Biostrap Fitness Band and Sleep Lab Review

Biostrap – Measuring your performance, sleep, and recovery

In the land of wearable fitness trackers its easy to get lost. I used to be a FitBit girl but I wasn’t satisfied with the features and I didn’t think that the fitness tracking was as accurate as it should be. In my search for more advanced wearable, I have stumbled upon what some say is the “world’s most advanced” fitness tracker.

In this Biostrap review, I will walk you through everything you need to know about Biostrap, how it works, my own experience, and helpful tips to hopefully allow you to decide if this is the right fitness band for you!

What is Biostrap?

While most fitness trackers are a single device typically worn on your wrist, Biostrap features two separate wearables to more actually measure and track for activity.

Biostrap wrist band and Shoe Pod

I always thought that fitness trackers that just go around your wrist were not that accurate. For example, the other fitness tracker was not tracking my steps when I was carrying something with both hands or pushing a shopping cart since my arms are not in motion.

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Biostrap says that our movements are too advanced for just one tracker and I would agree with this. It uses two trackers (1 around the wrist and 1 on your shoe) to accurately measure performance and allow you to take your training to the next level.

The wrist device tracks data like oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, heart rate variability

The Show Pod tracks exercise and together with the two work to monitor your biometrics on a level that exceeds other fitness trackers.

Biostrap is a wearable that has pushed the envelope with its advanced measurement capabilities.

How does Biostrap work?

Biostrap is a fitness tracker that works in two parts. The first part goes around your wrist and tracks your heart rate. The other part clips onto your shoe to track your movement.

Biostrap uses algorithms to identify and analyze your movements. It is able to detect and give you detailed information about your reps, form, consistency, and duration of your workout.

There is also automatic clarification for everyday cardio activities like running, swimming, walking, rowing, elliptical training, using the stair master, and biking.

Another cool feature is that you can create your own library of custom workouts. You can easily record a repetitive, and Biostrap will save this and recognize it the next time you do that workout.

Design

The Biostrap has a minimalistic design. It does not have a screen or buttons, and it does not make any sound or vibrations. The wrist strap is rubber and contains the Biostrap sensor.

The Biostrap and Shoe Pod are both small in size. The small size and width of the band make it easy and comfortable to wear on your wrist.

You can even comfortably wear it in addition to a wristwatch. The Biostrap wrist band comfortable goes under your sleeve.

The wrist band is what you will wear daily. The main Biostrap tracker has encased the silicone wrist band and can be removed.

Comfort

The Biostrap is small, light and comfortably worn. It doesn’t get in the way, and the sleek minimalistic design helps it blend in, I like that it’s not super noticeable.

Black Wristband Strap 2.0

The original clip of the rubber wrist band is metal and has a set of “teeth” that snap into the band to secure the tracker on your wrist. There were some complaints of the wrist band being too difficult to secure and falling off. To solve this, Biostrap updated the design!

Biostrap Wristband Design 2.0

Biostrap now comes with a Black Wristband Strap 2.0 with a new and improved fastening design. I like that when you “button” it, the extra tail end of the band slides under.

I’ve had issues in the past when fitness bands have the strap on the outside, it always seemed to snag on clothes and things causing them to come off. I really like that the strap tucks under the band – I have not had any issues with it coming off or getting snagged on something.

Shoe Pod

The Biostrap Shoe Pod can be worn as a clip-on to your shoelaces, or you can get an ankle strap to wear it around your ankle. The shoe pod is worn during your workouts and can be worn for sleep analysis to track leg movement.

The Shoe Pod can automatically detect and track over 100 different exercises. The Shoe Pod is used alongside the wrist band when you are working out. It can not be used on it’s own.

The Shoe Pod snaps into a plastic clip. You can slip this clip onto your shoelaces. The shoe pod is intended to collect data while you are working out. The Shoe Pod is only splash proof, not waterproof.

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Battery Life

The Biostrap devices have pretty good battery life. The wrist band has a 2 to 3-day battery life, and the shoe sensor has 3 to 4-day battery life. The wrist band is waterproof, but the shoe-pod is only splash proof.

You can charge both devices wirelessly and a charging dock is included.

Wireless charging dock for Biostrap and Shoe Pod.

The wireless charging dock with two slots. One slot for the wrist sensor and the other for the shoe pod. The charging base has two LED lights. When you place the sensors on the charger, the lights will glow a yellow/orange color. Once they are fully charged, the lights will glow white.

