So I just read another user's review of Alpha and had a totally different experience. It worked flawlessly with my iPhone. From what the other person on this said about it, it seems like the problems may be limited to Android? At any rate, I had a great experience with it. I think the best part about it for me was that it got me moving. As with any fitness device, when you wear it you feel guilty if you're not working out. I loved that part of it. In short, it worked well for me. But, the caveat is that I have an iPhone 5.

So I must offer a disclaimer. I've never actually worn a heart rate monitor, so I'm definitely no expert on the subject and can't offer a fair comparison to other products in this arena. I wore this around for a day and a night to run it through some trials. It's was really neat to see what a quick walk to go grab lunch or basic task throughout the day did the increase my heart rate. One place I thought this item shined in is the design of the band. It's wide, semi-elastic polymer/rubber, and has a 3 prong fastening...thing, to keep it pretty secure. The excess band length snaps into place via some little pegs at the end that fit into the holes in the band. Overall, it felt pretty well fastened to my arm, and was easy to forget I had it on. When I got home that night, I decided to put it to the test with some boxing. It did slide around just a bit when throwing punches, but not enough to be distracting. It was really novel to be able to actually see the fact that I was indeed doubling my heart rate during my work out. I kind of want one now, just so I can keep track of variations, and different levels of effectiveness for different workouts. The only thing I could really find to fault it on was the lack of a backlight. Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to use it's ability to upload data, but I imagine if I owned one that I'd use it all the time. Definitely cool. Overall, as an inexperienced user of fitness gadgets, I'd say I'd consider this as a good piece to get started with if thinking about buying a heart rate monitor. Much better to have it around the wrist then one of those awkward bands that go around your chest.

When I received I put it on right away, I liked the looks and the idea of what it was supposed to do. Too bad that was where it ended. The watch tells time flawlessly, and the heart rate monitor seems to be accurate, but trying to pair this thing with my smart phone proved too much for the watch. I tried all the recommended third party apps, and only one connected... once, epic fail. The manufacture stated I should try using MapmyRun app, and says they ahve only truely had it working on the droid Razr (The phone I use) while I was able to get the two working once, that's all it worked, I tried over a dozen times to pair the watch to my phone/app with no success. Alpha blames the Android platform for not having true standards in their APIs usage for BT. SInce Alph is not currently shipping with their own app, I would recommend they don't advertise that this unit works with android devices. I don't own any Apple products,so I could not test with the iOS but if android is an indication I suspect it does not work either. When trying to pair using the BT there is no option to read/change/use a pair password . I have an 8in wrist, the strap was cutting off my circulation the USB charging unit, is only a charging unit, don't expect to pull data over USB no back-lite, and no alarm function for the watch so basically Alpha is selling a $200 wrist mounted Heart rate monitor, no way to get it to function with the advertised and recommended Android Smart phone. Yes it reads your heart rate from your wrist but for $200, it needs to work 100% as advertised

I have been looking for a good heart rate monitor for a long time. The only watches I could find were the ones with the annoying band that you have to wear in order for it to work. I really loved the design of this watch. I am big on lifting weights and could never know if I'm in my heart rate zone while exercising. I loved knowing what my heart rate was when I was working out and what my average heart rate was after the work out. Alpha gives me a way to know my heart rate all the time. At first I didnt like the bulky aspect of the watch, after awhile I got use to it and it didnt bug me so much. I would like to see the design advance into a more feminine product. The one thing that didnt work for me was the connection to my iPhone. It wasnt a big deal I feel like at least for me because all I wanted to know was the length of my workout and what my heart rate was to make sure I was in my target zone. Overall, I really enjoyed the alpha and would definitely recommend it to someone looking for a product like this.

I think it worked perfected I gave this to my mom for when she walks she loves to use it whenever she does. It hooks up great with our iPhones and its really accurate on the heartbeat I think I would recommend this to anyone wondering about it