SleepTracker: the watch that watches your watch
It is long ago I'm not using a watch because I find it unconfortable and for knowing the time I usually have got my computer close, my mobile phone, the microwave oven, street clocks, etc. However, after reading about this watch (Gizmodo) I thought that I should give it a try. By now, you may be wondering what it is so interesting about this watch respect the rest.
How many times you get awaken by your alarm clock but you remain in bed longer?. How many times you have gotten up in the mornings feeling tired and dizzy?. Sleeptracker is here to help you saving such a bad way of starting the day. Sleeptracker is a watch with a modern design but not really fancy or eyecatching. Well, it actually looks like those watches you find in bazars, but the gizmo is just hidden within. Its manufacturer states that the watch is designed to to monitor your sleeping cycles along the night. This way it is able to wake you at the vaery best moment so you don't feel crappy later on.
I bought the watch directly in Sleeptracker's website. If you are not in a hurry to have it, you may get it within a week for less than 150€ if they have it in stock. Y payed a bit more because I chose the UPS express delivery option. My shipment got stuck in the Dutch customs due to a missing document that only the shipper could provide, but UPS preferred to contact me instead. Well, I did have to contact UPS to get to know what was the problem and how to get it around. Finally, I emailed Sleeptracker telling all the story and they fixed it all quickly. Very professional.
Lets get into bussines. After a quick overview of the user's guide and taking some photos, I set the time and date. The configuration for the first night is as follows:
- Alarm at 7h am. This is the alarm as any other alarm clock has.
- Window of 20 minutes. This is the period of time in wich Sleeptracker will pick the best momento to wake you up. In my case this starts at 6:40 and end at 7h.
- Go to bed time at 0:30h am. This is the time when you foresee you will be sleeping. From this time, Sleeptracker start to monitor your sleeping.
While you sleep, Sleeptracker records the time every time you are awake or almost. When it records the time Sleeptracker will wait 8 minutes before the next measure. If your aren't sleeping, then Sleeptracker will record the time and wait anoother 8 minutes. This will continue until the time of the wake window. Then the alarm will go off whenever you become almost-awake within the window. If this doesn't happen, then the normal alarm will go off. To better understand all this, I have created a webpage explaining how to interpreat Sleeptracker data using the data collected during my sleeping.
The advantages of using Sleeptracker are yet to come, thus I start with a constructive critic:
- There is no option for having another time format. The time is only shown in AM/PM format. I preffer the 24h format.
- It has no stopwatch. Although this is not necessary for Sleeptracker's main goal, this is a feature typically found in most digital watches. I'm rather indifferent on this respect.
- The alarm is not very loud. Personally I won't have much problems to be awaken by it, but I know of some people that would not notice it at all.
- The manual is in english only. Well, if you are reading this I don't think you will be bothered by the language.
- The user's guide doesn't explain the working principle of SleepTracker nor how to interpret the collected data.
Here are the obligated photos:
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