Like the devices it’s competing with, the SL-1 collects a trove of data about you, but knows it’s too much for you to take in. Consequently, it produces a Q Score, a single 1-100 metric telling you how well you’re looking after yourself and how much fuel is in your tank. As you can see from the screenshot, the score is joined by three other metrics: Sleep, Movement, and Vitality. The latter aggregates your resting heart rate, resting HRV, blood oxygenation level and skin temperature.
Open the app each morning, and you’ll get a pop-up telling you your Q Score for the previous day. Get enough sleep and exercise, and that figure will be high, and if you look after yourself for several days in a row, you’ll get a streak encouraging you to keep it going.
Once dismissed, you’ll be able to look at the home screen, which provides live updates on Q Score throughout the day. Annoyingly, its conclusions exist in a vacuum, and are written past-tense. Look at this first thing in the morning and you’ll be told your score is low because you didn’t log a workout and didn’t walk enough. It’s not a big deal in and of itself, unless you’re really sensitive to being demoralized by your fitness wearable. But it’s a sign the system does little beyond aggregating the data it’s given, ignoring the broader context.
I’m also disappointed at the lack of automatic workout detection, at least for the basics, which should be a standard feature for any fitness band. The fact the SL-1 can’t identify when I’m out for a walk and log that separately vexes, especially given the likelihood I’ll forget to activate a workout. This omission may be easier to take if you couldn’t get a product like Garmin’s Cirqa for the same amount of money, which can do this.
Start an activity, and you’ll get details on your heart rate zones, maximum and average HR, steps and calories burned. You’ll even get your live heart rate and the zone you’re in as a live activity on your phone’s lock screen. You’ll then get a breakdown of your heart rate zones and calories burned at the end of a workout, again much like you’ll find on other devices.
One thing I cannot fault the SL-1 for is its battery life, and I suspect it’ll make it at least past its 12-day promise. I’ve worn this thing a full week, and the battery is still reporting a charge level of 59 percent, which is worthy of praise in and of itself.