Review: Bluetooth Vibrating Bracelet

Tag : expandable bracelet
Overview


In these hectic times, having a cell phone is a wise choice formost adults, be it for work, class or travel. There are times,however, when a phone ringing can be quite the distraction, such asduring class at your school or college.
LM Technolgies has introduced the LM959 Bluetooth Vibrating Bracelet for justsuch occasions. Designed to do just that, vibrate to better alertyou to incoming calls to your cell phone/mobile device, as it cansometimes be easy to miss the phone itself vibrating. Some peoplecarry their phones in gadget bags or backpacks and might not heartheir phone ring or feel it vibrate. The same could occur withwomen who carry their phones in large handbags.
While attending college, this bracelet would have come in very handy, as during class we were required to either turn ourcellphones off during class or set them to vibrate only. Had myphone rang, nothing would have been said, but I would have receiveda letter grade lower on my next test score - a consequence I nevercared to suffer. I would set mine to vibrate because I didn't wantto miss an important call, as my father was very ill during my lastyear of school. At times, it worried me I'd not notice my phonevibrating and this bracelet would have been a shot of relief had Iknown about it then.
The bracelet, while not really a fashion statement, does somewhatresemble a watch - so, it doesn't draw that much attention to the person wearing it. Speaking of watches, thebracelet actually fastens like some of the watches I wore years ago- the type that hinges over itself as you fold it down and fastenit to your arm. This type of fastener doesn't lend itself to aprecise fit, such as an expandable watch band does, but, even formy large wrist, it does the job and there's no worry of it fallingoff of my arm. For those with small arms and hands, I'm not surethis bracelet is for you, as it's possible the bracelet may simplyslide right off of your arm. Packaging
I was really impressed with the way that the bracelet was packaged.Instead of the tiring plastic bubble packaging, the bracelet camein a nice box. The outer cardboard box was nice, but the box insidewas even better. The bracelet was nestled inside a metal box with asee-through plastic lid! The bracelet came with a user manual andan AC charger. Setup and Specifications
Charging the bracelet was easy. For the initial use, LM recommendscharging the bracelets battery for 6 hours. Simply plug the ACadapter into the bracelet and let it charge for 2-3 hours onsubsequent uses, or until the LED goes off. According to themanual, when the battery is fully charged, it has a standby time of60 hours. Pairing the phone is pretty straightforward and wentwithout a hitch. But, the manual also says "when a call is comingin, the bracelet will vibrate and a red LED will light". The lightlights blue in my experience. While it's on and waiting for anincoming call, the bracelet indicates it's active by blinking greenonce every 5-6 seconds.
Also from the manufacturers specs "Proximity vibrating alert whenmobile is more than 5m away". In reality, the alert didn't comeuntil I was more than 150m from my phone, and that was walkinguntil it finally alerted me, stopping every few feet. If I wereactually walking away and leaving my phone, I wouldn't know until Iwas even further away, as it takes three flashing green lightcycles before the bracelet/phone make you aware you're too far awayfrom your phone. The Bracelet in Action
When I received a call on my Centro, the bracelet vibrated justprior to the 1st ring of my phone. The led flashes blue twice witheach ring and continues until you either answer the phone, ignorethe call or the call goes to your voicemail. I like the fact thatthe bracelet actually vibrates about a second before the phoneitself rings, a small bit of advanced notice. The vibration isn'teasily missed and you actually hear it 'buzzing' as well as feelthe vibration. One note, though - if your arm is laying, say, on awooden or metal table, there will be some noticeable 'racket' asyour bracelet vibrates. Conclusion
Overall, I am pretty pleased with the LM959 bluetooth vibratingbracelet. It does exactly what is expected of it, vibrate on yourarm to give you a more noticeable vibration over the standardvibration of your phone, thus increasing your chances of answeringyour phone before the other party gives up or is transfered tovoicemail. It'd be pretty hard not to notice the vibration andbuzzing of the LM959 bracelet, which means that a missed call wouldnormally only be by 'choice' grin .
The bracelet is supposed to be resizable, but I really didn't see away to adjust the size, and there were no instructions explainingit. I fiddled with it but was afraid I'd mess it up, so didn't tryanymore.
As noted earlier, this bracelet would be an excellent choice for astudent who doesn't wish to disturb class with a ringing cellphoneor even someone whose job dictates a silent or vibrating phone,rather than the normal ring or ringtone typical of todays mobiledevices.
I'm happy with my choice and would recommend it without hesitation.You can get the Bluetooth Vibrating Bracelet at ThinkGeek for $49.99.