Unboxing and Quick Overview
So last week I got my hands on the new UFC Force Tracker and have been itching to get it on to a bag and get reviewing! The UFC Force Tracker has arrived just in time for Christmas and will no doubt be on every budding fighters wishlist this year. It’s a relatively small piece of equipment about the size of a wallet and it weighs just a few grams. The official UFC seal of approval on the front is always re-assuring and its ergonomic design is something out of a comic book; I just keep imagining Batman’s tracking device on the animated series.
Coming in at an eye-watering £119 RRP the official retailer partners Amazon has had it as low as £76. It has been fluctuating due to the turbulent time of year, with things like Christmas and Black Friday coming up.
Here’s my lovely face doing the unboxing:
App Design
The app looks very sleek and professional. I did have log in issues on my phone (Android) but I’m suspected to believe that this is an issue with my phone settings rather than the app itself. So I did what anybody would do in this situation. I stole my brothers’ phone.
On his iPhone 5S, the app had no issues. It has a very clear layout and a few interesting modes. I would like more specificity on them though. The challenge mode does not come with a tutorial and neither does the Training mode.
Training mode just seems to be to hit the bag for as long and hard as you can. It’s also a good way to measure your single punch output. It’s very satisfying to hit the bag and watch the punch meter rise much like a decibel counter. It rises to its peak and drops to zero almost instantly.
The training mode is more beneficial. It doubles as a round timer. In this way, you can be sure to get a lot more information out of the Force Tracker.
I also found as I predicted in the unboxing video, that it asked for height and weight. In this way, it helps give a more accurate reading for all ranges of size.
The rank option of the app is again a little unclear. It only shows those in the top ten and somehow I’m first in the world. I feel with a little tweaking though, this app would function beautifully. All that is required is a few more personal options. Perhaps a group competition mode. For example, I would like to join a group that involves only the people in my gym or any other group you can imagine. Create a group and invite your friends could make the whole experience a lot more enjoyable!
Product Review
Once we got our brand new bag filled we noticed immediately that we would be unable to attach the device underneath it because ours had straps across the whole underside. Going back to the instructions though we saw that it is perfectly accommodating to put the Force Tracker across one of the bottom quadrants. Very reassuring.
The Force Tracker had marvellous adhesive qualities and very quickly dried onto the bag and was very tightly glued onto the bag. It would take a lot of prying to remove it. Luckily it comes with a set of spare adhesives if you decide it would better on another bag.
With the bag up it was time to put a bit of work in! I think I was most surprised by the responsiveness of the Force Tracker and how quickly it processed the information being given to it. Incredibly responsive and the feedback was fantastic. My brother had a go on the challenge mode and again, the real-time was amazing.
I made use of the round timer and training mode. At the end of the two rounds, I had loads of information. When I was at my most intense in a round, when I lulled when my punch count dipped and other stats including punching and kicking power.
Final Assessment/Score
As a fighter, I could see this being very useful for fight camps as a way of competing against myself. Having statistics and numbers is always a bonus. As long as I’m always hitting the same bag my results will be consistent no matter what. So in a way the numbers don’t matter too much in that regard because as long always the numbers go higher and get better, it becomes visible improvement and that is what every fighter wants.
My final word would be that you can’t put a monetary value on improvement. Having a tool that will monitor your performance and give you numerical feedback is a definite edge. The motivation from numbers is the reason we as humans improve at things. Heavier weights, faster times, longer jumps. It’s all about breaking records and the hardest records to break will always your own.
Available for purchase now, just follow the link below:
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