BlazePod review: the Flash Reflex Training System for everyone
BlazePod
Pros
- Modular design
- Works seamlessly
- Endless variety of activities
- Makes exercise fun
- Looks great
Cons
- No leaderboards
- Pricey
The gym is pretty dull, right? Gym memberships don’t come cheap, yet shockingly some 80% of Americans who have one don’t make practical use of it! To get you off the sofa and breaking a sweat, the team at BlazePod have come up with an innovative new system allowing anyone, from fitness enthusiasts to elite athletes, to improve their fitness level.
Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets
The wireless, portable system uses lights and sensors with pre-programmed exercises to help you increase agility, reaction time and more. You essentially get a Flash Reflex Training system designed to supercharge your workouts.
I’ve been using it for the past few weeks. Here’s what I made of it.
BlazePod review: Design
BlazePod has its origins in a Kickstarter campaign that launched back in 2018. The project was successful having raised just over $160,000. The nearly 700 backers have received their product now and the gizmo has been made available to all on the manufacturer’s website.
In the box, BlazePod gets you get a total of six pods, straps, suction cups and plastic holders. There’s also a charging base and a nice little carrying bag.
Each unit is exactly the same. It’s circular with a diameter between 9 and 10 cm, and has a smash-proof exterior that is touch sensitive. The pods have very bright and powerful RGB LEDs on the top that can shine in one of 8 colours.
Everything looks and feels really quality made and very sturdy. Which is a good thing as you are meant to tap the pods in a variety of ways, including with your hands, feet, heavy wall balls, boxing gloves and more.
There are no on/off buttons and absolutely no moving parts. Instead you are meant to download the app and then connect via Bluetooth (BLE) with the pods. Just make sure the gear is no further than 40 meter away from your phone as that is the pod range. I found the Bluetooth connection works very well. The pods respond instantly and once connected stayed connected. Usually the link is instantaneous.
You don’t need to establish a connection with all of the pods. That’s not the idea. There are various exercises so you have the option of using as many as you like. The company says the maximum number of pods that you are able to simultaneously connect to depends on the mobile device itself. Most of the phones they tested could connect to 12 Pods. The theoretical maximum is 24 at a time.
All of this is very portable and lightweight as BlazePods stack neatly on top of each other. They don’t take up too much space particularly if you put them in the carrying bag that comes in the box. And that’s important because there are home workouts as well as those that can be done outside – the pods are water-resistant.
In fact, the company has used this design to come up with a unique way of charging. Stack the pods into a pile and place them on top of the charging unit. Make sure the charging pins are aligned when you do this. The lights on each individual pod will light-up in red or green depending whether the rechargeable li-ion battery is full or not.
On a single charge a pod is good for up to 12 hours of operation. So this is not something you will need to refuel very often. Nevertheless, BlazePod suggests you pop them on the charger about once a week to ensure optimal performance.
The pods come with some extra gear that includes straps and suction cups. These can be used, optionally, to add a bit more variety.
Attach the specialty plastic harness to the pods and that will allow you to add on the straps or suction cups. With that you can attach the pods to practically any surface. An idea might be to secure them to poles, fences, doors, mirrors, and pretty much anything else. Or as I preferred, simply use them without the straps and suction cups.
The design is UV protected so is safe to use in the sun and has a water-resistance rating of IP65. This basically means the BlazePods are splash-proof so can survive a rain shower, but don’t dunk them in the water.
All in all, everything looks and feels very smart, quality made. A bit Appelesque.
BlazePod review: Setup
Setting up the system for first use is not too difficult. Gather up the pods, stack them on top of each other and plug the charging unit into a USB port. Because this is the first time you are doing this, make sure to leave them on the charger for at least 2 hours. The pods start of by blinking in red but transition to green as they fuel up.
Once that’s done, download and open the iOs or Android app. Register your basic details and you’re all set to go. All of this went smoothly for me and I have not encountered any bugs.
There’s a section in the Blazepod app that has a list of available exercises. You can choose exercises right away although I found that it does take an hour or two to fully download all the accompanying images. After that you’re all set to go.
The concept is very simple yet extremely adaptable. It’s something called a Flash Reflex Training system that offers unique ways to work out. There are hundreds of exercises in the smartphone app to choose from.
To make selecting them easier, the exercises are grouped into several categories. For example you have Light Logic which offers the following choice: All at once, Focus, Home base, Random and Sequence. Some of these require you to use equipment, others do not.
There are other filters, too. You can sort exercises by Type (Agility, Anaerobic threshold, Balance Ball control, etc), Accessories (no accessories, balance board, basketball, basketball hoop, battle rope, boss ball, etc), by number of players and more. Once you find a few activities to your liking a good thing to do is to star them. That way they’ll be in your favourites list for quick access.
All of this allows for quite a variety in the types of workouts you can do. If all this sounds a bit complicated, don’t worry because it isn’t. Choosing an activity takes all of about a few seconds, and creating a new one from scratch just a few minutes. Yes, you can create one as well which means there’s an endless list of possibilities suitable for beginners or professional athletes.
Open up an activity and you’ll get more details that includes a description and picture showing how the pods should be arranged. This is also when you need to connect the required number of pods via Bluetooth to the app.
Click on the pods sign in the right-hand corner and select a pod. It will light up confirming that a connection has been established. Keep doing this until you have added the number of pods needed to do the activity. Then simply arrange them on the floor, wall, etc. – as indicated by the description.
