Customer Reviews

Gruve Personal Activity Monitor, White/Gray

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I purchased the Gruve from a local fitness center that carries it. But I wanted to provide input here because I felt some of the reviews were not very accurate or fair. I am not sure why the one reviewer said that it doesn't work well on running or treadmill etc. I have used it on the elliptical, treadmill, and while walking and running and it works well. It is an accelerometer so it measures your motion in all directions and uses that to calculate your calories burned. It does have a harder time on a stationary bicycle but the support person said that if you put it on your leg while riding the bike it works well. It also does not work as well in measuring the calories burned while lifting weights. The support may not have been good when one of the individuals called. But I have found the support to be excellent. I personally like it over the Bodybugg and the GoWear Fit -- and I have previously used both devices. I like the Gruve better for 5 reasons:

1. You wear it on the top of your pants or on some other part of your clothing near that area. The bodybugg and the GoWear Fit are worn on the arm. After wearing them for a few weeks or months, I experienced discomfort because of the restricted blood flow, which caused me to eventualy stop wearing them. I used the first generation bodybugg which was larger and heavier. When I saw the newer GoWear Fit that was smaller I thought I could possibly wear it without discomfort. But after about a month and a half I had the same problem with the GoWear Fit as well even though I would wear it rather loosely. It would often slide down my arm because I was trying to not wear it too tightly.

2. It provides real time feedback on how you are doing without having to purchase an extra device. Both the bodybugg and the GoWear Fit require you to purchase a watch device to get real time feedback. It uses 5 categories of color coding to provide this feedback rather than the exact numbers -- but this works very well for me. When the device is green it means that you have reached your goal.

3. It sets goals for you. When you haven't reached your goal in the evening -- you are motivated to do some more exercise to reach your goal.

4. It tends to underestimate the calories that you burn. The bodybugg and the GoWear Fit tend to overestimate the calories that you burn. I think underestimating is better when you are trying to lose weight.

5. It buzzes when you are sedintary for too long. In their research the developers of the Gruve found that when you sit for too long your body goes into a state sort of like hibernation where it stores fat. The Gruve buzzes you to tell you that you need to move so that you don't go into that state.

The major disadvantage of the Gruve is that the web site does not at this time allow you to log what you eat. They may be going to add this in the future but I don't really know at this point. However our fitness center has a web site that lets you do that.

I have been wearing the Gruve for about a month and have lost about 4-5 lbs.

I'm not a big fan of sweating, so consequently, I'm not a big fan of cardio or gyms. But I'm also not a big fan of tight waistbands. For someone who wants to make small, non-sweaty changes to their routine in order to reach very real long-term goals, Gruve is the answer.

Your Gruve reminds you to get up and move every hour or so, which purportedly increases your metabolism by short-circuiting the fat storage cycle that happens when you're sedentary for too long. They estimate the calories you burn simply by existing, then based on your weight loss goals, they give you a target of calories to burn throughout the day in order to lose weight. The target is very achievable, and if you consistently hit it, they increase it a little.

If you have an office job, it's very easy to be totally sedentary for hours on end without realizing it. You're sucked into emails, you're working on projects, and before you know it, it's been three hours since you've stood up. I love my Gruve, because it vibrates if I've been sitting too long and reminds me to go stretch my legs. Using the Gruve has also increased my water intake, since walking over to the office's kitchen for a glass of water (or heading to the ladies room, after several glasses of water) is a perfect excuse to abandon email for a few minutes.

Prior to getting the Gruve, I'd get up from my desk maybe twice during the course of the day. Now I get up and move around much more frequently. I've lost 8% of my body weight (and dropped 1 pant size) since starting to use the Gruve, and that's with no sweaty exercise and only moderate dietary changes (for example, stop eating french fries with every meal, fatty!).

The online support is great as well - the site where you track your progress is very user-friendly, there are lots of fun charts and graphs, and if you've forgotten to sync your Gruve recently, they send you an email to remind you. I've found that I care far less about how many miles I've traveled or how many steps I've taken than how many calories I've burned. Gruve is the little wearable device for me!

My doctor told me I needed to lose a good 30 pounds or more. I told him that seems like an awful lot (even though I knew he was right) and said I wasn't sure how to do that because I don't like gyms and just am not a "workout" kind of person. He kindly suggested I set a goal for losing 10 pounds because it would make me feel much better. Then my doctor told me about The Gruve. He said it just helps me know when I've been sitting too long by vibrating, and also has this neat little light on it so I can check how much "activity" I've done for the day. He explained activity is just walking, moving around a bit more than what I've been doing. He made it sound so easy, I invested in the little thing. That was over two months ago.

