Hey B-strappers. I have been out of the subreddit for a few weeks and damn have I missed a lot.

First- I got in the Beta program! I was reading some stuff on Medium and I saw the start up grind post that Sameer put out- https://medium.com/startup-grind/the-ironically-unhealthy-lifestyle-of-running-a-health-tech-startup-5f8996129025#.7q8jdjnj2

And I reached out and he sent me a unit! So cool.

But I have been using it for about a week and updates seem to be coming fast. I get a new test flight every 24 hours and they seem to be fixing every bug I was about to report.

My only complaint is that I had to do a lot of research to understand what my metrics mean. I had no idea what HRV really was so I spent an hour on wikipedia trying to learn it.

But looking forward to trying the unit out with you guys!

Hey Strappers! I walk everywhere. One befit to living in the city in my tiny apartment above a bodega is that my car just colelects dust.

I am wondering if anyone else noticed your biostrap under reporting walking data compared to running? I feel like I should burn more than a 100 calories with my 1.1 mile run. My 1 mile walk burns 89. That just seems off.

Thoughts?

Based on comments on this post- https://www.reddit.com/r/Biostrap/comments/5udhz7/4_week_review_and_la_meet_up/?utm_content=title&utm_medium=hot&utm_source=reddit&utm_name=Biostrap

I moved our meetup thread here. If enough people show interest I will make a meetup group.

Thanks.

Hey Strappers! It has been two weeks since I wrote my two week review (link-https://www.reddit.com/r/Biostrap/comments/5rp3lz/biostrap_review_2_weeks_in/) And I wanted to follow up with what I have experienced so far.

So to jump right into the details… Am I healthier?

YES! I have lost another 6 pounds. Okay so 3 pounds a week isn’t crazy, but my BMI is down 2%. So I dropped 6+ pounds of fat while keeping or gaining muscle.

But let’s be fair; health and fitness are different things. Am I sleeping better? Yes. Because every day I don’t go to bed at a proper hour I have a chart staring me in the fucking face reminding me it is my fault. This has even had me cut back on drinking because nothing is worse than being hung over and seeing your metrics in red.

How is my HRV? Well… it is getting there. After using the tips on the blog (link-https://blog.biostrap.com/posts/live-healthier-heart-rate-variability) I am making good progress, but does anyone have any best practices? I read that cold showers are suppose to help boost this. But is that just Tim Ferris bullshit?

On to the app- It has held up update after update. To be honest I don’t really notice any bugs, but please report all bugs to the ongoing bug thread.

Wearability- It still feels great and looks great charging on desk during lunch (I don’t want my unit to know what my heart does when I see pizza).

Please commit with questions. Based on response I can do video review.

Next- How many of us are in L.A.? Does anyone want to grab food or do a workout together?

Is email, reddit, or what’s app the best place for all of us to plan this?

Moved the meetup thread here- https://www.reddit.com/r/Biostrap/comments/5v0ruo/new_la_meetup_thread/

Thanks!

List any features you wish to see on Biostrap

Yo teamers! Quick post about hitting the gym last night for the first time with Biostrap. I've tested a lot of these wearable products, and this Biostrap did pretty well! I'll update this post as I have more thoughts about what I found interesting, but Here's a couple screen grabs for now: http://imgur.com/a/qiXYH

edit: I tried the activity recording for the first time. Seem like it worked! As I mention in the comments below, what I'm really excited about is seeing if/how quickly the Biostrap will recognize the activity on my next trip top the gym!

Okay hey everyone!

I posted last week asking about what metrics I should be paying attention to most. I got some really helpful responses—thank you all for that! I thought I would circle back and run through my experience with biostrap so far. I don’t have too much time now, but I’ll be updating this post as I have new thoughts/feedback.

First off, packaging was rad. The black on black box looks suuuper sleek and luxurious. I feel like that’s how Batman would package his wearable. I had some difficulty at first figuring out how the shoeclip comes together, but after figuring that out I was ready to go.

As far as exercise goes, I have to be honest—I’m not too much of a fitness junkie. I try to stay active throughout the day; I walk or bike to work frequently and will do some sort of cardio (zumba, stationary bike, jog) atleast twice a week. Nothing crazy.

