Update on Whoop strap. I will be ending my 10 month experiment with the Whoop strap 3.0 in a few weeks. The first few months were great. I was really impressed, my data was regularly available on my phone, and the strap seemed to work as promised. Then Whoop decided to prematurely launch its next version the 4.0 September 2021. Unfortunately this launch will go down in history as one of the most failed roll outs as not only could they not deliver the product as promised (4+ month wait vs. 4 week) but the 4.0 had many software and hardware issues. Additionally the new software updates created connectivity issues for the 3.0. In fact to date, they have not remedied the connectivity issue for the 3.0 and as such I have to manually connect my strap every day. This involves removing the strap from my wrist, tapping it excessively, pairing it with my phone and waiting hours for it to download the information. I then have to go back and correct the information as the automatic sleep and activity tracker does not always log activities correctly. On the positive side Whoop has continually credited me "months" every time I reach out to customer service because of the issues. I guess they would rather have me use the 3.0 for free then remedy the problem, perhaps hoping I eventually sign up for the 4.0. After reading the reviews for the 4.0 I decided it was not worth it to upgrade (had been waiting over 3 months) and decided to keep the 3.0 for a few months more during ski season. Sometimes the Whoop works well and tracks my activities. Sometimes it says I'm sleeping when I'm watching tv. I'm not fully convinced its totally accurate. For surfing, it has been great to see my "estimated" heart rate without having to wear a chest heart rate monitor under my wetsuit. The information regarding sleep has been helpful, but again probably not always accurate, but interesting to see heart rate etc sleeping at sea level vs 9K elevation. The company really seems to be more focused now on spending money on its sponsored athletes and blog posts. Originally I chose this company because it appeared to have more privacy and security, however, as my membership went on it was clear they were using everyone's data when blogging about activities or specific dates -- example: 50% of members had reduced sleep quality on January 1st. Sure I learned some things from wearing the strap, and it did seem to do some things well. The monthly/ weekly analysis were interesting. However the necessity to take the strap off and beat the hell out of it to get it to pair with my phone every day has become a real drag and not worth the effort. My last 2 month credit ends in April, and so I will be saying so long, farewell Whoop.
*for the record DD and DH also tried the Whoop the same time I did. DD's strap never worked right and she returned w/in 30 days. DH's strap started to have similar connectivity issues and he ended his 6 month commitment early. The connectivity issues exist with both android and IOS. Whoop offered to send me a "refurbished" 3.0 which may or may not solve the current issues. Apparently there were "a few" 3.0 that have a unfixable connectivity bug, they are still working on it.... The last few emails to customer service have been much better than previous, but to upgrade to the 4.0 would require me to pay for a 6 month commitment in order to receive the new strap. Since a simple google search shows others that are just as frustrated with the 4.0 I think I'll pass. I understand that other wearables have similar issues and its a new area of technology that is continually progressing - it will be interesting to see how things unfold in the future.