16 pounds lighter, I can tell you that I love The Gruve! I never knew that my drive to see the little green light would be so motivating. The blue light gets me as excited as I know I am almost there for the day! The gradual process is simply amazing. I was worried about starting way too fast, I am definitely not a work out kind of person. But this process has worked so well. If you are a hardcore workout person looking for a technogadget to keep you lean and tight, this is probably not the thing for you. However, if you are an average person who avoids the gym and would like a little bit of help to start losing wait, then I would recommend The Gruve. I'm down 16 pounds, and I've got the next 14 in sight ... and does it feel great!

The pros for the Gruve are:
1 - The ability to monitor your periods of activity/inactivity,
2 - If you're inactive for a long period of time it will vibrate to remind you get off your rear and on your feet and,
3 - The on-line program does set goals.

The cons for the Gruve, IMO, are:
1 - The price, listing at $200.00,
2 - A $75.00 annual fee after the first year to remain on the Gruve program and,
3 - What I feel is the inaccuracy of the calorie burn.

Today is July 28th, the 18th day since I started using the Gruve Personal Activity Monitor. I've been religious about wearing it attached either to my waistband or at least to my cargo shorts pocket. Due to a health situation two prime activities I've been able to work at are walking and using on my elliptical. In addition to the Gruve and elliptical I have two other devices that count calorie burn; a Polar HRM and a $3.00 cardio program on my Droid cell phone. Since receiving the Gruve I compared the calorie count on all 4 devices. For walking I use only the Gruve and the $3.00 cardio program.

My example of inaccuracy: Today before my evening exercise regime the Gruve program said I had 150 calories to burn to reach my "Green" goal. I set the elliptical for to cycle off once I'd burned 150 calories, strapped on the Polar HRM transmitter, attached the Gruve to my waist band and started my exercise. When the elliptical cycled at 150 calories the Polar HRM indicated I'd burned 190 calories and the Gruve showed only 60 calories burned still having 90 to go before reaching my "Green" goal. I reset the elliptical for 90 calories, attached the Gruve to my shoe this time and started a second workout. Once the elliptical reached the 90 calorie mark the Polar HRM indicated I'd burned an additional 113 calories and the Gruve said I'd burned only 73 calories more and was still 17 short of my "Green" goal. The program on my Droid showed I'd burned a total of 334 calories for the two sessions, the Polar HRM 303 and the Gruve 133 calories. This has been the standard throughout the period I've used the Gruve.

This has been my experience with the Gruve so I'm returning it and will rely on the Polar HRM and the cardio program on my Droid for what I want to accomplish. Your experience, activity level and the goals you wish to accomplish could be entirely different.

While the product itself is on the right track, the customer service is not great. There is no customer service number that I can find where you can talk to a live person. You are forced to rely on email to resolve issues. At least once a week the website (which you have to pay extra for) does not function correctly and since you need this to sync the device and check your progress, the functionality of the product is decreased. For the amount of money you spend on this thing, one should expect much better customer service. I would give this product a much higher score if the customer service was even halfway decent. The accountability aspect is great and I find that I am more concious of my level of activity than in the past.

10/15/2010:

I have now been using the Gruve for 9 months. I was out of town for a conference and did not have my laptop available to sync it, so I went without it for the week. Let me tell you - I felt naked without it!

The website performance, which was my biggest complaint at the time, has improved tremendously. While, at the time I was experiencing problems weekly, I can't remember the last time I was unable to connect now.

The clip broke after 8 months, but I was reluctant to give up my gruve, so I contacted customer service (via email) who said that they will replace it, but there is a 2 - 3 week backorder period. For now, I am carrying it around in my front pocket so that I can continue to monitor my activity.

I have upgraded my review as a result from 2 stars to 4 stars.

I think this product has tremendous potential...and might even be an outstanding product.

However, I'm hesitant to plump down over $200 for a product that has a poor, if even existent, customer service team.

I called the company's customer service phone number to get information. When you call it, you get a voicemail with a person's name (incidentally, the person who wrote the 5 Star review above). No indication of customer service...not even a mention of the company's name. I called it 3 times to make sure it was the right number and I wasn't leaving a message for someone else. It's been 2 days and no response back.

