Product Description The Spark is an all-day activity tracker that motivates you to stay active throughout the day. Small enough to clip on your pocket, shoe or bra, it automatically tracks your daily steps, calories burned, activity minutes and distance covered. The Spark is smart too; it can distinguish between your activities so it can more accurately determine your calories burned, since you burn more calories when running vs. walking. The Spark wirelessly syncs to your computer so you can view your results, set goals, earn trophies, and participate in challenges. It is the only activity tracker that fully integrates with the FREE tracking tools, healthy living content and supportive community on SparkPeople.com, America's largest online weight-loss and fitness community. Use your Spark with SparkPeople.com to track your activity, food, weight and more so you can reach your goals more quickly! The Spark activity tracker validates step activity to filter out any non-step motion such as tapping your foot or driving. For this reason it will likely register less "steps" than a traditional pedometer which would count most motion (even non-step) as step activity. For the best accuracy with the Spark tracker, we would recommend wearing it securely on the top center of your shoe with the clip opening pointing forward. If it is not possible to wear it there, we would recommend wearing it securely on your hip or waistband with the clip opening pointing downwards." Also, in order to close the Spark tracker correctly after opening it, the clip needs to be fully pushed down into the back grooves with its tab lined up into the opposite channel. Quick View Tracks your steps, calories, distance and activity time Syncs automatically and wirelessly to your computer FREE membership to SparkPeople.com to view your progress, track your food, and get support from fellow SparkPeople members just like you Lightweight and easy to wear on your pocket, belt, shoe or bra Replaceable battery, lasts 6-12-months (no charging required) Stay motivated with trophies and challenges with real prizes! View progress on our iPhone and Android apps (coming in October) WATERPROOF: Did you accidently run it through the wash or drop it in the pool? No worries. The Spark is waterproof! It's able to handle your toughest, muddiest, sweatiest workouts or a trip through the washing machine! PC Requirements: 1 GHz processor, 1 GB memory, 50 MB free disk space, Operating Systems: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 Mac Requirements: Intel processor, 1 GB memory, 50 MB free disk space, Operating Systems: Mac OSX 10.6-10.8 Included with Purchase Spark tracker plus clip for pocket, belt, shoe or bra Extra watch battery, lasts 6-12 months USB wireless connector for easy syncing FREE SparkPeople.com membership Easy to Track The Spark automatically track your daily steps, calories burned, activity minutes and distance covered. The Spark is smart too; it can distinguish between your activities so it can more accurately determine your calories burned, since you burn more calories when running vs. walking. Accurate tracking means better results. Easy to Use The Spark wirelessly syncs to your computer so you can view your results, set goals, earn trophies, and participate in challenges. Since your data is automatically uploaded to your account, no manual activity entry is required. Plus, it can distinguish and record your different workouts, so you will be able to see how many calories you burned during your evening stroll vs. your elliptical session.After wirelessly syncing to your computer, you can keep tabs on your progress throughout the day with our free iPhone and Android apps (coming in October). Easy to Spark The Spark is the only wireless activity tracker that fully integrates with SparkPeople.com, America's largest online weight-loss and fitness community. Enjoy FREE access to our tracking tools, healthy living content, and supportive SparkPeople community of real people just like you. Log your food in to our easy-to-use Nutrition Tracker alongside your activity to reach your weight loss goals more quickly. Need inspiration or have a health-related question? Get free access to our extensive database of articles, blogs, recipes, and more to keep your motivation going strong. Easy to Love The Spark gives you instant feedback, motivating awards, and new goals to reach. Combined with the most comprehensive nutrition, motivation, and support program of any tracking device, you'll be amazed at your results! The magic of using the Spark Activity Tracker is that every day you will know how hard you pushed your body and be motivated to do even more. Lighting the Way! With a few taps of your finger, the glowing lights on the Spark will illuminate, showing you how close you are to your daily goal. You set your goal (whether it's 5k or 10k distance) and the Spark automatically adjusts to show your progress. Become a Glow Getter Celebrate your progress with trophies like the Glow Getter for reaching your daily goals. Monthly Challenges with enticing prizes will also keep your motivation high.
E**~
expensive- not reliable
Kind of expensive since it often drops my walking routine if I take a 2 minute break. It will drop the last 15 minutes.
