The Biggest Loser SlimCoach is a tracking device designed to help you lose weight and get in shape. Biggest Loser is the hit TV show that helps people lose weight, and now they’re offering their own tracking device to help you get your own great results from home. It’s at a similar price point to the Striiv and the Fitbit Ultra – both hot competitors that are sure to challenge the SlimCoach. So let’s see whether the SlimCoach is worth buying.
Key Specs For The Biggest Loser SlimCoach
Type of Device: Activity Tracker/ Workout Coach
RRP: $129.99
Release Year: 2012
Size: 2.5 x 1.75 x 0.5 inches
Weight: 1.7 ounces
Wireless Internet Data Upload? Yes
Battery Life: 12 hours
Biggest Loser SlimCoach: The Pros
Simple Feedback: One of the best things about the SlimCoach is the simple feedback method it uses to encourage activity. With some devices, there’s no direct feedback at all – you only know how well you’re doing when you check out your stats on your computer at the end of the day. The SlimCoach does it differently, allowing you to see how well you’re doing at any time during the day.
The signature feature of this is the colored circle on the display. Each day the circle starts out red, and as you do more exercise during the day it slowly turns green. By the end of the day, you should turn the whole circle green or you won’t have met your target.
This is a very appealing set-up that really helps to keep you motivated. Having such a simple way to see how you’re doing, and how much further you have to go to reach your daily target is an excellent way to keep you going just that bit further.
Online Tracking Information: Like other products, the SlimCoach offers more detailed statistics online. All of your activity can be tracked using this online service, which allows you to see how you’ve progressed over time. The online service also allows you to keep track of what you’re eating, giving you information about how many calories you consume.
Set Your Own Goals: The SlimCoach allows you to decide on your own goals. Simply tell it what you want to achieve – e.g. to lose 2 pounds every week – and it’ll work out what you need to do to get there. This is a great idea, and allows you to focus on the challenge of meeting your target rather than getting bogged down in the details of how to get there.
Motivational: The most important thing about any tracking device is that it’s motivational. It’s no good knowing how much exercise you’re getting if it doesn’t encourage you to do even more!
The SlimCoach definitely manages to motivate. The simple ability to see your statistics over a period of time is enough to get many moving, but for those who need an extra push the visual display of progress towards your daily goal on the device really helps you to go the extra mile.
Size: The SlimCoach is about the size of a small MP3 player. That makes it easy to transport and carry with you all the time. You won’t feel like you’ve got an extra bit of baggage to lug around with you wherever you go, and it’s small enough to keep it discreet, so you can wear it even to dress-up occasions.
Biggest Loser SlimCoach: The Cons
Online Services Cost Extra: One of the big let-downs with this device is that for the proper online services you have to pay extra – almost $70 a year in fact! That’s a significant increase on the price of the SlimCoach itself. Without paying, you only get access to the most basic services. It’s really not possible to do much statistic tracking with this alone, and there’s a good deal less motivation for that reason.
Poor Website: In addition to being an extra expense, the online service itself is poorly designed. The interface isn’t very intuitive, and the website itself runs incredibly slowly. This is a real annoyance – there’s no excuse for either of these faults.
Build Quality: The build quality of the SlimCoach definitely leaves something to be desired. Even though it costs well in excess of $100 it feels as though it’s worth about $20. The build should be of far higher quality than it is, and that’s not acceptable.
Not Water Resistant: Any device that’s meant for use during exercise ought to be able to deal with a little sweat. However, the SlimCoach isn’t sealed at the joins, and even has an uncovered USB port on it. These are really silly oversights that should never have been allowed. As it stands, excess sweat could get into this device and damage it.
Is The Biggest Loser SlimCoach Worth Buying?
The SlimCoach isn’t worth the price. It’s got a lot of problems, and for full functionality you have to pay a significant amount more. It is motivational, and the simple display of daily progress is a nice touch, but this is a flawed product which is easily outdone by similarly priced alternatives.