Biostrap: about 2 days per charge
Shoe Pod: 3 to 4 days per charge

Features

Biostrap uses photoplethysmography (PPG) to monitor and analyze your heart rate activity. Unlike other heart rate monitoring fitness trackers, Biostrap uses clinical-grade PPG sensor, making it extremely accurate.

By using PPG, they are able to monitor accurately:

• Heart Rate
• Blood Oxygen Saturation
• Respiratory Rate
• Heart Rate Variability
• Sleep Analysis

Heart rate variability (HRV)

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a new feature that other wearables do not have. This is why it’s not a commonly known measurement. The simplest explanation is that Heart Rate Variability (HRV) measures the gap between your individual heartbeats.

For example:

• If there is a higher variability between the gaps, you are better rested.
• If there is a lower variability than this could mean you are stressed or overworked.

HRVis an incredibly important measurement that has been linked to obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and problems with the immune system.

Respiratory Rate

Respiratory rate is the number of breaths you take a minute. Lower respiratory rate means you re more comfortable.

Oxygen Saturation

This is the percentage of hemoglobin-bound oxygen compared to the total capacity of the hemoglobin.

Sleep Analysis

Biostrap works best when you are resting. Biostrap does the most advanced sleep analysis I have seen. Biostrap has a gyroscope which measures movement.

It can detect things like the position you are sleeping in. This combined with the PPG measurements allows it to give you accurate and detailed information on how restful your sleep was.

Biostrap App

The Biostrap devices do not have a screen of the device itself. You can download the Biostrap app (available on iOS and Android) to view all your data. Another cool thing about the the Biostrap app is that it can share data with other apps like HealthKit from apple.

The Biostrap app offers many of the same features that you will find on other fitness apps. It has a very clean user interface, and you can use the data collected to optimize your workouts.

Cardio workouts will automatically be recognized and recorded on the app, and if you are doing resistance workouts with reps, you can quickly track those too.

Steps: You can see step data like the daily summary to weekly, monthly and even yearly trends. I like how much data you can see and how it is laid out nicely.

Dashboard

The dashboard will give you an overview of all your data. You can see each day’s data. It’s a quick way to see your data visually. From there you can drill down to see more details.

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Health Insights

Biostrap has really cool insights into your health. After the first 5 days of wearing Biostrap, the app will gain enough data to calculate your personal “baseline.” The longer you wear it, the more accurate it will be since it will have more data.

You can also see how your personal baseline metrics stack up against other people in your demographic with the Histogram.

The Radar Chart is also an easy way to visually identify areas of improvement based on other users in your demographic.

Activity Tracking

There are over 100 different actives Biostrap has in the activity library. This includes a wide range of activities like meditation, swimming, weight training, running, etc.

Gym Rep Workouts: Biostrap had “machine-learning” algorithms that can detect and analyze specific repetitious active. The Freeform Gym Workout is excellent to have in a gym where you can get information like quantified reps, form, duration, and the consistency of your sets.

Add Custom Workouts: You can add your own customized workouts to the library. It is super easy. You just record any repetitious active and Biostrap will remember it and automatically detect and analyze it for your future workouts.

Sleep Tracking

Biostrap AUTO detects sleep, but you can also manually start your sleep time. I like to manually start it when I, but I love that it automatically detects because I often forget to start it manually.

The Biostrap wrist band needs to have a battery life of at least 20% for sleep tracking.

Sleep Analysis is where I feel Biostrap is the most advanced and impressive with its analysis. From what I’ve seen, Biostrap is the most advanced sleep monitoring fitness band.

The amount of detail and insights are very impressive, if sleep in an area of interest to you, I highly sagest you try out Biostrap’s SLEEP LAB. This is a subscription-based feature.

The comprehensive sleep analysis measures data like Access Heart Rate Variability, Heart rate, Oxygen Saturation, Respiratory Rate

Other App Features/Capabilities

Connected GPS

Biostrap does not have GPS builtin, but it does have a connected GPS Feature that you can connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth and record metrics like distance, altitude, and pace. It can also record a location map of where you worked out. This is helpful for runners!

Remote Monitoring

The Remote monitoring feature is excellent for monitoring Heart rate variability, resting heart rate, and SpO2. This feature allows coaches to monitor athlete, or if you are taking care of a parent or loved one, you can follow certain aspects of their health.

