Under Armour Healthbox – Battery and charging

The UA Band’s battery lasts for around four to five days when used for activity and sleep-tracking, but considerably less when logging an actual workout. When paired with the UA Heart Rate during a run or gym workout, I was losing about 5% battery every 30 minutes, so you’ll need to charge far more often.

The device uses a proprietary magnetic charger, which attaches to the back of the UA Band below the optical HRM. It’s a little fiddly to attach, since it can only be orientated one way and the cable is short. Charging is rapid, though: it took less than half an hour for a full charge.

The UA Heart Rate uses a conventional watch battery, which should be good for around six months. The UA Scale uses AA batteries and will last around five months.

Related: Best fitness trackers 2016

Should I buy the Under Armour HealthBox?

I’m all for the idea of wearable and smart technology capturing data and metrics to get an oversight of all aspects of athletic performance. Unfortunately, the Under Armour HealthBox falls short of this beautiful dream. The fact that the basic UA Heart Rate was my favourite part of the package speaks volumes.

The UA Band, while comfortable, offers only basic tracking and its display can only be described as mediocre. Beyond simple weight measurement, the UA Scale was practically useless – and even weight measurement was inconsistent. Considering the high cost of the HealthBox, this isn’t really good enough and makes it difficult to recommend.

Really, the UA Record platform has the most potential and I’ll be interested to see what Under Armour does with all of the data it’s harnessing from its range of apps and services using the power of IBM Watson.

UA Record integrates with Under Armour’s other acquired apps, such as MapMyRun and MyFitnessPal, to display all of the data in one central hub – but it’s about time Under Armour rolled all of this functionality directly into UA Record, rather than requiring separate app installs.

The app also integrates with every other major fitness wearable manufacturer’s devices, from Jawbone to Withings to Fitbit, meaning you could essentially “roll your own HealthBox” by picking up better devices and using UA Record as the central hub.

Ultimately, while the concept of a multi-device fitness-tracking system is one I can get behind, the sum of the Under Armour HealthBox’s parts add up to disappointment.

Verdict

A multi-device fitness-tracking system that falls well short of the winner’s podium.

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