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AURA Strap 2 Offers Fat, Muscle and Water Balance Measurements on Apple Watch
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Looks like the app was written by frat bros. "Twiggy" vs "Jacked" as data metrics? Seriously?
And is this the kind of measurement you need to have updated constantly daily? That's a lot of uncomfortable hardware on your wrist for something you'd only want to measure periodically. Unless you are trying to reinforce negative body image obsessions throughout the day to insure maximum psychological damage to yourself.
Hard pass.
And is this the kind of measurement you need to have updated constantly daily? That's a lot of uncomfortable hardware on your wrist for something you'd only want to measure periodically. Unless you are trying to reinforce negative body image obsessions throughout the day to insure maximum psychological damage to yourself.
Hard pass.
95% accuracy rate to a DEXA scan? That’s pretty insane if that’s true. I would be interested in giving this a trial run.
My only real concern would be the comfortability with the way the senors are placed at the base of the band. I also assume the band cannot have a loose fitting, otherwise that would skew with the readings.
I guess this band would be specifically for those who do want regular read outs of their body composition is, which I don’t think is totally unreasonable at $150. However, if somebody just wanted a one time read-out, then obviously this band wouldn’t be necessary.
My only real concern would be the comfortability with the way the senors are placed at the base of the band. I also assume the band cannot have a loose fitting, otherwise that would skew with the readings.
I guess this band would be specifically for those who do want regular read outs of their body composition is, which I don’t think is totally unreasonable at $150. However, if somebody just wanted a one time read-out, then obviously this band wouldn’t be necessary.
Yeah, you bring up a good point about the chosen adjectives they’re using to describe one’s body type. That seems totally sophomoric to be using high school language, when they probably could’ve given some more analytical descriptions what somebody is specifically where they’re at physically without having to call somebody ‘Twiggy’. I’m not sure what the thought process was there. Maybe try to make this seem kind of quip or clever-ish.
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Does this data sync with the Health App? Do you need to create an account with AURA?
Probably not. It's a lot more profitable to cram all the sensors into a new and expensive watch upgrade than it would be to allow people to keep using the same smart band for years and years. Unless, of course, hardware or software upgrades break compatibility. A deprecated SDK here, an incompatible pin there...
My first reaction was "Since when is 'Jacked' a scientifically accepted term to describe someone's physical condition."
Can't wait for someone to strap one of these on their kids and ruin their body image/self esteem for life.
These types of body fat monitoring rely on algorithms more than anything. Ive never found them to accurate especially if you are an athlete. I've had various scales that were not really accurate. I'd take measurements pre and post running and would find that my body fat would drop anywhere from 3-7% LOL. Not really possible unless I was running a marathon, which I wasn't.
I like the idea but $149 for the strap and then a $79 subscription for it to be useful? Nah.
I’m hugely sceptical this thing can even get 95% for whole body. I’ve read the science on bio-electrical impedance scanning and it’s really tough to derive accurate and repeatable figures for water, muscle and bone composition unless there are four distinct points of contact. Most medical grade machines use electrodes on each foot and hand. A small patch of connectors on one wrist? Very doubtful. But if it really can do this then it’s all the more impressive.
It's the same way scales do it. They send an electrical signal through your body, and they measure how long it takes to come back. Electricity travels at different speeds between water, muscle and fat. This is like the handgrips on early body analysis scales.
The downside is that they can be wildly inaccurate, and for people who are fit, or very fit, even more inaccurate. That's because these usually are skewed to people with low body muscle. If you're someone that works out a lot, the standard scales that do body analysis won't do it correctly. Tanita has a scale, for example, specifically for people working out a few days a week or more.
I'm not a thin dude but when I weightlifter and cycled all the time, the standard scales would say that I was like 30% body fat, while the athlete-calibrated ones would say like 18%.
Maybe this thing uses your workout stats to determine if you're athletic or not and modifies the analysis data that way, but I doubt it.
I have a scale that does this and basically you should try to use around the same time everyday, like after you wake up. And it’s not really about the absolute value, which can change based on how much you sweat, etc it’s more about tracking trends, the changes over time, like if your muscle mass is increasing, for that it’s pretty accurate/useful.
I always do the same check with app-related products. If you can't provide an adequate app, your product and your subscription aren't worth it.
I get your point but Id rather it be accurate. If its about tracking trends then I find looking in the mirror is just as helpful.
It's two sensors: one on the inside of the strap, and the other on the outside that you have to touch (with your other wrist) to get a reading (similar to the EKG). It works off of electrical impedance, much like a $40 body fat scale that gives you the same level of accuracy without a $79 description and patronizing "metrics" like "jacked". And much like your weight, you'd have no reason to take more than one measurement per day.
I have no idea who this is for.
I really wish Apple would shift its health focus from workouts to patients with cognitive decline. There's so much opportunity to do real good for real people, rather than just improve split times for the already-motivated.
For whatever reason, after reading this article/review, I decided to go ahead and purchase the AURA2 (more likely than not it was because I have to have/try every new tech device in the universe lol). It turned out to be a very costly mistake. I finally received the product on May 24, 2022 and as of today, 8 days later, I have a very expensive brick sitting on my desk with very little help from AURA tech support. I believe I was able to initially get 1 or 2 readings but they weren't accurate-there is no way in hell my body is considered "jacked" at the moment LOL. Then I believe on the third attempted measurement both apps (iPhone and Apple Watch) and the device itself just froze and has been bricked ever since. Nothing that tech support has suggested has worked. Earlier today I got a "User Guide" to appropriately placing the battery contacts that made absolutely no sense. (i.e. how many contacts are there? where are they located in the battery case? A very odd drawing that looks nothing at all like the components on the inside of the device including this red irregularly shaped fire-hydrant looking thing. Ummm, nothing looks like it at all on my device nor is there anything at all the color red in the battery case. I was told to adjust the contacts so that they look like the drawing in the guide that I received via e-mail. The battery case components are very small themselves and solder/thin wire is obviously delicate. If i try to reshape or bend something in the device (not that I knew what that would possibly be in the first place) they are going to snap and break off and then of course the situation would rapidly escalate to something similar to "you messed with the inside components and broke them-we can't be responsible for your negligence". I even replaced the battery today, just on the off chance it was defective in one way or another. But a new battery of course did not solve the issue and for the second time I have asked the process for returning/exchanging/refunding this very expensive "piece of garbage" 
. Never got an answer the first time I asked the question and gave them a deadline of close of business today, Thursday, June 2nd to give me a solid and accurate solution. So very dissapointing and frustrating all around
. Never got an answer the first time I asked the question and gave them a deadline of close of business today, Thursday, June 2nd to give me a solid and accurate solution. So very dissapointing and frustrating all around
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