You are in luck if you want to give someone the gift of a 3D model of their body fat. Amazon is making the latest Halo fitness tracker widely available just in time for the holidays.
The $99.99 tracker does more than control motion; it tracks the body of a wearer to establish a 3D scan of their body fat and even measures their voice for tone during the day. The first six months with the system are free, but the maintenance of its features then costs $3.99 a month.
(The Halo only monitors sleep time, heart rate, and move to monitor if you do not opt-in to the subscription.)
The package comes in three colors that are silver, black, and pink, and has a no-display fabric strap. It is connected over Bluetooth with iOS and Android devices, although Amazon lists some devices that are not compatible on their website; LG G5, LG G6, LG v20, and Sony Xperia.
Because of its body fat calculation, Halo’s main promise that it can provide a better representation of health over other wearables. However the New York Times recently published a piece that suggests that the measurements might not be correct, and to prove its validity, the system needs a more in-depth analysis.
In the article, the writer had said that the data he got from Halo seemed off, and submitted his Halo data and body scans to Dr. Lawrence Cheskin, a George Mason University professor of nutrition and food sciences and the founder of the Johns Hopkins Weight Loss Center.
Dr. Cheskin jotted down his height and weight to measure his body mass index, which is a statistic used to quantify obesity, after checking his results. He said that a man his age (36) with his body mass index is extremely unlikely to have 25% body fat.
The writer said that he had a relatively good, healthy diet and did not gain any significant weight recently.
Nonetheless, if you’re someone who’s fascinated by the concept of a 3D body scan and just want to keep an eye on your voice sound, the Halo is the only tracker on the market that does it all right now.
Source: The Verge