Customer Reviews

Vivonic Fitness Planner Mini Handheld

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Like the reviewer from Baltimore, I was psyched to enjoy this device. Not three hours after unwrapping it, though, and it's already dead. Got all of my meals from the past week logged in (I had been keeping track on paper in anticipation of receiving the gizmo), entered in all of my personal info, hit the journal key, and...nothing. Well, not nothing. More like 10 lines of gibberish on the screen. Did a soft reset. No change. Took the batteries out, put them in. Blank screen.

So...

I called customer support (and sat on hold for 10 minutes of a non-800 long distance call before I even spoke to a rep). Did a hard reset over the phone. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Finally, rep said they'll send a new one out to me. How do I send the old one back, I asked. "Oh, we're not doing that anymore," says the rep. "We'll just send you a new one and you can toss the broken one." Get the impression that this is more than just an isolated incident?

So I'm getting a replacement device. Wonderful. And if THAT one fails, then what? Do they just keep sending me new ones every couple of days?

In the meantime, I'm back to paper and pen.

Here's some advice: For way less than what this device costs, you can pick up a discontinued Palm IIIxe from Staples.com. Get that, then order the Vivonic software for the Palm from. For LESS than the cost of the Vivonic handheld alone, you've not only got all the functionality of the Vivonic handheld device, but a Palm Pilot to boot.

I purchased my Vivonic Fitness Planner about a month ago. I have found it a great tool to keep up with fitness activities, food intake and personal metrics like how many hours of sleep I get each night or my weight. I also love the pedometer and stopwatch and that it automatically updates my fitness records.

I am quite impressed with the extensive food and exercise databases. I have found even the most obscure foods in the database - stuff like dry roasted soynuts or oatmeal maple flavored. I found myself wishing for a way to find a particular food in the database because at times I had difficulty knowing under what category to look. Then I got an e-mail this week that Vivonic has updated the software to add a search tool for the food database - they read my mind! I just downloaded the upgrade today, FOR FREE!

If you like to keep up with your workouts or monitor your food intake (calories, fat, protein, carbs, sodium, sugar) this handheld fitness planner for you. I know last year when I was on a weight loss program, the planner would have been an invaluable tool. And a good motivator, too, because it gives you feedback on your food and exercise goals

The last thing I'll mention is that I am not really into "gadgets" or computers, electronics, etc. but I have found the planner so easy to use - you do not have to be a computer guru to get the planner working and learn how to use it. The Vivonic Fitness Planner really is a good product and I can highly recommend it.

It broke the first day. I was at the gym with that day's routine stored in the database when the screen froze. Soft reset. Sync. Soft reset. Error message. Hard reset now impossible. Called tech support. Not familiar with that error message. (If not them...?) Tech support would call back. Had a replacement in my hands before tech support called back. (They never did.) I'm giving it another try because even though my experience was frustrating and the software isn't perfect, the idea is a good one. Still, consider buying a Handspring Visor (more reliable) and just get the Palm software. If the Vivonic hardware fails again, that's what I'll do. (Plus I'll be back with a one-star review.)

I purchased the product and and have repeatedly tried to contact the tech support line listed in the liturature by phone and e-mail with no response. I am very disapointed and the productr is unusable. What a ripoff.

As a personal fitness trainer, a martial artist and someone concerned with caloric intake, I needed something that wasn't going to bog me down. This is a phenomenal machine that tracks anything I want it to! I found out that some foods I ate too much of and others too little. I also track the amount of cardiovascular time, weight increases/decreases, etc. I am really amazed by this product! It is worth every penny!

I am amazed that this product is still being sold. Vivonic went out of business years ago, so there is absolutely no support for this product or the software.