I am very interesting in activity bands, but I personally dont see much use for one without heart rate monitor capability. Maybe I am kidding myself. Maybe they cant put that technology in a wrist band, I just dont have much confidence that an accelerometer is going to be a true indication of calories burned vs a heart rate monitor. I think I will wait and see for now.
Heart rate monitoring can be useful for people trying to lose weight - especially for older people, since metabolism slows, e.g, "i only lost xxxx calories and I just ran for hr???"
For someone who has been extremely fit for a long time, and now just confronting how difficult it is to shed a few pounds, its one datum I am paying a little more attention too.
Weight loss is of course a dynamic process involving diet and exercise; mostly diet.
However, when calculating total caloric expenditure during a day, it can be useful to calculate more accurate exercise calories. The convenience of not having to strap on chest monitor is obvious.
Not everyone needs such additional detail, and it probably is more of a selling point than useful function in the long term.
Still, for some, it might be a cool thing to have all in one.
Im wearing my flex all the time. It would be neat if I could use the band to find the phone, which I constantly misplace. Now that would be useful!
Shelley