The Sleeptracker website, sleeptracker.com, describes their Sleeptracker watch as follows:
The revolutionary new SLEEPTRACKER® monitors your body and continuously looks for your best possible waking times. SLEEPTRACKER® wakes you up at just the right moment-during a window of time that YOU set. Imagine not feeling tired in the morning and getting a few extra minutes out of your day. Now it’s possible with SLEEPTRACKER®.
My review will be as scientifically critical as possible to ensure that, if you decide to buy a Sleeptracker watch, you know exactly what you are getting into. However, I DO NOT claim that your experience with Sleeptracker will be identical or even similar to mine: to each his own.
At the conclusion of my study (end of April), I will summarize success/fail data, sleep data, conclusions, and possible improvements that Sleeptracker should consider incorporating into future design iterations.
Experiment (Evaluation) Background
Test Subject:
- Male, in my 20s
- I have a physics degree, am working towards my MBA, and have worked as an engineer (flight-test, reliability, systems, and manufacturing operations) on a number of fighter aircraft programs, the Space Shuttle (systems), and the International Space Station (systems).
Test Context:
- Married to a law student (lots of homework)
- 2 cats
- a king-sized mattress
- top floor apartment (generally not too much noise unless the people below us are feeling roudy, and our apartment is by the pool).
I will update this page at least once every three days during my initial 30 days (money-back guarantee period) with Sleeptracker.
Sleep Philosophy
My intention for purchasing the Sleeptracker was to help me minimize the amount of influence that sleep seems to have on my (or anyone’s) life. To me, sleep is somewhat of a necessary evil, but it has always been a drag to get up in the morning having been jolted awake by some annoyingly loud and obnoxious alarm that, I have previously ’snoozed’ for a lengthy time (30 minutes or more). My desire is that sleep is just something that I do from midnight to 6 in the morning, period.
Other reviews and pictures of Sleeptracker:
Gearlive.com review
Gadget Lounge
gizmag
http://kidneynotes.blogspot.com/2005/03/final-sleeptracker-review-no-magic.html
troyworks @ livejournal
Possible Patents that this may be registered under:
Perform a search at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website for these:
20050054940 (Heart Rate Variability Monitor)
20020080035 (Measuring body temperature?)
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS & DESCRIPTION
I ordered the Sleeptracker after doing a little research and finding only positive reviews about it; for my review I will attempt to provide a bit more constructive criticism.
I have not yet found an accurate description of the watch’s functionality online; I’ve tried to remedy that with my descriptions and initial impressions below.Time/Day/Date Display
The Good
- Well displayed AM/PM, day, date (no year), time (including second counter), and alarm status (on/off)
The Bad
- Cannot reset second counter while setting time
- Cannot display time in 24hr format (only 12 hr AM/PM format)
- Setting the minutes is slightly tedious (the fastest the minutes move are by 2s rather than 5 min increments)
Alarm Display
The Good
- Straightforward display and setting.
The Bad
- As with the setting the time, setting the minutes is slightly tedious as the fastest they scroll is in 2 min increments.
- The only way to enable/disable the alarm is on the alarm page using the ‘GLO’ button.
Window Display
The Good
- Relatively straightforward screen used to set the window for waking up (if you set the alarm for 6:30 and the window for 30 minutes, the earliest you will be woken is 6:00.)
The Bad
- Only four possible window lengths (0 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, or 30 minutes). I suppose that using a 0 minute window turns the watch into a traditional “ring at the alarm time” watch only.
To bed Display
The Good
- Part of the watch’s primary feature, you set this screen to tell the watch when to start monitoring your sleeping.
The Bad
- You would think that the “To Bed” feature would be automatic; that is, if the watch is already capable of telling when I’m ‘almost awake,’ why can’t it tell when I’ve gone to sleep? If you stay up late or want to go to bed early, requiring that this be set in addition to the alarm and the window is a little much (three settings rather than one with a ‘regular’ alarm clock).
Data Display
The Good
- This is the ‘cool’ screen on the watch. It displays the log of ‘almost awake’ moments for the previous night’s sleep.
- This screen also displays the average time between ‘almost awake’ moments, which can be a handy yet simple metric.
The Bad
- It would be nice to have one or two additional metrics displayed on this screen, such as when you actually fell asleep.
Other Comments
I was surprised that the watch does not have a chronograph and that you cannot keep it from beeping when changing between screens (i.e. every time you hit the “mode” button, the watch beeps and you cannot turn it off).
Make sure to checkout all of my Sleeptracker review adventure updates at http://waterflavored.blogspot.com/!
8 comments:
Hi there, I've been keeping an eye on the reviews of this watch around the web. I'm glad that you're taking such a thorough look at it. Keep it up!
Agreed, sounds almost too good to be true, will be looking forward to a straightforward consumer assesment of how well it really works.
Thanks
To keep it from beeping when browsing the menus, simply press the GLO button first; the watch will not beep while the backlight is on ;o)
thanks man for the review, other reviews have it as working, now a true life experience qualifies its usefulness...
Regarding your desire to limit the "necessary evil" to 6 hours, you need only to wait until you turn 50 years old and Mother Nature will fulfill your request.
Here is an alternative technology (in development) that uses brainwaves. Will likely be more expensive, but seems a little more scientific than using just movement.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18624956.600&lop=mnaw.5611270&oId=2001-9373-0&siteId=3&ontId=9373&cid=5347351
Here is an alternative technology (in development) that uses brainwaves. Will likely be more expensive, but seems a little more scientific than using just movement.
click here
Some corrections to "30 day review". I bought the watch for my boyfriend. He opened the package 5 minutes ago and he has already set the watch in 24 hour mode, read in the manual that you don't NEED to reset the "go to bed" at night just because you change your bed time. Also, it won't "tell" you when you went to sleep because it only monitors movement. But he is right about the beeping when you are changing screens
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