That worries me. If I have a problem with the device and I'm leaving a message on some VP of Marketing for a small firm and he won't return calls....

Their website also doesn't provide enough information about the product and exactly how it works. Very few details about the actual web interface.

It's a shame to see a product with this potential being so mismanaged.

INSTALL: I had some installation issues (see comments under Kathy Grace's review). The issue seemed to stem from the manufacturer asking consumers to install an older version of .NET (my machine is a 3 month old Win7 OS with an i-7 930). It did not take me long to resolve the problem but I can see where people who do not know what .NET is would face some confusion.

SOFTWARE: Once installed the software merely opens your web browser when the Gruve is attached to the computer. The software does not all you to access data collected by your Gruve without logging into the website. I would prefer having a program that allows me to review data, etc. without being online since I travel a lot and also spend time in places with no high-speed connections (e.g., parts of the third world).

NOTE, if you want to review the data you need the software on any computer you are using in order to "sych" the device with the website. This might be a problem for people who do not travel with their own laptop, work at an office that limits what software can be installed on work devices, etc.

About 30% of the time I connect the Gruve the software does not automatically start the web browser. I have tried several things but this problem persists.

The Gruve uses a simple color coded ranking to guide you toward a level of activity above your resting metabolic rate (RMR). The device lights up a color to denote your status throughout the day. The more active you are over a 7-day moving average the higher your "green" goal (the goal set by the software based on your health profile and activity over the moving 7-day period). You are given summary data such as:

Your Green Goal: 568
7 Day Average: 623
Best Day Ever: 970

Online you have an up-datable health profile. Your green goal and your RMR estimate change based on updating weight data in this profile. Your green goal is determined by age, gender, weight, and height. It asks for other data, such as blood sugar but these values do not affect the green goal and frankly do not seem to serve any functionality at this time.

The online interface is easy enough to navigate. It allows you to create graphs of your performance and print them. You can only look at a maximum of 30 days at a time. I am a data guy and would prefer to have a longer date range. Online Gruve also provide advice for different activities and also interesting reports based on recent research (e.g., a study that shows sitting itself can influence body fat). Overall I like the online interface although I would prefer to be able do certain things to manipulate my data such as downloaded it in one file to a spreadsheet. Of course Gruve's pricing system is designed to not allow such control of the data since that might reduce the need for people to purchase a paid subscription.

REMINDER TIMER: This is the soft buzz and vibration the device gives the user when the user has been inactive for a self-determined period of time. I set mine to 40 minutes. You can also have the device turn-off the reminder or make the timer inactive during certain hours of the day. I like the reminder feature. Even if you are not using the device to monitor your activity most desk jockeys can benefit from a reminder to get up and stretch every hour or so (of course you don't need this device for such a reminder).

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY: Since the RMR appears to be estimated based on BMI (or maybe just height and weight), age, and gender it may not be an accurate measure of your real RMR. That does not mean its estimates are useless as long as any measurement error is constant. The reliability of the device is what matters. Meaning, if it over-estimates your RMR by 10% then it is not a valid measure of your RMR, but as long as the error is always 10% then it is reliable and you can use it to track change to your activity level. Remember it is the change in your activity level that matters not the absolute RMR for any given day.

MAJOR SHORTCOMINGS: Please understand that I like this device and I have used it everyday since I bought it. It has been a fun device to use to track my work-outs and other activities. I have also found a lot of the information provided by the maker via its website to be interesting. That said, there are two shortcomings that have led me to not rate the Gruve 5 stars.

First, while no interface will ever satisfy all users, the inability to download the data is disappointing. The alternative is to hand-enter the data, which for total RMR for each day is not so bad, but I also want the temporal data (i.e., what time did I move from red to yellow each day?)

Second, as mentioned by multiple reviews, the lack of a consumer forum on the website is a major shortcoming. In fact, this is the reason I probably will not purchase a subscription when my free year is over. A user forum can serve a lot of functions -- everything from trouble-shooting technical problems to social support and encouragement. In my view the manufacturer has really missed a huge marketing opportunity here. Given the rise of social media, one way to market the product is to make it more than just about the device but also about a "community."

