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It's easy to forget that only a few years ago, running was just running, steps were just a way to reach your destination, and almost no one had any idea what their heart rate was. These days, six out of ten consumers say they want a personal fitness device, and boy howdy, are they going to get one. Or two. Or four. Studies anticipate that in three years over 300 million body sensors will be in use. To that deluge, add the recently released LifeTrak Move C300.
The hardware
Manufactured by Salutron, the LifeTrak Move C300 is a watch-style activity tracker that measures steps, distance, calories, heart rate, and more. The tracker comes with two different-colored polyurethane wrist bands—red and black, or green and black—that are easy to slide off and on. (Additional colors will be available for purchase on the website soon.) It measures 8.5 by 1.2 by 0.5 inches and weighs 1.3 ounces, which is relatively heavy for an activity tracker. (The Fitbit Flex, comparatively, weighs only 0.3 ounce.) That being said, it never felt weighty on my wrist.
The tracker itself is waterproof (up to 30 meters or roughly 98 feet), sports a digital display, and runs on a coin cell battery. The LifeTrak features three buttons: one on the face (the View button), and two on the right side (the upper is the Mode button, the lower is the Start/Stop button). Pushing one, or a combination, of the buttons allows you to access the LifeTrak's menus.
Although I haven't worn a watch in over a decade, I found the LifeTrak comfortable enough to wear. It didn't catch on my clothing, or rub in uncomfortable ways when I moved, and the band didn't collect dirt. I did, however, need a day or so to adjust to cycling through the LifeTrak's menus using the buttons: Because it has no Back button, I often had to cycle entirely though a menu to correct a mistake I'd made on a previous step. Nevertheless, the LifeTrak's buttons are by no means complicated; a close reading of the quick-start guide included with the tracker helped to steer me through the setup.
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