J**I
Affordable and Accurate Motivator
As a member of SparkPeople.com, I was excited to learn that an activity tracker was becoming available to purchase through the site. I've lost 95 pounds over the course of the last two years using the resources at SparkPeople, and have about 30 more to go before I reach goal. After buying and using the Spark Activity Tracker for only a short amount of time I can tell you it is easily worth the price.When I first started trying to lose weight, I was confused as to which products to get between a Fitbit, Bodymedia, NikePlus watch with GPS, Heart Rate Monitors and all the other gadgets on the market. Also, knowing how I tend to spend money and then forget to use gym memberships and other gadgets in the past, spending hundreds on another weight loss gadget was scary, so I never bit the bullet. However, when I found the Spark Activity Tracker, I instantly bought in.It is able to track walking, running, indoor cycling and elliptical rather easily. It is important to note that you must keep moving for 10+ minutes to have the activity count as an actual "workout" because the normal walking activity of everyday life is usually taken into account when figuring out calories and nutritional as well as exercise information on the SparkPeople site. However, it will track all walking activity, but if using the site, just keep in mind that only 10+ constant minutes of movement will register as "workouts."It is easy to calibrate by walking a set distance then syncing your data with your computer, and using the calibrate option on the website. Mine needed very little calibration. I walked a set 2 miles and it registered as 2.04 miles so I was pretty happy with it. I definitely get the most accurate readings when it is placed on my shoe with the open end of the clip facing towards the toe. It still records worn on the waistband or bra, but I didn't take enough time to really study that once I realized how accurate it was on my shoe. I wear this one on my black flats at work, no laces required! But when I've worn it on my laces during my runs, it seems very secure.If you are looking for something that can accurately give you a calorie burn, or track high intensity workouts like kettlebell or Crossfit type workouts, it may be better to go with a Heart Rate monitor or some other more expensive type of device, because the Spark Activity Tracker can only estimate calorie burn based on the weight you enter into the SparkPeople website, but I'd say mine is pretty close. Also, it doesn't have a GPS, so you can't track where you've run like you can with a GPS watch.It doesn't have a digital display to give you updates, but by tapping it 5 times, it will show you lights to give you an update of how close you are to goal. There are 12 lights, and the default daily walking goal is 6,000 steps which means each light is 500 steps. So if you tap it 5 times, it will show you a number of lights, such as 6 lights = 3,000 steps so far.This product is affordable, and a great motivator if you are looking to reach small attainable goals. If you are looking for an item that does it all, such as detect heart rate, GPS tracking, and digital display, then you'll have to be willing to spend the big bucks.As for me, I'll keep Sparking.
J**T
Spark NOT for physical rehab help.
Very disappointed with this little doo-dad. But then again, I'm not trying to lose weight. I'm just trying to recover from a recent cardiac surgery and avoid any future surgeries. I'd been using a Fitbit Zip for 3+ months after surgery as I'd been told to "Eat more protein and keep moving". Harsh, harsh words to a gal who was born to sit on her butt and eat bon-bons all day while reading books. I never could figure out the little cheap pedometers and then a sister gave me the Fitbit Zip. I figured it out in less than 10 minutes and loved the computer "syncing". It keeps track of a lot of stuff I don't use (like calories), but also lets me look back over weeks and months and re-set my "goals" (# of steps taken in a day).Then the Fitbit quit syncing with the computer.....it was still working, counting daily steps, calculating distance walked, etc. but the only way to remember that "stuff" was to write it down every day before midnight. Trying to remember to remember to take notes just wasn't working for me. So I ordered this little thing-a-ma-jig. I got it set up and syncing on the computer and started...still using the Fitbit on my other side. It was a very sorry step counter....probably because the computer never asked how tall I am (I'm not) and never came close to my FitBit's step counter. It started off missing about 1/2 mile and was losing over a mile a day when something "magic" happened and my FitBit started syncing again!With the Spark, one has to do at least 10 minutes of "intense" activity before any of the activity is measured as active minutes. For us cardiac patients, that's A LOT of intense activity. The FitBit measures 3 different levels of activity and keeps up with all of them. Spark also annoyed me with daily dietary e-mails and weight loss "RahRahs". I'm back to using only the FitBit and much happier with it.
