apps it’s the perfect device for recording cycle rides. It'll measure all the usual metrics like speed, distance and elevation.
It’s a cross-platform compatible device, meaning it’ll sync with most smartphones, including Apple iOS, Android and Windows Phones, so you’re not tied into one system like most other devices do.
Microsoft has developed an app to communicate with the Band, called Microsoft Health, which can allow you to track workouts and sleep patterns and analyse rides when you get home, and compare rides to previous efforts. An interesting new development is maximum oxygen volume used during workouts, which Microsoft reckons it the Band can estimate using heart rate data. We're intrigued to try that out and see how accurate it actually is.
More at www.microsoftstore.com
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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5 comments
Like most things with Microsoft it is probably skipping the first version, I read somewhere it doesn't sit very well on the wrist and even in the top picture you can see it isn't quite right.
I've got one. I've been comparing it with my Garmin Edge on daily bike rides for the last week.
Distance and speed match pretty well - which is to be expected since both devices use GPS (albeit the Garmin being supplemented by a wheel speed sensor).
However I have to say I'm disappointed with the heart rate monitor on the Band. Microsoft made big claims about the accuracy prior to its launch, but reading around on various forums they seem to be backing down a bit now. My Garmin tracks my heart rate pretty accurately via the chest strap. At lower BPMs the Band is broadly similar to the Garmin, but as my heart rate increases so does the discrepancy. My typical commute will see a peak of around 160BPM - the Band has me peaking at 180. Since both devices attempt to calculate calories used, and both devices have the same age/height/weight properties entered, the heart rate discrepancy also manifests as a massive difference in the estimated calorie consumption. My Garmin estimates I use around 500 on my morning commute, whereas the Band puts it at 780 - that's over 50% more. If I was trying to lose weight via a calorie-controlled diet, I'd need a better approximation than that.
I'll carry on using the Band day-to-day, as there are some interesting functions, and I'm keen to see what else Microsoft has in store for it. But I don't see it replacing my Garmin any time soon.
All the reviews i saw of this suggested that it just plain isnt wearable. Bit of a bugger for wearable tech that!
........plus, as mentioned in a review I saw somewhere (it might even have been here), it does look somewhat like an offender's electronic tag
It's a pity it's not waterproof (and is not that cheap either...).