I had the opportunity to sit down with Physi-Cal CEO Liz Dickinson the other day and chat about Mio and their upcoming line of watches. The Mio line isn’t just another line of cheapo heart rate monitor watches, but more of a lifestyle watch line that wants to keep you healthy and at the top of your game. I’m a gym rat looking to finally get in shape this year even if it kills me, so the upcoming Select line has me fidgeting like a five year old waiting for the bathroom.
We’ll start with the Ultimate as I’ve been able to fiddle with it for the past few days and so far so good. When it’s combined with the included chest strap I can get a continuous ECG heart rate whenever I want, so I know when I’m burning fat or in an aerobic workout range. It also calculates calories and fat burned during a workout, displays percent of maximum heart rate, calculates average and overall highest heart rate during a workout, indicates when I’m in the zone aka target heart rate, displays time above/below/in target heart rate zone and measures the time it takes this fatty to get back to his resting heart rate. The usual standard features on a running watch like an alarm clock, date, stopwatch, countdown timer, lap counter, and a slew of other features are included. I’ll leave it at that for now, as I’ll have a full review in the coming weeks. The Ultimate is currently available for $140.
Coming in September are the Breeze, Drive and Motiva. The Breeze is the entry-level ECG heart rate monitor watch and works without a chest strap to give you on-demand info on the ole ticker. Its major features include the percent of maximum heart rate calculated based on your age and gender, a visual indicator of how hard you’re working based on heart rate and personal data as well as a stopwatch with eight lap memory, alarm, date, chime and backlit display.
The Drive is a step up from the Breeze and calculates the calories you’ve burned during your workout, has a 12 lap memory stopwatch, has a dual interval countdown timer and best of all, the 3500 Calorie Countdown mode that is specifically designed for the MIO 3500 Calorie Countdown program. In a nutshell, the 3500 Calorie Countdown indicates when you’ve burned enough calories, 3500, to burn a pound of fat. There’s obviously more to it then that, but that’ll have to wait for the full review or if you’re super eager to find out then click here.
The Motiva has my full-undivided attention, as it’s a one-stop-shopping bonanza of a watch. The Motiva encompasses all the key features from the other watches and boasts a ton of other features that will make you wonder why you’ve only heard of Mio now. A patented calorie management system allows you to track your caloric intake and calories burned during exercise against a daily calorie target. This all works in conjunction with the 3500 CC and includes five timers with dual interval timers designated for a 13-week walk/run program. It’s not just a watch that tells you how fat you are, but more of a lifestyle watch that wants to keep you in the know on what your body is doing based on your heart rate. Can it get any better then this? I don’t think so.
All three watches are water resistant up to 30m, have a battery life of 12 months, work with all Mio interchangeable watchbands and have a nifty battery hatch that lets you replace the battery without fear of ruining the seal. The Breeze will retail for $59. The Drive will set you back an extra $20 bucks at $79. And the Motiva will only be $99.