Pair to Heart Rate Monitoring Device

The Biostrap does not measure and track your ACTIVE heart rate. So if you are working out, and you want to measure your heart rate during your workout you can not do this with Biostrap. However, you CAN connect the Biostrap app to third-party HR Monitoring units through Bluetooth. Biostrap currently supports the following:

• Polar H7
• Polar H10
• Polar OH1
• Rhythm+
• Wahoo Tickr
• Adidas X_Cell

SLEEP LAB

Biostrap’s Sleep Lab is a subscription-based model for incredibly detailed sleep analysis. To use the Sleep Lab feature you will need:

• Biostrap
• Shoe Pod (highly recommended but not required)
• Ankle Strap for Shoe Pod
• Smart Phone
• In-App Subscription Purchase: $9.99/mo

Sleep lab enables you to active advanced features:

Increase Biometric Readings: With Sleep Lab, Biostrap does a biometric scan every 2 minutes, so it gathers far greater detailed data for heart rate, heart rate variability, oxygen saturation, and respiratory rate.

Leg and Arm Movement: With the Shoe Pod, you can use the Ankle Strap to wear the Shoe Pod on your ankle while you sleep. Sleep Lab will measure arm and leg movement and record how often you toss and turn at night. Biostrap is the only consumer grade sleep tracking system that measures leg movements. This can be extremely beneficial data from for monitoring Restless Leg, PLMD, and REM Sleep Behavior Disorder.

Snoring: Sleep Lab has a Snoring Feature where it collects noise from your smartphone.

Sleep Lab Data and Analysis

The more you wear Biostrap, the more accurate and detailed the data will be. With Sleep Lab you can see patterns in your data.

Obviously, it will show you sleep details of that night, but over time as you gather more data you will be able to look at weekly, monthly, and even yearly stats and charts. The overall metric Biostrap gives you an overview of your sleep quality by calculating a “Sleep Score” for each night.

Sleep Score: The sleep score is the overall measure of your quality of sleep for the night based on the quality of your sleep session over the last 3 to 30 days. (the more sleep sessions you record, the more accurate and helpful the data will be). The factors that are taken into account when calculating your sleep score are:

1. Deeps Sleep Percentage
2. Total Awake Time
3. Time to Fall Asleep
4. Average Respiratory Rate
5. Average Blood Oxygen Saturation Percentage

Sleep Lab is extremely detailed in the amount of data is recorded but what is equally as impressive is how they are able to present this data visually.

Sleep Stages: This graph shows you your sleep in three stages: Akae, Light Sleep, and Deep Sleep.

Biometrics: Biometric tracking increases during the night so you will need up with a lot of data. You can see three charts lied up with each other showing you Heart Rate, SPO2, and Respiratory data. And HRV.

Disturbances: The Shoe Pd and Biostrap band track arm and leg movement throughout the night. Tracking leg movement is why it is highly recommended to have the Shoe Pod attached to your ankle at night. Two disturbance graphs (Arm graph and leg graph) will give you a visual on how often you move around.

Summary: When you scroll to the end of the screen you will get quick stats like:

1. Total time in bed
2. Amount of Light, Deep sleep
3. Number of times you woke up
4. Average HR
5. Sleep onset and wake up time

SLEEP LAB Report

With the Biostrap SLEEP LAB enabled, you will be able to get PDF reports on your sleep. This has a ton of data and organizes it in a neat PDF format. You can generate a report directly from your App and it will be sent right away to your email.

Click here to view see my SLEEP LAB report.

How to Use Sleep Lab

When you are ready to go to bed, have your Biostrap snug on your wrist with at least 20% battery level. Put the Shoe Pod the Ankle strap and fasten it around your ankle.

Ankle Strap Note: When I first saw the ankle strap, I didn’t think it would be very comfortable to sleep in, and I was worried that the shoe pod clip might fall off during the night. It turned out to be very, and I don’t notice it at all. The strap is stretchy, so it doesn’t get too tight or too loose. It flexes with the movement of your ankle. So far I have not had the Shoe Pod fall off when I sleep. Which is impressive since I tend to have very restless legs!

As you lay down, you can go inside the theBiostrap App and manually start the sleep session. When you wake up, open the Biostrap app and end your sleep session.

You can choose which Sleep Lab features you would like to activate:

• Snoring Audio Capture: This will use your smartphone to record snoring throughout the night
• Arm and Leg Movement: wear your Biostrap band and the Sho Pod
• Biometric Readings even 2 Minutes: Increased the rate at which reading is taking. This gives you more data and greater accuracy for heart rate, heart rate variability, oxygen saturation, and respiratory rate.

When you end your session, it will ask you a few questions to get some feedback on how you feel, and what factors might have had an impact on how you slept.

