Misfit Shine vs NuBand Activ+ – Which One Is Better?

We’ve given both the Misfit Shine and the NuBand Activ+ a good run for their money and given them both a chance to show what they have got. For those who now have the task to chose between the two, we have put together the following comparison to help you chose. If you have any additional input, feel free to tweet us your thoughts! Links are at the bottom of this post.

NuBand Activ PlusMisfit Shine Colours

Check out the review of the Misfit Shine here and the NuBand Activ+ here.

Head-to-head comparison

Misfit Shine NuBand Activ+
Released  Nov 2013
Fitness Tracking  Yes
Sleep Tracking  Yes
Display 12-dot-LED  Segment display
User Interaction Tap  Single physical button
Watch Function  Yes
Battery Life  ~ 6 months
Charging  No Micro USB
Waterproof  Yes, 50m
Weight 9.8g
Sensors 3-axis accelerometer
Connectivity Bluetooth
GPS No
Tracks
Dedicated App Yes
Compatibility iOS and Android
Technouz Rating  6/10 4/10
Price

Fitness Tracking

From our testing, the Misfit Shine outperformed the NuBand Activ+ in fitness tracking. It seemed a lot more intelligent and accurate at recording movement. The Misfit Shine has algorithms which allow it to automatically detect which activity you are partaking in. It also comes with a bunch of add-on accessories that allow you to wear it on your ankle, as a lapel or simply leave it in your pocket – thus giving it even greater accuracy in activities such as swimming, biking, running, jogging and working out at the gym.

The NuBand is not so intelligent. For example, if you do not put it in to sleep mode before you go to bed it won’t realise that you’re sleeping and therefore record your hours of sleep as zero! In contrast, the Misfit Shine automatically recognises when you’re resting and also detects sleep patterns. But credit where it’s due, the NuBand automatically returns to ‘activity’ mode after 15 minutes of activity.

NuBand Activ+ App

The Misfit application is also well ahead of the NuBand equivalent. It tracks more, offers cleaner graphs and breaks down your activities from the entire day. The NuBand application is a lot more basic and can tell you how many calories you have burnt, how many hours you have slept (if you remembered to activate sleep mode!) and how many steps you have taken that day. For those who want very simple fitness tracking; this really is more than enough. I certainly was happy at first with the NuBand counting my steps and calculating how many calories I had burnt – but unfortunately, it was very inaccurate. An example I mentioned in the review was the NuBand easily racked up several hundred calories burnt from simply typing on a keyboard. The Misfit, in contrast, merely added fifty steps – which is very acceptable given it is still early days in the fitness-wearables sector.

Sleep Tracking

Both claim to track your sleep. Both the Shine and the Activ+ can fairly accurately count the total time you’ve spent sleeping. The NuBand needs to be put in to sleep mode by double-pressing the button on the side of the device whereas the Misfit Shine does this automatically. As a result, if you forget to set the NuBand, it’ll report zero hours slept – and the Misift as a result of it’s automatic recognition may undercount the hours slept if you move around a lot at night.

Misfit Shine App

The NuBand simply counts the number of hours you have slept and displays this on the mobile app. The Misfit Shine can determine how much of your sleep you spent in each of the stages, with deep sleep being the target to reach every night. For more serious fitness-freaks, this is a huge selling point for the Shine as it’s in the deep sleep phase that we grow and actually regain energy. But as with almost every positive when it comes to fitness trackers, there is also a negative: it’s not accurate. The Shine seems to try too hard in some places, or maybe it can’t cope with too many variables; but during my testing it struggled to distinguish between natural movement in sleep and periodic movements which suggest the user is awake.

The NuBand doesn’t really have the afore mentioned problem. As long as you do not continuously move for fifteen minutes, or take it out of sleep mode, it will continue to think you are sleeping and tot up the minutes.

Which One Is Better?

You probably have a rough idea now for which one you prefer. This article has without a doubt been biased to the Misfit Shine: it has more features, is more advanced and most importantly it’s a lot more accurate. But the price is what could potentially make the NuBand a success. At only £29.99 it is one of the cheapest fitness trackers on the market. It’s £70 cheaper than the Misfit, and if you take that in to account; then it has every right to be trip-up in some places where the Misfit does not.

The way I see it is, if you are in the fitness tracking wearables market for the first time; go for the NuBand. It’s basic, simple, cheap and easy to use. You’ll get an idea of how fitness trackers work and you’ll figure whether or not fitness trackers and wearables are your thing. There’s no point in spending money on something that will end up at the back of your drawers in two weeks time.

If the NuBand works out for you, you may want to consider upgrading to the Misfit or any other alternative. And if it doesn’t at least you have a flashy digital watch you can Wow your friends with rather than a fitness tracker that has nominal resale value.

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