TheRodinhoods

The Goqii Experience

Exactly one month ago, I signed up for fitness tracking band from Goqii. Was doing some research on ‘wearables’ when I came across Goqii.

For those of you who might not be aware, Goqii is a fitness tracker band similar to Nike Fuelband or Fitbit. The difference is that Goqii is positioned as a subscription service and with personalized coaching (the band is supposedly  free).

So why did I choose Goqii over other established international names ?

The pre-ordering was smooth with my band expected to ship on the 20th of April (I received on the 23rd ). While waiting for my band to arrive I received an Orientation call from my ‘coach’ who explained the Goqii concept and outlined next steps once I received my band. So far so good.

It started to unravel the moment I opened the package. The box said, “Designed in California. Made in China”

Unlike another very popular product (the ip ) which made the above slogan famous worldwide, and exceeded expectations, my first impression of unboxing the Goqii was a bit underwhelming.

Setting up Goqii also wasn’t as smooth as I expected it to be.

For starters, there was no user manual and I literally had to break my head to figure out how to make it work. Finally figured out that there is ‘nothing to setup or configure’ on the band  and all you need to do is strap it. It’s always on and one just needs to tap the screen to switch views. The tap screen isn’t the greatest and switching to sleep mode can be quite a pain.

Ok, so now I had the band done and I was ready to sync it with the app. Tried searching for the ‘Goqii’ app on the AppStore but couldn’t find it anywhere.

Again, checked the Goqii website and discovered that there weren’t any links to download the app. Found a link on twitter to install a ‘beta’ version of the app. Downloaded it to discover that it didn’t work (It was Beta Version 1.0 and seemed buggy as hell). Finally figured that the app wasn’t compatible with an iPhone 4 and I would need a newer version of the phone to run the app.

Since, I wasn’t about to spend 60k to buy a new iPhone just to run an app to sync with my band, I gave up hope of syncing my band data with my Coach.

I continued using the band though. And this is where it gets interesting.

Even though, I could not sync with the app, I could still see how many steps I was walking and the amount of calories I was burning, and since it was like a constant reminder on my wrist, it spurred me on to be more physically active.

There were days when I would wake up and not feel like going for a walk but then, I would look at my band and realize, “Shit, If I don’t walk today, it won’t show any steps or calories burned”. So off I would go, inspired to meet my ‘targets’

Finally got the app working last week after I got an Android phone, where it seems to work ok. Haven’t heard from my coach since I told him the app wasn’t working, but that’s ok as Goqii seems to be working for me as I thought it would – Just not the way the founders of Goqii intended it to be.

Here are some things to keep in mind if you are planning to buy one:

 So yeah, while am not ecstatic with the overall experience, it’s not bad and works for  my requirements. Worth giving it a shot if you are trying to make a lifestyle change.

UPDATE (7pm):

If you are a Goqii beta user, would love to hear your feedback.

#BeTheForce

Also cross posted at my blog here.