French brand Withings has announced a new activity tracker, the Pulse HR. The band style tracker includes heart rate monitoring, connected GPS tracking, and in-depth activity analysis for over 30 different activities, all with a 20-day battery life. The Pulse HR is available for pre-sale today and will start shipping on December 5th, just in time for the holidays.
Withings made a splash back in 2009 with their first connected product, a WiFi enabled body scale. Since then, they have grown to develop connected blood pressure monitors, thermometers, alarm clocks, lights, watches, activity trackers, and other items for anyone who lives a connected, active lifestyle. In 2016, Nokia purchased the brand but was spun off in early 2018 to become a stand-alone brand again. The Pulse HR is the brand’s first new product since becoming their own company again.
The Pulse HR adds to the Withings’ line of wrist-based connected devices. The Pulse was originally released in 2013 and has been updated to add heart rate monitoring, among other things. They also have the Steel, Steel HR, and Steel HR Sport, which takes more of a traditional watch form. The Steel looks like a traditional analog watch but connects to your phone by Bluetooth to relay all of the activity metrics it tracks. The HR and HR Sport adds heart rate monitoring and a small circular screen on its face to provide current HR and alert information. The Pulse HR features a dully digital OLED screen to provide information like time/date, heart rate, calories burned, progress towards daily activity goal, real-time workout information and alerts from your smartphone.
“At Withings, we are dedicated to providing people with premium health and fitness tracking options that they can select from that best suit their personal lifestyles. With Pulse HR, we wanted to give people a new form factor from our Steel and Steel HR range that still offers the same wearability, quality design and best in class battery life,” said Eric Carreel, President of Withings. “The band is the perfect fit for anyone who wants a device that offers important tracking features like heart rate monitoring at an affordable rate.”
Inside, the Pulse HR uses a PPG (photoplethysmography) heart rate sensor to track heart rate throughout the day at 10-minute intervals. During activities, heart rate is tracked continuously, with heart rate zone information provided to track fitness from one activity to the next.
As for activities, the Pulse HR covers over 30 different activities that you can select, ten of which will automatically be selected by tracker. All data screens are customizable through the Health Mate app on your smartphone. When connected, the Pulse HR uses your phone’s GPS to track distance, pace, elevation and map, to provide detailed information on your workout. All workout information can be reviewed in the Health Mate app, which can be connected to other apps like RunKeeper, My Fitness Pal, and the Apple Health app.
Sleep is important for everyone, especially those that are active or trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The Pulse HR tracks your sleep and provides information on duration, quality and an overall sleep score in the Health Mate app. You can use this information to track your sleeping patterns and try to improve your sleeping habits.
Battery life should not be a concern with the Pulse HR. It is rated up to 20 days between charges. While they don’t provide any details about how it is used during those 20 days how much it is used for activities, so the more you use it, the battery will probably last a little less.
The Pulse HR is just one part of the Withings connected ecosystem. When you add in the Body Cadio scale, the BPM blood pressure monitor, Sleep sleep tracking mat, and the Thermo smart temporal theromometer to the Health Mate app, you can track a multitude of metrics to help improve your health, weather you are an athlete or an average person.
At $129.95, the Withings Pulse HR slots in with the Fitbit Alta HR and the Garmin Vivosmart 4. The trio have many of the same features, but the Pulse HR shines with almost three times the battery life and the ability to track many more specific types of activities. We are hoping to get some Withings products in for a review to share more about their connected ecosystem. Watch for more coming in the spring.
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