First, mine only cost about 60 bucks, on sale at Walgreens. I purchased it using my FSA card since this tracker is FSA eligible. My first complaint about it was that the styling isn’t very chic. The look of it on your arm will definitely not gain you “cool” points.

Set up was very easy though and you can do it without the aid of instructions. Just download the free app, enable bluetooth on the device that you used to load the app, go to the app Settings, and let the app “find” the tracker and you’re all set. I recommend enabling the save to the Cloud function else your alarms will only go to the app and not the tracker.

It syncs to the device at the touch of a button. I like the app. I have it loaded on an iPad and it’s easy to read and to update. I wish it had more functionality, like the ability to drill down to more detail in the Sleep data, but it does allow me to manually enter blood presser data which is a plus since I don’t use the monitor that you can purchase as part of this line. I found entering Meal data as difficult as it is on most other Nutrietion apps so I won’t take points away from this device on that one. You can “save” meals though so that you don’t have to start from scratch recreating the details of a meal that you’ve had before.

The device itself was fine to wear, at first, but by day 7 I found that the weight of it began to annoy me, especially during sleep. It’s thick and would cause me some discomfort during the night. I eventually began wearing it on my arm backwards at night, which helped some.

My greatest disappointment with the device is that it does not work reliably for me. A few times each week I sync it just after waking only to find that it stopped recording 2 hours in. It has shutdown twice, though it had plenty of charge left. Since the sleep data is my favorite thing about both the device and the app, I found this discouraging.

The iHealth tracker is one of the few wristband trackers that has an actual display so you can press the button anytime and see the time, number of steps, distance covered, calories burned and battery life. It’s easy to set for sleep mode but I find it is sometimes reluctant to switch it back into steps mode. I have, at least once, reset the device by holding the button for too long in an attempt to get it to change modes. Also, I find that slipping it into the wrist band is difficult. It pushes out easy enough though.

It has good battery life; I usually go 3 days on a charge. And it only takes 2 hours to give it a full charge. It is “splash resistant.” It’s at accurate at counting steps as any other accelerometer.

I plan to return mine for a refund. I would suffer through the styling of it if it more reliably collected sleep data, but waking to find that it stopped tracking at 11:30pm is too discouraging for me.

First, the device is a black disk 1/4 inch think. I quickly learned that to use it as pedometer, I must forget about the blue sport watch band or clip to the pants that both come included. Go exclusively with the black night sleeve around the wrist day and night, even though it is intended for only the sleeping period. This way you are not snapping the black disk in and out day and night into / out of its blue watch band, etc. Just be careful that when you put the unit in the black wrist sleeve to wedge it around far from the sleeve hole so it might not inadvertently slip out of through its sleeve-hole. This takes care of 90% of complaints I read in other reviews.

Second, I appreciate the device syncs easily with my Ipod 5th generation. It will do so with latest Iphones as well. You have to run the Ihealth app. I like this so much better than my Fitbit syncing. With the Fitbit, I had periodic trouble syncing to my PC — often having to hit sync 2x to get to link, and then having to look up on PC page to find data made it to be sure. Here, sync is instantaneous, and instantly visible in the Activity list. You can also use the PC to look at the data because the Ihealth app data is sent up to your ihealth account. I like the charts both on the app and pc to visualize your progress,

Third, the Ihealth sleep tracking is exceptional and accurate. I got a flu soon after the purchase. I had a lot of opportunities to track sleep, and pay close attention to the unit’s accuracy. I knew how many times I woke up, the time periods, etc. I could tell this tracked it all like glue. I also found this super easy to set up at night as I went to bed, even in the dark. I would pull the device out of the wrist sleeve, press 2 seconds on the small button on the side, see the ZZZ symbol come up, and now I knew it was sleep tracking. When I wake up, I pull the unit out of the sleep sleeve, press the button, and it turns off. I then enjoy looking at my Ipod, hitting sync on the Ipod ihealth app screen, and I see quickly how well or poorly I slept. The hour by hour chart allows me to see exactly the times in the night I woke up, how long, etc., when I got deep sleep, etc., and my sleep efficiency, etc. This is all visible also on the PC ihealth website.

Incidentally, another benefit is the family of products it works with. After I purchased this, I got the Ihealth scale too. I have a Fitbit scale, and it works fine, but I wanted to try this one out. What I like better about having this Ihealth scale is that it gives me A My Vitals at a Glance view on the PC app of my weight and BMI in parallel views. (The Fitbit PC app has these on 2 different screens). So by adopting this Activity tracker, you will find a family of other devices that work in tandem that will help you improve your health.

Where the FitBit was small, the iHealth is pretty large. The device itself is round and can be popped out of the "bright" blue band it comes in stalled in and put in one of three other holders. There is a belt/pant clip in both blue and black and a black wrist band.

Because of its size I could not imagine having it on my wrist unless I used it only when I exercised. The pant/belt clip seems to be a way to keep it with me and record my life of activity without the annoying reminder I’m recording my life of activity. Plus the wrist bands are made out of a rubber like material that I can imagine would sweat badly in hot or humid (or hot and humid) weather.

The enclosed instruction manual is in English and French only. Not sure why Spanish was missed. Looking at iHealth’s support page did not quickly reveal any other manuals. The font size of the manual is small so people with visual issues may need a magnifier to clearly read the manual.

iHealth can communicate with your iPhone via a free downloadable application. Users of Android smartphones are out of luck as iHealth only supports the iPhone and users must have iOS 5 or later to use it. In order to use the iPhone app you need to create a user account.

Where the FitBit tracked more than walking, it seems the iHealth can track steps and sleep. iHealth also resets your stats at midnight so be sure to set the date/time correctly when it is first powered on. There is also the silent alarm which is meant to gently wake you up. Not sure about this feature for my husband who can sleep through horrible thunder storms (really loud thunder storms) or the vibrations of his iPhone going off during the night.

After creating my account, entering my vitals and pairing the phone and iHealth a popup shows a new firmware to be installed. Now I understand putting in my height, weight and age to the application but I have no idea if iHealth stores that information online. Well I quickly found the answer to that by logging in to iHealth’s website and there, staring back at me, were my vitals. Color me an unhappy camper.

Yes, I did see the iPhone app had a "guest" account that could be used. Sadly the iHealth will not pair to the guest account. A user must create an account in order to pair the device to the iPhone application.

A good thing though is no fiddly mess to set the date and time. The iHealth syncs date and time automatically from the application.

iHealth’s battery is not charged when received so charing it is required. But the manual gives no indication how long this will take. Also the included USB cable to connect the iHealth to a computer for charging is very short. Depending on your computer you could have the iHealth dangling off your desk to make an attractive cat toy should you have cats.

Thankfully one does not have to open the app daily. iHealth indicates it can store up to 14 days of activity between syncing the app to the device though the manual highly recommends you sync daily.

The manual shows the user how to enter sleep mode for tracking your sleep patterns and airplane mode when flying. All in all iHealth is going to be easy to use.

Just like the FitBit, I’ll probably update this review after I get more time in with the iHealth and learn more about using it.

Rebecca Kyle, November 2013