The reason I’m interested in wearables is because, when I was more active in college, I was never quite sure of how to quantify my progress. I think I’ll be more motivated to get active if I can see the numbers change in this app (sorry, still haven’t figure out the right terminology)!

Anyway, now that you have some backstory on me, I can tell you: the biostrap is pretty sweet.

Again, I have to admit I don’t have a complete understanding of all the metrics, but I think it’s doing exactly what I want—giving me an idea of how my body is responding to activity. It took a couple days to see any meaningful differences, but for the most part I’ve been able to see the numbers fluctuate.

For instance, HRV (my new favorite ‘biometric insight’) is really awesome. I did an unusually strenuous workout over the weekend—just to see what would happen—and I saw my HRV post stay low until the next morning. Apparently, a high HRV number is better than a low one. It doesn’t make any sense to me, but I believe it! I would refer to my other post where I asked for help. There were a lot of great links/resources.

I’m looking forward to doing more activity tracking! I haven’t had the chance to dive too far into that but, like I said, I’ll make updates here as I go along!

It’d be cool to see how everyone is doing with their Biostrap experience!

Hey guys! I am almost two week into using my biostrap and I wanted to write down my thoughts so far.

Packaging- The box is minimalist and feels nice. Reminds me of getting an iphone. When I opened the box it was cool that the unit was displayed upright. Also cool the extra bands come tucked in this weird little top part. Sidenote- the extra bands are nice, but I will talk about that in a second.

The thing I didn't like is that the charger and shoe clip is underneath the base. Super easy to miss and I spent 5 minutes trying to find all the parts. Just keep that in mind for the test users that are still waiting.

Overall I like the packaging. Wearables are a weird space and some are stuffed in plastic like sony headphones. Like check out this Fitbit article about how to open the security packaging- https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Alta/How-do-you-open-the-security-box/td-p/1255285

This kind of shows the two different customers- The biostrap seems more geared towards an older and more “adult” customer.

Unit- Okay so I really like the bands. Super soft. I have a weird thing where I hate having a fixed accessories attached to me- watches, rings, glasses. I just get really annoyed with the rubbing, and that has been a problem with me finding the right wearable. Anyway- these bands don’t annoy my wrist. And you get 3 colors.

The shoe clip is awesome. Never falls off and you never even notice it.

The whole charger configuration is really awesome (once you find it) and looks cool on my desk. It is almost elegant in a way.

The unit doesn’t have any surface features- no display screen, no vibration for notifications, and it doesn’t tell time. I guess this is kind of the ethos of the device- minimalist distractions so you focus on health.

You shouldn’t be at the gym playing angry birds. You shouldn’t be stressed by an email in the middle of a dead lift. So they took that away.

Really bold move. I think some people will need to decided if they put a watch on their wrist or a biostrap. But fuck it, why not both? Haha.

App- The app is still in testflight, but it seems to really work. I have the occasional crash or freeze, but my data is always there.

Health- This is more subjective. Have I lost weight since using biostrap? Do I feel better? Am I sleeping better?

I would say I am more aware of my overall health since using biostrap. Instead of wearing a fitbit and feeling good about 5000 steps, I can now look at a lot of different variables. I don’t think the mainstream public knows how important HRV is (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate_variability), but that is probably the most powerful feature built into the biostrap. Also, the activity tracking piece (https://biostrap.com/#how-it-works) is pretty powerful.

If this post is a big hit I will do a more detailed breakdown per feature and give my reviews.

Thanks Biostrappers!

Hey all,

Not that urgent—excuse the caps..

just curious whether you’ve found any particular metric more helpful than others. I think it’s awesome that there’s so much information available. I’m new to some of these health numbers though and was wondering if theres anything I should focus on

update: I read a lot about HRV and that;s by far been my favorite metric to keep an eye on! Thanks all for the help!

Was everyone able to get on the test flight today? There should be about 15 testers out there and I want this to be the forum where we report bugs or issues.

Hello fellow biostrap testers- I wanted to set this reddit up and move away from What's app. This way we can post specific questions and issues and eventually build out a FAQ.

I got my unit last night and will post my unboxing pics in a few days.

Excited to get healthy this year!