ZOI® is a newly released product for improving your running technique. It is provided by a Finnish company located in Tampere, Runteq. The gadget contains basically a sensor attached to a running shoe (alternatively one may attach a second sensor to a heart rate strap and get more accurate statistics) and connecting by the bluetooth low energy to your mobile device. One doesn’t necessarily have to carry the mobile phone with, as the workout results may be imported to the device afterwards.
Runteq provides a mobile app designed for ZOI® and supporting both Android and iOS. The App provides basic functionalities for saving workouts and simultaneously getting an analysis of the running technique.
I heard about the company and their planned product a couple of years ago and I was immediately interested when I learned that there had been an IndieGOGO campaign started. As it often happens, there have been many difficulties and delays during the trip towards the ready product, but yesterday I finally got my hands to the device and the first impression was really good. The package of the device looked really cool and professional. When unboxing the device, there also was in addition to the two sensor packages a note from the company where they apologised the long delay before the delivery. All of this made one feel good about the product.
The device sensor is put to a small, neat cradle which should protect the sensors from water and dirt. The cradle is not, however, water-resistant. With the device there’s a micro USB cable included for recharging the gadget. There is also a small getting started guide. The cradle contains two small “teeth” that are either connected to a heart rate strap (included in the package) or attached to the running shoe laces. What I didn’t completely liked was the unsure feeling about the attachment to the shoe laces. Maybe I have to figure out some additional means to keep the sensor surely attached during the run. It would be really sad, if I lost the device during one running session.
Zoirun sensor device
Until now I only have six kilometres of running training behind me with ZOI® so I cannot give an ultimate judge yet. Today’s workout provided only the first glance at the device and its potential. Anyways I was pleasantly surprised that there are plenty of different running related metrics available. Now I only have to learn to analyse them and try to adjust my running technique accordingly. For example today I saw it clearly that the metric denoting braking increased towards the end of the workout when I got more tired. I also got information that my steps are still concentrated on the heel part of the foot – a habit I should get rid of gradually.
Probably I will update this post, when I have more experiences available, so keep tuned. 🙂