The Misfit Ray helps track more than steps. The plethora of activities include but are not limited to are walking, running, swimming, basketball, soccer, tennis, and cycling. The product helps monitor distance traveled, calories burned, steps, and sleep. The user can set reminders to get moving. The phone can be connected to receive calls and texts, set the alarm, control music, and more.

The Misfit Ray provides the essential features expected from a fitness tracker. Steps taken throughout the day are tracked. Calories burned and distance traveled are also monitored. Diving to a depth of 50 meters is possible with the water-resistant tracker.

The sleep tracker monitors how long the user sleeps and his or her sleep cycles. The tracker has no watch face. No digital display is provided. The user can receive alerts of incoming texts and call and ongoing alarms via vibrations when the device is connected to a phone. Reminders to move can be programmed for times the user is inactive for too long.

The Misfit Ray is a minimalist design with few advanced features.

The Ray connects to a mobile device through Bluetooth. Just download the app to an Android device or iPhone. An account with Misfit has to be set up. Basic information such as height, gender, weight, and age is required. The information is used to improve the tracker’s accuracy.

The Misfit Ray has to be used in conjunction with the app because there is no screen to display data. The app allows monitoring of sleep and activities. Using a three-axis accelerometer, it measures estimated calories burned, distance walked and counts steps.

It tracks activities such as dancing, yoga, swimming, and cycling. The Misfit Ray is no exception to the rule that Misfit step trackers are typically very accurate. Distance is also relatively accurate, but testers recommend having a hybrid or GPS watch alongside. The calories burned may seem stingy, but it is more helpful than overestimating the workout burn.

The app account can be linked to other health and fitness apps such as LoseIt!, MyMapFitness, and Runkeeper. Linking to these accounts provides more tracking capabilities and options that are not offered on the Misfit app.

Testers would like notifications for email and WhatsApp to be opened. The reason they are not is likely to preserve battery life. Sacrificing some batter for email reception is worthwhile to some users. Other fitness trackers offer better notification features.

Misfit Ray has a points-based system that tracks activity. It is similar to step counting of other trackers. Steps are converted to points. Because the Ray targets those looking to increase activity level, the tracking capabilities are limited.

There is no GPS or fancy altimeter. It automatically tracks activity, but labels such as dancing, basketball, tennis, or soccer have to be applied manually afterward. Activities other than those that appear in the feed can also be added manually.

Each day is called a ‘story.’ The points added for an activity such as yoga is not necessarily added to the daily tally. The points for the activity are recorded. The app tells what is needed to hit the day’s target.

Examples are an hour and ten minutes of walking, 30 minutes of running, 25 minutes of swimming. It could be a combination of activities. While the system is rudimentary, it serves as a motivator to increase activity.

Distance and sleep accuracy is better than devices with GPS. The multicolored LED provides feedback on current activity levels without using the app. A double tap causes the track to light and flash through colors that indicate the percentage of completion for a day.

The automatic sleep tracker is very accurate. The user can see the duration of sleep broken down by restful and light sleep and when the user is awake. The analysis is not quite as granular and deep as other sleep trackers.

The app has four tabs. ‘Home’ is the story feed and list of activities. The ‘Social’ tab allows following accounts of other Misfit users to observe activity and participate in friendly competition. A basic overview of the highlights is given on the ‘Profile’ tab. It includes the best day, the number of goals met, and the best goal streak. The ‘Device tab lets the user know the battery level of the device and allows tracking data to be manually synced.

The Misfit Ray is sleek and small. It is lightweight. The device feels like a bracelet. A few complaints about the band not fitting correctly have been reported, but most wearers find it comfortable. It can be worn as a necklace to achieve the same results.

Most Misfit Ray customers agree the tracker is stylish and cute. It is super lightweight and quite small. Many users compare it to a bracelet. It appears to be a bracelet. The device looks great with bands or bangles and serves as a necklace.

The Misfit Ray is not gender specific. It stays fairly unisex. It is dainty enough to look good on small wrists. Leaning towards feminine aesthetics is a rose gold model that has a sports strap. Another model is black with a cord or leather bracelet that may suit males better.

The Ray measures 38mm in length. It weighs eight grams. The tracker is not the hollow tube it appears to be at first. It comes apart to uncover two replaceable batteries. The design is comfortable, sleek, slim, and won’t pop out.

It is not a sports watch. It is an activity tracker. Misfit has been crafting devices that do not look like fitness trackers for a while. Something that is obviously, a piece of technology is not much of a fashion statement.

