Notice anything different about the new Misfit Ray – that’s right, it’s not round. The Misfit Ray represents a major move beyond the disc-like design of the Shine and Flash. Shaped like a AAA battery, only shorter and slightly wider, the new wearable is a radicle redesign from a company that thus far hasn’t veered from its original design. The new shape means new ways of wearing the device, which also means new accessories. Misfit envisions wearing the Ray on your wrist with either a leather, woven fabric, or rubber band. The Ray can also be worn around your neck, attached on one end (like a pendant) to either a metal or woven fabric necklace. Unfortunately, if you were expecting anything else new from the device you will be disappointed. But that isn’t all bad news; Misfits have a fantastic 6 month battery life that is continued in the new activity tracker. Ray also borrows some of the Shine 2’s best new features including vibrating notifications utilizing a multicolor LED light and a capacitive touch surface to do things such as take a photo or control your music. The Ray ships this Spring and is currently available for preorder for $99.99. The price also includes a TPU rubber wristband. For $119.99 you can preorder the Ray with a leather band.
The Misfit Ray is a solid new product from Misfit. While it doesn’t offer anything completely new, the redesign is welcome and long overdue. The Shine and Flash are compelling devices but the disc shape wasn’t always ideal. In certain situations, it was very easy for the activity tracker to slip out of the holder on the wristband or clip. The devices are so light, if they were to slip out it was easy to not notice they were gone. Also, the included band has always been complete garbage, made from cheap, barely flexible plastic. The new Ray seems to address all of these issues, securely attaching to accessories via spring bars and shipping with a much nicer TPU band.
