Review – Fitbug Orb

The nice folks at GiffGaff sent me a Fitbug Orb after Christmas with a view to me being able to keep track of my movements / fitness and sleep. It was a really lovely gesture, and being a bit of a geek I couldn’t wait to try it.

That’s where it all went wrong.

The Fitbug Orb itself is fairly inoffensive, it comes with a nice rubbery wrist strap to wear and it’s very comfy on. It doesn’t need constant charging and is powered by a flat cell battery.

The unit itself is fine, lightweight and splash proof, you press the little button on the front to sync your data, and you can press the button three times before you go to sleep and it will monitor your sleeping too.

The issue – the fundamental flaw – is the software – it’s the biggest pile of shit I’ve ever had the misfortune to encounter. I’ve got a Samsung Galaxy S5 running Android Lollipop, so everything is all up to date., but the Fitbug software just doesn’t work. You find yourself having to press the screen 3 or 4 times before something happens, it’s got the responsiveness of a comatose sloth. When it’s not being slow, it’s crashing and playing merry hell with my Bluetooth.

Who knows how many steps I did today, or how well I slept – the software is so dire, I’ve not even got that far.

I really can’t review this product, because it’s just too broken, it might be fine on an iPhone, or some other handset, but it doesn’t work for me. Looking from the reviews on the Play Store, it doesn’t really work for anyone – so in my opinion – avoid this piece of crap like the plague.

FYI – If you’re looking at a new phone network – do give GiffGaff a go – they are awesome.