It will take a little longer for the data from the fitness band to sync with the app since it records a ton of data throughout the night.

Who should use Sleep Lab?

Biostrap’s Sleep Lab has been used by many people to monitor Restless Leg, PLMD, and REM Sleep Behavior Disorder.

There are some people (like my husband) who have absolutely no problem falling asleep and staying asleep the whole night. He rarely ever has any issues sleeping and averages around 8 hours a night. However, he is very interested in statistical data and “Bio Hacking”.

I, on the other hand, have difficulty sleeping throughout the night and have very irregular sleep patterns. Sleep is an essential aspect of my life that can significantly affect how I feel. I also find the data very useful.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Highly Accurate, In-depth Data and Analysis
• Wireless Charging
• Good Battery Life: Biostrap about 2 to 3 days, Shoe Pod about 3 to 4 days
• Waterproof Biostrap, Splash-proof Shoe Pod
• Automatic Activity Classification, Shoe Pod works with Biostrap wrist band to identify your activity.
• Add custom workouts. You can add custom workouts to the library so it will automatically identify the workout in the future.
• Detailed heart rate data, Blood saturation monitoring
• It comes with 3 bands (black, navy, and white), minimalistic sleek design, small size

Cons

• No Active HR: There is no active heart rate monitoring, but you can pair it with other HR monitoring devices thought Bluetooth if you would like to track your HR during workouts.
• Price: The Total Health Set (Biostrap + Shoe Pod) is $250, this might seem a little pricy but it’s justified considering it’s a two-piece fitness tracking system and it’s far more advanced than many comparable products. You also get a ton of features and they are continually improving and adding new metrics.
• Reading Sensitivity: While Biostrap uses Red light to give it greater accuracy than other fitness trackers, the downfall to that is it has a greater sensitivity. The higher sensitivity allows Biostrap to take a 30-second reading every 2 minutes but if there is any movement/distortion during the reading the data is discarded.
• Slow Syncing: Slow syncing speed is something that I’ve heard people complain about. I think this is something that every fitness tracker has issues with at some point. With SLEEP LAB you can increase the readings so it records data every 2 minutes. If you increase the data recording frequency, it will take a longer time to sync to your phone since there is more data. This is basic common sense so when you go to  sync the data in the morning it will take some time.  I’m still using an iPhone 7 and I have not experienced any notable syncing issues.

Where to Buy Biostrap and Price

You can only buy Biostrap wearables directly from Biostrap on their website. It is not available on Amazon.

There are two buying options. The Total Health Set includes the Biostrap AND Shoe Pad. Not everyone needs the ShoePod so if you feel like you fall in this category can buy just he Biostrap on its own (Biometric Set).

Total Health Set – $250 (Biostrap + Shoe Pod)
Biometric Set – $175 (Biostrap)

If you aren’t an athlete or just want a fitness tracker but you don’t need accurate workout monitoring you can get Biostrap without the Shoe-pod sensor.

If you are just looking to buy the wrist fitness tracker, but most people buy the set and I would recommend getting the Total Health Set, otherwise, you lose a ton of features.

If you do just buy just the Biostrap band and decide you want the Shoe-pod sensor you can buy it separately.

Biostrap Unboxing

The Biostrap total health set includes:

* Wristband Sensor (Pulse Oximeter, Gyro, Accelerometer)
* 3 Wristband straps
* Shoepod Sensor (Gyro, Accelerometer). Required for workouts.
* Shoe clip
* Dual-coil Induction charger base
* USB Cable

Most other fitness trackers require you to buy bands separately which just adds to the cost. I like that it comes with three different colors of wristbands. This gives you some variety in color, and you have other bands in case you needed a new band.

Biostrap Accessories

The accessory I would highly recommend is the Ankle Strap for the Shoe-pod., You can get an Ankle strap ($5) for the Shoe Pod. Rather than using the Shoe Pod Clip to attach it to your shoe, the Ankle strap secures the Shoe Pod around your ankle (great for workouts that do not involve shoes like Yoga, Pilates, etc. ). and needed for SLEEP LAB.

Here is a list of other accessories  you can purchase:

• Replacement Strap – $30
• Ankle Strap – $5
• Inductive Dual Charger Base – $40
• Round, Single Inductor Charger Base – £30
• Shoeclip, 3x pack – $30
• Shoepod – $100
• Wristband w/sensor – $150
• Original Strap, 3x Pack – $29

Subscriptions

Biostrap Marketplace

You can gain even further information and health measurements with the Biostrap app upgrades. These are available for purchase subscription bases. Here are the few that are currently available:

Sleep Lab: $9.99/mo (30-day free trial) – detailed sleep analysis (Shoe Pod sensor is recommended but not required)

Meditation Plus: $4.99/mo Music and mediation analysis, biometric recording every minute (headphones are recommended)

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Return Policy / Warranty

When you buy Biostrap you will be eligible for a 30-day return and a 90-day warranty. If you try Biostrap and decide it’s not for you within 30 days, you can contact their customer service at support@biostrap.com to start the return process.