The Misfit Ray is visually appealing. However, the enticing design has some limitations. It is not geared for fitness enthusiasts who want to achieve a competitive edge or train more effectively. Those taking fledgling steps toward becoming more fit will find the Misfit Ray useful.

Fossil recently purchased Misfit. Fossil has a reputation for outlandish watch designs. That ideology may explain why Ray departed from a circular design used on other Misfit trackers. The Ray took the form of a metal cylinder that is about the size of an average pen lid. The anodized and brushed finish aluminum has a premium feel. The tracker blends nicely on a wrist that is already accessorized. Based solely on appearance, the Ray would win a beauty contest.

The band is attached by screwing it into the ends of the tracker cylinder. The ends of the band embed to both ends of the Ray. There is no chance of detachment from the band. There is no worrying about losing it. The coin shape of the Misfit Shine can pop out of the holder. The strap is securely fastened to the wrist. It can be worn in the shower or while swimming. The tracker is water resistant to 50 meters.

The Misfit Ray has no screen, but it is not a passive tracker. In the activity app, alerts that are currently limited to texts and calls can be switched on. A subtle vibe and a blue blinking light indicate a text. The light is green for calls. The combination of LED and vibration gets the user’s attention.

A couple of things are lost in the design. There is no circle of LEDs found on the Shine series to which the Ray belongs. Those units allowed users to glance at their progress quickly and with practice, tell time. The Misfit Ray is one multicolored LED. The Ray is a more discreet factor form. Instead of a display, a subtle multicolored LED is tucked behind a three-mm slit. It is subtle and stylish.

Users have the choice of a sports or leather band. The strap has an eight-mm bar on both ends that clip into the ‘tube.’ A TPU sports band is included. It is only available in translucent gray. Leather band options are a black band to accent the black model and a gray one for the rose gold. The black is more gray in reality. It can be adjusted to accommodate wrists from tiny to large sizes. The strap has to be removed to insert three 393 button-cell batteries needed to operate.

The Misfit Ray can be put on and for the most part, forgotten. The daily view breaks down into scrollable stories. Too many different activities can be edited to correct slight inaccuracies. The daily view tells how much swimming, running, or walking needs to be done to reach the daily points goal.

Friends on Facebook can be found, or progress can be compared to the average user. Testers found insights and communities associated with other brands of fitness trackers to be more motivating than past Misfit apps.

Tapping the Ray causes a change in color that is dependent on the percentage toward the goal. It is a feature tester didn’t use much. Sleep tracking is spookily impressive. The awake and sleep times can be edited in the app.

Testers found no need to edit the spot on tracking of the device. The Ray notes nighttime bathroom trips. They show up as ‘awake’ on the graphs. It does not register watching television in bed as being asleep. It is tricky to verify sleep as deep or light, but it is interesting to follow daily and weekly trends.

The Misfit Ray vibrates when the user sits for an hour. It is set for a time frame such as the hours between 9 AM and 6 PM. Testers had some issues syncing and pairing the Ray to the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. It required persistence and removing other devices using Bluetooth from the room. Bluetooth had to be reset a few times. A smart alarm wakes a user by vibration. The link actions are limited to double tap or triple tap. One is defaulted to show activity progress. Users complained of tapping hard to be sure it registered.

Three button cell batteries power the Ray. They are included in the purchase. When the tracker dies, they need to be replaced. They are relatively cheap which is a win over screen-based trackers that do not last a week.

The battery life of the Misfit Ray is a commendable six months. The six-month battery life is impressive, especially with smartphone alerts available. No charging is involved, which is an asset for anything wearable. The battery level is viewable on the Misfit app.

Testers varied in their opinion about the cost of the tracker. Comments ranged from ‘extremely affordable’ to ‘pricey.’ Research shows the price depends a great deal on the source from which it is purchased. The MSRP is $100.

A necklace accessory allows wearing the Misfit Ray as a pendant. Customization isn’t cheap. The accessory pack cost about $40. It is nice to have another for people who do not like bracelets.

* Automatically tracks light and restful sleep, calories burned, distance traveled, and steps
* Multicolor LED progress display on an anodized aluminum cylinder
* Replaceable batteries, advertised to last six months - * * No charging required
* Smart button enables control of connected household devices
* Vibration alerts for text and call notifications, alarms, and movement reminders
Water resistant to 50 meters

Why would Misfit put out a new fitness tracker that does nothing new? The answer is the fitness tracker solvers a problem of all fitness bands. The classic watch, smartwatch/fitness tracker, and other jewelry have limited space for technology.

Even the Misfit Shine 2 shares the problem. The round face clashes with most watches. Having two circles, one on each wrist is not a fashion statement people usually want to make. The Misfit Ray heralds a new design.