This arrived in quite a unique branded box which unfolds to reveal two separate boxes and a ‘get started’ leaflet, in one box you get the main power and sensing unit along with a USB to micro USB charging lead, and in the other the headband. The instructions are very basic assembly and charging instructions which then point you to get the Muse Meditation application for your device, this is not necessarily a negative being as this is totally reliant on the connection between the two and the application is packed with information, help and click through links for assistance.
First impressions: the headband part is a nice soft material padded at the front and sides for comfort along with holding the sensors, the back elastic strap is easily adjustable and has a very strong magnetic clip connection that would not come apart unless manually released so very secure. The quality seems very good with all stitching and finishing appearing flawless, on the front it has rubber wedges which the main sensor connects again very solidly using magnets. The main sensor is fairly light and has a main power button, a micro USB charging socket and a line of three orange LED’s at the bottom to indicate charging progress along with connection, the whole unit clips together very neatly.
After I had fully charged the sensor unit I went and got the Muse Meditation application for my phone, you do have to register but this is a fairly straight forward process and the application walks you through setting up the headband and sensor. The application is very professional and quite impressive with good introductory training making it fairly easy to familiarise yourself with the headset and how to use it properly with training tutorials covering every section and use.
I have been using this now since it arrived at night for sleep and have used and gone through the mind, heart, body, breath, and guided meditation, everything is set out to be easy to follow and the tutorials along with the audio control prompts and incentive goals quickly allow you to become familiar with the usage process even for a complete novice in meditation.
I have no hair on my head at all so good contact was not an issue for me and the connection always remained good and solid, I did find a couple of times during sleep the headband came off but after some fine adjustment to the fit I have not had it come off since and would think if you had hair it would not come off at all, I found it very comfortable and after a couple of minutes I forget I have it on.
I have tried several of the downloadable soundscapes for sleeping and found them well put together along with assisting the relaxing and sleep process, I was impressed with the data you get from the application breaking down your sleep stages, deep sleep intensity, sleep position tracked during the night, heart rate and stillness along with allowing you to add a journal entry and reaction on completion.
I found that I needed to leave my phone charging during the night as running this is quite a drain on the battery, I also found that using this overnight would drain the sensor battery to the point it needed a full charge again, I understand there must be a fine balance between weight and battery capacity but this does mean you have to ensure the unit is fully charged before using it for sleep, and it will need to be charged the next day which takes around four hours so it rules out any daily meditation exercises for at least the first four hours of the day, the charge port is micro USB and perhaps a USB-C connection may have enabled a faster charge time.
Overall the MuseS works really well and I found the Muse Meditation application not only to be very informative with very good tutorials it also had good depth with the ability to add additional meditation routines, I found the day time meditations very good and well put together with good walk through tutorials along with audio cue incentives that help you through. I did think the battery life could have been better and found the long charge time limited the usage time when it was charging, I would have liked to have seen a USB-C port rather than micro USB but overall I was impressed and it certainly helps with sleep and meditation.
Price: £296.03
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