EDITED UPDATE: The Gruve has a major flaw for anyone who experiences an injury. The green goal is not programmed to adjust downward. The only way I can reach my green goal is to violate my doctor's orders regarding exercise. This is a huge oversight in the design of this product. You;d think that the program would see that you did not get past "yellow" for some time and adjust the green goal accordingly. But this is not the case and since online access is limited for 12 months if something happens whereby you cannot reach your (high) green goal you are stuck with a device that is not optimized to your exercise routine.

I hope that if you order this your device and Gruve's web site will work for you, however like another reviewer, I have ended up really screwed over by Gruve.

Amazon got the device to me promptly. I followed the instructions for installation. They are easy to read, and the steps are simple: install the software, reboot, plug in the Gruve with a USB cable, and click the button on the Gruve which according to the instructions will launch the software and take you to a screen where you can register the product.

I got all the way through all of that, and the software does recognize the device and the "button click" however when it tries to connect to the Gruve system, I get an error stating simply: "unable to connect to remote server". From here I tried everything -- uninstall software and start over clean; shut down all virus, firewall and spyware systems and try; try from a different machine at home; try from my work computer. Always, this yields simply the "unable to connect to remote server" error. Its really a shame, since the Gruve device WON'T WORK AT ALL UNTIL YOU REGISTER - the light just stays "red" forever no matter how long you exercise. So you are stuck not only without their sync software, but without a device whatsoever.

OK, time for customer service. Here's where it gets ridiculous. There is NO TELEPHONE SUPPORT. There are NO FAQs on TROUBLESHOOTING. There is NO WEB SUPPORT. The only option you have is to fill out a form at the Gruve website and wait for an email back from them. They say 24 hours response. Well...I've been waiting MANY DAYS with NO response at all. I've completed the form 3 times. I've asked for replies to various emails. I've left my home and work phone numbers. NO RESPONSE.

Then I tried, like another reviewer, to find ANY phone number even for their corporate headquarters. The corporation who owns them is Muve, Inc. They have their own web site with a contact feature, but its broken. They have a single phone number listed, but it just goes to some guy's cell phone who never calls you back. They apparently have no office, no switchboard...THERE'S NOBODY OUT THERE! This company must be in Chapter 9 or something - because you just hit a dead end wall. Its frankly embarassing to Amazon that they even carry this product at all. This is the biggest customer service fiasco I have encountered in my 43 years on earth.

So, regretfully, I have to advise people to refrain from buying this. If it works, you're lucky, but if it doesn't, you have really no recourse other than to just return the product. I'd say don't waste your time.

If you are looking for something that tracks your calorie burn, steps taken, activity level,distance walked (all visible numerically on the device)and tracking your sleep patterns, check out the Fitbit. There is no monthly fee for the site which tracks all of the above and you can input your food intake to compare calorie burn versus calorie intake. It is a little longer than an inch and can be worn on several areas of the body depending on your preference, very discreetly. I researched Bodybuggs, The GoFit, the Gruve; and was so glad I stumbled across the Fitbit on a blog. It also costs considerably less than all of those devices. Check it out. If it isn't for you, come back and buy the Gruve!

My wife bought this Gruve for me a while ago for $250.

I installed it in the last days, and I already had problems with the software of Gruve, which one downloads, having a problem with another process of a different application running concurrently. Even reinstalling it did not solve the problem.

Additionally the battery runs out of juice in just a few hours of use.

Furthermore the Gruve / Muve site server does not seem to pick up my latest user data.

Considering ll these issues, I started investigating Gruve / Muve and found it to be most likely either a dying product and comp[any or already defunct. I used to work in software engineering, so I believe I can judge when something is 'fishy' with a software product.

Here are the facts:

1) The numerous bad reviews off late on this site,
2) A major health monitoring site has dumped Gruve, because of the many complaints they got on the product,
3) The Gruve web site's copyright footer says 2010, not 2011, which is a flag that it is not being updated,
4) The Gruve web site has listed requirements to install 'up to Mozilla Firefox V 3.x, while that product is already in life phase V 5.0, so had many new versions after the 3.X generation,
5) The Gruve web site requires installation of V 3.5 .NET Framework software, while V 4.0 .NET Framework, so a later version, is the one they should now be requiring.
6) Add to that the many complaints on absent customer service communication.
9) Just discovered the Muve / Gruve company went bust beginning 2011. See article on medicitynews site.

So my advice is to stay away from this product if anyone offers it for sale.