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Reviews and Testimonials

If you have a Biostrap and would like to share your experience and what you liked/didn’t like, please comment at the bottom of this review! Or if you have any general questions/comments.

My Experience:

I feel that Biostrap is very focused on statistics and gives you access to detailed information about your body and health.

I like that it automatically detects certain workout like when I go for a run.

It also auto-detects when you sleep so it’s nice not to have to remember to start a sleep session manually.

My favorite feature is the sleep analysis, especially the detailed insights from the SLEEP LAB. The other day I woke up feeling absolutely awful and tired even though I thought I had gone to bed at a reasonable hour.

Biostrap analyzed my sleep data and actually told me that my quality of sleep and HRV readings indicated that I did not get enough rest to recover from yesterday’s activities and that I should try not to overexert myself today and try to go to bed early.

I was really impressed with that and it helped me plan the day better. Instead of going for a long morning run I opted for a session of restorative yoga. (Yoga is also an activity I can record with Biostrap!)

‍Sophie Summers

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Who Should Use Biostrap?

If you are interested in this wearable, I encourage you to try it out. Here are a few categories of people that I think would defeently find Biostrap a interesting and useful fitness tracker.

Fitness enthusiasts, athletes: Biostrap will help you improve your athletic performance with it’s wrist band and shoe pod working in unison. It will also help you improve your sleep and aid in muscle recovery. I think that athletes like to track performance but don’t think about tracking sleep and recovery. Sleep is one of the most important contributes to muscle recovery.

Biohackers: if you are someone with an interest in learning insights to your health, Biostrap is rich in data and analysis reports

Sleep Analysis: If you suffer from sleep-related problems (snoring, fatigue, issues falling/staying asleep) Biostrap can help you manage your sleep by providing you with details analysis on your sleep quality.

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Summary

I think what really sets Biostrap apart from other fitness tech is the detailed data and analysis for sleep, HRV tracking, Customizable library of exercise with auto-detection of actives. The family/ team data sharing is also unique.

As for a quick summary of this Biostrap Review, here are the important notes:

Design: Sleek, small, minimalistic design. No screen or buttons. All data is viewed on the app. Silicon wrist band fits comfortably, and easy to put on. Feels secure and comes with three bands (black, navy, white). Battery life is ok, about 2 days for the wrist band, 3 days for Shoe pod sensor. The wrist band is waterproof, shoe pad is splash proof.

Features: HVR (something other fitness bands do not have), very detailed sleep analysis, automatic activity identification, create your own custom exercise library, automatic sleep detection. You can share data with your team/coach and family members.

Accuracy: Biostrap is highly accurate, in fact, they are aiming to get FDA approval with an accuracy rate of 98%.

App: The app is straightforward to use with a sleek user interface. The dark theme makes it easy on the eyes and perfect for highlighting important stats with graphs and charts in contrasting colors. Sync time will depend on the bio-metric reading frequency you set.

Price/Value: At $250 for the Biostrap and Shoe pod sensor, the features easily justify the price. If you don’t feel like shelling out $250, you can check out their payment plan where you could get the Biostrap for $22/mo.  Biostrap also offers a 30-day money back guarantee so if you are not satisfied with the product you can return it.

Overall, Biostrap is a solid recommendation. It is unique in the features it offers and I am most impressed with the Sleep Analysis, Leg/Arm Movements, HRV, and Custom Exercise Recognition. My personal favorite feature of Biostrap is the SLEEP LAB analysis. For someone who struggles with getting quality sleep, SLEEP LAB has been a huge help.

Try it for yourself, head on over to Biostrap.com and be sure to share your experience/thoughts in the comments below!

CLICK HERE TO VISIT BIOSTRAP.COM

Price: $250
Where to Buy: Biostrap
Discount Available: None
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Biostrap

*The Fitness Junkie’s primary source of revenue is affiliate links. This means I might receive a small commission on purchases at no cost to you. I was not paid to write this review and I only recommend products I feel are of high quality, worth the investment, and beneficial to my readers. Thank you for your continued support!

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