My First Date With the SleepTracker
As you’ve probably realized by now, the SleepTracker finally arrived yesterday. Unpacking it was sort of an anticlimax, I was expecting a holy grailish gadget, but it looks like an average $5 plastic wristwatch you can pick up on every well assorted street corner.
Anyway, screw the looks of the thing (it has a cool back light, though) - as long as it’s able to wake me up at the right time so I feel refreshed every morning, I don’t care what the hell it looks like. I strapped it on and went to bed.
Did it work? Both yes and no.
The main problem is only temporary: It’s been years since I used to wear a wristwatch and it felt extremely unnatural around my wrist. I actually woke up a couple of times during the night because of that. The SleepTracker is capable of recording every so-called “near awake” moment when you’re almost awake. Last night, I was almost awake fourteen times, which is a lot for one single night. I had a very bad period around two in the night and around six. Hopefully it will get better as I get used to having the SleepTracker around my wrist. It could also be that there was something happening outside or inside of the apartment that almost woke me up. What do I know… Yeah, what do I know?
I’d configured the SleepTracker to wake me up between 0630 and 0700 and the alarm went off at 0631. The sound is pretty low, so I guess I had a near awake moment and the SleepTracker did wake me up. Excellent. Keeping me awake, on the other hand, was an impossible task. Since I had been out of bed 0445 to catch my plane to Stockholm the same morning - in addition to not sleeping very well during the night - I went straight back to sleep.
So, no real value for the money yet, but it was close. I’m having a second date with the SleepTracker again tonight, we’ll see if it works better this time.
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ju9||The SleepTracker sounds interresting, me with my sleep disorder and all. I’ve been thinking about ordering one myself, but why did you have it shipped via Sweden?
klasso…
did you wake up this morning?
:-)
toroI think you can expect more from the third date…
Yeah, sure, I woke up. And had to go to work.
So, toro, is that an assumption based on personal experience?
torohehe no… but according to the movie world things should start happening..
klasif things are not happening until the third date, you are not doing your work properly…
Asbjørn UlsbergSo how does the SleepTracker work for you now? Do you still use it? I would have loved it if it didn’t make a noice to awake me, but instead vibrated. That would have been just perfect. It would also be kind of cool if the watch was available in a Norwegian store (either physical or virtual).
The SleepTracker works well, it’s mostly able to wake me up. I recommend having a backup alarm clock, though.
Asbjørn UlsbergOkay. By the way, does it have a slumber function, or is it only possible to let it ring forever or turn it permanently off? I assume slumbering is not what this watch is meant to encourage, but it’s still better to hit "slumber" and fall asleep again than to just shut it off and sleep until noon.
Neh, it doesn’t have slumber function. I’m not sure if it’s available in Norway yet, either. I got mine from Sweden.
SteveHaving read one review of SleepTracker I’m surprised to read that it determines sleep cycles by sensing movement alone. If all it does is hold off on the alarm until I move my wrist, I wonder if I might just pin a mercury switch to the pillow instead; this would in turn set off a latching switch to my normal alarm’s speaker.
-Or how about an infrared movement sensor latching a bell and a string attached to my big toe?
Cheaper & no need to wear the watch all night.
However, contrary to the reviewer’s claims, perhaps the SleepTracker does indeed also sense other parameters like temperature and pulse?
Snake oil? Or brilliant invention?
