Pear Sports Mobile Training Intelligence System for iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C

I have pretty mixed feelings about this product. I've used it regularly for two years so I'm giving it 3 stars for the fact that I've gotten a lot of mileage out of it but now that I've compared it to some other wearable fitness trackers, I feel like this really isn't the right product for me.On the plus side, the interface for the app is really nice and when you are wearing the monitor and carrying your smart phone, it does a good job of tracking your heart rate, speed, distance, time, steps and route. Pear also offers some fitness routines which I've used on a couple of occasions but not enough to give a fair good review. I've really liked being able to see my heart rate as I workout, while getting regular updates on my progress. Having my workouts tallied, with all sorts of stats for week, month, year and total has been great for motivating me to get into the gym moreBut there are a lot of things about the Pear that haven't worked for me. I find the band fairly uncomfortable and for exercises where I have to lie on the floor, on my belly, the monitor is particularly painful. There are also adjustment rings on the strap that can be uncomfortable when I'm leaning against something or lying on my back, especially if it overlaps where my sports bra hooks are. Even when I'm hiking and thus, not leaning on anything, I find I can only wear the strap for a couple of hours before it's too uncomfortable to keep on. I also dislike that I have to have my phone on my body for the app to track my steps, pace and route. Both FitBit and Jawbone offer wearables that can track your steps when the phone is nowhere near you. Those wearables are preferable when I'm doing HITT workouts at home and I don't want to wear my phone but I still want credit for my steps.The app is pretty generous with its calorie estimates. I tried wearing the monitor for the whole day to see how many calories it thinks I burn and I had already accrued 2000 calories — by its estimate — in under 3 hours. I took it off after that point because it was pretty pointless to track. On that note, the monitor only records your activity if you tell it to start recording and you must then stop and then save the recording for it to remain in the app's history. Several times, I forgot to press save and exited the app and lost all the data. This is unlike all-day wearables which track you any time you are wearing the device.Still, I got 2 years of use out of this product and really liked it. It integrates well with other fitness apps and it's got a clean and well-designed user interface. If you are someone who just wants to track workouts and nothing else, this might be a good product for you. I've acquired a hand-me-down Jawbone UP24 that I've switched to using full-time but I don't regret having used the Pear for the past few years. It's helped me to workout more regularly and with increasing intensity and duration so I think those are all marks in its favor.

What I like is the iphone app - easy to use, convenient, useful, reasonable selection of workouts and more are added frequently. I like the audio feedback while working out, and being able to choose between coaches for different purposes. It integrates easily with my music - fades the music out during coaching, and goes back automatically. I haven't tried this yet with the GPS function, but for working out on the treadmill, it doesn't drain the battery more than expected.What I don't like is that I always have to prompt my iphone to detect the heartrate monitor - it never, ever just finds it when I start the app. The heartrate monitor is a lot less sensitive than my Garmin monitor - it jumps around, will be 160, then 80 then back up during warm up. Even adding a touch of conducting stuff doesn't help a lot.I'm also not enamored of the browser app for Pear. It's annoying. Accessing it from IE, the interface about half works (and provides no error message). I can't click on a coach's name, for example, but I can arrow down and hit enter. Once I've purchased a workout, I can't just click on it to view the associated video - I have to go back to the store to see the demos.I suspect that this product will improve with time, but it's just not quite ready for prime time yet.

I bought this bundled app and gear to see if it could keep me motivated to train again. Once upon a time I ran frequently but lifes excuses got in the way. I have not done any routine work out for probably 8 years. Sad I know. The app loaded easy to my iPHONE 4s. It synced super easy with the heart rate monitor. The heart rate monitor is comfortable. I love all the plans to choose from and Pear is adding new ones every week it seems. Most are free. I have only purchased one that was $1.99 but I use the zero to 5K mostly and it was free. They have something for everyone. I use the Pear 3-4 times a week now and and I love that it is adaptable to my goals. The new computer online calendar is AWESOME to switch up and add to your routine. It has served its purpose to get me out and moving. So much so I plan to run a ½ marathon in March. My only gripe is sometimes the GPS does not track my miles. I don't know if thats the phone or how it merges with the app. Personally I don't care though because I am still out running for the set time and the heart rate monitor for my training still works flawlessly. Cant wait to see were my fitness level is in a year from now. If you are reading this your curious enough about improving your fitness level...so I say Buy it...you won't regret it.

I am using the training programs (mostly the paid ones but there are quite a few free if you design your own overall routine) and really like the heart rate based goals for someone just moving up to intermediate from beginner one or two pace running for half-marathon or more training. The headphones did stay in well and sound decent (after I was deafened when turning it on) but the instant feedback button didn't seem to work nor the volume controls on my iPhone 4S; I have switched back to my Jaybird bluetooth and other wired headphones that I prefer and just told it to tell me my HR every 2 minutes. The HR straps works fine, but I'm going to try using my Wahoo! Ant+ adapter on my phone and my Garmin strap for HR so that I can at the same time see it on my Garmin 610 watch again. Basically, I don't think this gear is worth it IF you already have your own HR strap and headphones, but the app is great if you're trying heart rate based training out.