We shall start the Helio Strap review by discussing the Whoop. You can buy a Whoop band for £169/year and £349/year. Each year, every year.

The top Whoop option does offer ECG functionality and daily blood pressure insight, the latter of which is in beta currently. Effectively it offers similar functionality to an Apple Watch.

The bottom Whoop option offers not all of the tracking available and comparable features to a standalone fitness tracker such as a Fitbit.

The dimensions of the Whoop MG are 34.7 mm x 24 mm x 10.6 mm (weight 27.3g). The dimensions of the Helio Strap are 33.97 x 24.3 x 10.59mm (weight 20g).

One advantage of the Helio Strap is that you can use any 22mm watch strap with it and in the future there will be bicep straps etc, but you can easily mock one up now which is what I did.

Oh, and there is one other BIG advantage to the Helio Strap. It is £99. No subscriptions, no yearly renewals, it is simply £99.

All of the above is positive, but how well does it work and is it accurate?

The answer is fabulously.

That may sound over the top, but I am a veteran of various Fitbits, almost every Apple Watch and a multitude of Garmins plus a smattering of Withings and other devices. For £99, the Helio Strap is really very impressive indeed.

A direct comparison with the Whoop makes it look like a huge bargain at just £99 and one which I believe most people should consider. My non-scientific study of the sensors is showing very similar results to the Fitbit Luxe and Apple Watch Ultra 2, and arguably the software side is more impressive than both.

There is a brilliant food intake system included which allows you to take a photo of your meal and have it automatically recorded, and it is deadly accurate. After you enter a meal or single food item you will be subtly prompted about what you should eat next. For example, my standard porridge could apparently benefit from some fruit as well for breakfast.

If you connect to Apple Health your steps, sleep etc will be shared and the sleep stats in particular appear to be quite comprehensive. Included is hypopnea tracking which will assess your sleep apnea risk and you can also subscribe to Zepp Aura which is a service designed to give you more detailed stats, breathing exercises and personalised music. I’m not sure that this feature is worth it personally, but for free you still get the following-

BioCharge- an insight into your readiness for the day which details what affects you throughout each day- it is simple enough to understand and to offer genuine benefits.

Standards- steps, heart rate, heart health, calories in and out, stress, PAI (worth looking up), weight tracking, fatigue level, sleep apnea risk, SP02, HRV, starting workouts from your phone, GPS through phone, training status, VO2 Max, training load and… I really could go on.

There is just so much included in an app design which is always logical, always easy to read and in my experience after a week of use very reliable.

Battery life is tracking at 10 days so far which is impressive and the strap is comfortable on the wrist. The included strap, on the Helio Strap (confusing), is a little stiff and I have found myself wearing it on my bicep 24 hours a day on a stretchy soft strap- I never notice it, ever.

Not much else I can say. For £99 this is a smart enough fitness and health tracker for 98% of people and if you don’t want your wrists tied up, it’s a decent solution to wear elsewhere on your body. As more accessories are released it could become extremely flexible because the actual unit is very small indeed.

I take the view that no fitness tracker currently offers perfectly accurate fitness and health tracking, and I’m starting to think that I may as well step back and use something more simple and cheaper. The Helio Strap is amazing for £99 all in. So surprised…

Categories: Fitness, Fitness Trackers, Health, Product Reviews