REASONS TO BUY
Inexpensive
Very easy to use
REASONS TO AVOID
Limited set of abilities
Not amazingly comfortable
Letscom ID115Plus HR Review
This is our suggested option if you are hoping to spend the absolute minimum on a new wearable
Credit: Jason Peters
RELATED: Best Fitness Trackers
Our Verdict
The Letscom ID115Plus HR is far from the most impressive or feature-rich fitness tracker but it does accomplish its basic functions fairly well and retails for a relatively low price compared to the rest of the group. It doesn't have much in the way of community or social features but has a decently accurate step counter and can provide rudimentary stats for other workouts, as well as some basic heart rate and sleep tracking data.
Our Analysis and Test Results
While the Letscom ID115Plus HR is far from the most comprehensive fitness tracker available, it is a great option if you are hoping to spend as little as possible or if you are worried about damaging or losing your tracker frequently.
Performance Comparison
In our experience, this tracker didn't do the best at tracking a cycling workout.
Credit: Jason Peters
Fitness Impact
It's fairly easy to see why our Fitness Impact metric is the most significant testing metric for each fitness tracker, accounting for 30% of the total score for each wearable. In this metric, we looked at how accurate the step, cycling, stair climbing, and other workout tracking is, as well as the different community compare and compete functions each product offers through its companion app. The Letscom ID115Plus HR delivered a fairly middle-of-the-road set of results, earning a 5 out of 10.
The Letscom ID115Plus HR got off to a great start in our step counting accuracy assessment, displaying results that matched up very well with our true step count made with a mechanical counter over three separate mile-long walks. It only had an average error of about 6 steps off of the true count of 2135 over the three trials. We compared how the Letscom ID115Plus HR calculated the distance traveled and found that it was equally accurate, with the distance shown by this model only being an average of 0.01 miles under.
We were impressed with the accuracy of the step counter in our evaluation.
Credit: Jason Peters
Unfortunately, the Letscom ID115Plus HR couldn't carry this solid performance into our cycling tracking test and earned a score well below average. This product relies on your phone's GPS module to measure data and we found that the unit we tested kept losing connection to our phone while biking, meaning it failed to record any GPS-based data, like speed, elevation gain, or distance traveled, but did get some heart rate information and calculate estimated calorie burn. We also had connection issues when it came to tracking other workouts but the Letscom ID115Plus HR does say that it can track the speed, pace, energy, consumption, duration, and distance when it is connected.
You can select up to three trackable activities to have saved to the Letscom ID115Plus HR, such as walking, running, biking, hiking, badminton, climbing, spin, treadmill, yoga, basketball, soccer/football, tennis, and dance. However, we didn't find an option with this model to have it track the stairs climbed each day.
Some of the data show in the Letscom companion app.
Credit: Jason Peters
The companion app for this fitness tracker is fairly bare-bones and doesn't offer a way to compete or compare with specific friends, though it does have a giant leaderboard of all users. It shows basic data from your workouts but you can also connect the Letscom ID115Plus HR Strava or Google Fit if you want more expansive community options.
The HR monitor on this wearable didn't do the best in our tests.
Credit: Jason Peters
Health Impact
Next, we focused on some of the different health impacts each tracker might have, specifically looking at the accuracy of the heart rate monitor, if you can set up reminders to take a break and get up and move around if you have been sitting too long, if you can track your sleep, and if there are any helpful options if you are trying to maintain a diet. The Letscom ID115Plus HR did about the same in this series of tests, again meriting a 5 out of 10 in this metric, which is responsible for 25% of the final score.
We used a chest strap heart rate monitor to check the accuracy of the optical HR sensor on the Letscom and found there to be some significant discrepancies. We compared the chest strap and the HR reading on the Letscom at both a resting and elevated heart rate and found an average difference over 10 different comparisons to be 49 bpm, with the biggest errors occurring during times of elevated heart rate.
We didn't find any dieting or calorie trackers in the Letscom's companion app or anyway to connect it to a third-party dieting app. This tracker also doesn't estimate any calories burned through your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), only calories burned through exercise. We did like that you can set alerts to remind you to move periodically and you can customize their frequency to go off anywhere between 15 and 180 minutes if no activity is detected.
You have some basic sleep tracking options and we did like that you could customize silent alarms with different amounts of vibrations for different events, such as waking up or for meetings. You can also add little notes to remind yourself what the alarm is even for.
This tracker uses a traditional watch-style clasp.
Credit: Jason Peters
Ease of Use
For our Ease of Use metric, we focused on the responsiveness of the interface on the Letscom, how easy the app is to use and how quickly it syncs, as well as how water-resistant it is and the ease of putting it on and taking it off. The simplistic nature of the Letscom helped it quite a bit in this metric, earning it an 8 out of 10. This metric accounts for 20% of the final score for each wearable tracker.
The manufacturer claims this wearable has a battery life of 5 days with the HR monitor enabled and 8 days without it, which is solid compared to the rest of the products in the group. We did like that the charger is built right into the Letscom, as it can be plugged directly into a USB port once you pull the band off. Speaking of the band, we did like the stiffness of the included band, as it makes it very easy to put on the Letscom.
The integrated USB charger is very convenient.
Credit: Jason Peters
The companion smartphone app for this product is straightforward and simple to navigate, with very few settings or additional menus to get lost in. The home page shows you an overview of your activity, sleep, and heart rate data.
The menus on the device are equally easy to navigate using a touch interface, tapping to cycle through the different menus and long pressing to select the. You do have to cycle through all the options if you accidentally go past it, as there is no back button. This fitness tracker is rated to IP67 when it comes to being water-resistant, so it's fine to wear in the shower but not for swimming according to the manual.
Ergonomics
Next up, we rated and scored the ergonomics of each tracker, looking specifically at how comfortable each one is, its profile, and how they looked. In our opinion, the Letscom isn't the most sleek or stylish tracker we have tested, earning it a 5 out of 10 in this group of evaluations that comprise 15% of its final score.
This fitness tracker isn't overly large or obtrusive but it isn't our favorite when it comes to comfort, with our judges giving it a below-average score. It's fairly plain looking as well, though it does come in a handful of different color options. We did like that it maintains a fairly thin profile on your wrist, but still will get caught on things periodically.
It can be hard to read the screen of the Letscom in bright light.
Credit: Jason Peters
Display
Finally, our last metric focused on the display of each fitness tracker, which is accountable for the remaining 10% of the total score for each wearable. The Letscom earned a 6 out of 10 for this performance, based on what it typically shows on the screen, how responsive the touchscreen is and how easy it is to read in bright light, and what notifications from your phone it displays.
The Letscom shows the current time and date on its homescreen, with further displays showing your current step and distance totals for the day. Unfortunately, this model is very hard to read in bright sunlight but does have plenty of backlight for reading in the dark.
The touchscreen is usually very responsive if you are deliberate in your movements.
Credit: Jason Peters
The touch interface is quite responsive, though you do have to mean it when you tap the screen for it to be properly registered. Most push notifications from your phone are also shown on the Letscom when it's paired.
Value
All in all, the Letscom is quite a good value, considering the solid set of functionality you get in something that costs far less than half of what the top models go for.
Conclusion
The Letscom is by no means the best you can get but it's a good way to get some basic fitness and health data for a price that's hard to beat.
—
David Wise and Austin Palmer
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