Favs: The Shine Fitness Bracelet

Every month I share a product I've come across that might be of interest to our Balanced readers. Although it's tempting to talk about food (like the new Dove chocolate covered cranberries I discovered at a wholesale club), I thought it'd be nice to share what I know and like about the Shine fitness bracelet.

First, understand I paid nothing for this gadget. My spouse is an OCD Coke points collector. As in, he'll dig through the trash at a ballpark or pick up empty bottles at Six Flags just to plug the caps' codes into his phone app. But that's another story. This spring he gave me a Shine fitness bracelet to monitor my workouts because I wasn't thrilled with a free app on my phone.

Here's how it works: Shine is a small, waterproof disk that monitors your steps and movement throughout the day. It calculates steps, calories burned, and even has a sleep monitor to tell you how long and how deep you slept. These stats can be viewed on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The program is read as an app on your phone, and the Shine syncs to it automatically during the day. It may also be synched manually. In a nutshell, the disk can be worn on a bracelet on your arm, and the information is recorded and stored on your smart phone.

Here's what I like: I like that the bracelet is easy to wear and comfortable. It's weird to wear it in the

shower, but this device can even be used for swimming. The sleep mode is interesting, but I enjoy the step counter the most, as well as seeing how many calories I've burned per day. One notable perk is the face can be tapped to show the time.

Here's what I dislike: I am on my second bracelet because I stretched the first one out by removing the disk on occasion to wear in my sock or in my pocket. I discovered this when I was on Spring Break and standing in waist high water. Luckily, someone had a mask, and we were able to find it before it drifted away. The sleep function does not appear to be very accurate, but it gives me a general idea. Other than these two complaints, I have no other problems.

There are several options for toting the Shine around besides in a bracelet. These include a necklace or leather wrist band. They're not a great deal, so for now, my black rubber wristband works just fine. I do recommend this band if you're trying to monitor your physical activity to lose weight, or if you just want to keep tabs on what you do to maintain your good health. It doesn't come cheap, but if you save up some Coke points like an old miser, you may be able to pick one up for free.

Stay balanced,
~Danielle Thorne