Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought my Peak over a week ago at Best Buy (some Best Buys throughout the country received a few on Nov 5) and couldn't be more happy with my purchase (I am very critical and picky about my purchases). I did about 2 months of serious research before finally deciding on the Basis Peak. I had my choices narrowed down to the Fitbit Charge, the Basis Peak or waiting for the Apple Watch (I had looked at the Microsoft Band until I tried it on – waaay too clunky and NOT waterproof!). I had thought about going with the Fitbit as it is a decent tracker and would hold me off until the Apple watch. The reason I ended up choosing the Basis Peak is I evaluated what I truly wanted, the best fitness tracker and sleep with heart rate monitoring; if it got notifications from my phone, great! Multiple reviews (Gizmodo, PC Mag, RGS etc) have stated that this is the BEST fitness AND sleep tracker on the market. Basis has stated that they will be pushing out a software update before the end of the year that will allow the Peak to get phone, text and email notifications as well as 3rd party integration with apps. HR & Activity Tracking: I have seen several reviews out there saying that the Peak doesn't accurately capture heart rate and activity. I had some issues the first day until I decided to READ THE DIRECTIONS. I was wearing the Peak like a watch and not a fitness tracker. The device must maintain constant contact with you skin at all times in order to get accurate readings. Trackers that show reading/steps and aren't close to the skin/body at all times are deceptive and are giving an aggregate/estimated total. If you shake your arm and the device moves, it is too lose. When I know I am going for a run or doing a very strenuous activity, I sometimes tighten the band one notch to ensure proper contact (the band is great on this device and has great elasticity and is never stiff or confining even when worn tight). I love that this tracker looks just like a watch, you just can't wear it like one per se. That being said, I find this device extremely comfortable and lightweight. I have seen frustrations that the Peak hasn't quite captured an activity such as yoga or cardio/plyometrics accurately. Guess what, the Peak hasn't been advertised to do that YET. It auto detects walking, running and cycling. I have tested all of these and have been absolutely amazed at how accurately it detects the activity. I have even worn this in the pool and have gotten accurate heart rate reading (I wore it a little tighter than usual in the pool to ensure skin contact). I still get a kick looking down when I start walking or running and see that the Peak has already detected the activity. I have also worn this device while doing Insanity and swimming. Although the device said I was running while I was doing Insanity, THAT'S OK; the device accurately measured my heart rate and the calories burned were spot on. I'm not going to get upset if the activity isn't exact as long as it knows the level of work out I am undertaking. That being said, the software update is supposed to have more leeway and capture other types of activities. The sleep tracking has been better than any tracker I have tried, the metrics are so much more in depth. Charging: Per the online FAQs and articles on the Basis website, I charge the Peak about every other day while I shower and the unit has never gotten below 50%. Syncing: Follow the directions! If your iPhone looses connection, go under setting, Bluetooth and have it forget the Peak. It should automatically re-sync with the Peak. This is an IOS issue, not the Peak as I have had this issue with other devices. 3rd Party App Integration: This is a promised future (when the software update is released later this year) and there are already apps that work with the Peak and work great! - Wahoo, mapmyfitness & mapmyrun and possibly others. Peak announced today that it should all IOS apps. From their website: "Peak is compatible with all iOS apps that enable the Bluetooth LE standard heart rate profile along with compatible Peak phones. These apps include some of the leading fitness apps like Strava, MapMyRun and Endomondo." Remember, apps might need to update before they can see the Peak (the app developers sometimes hold off on compatibility until product launch) Customer Service: My experience with Basis customer service has been top notch. They have a 'questions and suggested features' section on their website/forum where you can post. I have posted several questions and suggestions and every time gotten a response the same day. I did accidentally unpaired the device once and couldn't get it to pair up again with my iPhone. I was frustrated and sent an email to Basis (through the app which was very handy and sent logs from the device to show issues). It wasn't until I sent the email that I actually read one of the notifications in the app telling me how to step-by-step pair my phone and the device again. I was the one doing things wrong, not the device. I received an email within an hour (much to my surprise as it was later in the evening) giving me directions on how to fix my mistake. I replied that I had realized my mistake and appreciated the response and got another personalized response back asking me to not hesitate to contact them if I have any other issues. Great service! Silent Alarm, Notifications, Update: This is my only negative feeling towards the Peak. I wish they would at least have had the silent alarm feature at time of launch. I am OK with features coming out at a later date through a software update (Apple does this all of the time), I just don't want to wait too long. The company assures me (I have asked several times ) that the software update will be out before the end of the year and will include notifications and 3rd party app integration. PEAK Announced today (11/20) that the update will come mid-December along with some new watch bands. In closing, I am extremely satisfied with this product; the tracking, metrics, app and extremely robust online content (via mybasis.com) are top notch and better than any tracker I have tried in the past. Again, you MUST wear it properly (snug, but it doesn't have to be so tight that the band leaves marks on your skin) and if Basis doesn't deliver on their software update promises (notifications & activities etc) I will definitely be updating my review/number of stars accordingly! Best Tracker, Wear it Properly!