Gv1000-na Personal Activity Monitor, White/Gray

I love this product! It definitely holds me accountable for continuous activity throughout the day. Their customer service people are great. I have personally talked with their customer service staff and they were both helpful and honest about the positive and negative aspects of their product. Usually a company will only "plug" the good things. This gave me the confidence to purchase the product. This product is .....great for walking and daily normal physical activity. HOWEVER, it is not very accurate at biking, running, skiing, etc. That is not what the purpose of this product is for. This is for holding you accountable for increasing "everyday" type activities. If you are looking for tracking "higher heart rate activities" you will need to find another product that actually measures heart rate functions.

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.

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.