TYLT VU Pulse for Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel

Review: TYLT VÜ Pulse for Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel

When the Pebble Time was released around 1,5 years ago, Pebble had a strong competitor in their lineup to succeed in the growing smartwatch segment. But it lacked things like cartier replica step and sleep tracking, a heart rate sensor, and generally wasn’t a viable option for a lot of people who were seeking a fitness smartwatch. Many people don’t care much about those things, but for the ones who do, it’s was a real bummer. Pebble did release a software update to include sleep and step tracking. However it didn’t change the fact that it was still missing a heart rate sensor. And then, along came the TYLT VÜ Pulse, which claimed to fill the void. With the recent release of the Pebble 2 and the soon to be released Pebble Time 2, is there still space for the VÜ Pulse as an accessory for previous generation Pebble models?

The VÜ Pulse was up on Kickstarter last year and is finally close to being shipped. We got to try out a review unit, and overall we have to say, it’s pretty cool by itself. It’s a protective cover for your Pebble Time which also gives the ability to measure your heart rate and charge your watch wirelessly.

Protection

The TYLT VÜ Pulse has a plastic back that includes the heart rate sensor, and a rubber casing on the front and the sides which holds it all together with cartier just a nail bracelet replica
your watch. While its main focus is on the heart rate sensor, at the same time, the rubber casing provides some robust protection. It’s strong and flexible and actually surrounds pretty much all the surfaces except the screen. At this point, it seems a lot more protective than the Bepple covers that we reviewed a few weeks ago.

TYLT VU Pulse for Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel
Photo by Kartabya Aryal

Heart Rate Sensor

The primary purpose of the TYLT VÜ Pulse is to measure your heart beat. Unlike the new Pebble watches which can measure the heart rate in the background in regular intervals, the Pulse can only do that when the app is up and running. We compared the results with the Pebble 2 that we recently received and it’s mostly similar to each other. So I guess we could say it meets the Pebble standards. It also didn’t differ too much with the heart rate monitor on a treadmill.

With the heart rate sensor on the bottom, the VÜ Pulse is on the bulky side. Although it doesn’t bother me personally too much while wearing it for a short period of time, the added thickness makes it uncomfy to wear for longer periods. I’d rather put it on whenever I want to measure my heart rate when I go for a run or start working out. While thickness is a slight nuisance, the wireless charging capability somewhat makes up for it. But putting the watch in the VÜ Pulse and taking it out again is an exercise that gets real old real fast.

TYLT VU Pulse for Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel
Photo by Kartabya Aryal

Wireless Charging

Smartphones have been able to do this wireless charging thing for quite a while and having it on your watch is definitely a sweet addition. Although I don’t have to charge my watch too often, dealing with the standard Pebble charger even once a week was annoying. That’s why I mostly just use a dock for it. Well, it’s even easier now with the wireless charging.

It’s really simple and convenient and the device is already so small that you don’t even have to look for the receiver region like you’d have to do with your phone. While it seems really fun, I’d like to point out that it takes almost double the time to charge your watch up as you would with the regular cable or any dock. And really, the implmentation replica cartier love bracelets of a wireless charging mechanism was a necessity, since there is no other way to charge your watch when the VÜ Pulse is around it. So if you’re a fan of wireless charging and can bear with the slow charging speed, it’s definitely a great feature to have.

TYLT VU Pulse for Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel
Photo by Kartabya Aryal

It may not be too convincing to buy a wireless charger just for the VÜ Pulse. But if you have a smartphone which supports wireless charging, it’s not a bad idea at all. Perhaps, some of you might already have one. Even if you don’t have a phone that supports it, you can easily add a wireless receiver on to it.

TYLT VU Pulse for Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel
Photo by Kartabya Aryal

Software

The heart rate sensor sits at center of the case on the bottom side and operates via the TYLT VÜ Pulse app on your Pebble watch. The app measures your heart rate at regular intervals and also has an option to set a timer for workouts. While it seems quite neat, it would be easier to use if we could measure our heart rate on demand instead of having to wait cartier bracelet for a certain amount of time to finally be able to do so. But since the product isn’t officially out yet, we can’t say much more as of now. We definitely hope that they’ll release a software update soon to make things easier.

They have mentioned on their Kickstarter page that the heart rate stats can be synced with Google Fit. However, we haven’t yet been able to do so. Perhaps this too will get fixed once they start sending it out to the backers.

TYLT VU Pulse for Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel
Photo by Kartabya Aryal

Availability

The Kickstarter campaign was successfully funded by February 2016, but backers are still waiting for their units to be shipped. We tried to check if there is a way to order one outside of the Kickstarter campaign, but it doesn’t seem like it. Until we hear back from TYLT, we guess only the original backers can get their hands on it. For now at least.

Conclusion

We’ve used the TYLT VÜ Pulse for a few weeks and we’re kind of in the middle here. With almost 6,000 backers and a total of $343,000 raised, it is a pretty successful Kickstarter project. While it does add heart rate sensor to your watch, it kind of seems pointless now that Pebble announced the Pebble 2 and Pebble Time 2 which have the HR sensor built in, and are actually already in the hands of many people. However, if you don’t plan to upgrade to the newer models anytime soon, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get one – once available.


The TYLT VU Pulse Kickstarter campaign can be accessed here.

You can get the wireless charger shown above from on Amazon.

The skins and watchbands featured in this article are available from GadgetWraps.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.