The pods are designed to flawlessly integrate into exercises, pushing you to work on your reaction time and reflexes, as well as agility, speed, balance, and stamina. Users can run through different training modules and measure their performance down to the millisecond.
Custom activities
If you can’t find what you are looking for among the predefined activities, then the custom activities function is the place to go. It allows you to control the Pods’ capabilities to suit your own need, and build an activity according to your specific requirements.
You can design and save up to 10 different exercises using the multiple light logics (color options). I found this particularly handy during the COVID-19 lockdown as it allowed me to come up with several new ones that don’t take up much space and can be done in a small enclosed space.
Each custom activity has a set of controllable features that you’ll need to choose from. This includes defining the number of working stations and cycles, the number of pods to be used, the number of players, how to extinguish a light, light delay time and activity duration.
Combine these to your liking and save it. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination!
BlazePod review: How to use
Start up an activity by choosing either “now” or “on hit”. I preferred the second option as it gives you time to assume the necessary position. The exercise will start. When each pod lights up, it prompts you to move. The pods communicate with each other in real time and the smartphone app via Bluetooth.
Each activity is time limited but when you’re done you can choose to repeat the cycle. That way you can keep going until you’re worn out. Or switch to a different activity.
I’ve made a little video taking you through a few simple workouts. These require no other special equipment and can be done wherever there’s enough space.
Once you’re done the results will be saved in the app. They can be accessed by clicking the Analytics tab. This will show you a timeline displaying all the exercises that you have done so you can monitor progress.
Once again you get lots of filters. These allow for sorting by date, type of activity and player. Click on any activity and it will open up showing you how well you’ve done. You’ll get info on the number of hits and reaction time down to the millisecond!
My one gripe here is the lack of a leaderboard. While you can sort and filter activities there’s no ranking of your achievements. Which would have appealed to someone like me as I do enjoy to compete. I’m not sure how this could be done but perhaps implementing something like a points system that incorporates the number of hits and reaction might be an idea.
Having said that, I have found the concept really enjoyable. To me, one of the most appealing features of the product is that it has a modular design. It works with as many pods as you like, depending on which exercises you choose. You can train alone, with a friend or as a group – anywhere.
And it can tire you out pretty quickly. Plus because of the endless variety of activities, the boredom element does not set in.
BlazePod review: Bottom line
A great idea is an excellent starting point, but of equal importance is execution. And BlazePod does not disappoint on either count.
The concept is very simple yet extremely adaptable offering an infinite number of ways to exercise. Choose from the long list of activities or create one of your own. The modular design means you can use as many pods as you want.
What’s more you can utilise the various attachments to secure the pods to mirrors, doors and more. Or simply use them without any extra gear like I preferred to do.
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The pods are small in size so can easily be popped into a bag or rucksack. Plus they look great. The one thing on my wishlist are leaderboards in the app, as extra incentive.
I really enjoyed my time with BlazePod. The best part about the product is that it makes exercise fun!
There are different kits for different needs. The standard kit should suffice for most people. You can check all of them out on Blazepod’s website.
BlazePod review: FAQ
BlazePod is a wireless, portable system that uses lights and sensors with pre-programmed workouts to help you increase agility, reaction time and more. The gizmo forces you to use your mind and body in sync to complete the exercises.
BlazePod is essentially a Flash Reflex Training system designed to improve your fitness and hand-eye coordination. The range of workouts is very wide, plus you can create your own. This helps to spice up your workout routine.
It is fairly simple to setup BlazePod. Once all the pods are charged download and install the smartphone app. Then its a matter of choosing one of the pre-set workouts or customizing your own. You can set a sequence that makes sure the Pods light up in the order and color that suit you. There are workouts for everything and new ones are added all the time. Instructions on how to perform each workout can be found in the app. The number of pods that you use for exercises is also customizable.
The water-resistance rating of BlazePod is IP65. This basically means the little pods are splash-proof so can survive a rain shower, sweaty palms, wet grass etc. But don’t dunk them in the water. The fact they are not fully water-proof is not a dealbreaker. There is no need to submerge them in water as all exercises are designed to be performed on dry land.
BlazePods typically take around 5 hours to charge. You stack them on top of each other so all of them can be refueled at the same time. A fully charged pod is good for up to 12 hours of operation. This is plenty as exercises typically last only a few minutes. When fully charged, BlazePods will blink green. At other times they will shine a blinking red color. Although all pods are refueled at the same time, they will vary in how long each takes to charge.
The short answer is – yes. The pods are designed to be tapped. In fact this is typically what you will need to do in order to turn off the light. You can use your feet, knees, punch or even equipment such as medicine balls, boxing gloves and tennis rackets to tap or punch. The pods are highly durable so can take quite a beating.
There is very little in terms of competition. The most well known alternative is called FitLight. Both of these products work in much the same way. The pods can be arranged to cater to any specific routine, for all sports and training regimes. BlazePod and Fitflight are fairly similar in the way that they function.
What works in BlazePod’s favor are its much lower price, that it works with a smartphone, that it’s easier to use and that battery life is nearly twice as long. The fact that it comes with a tablet, FitLight might be better suited for gyms and corporate environments. You can check out our detailed comparison on how the two products compare on this link.
BlazePod comes recommended by professional athletes from multiple fields. They are the best and most affordable Flash Reflex Training system on the market. BlazePod offers an infinite number of ways to exercise – that is only limited by your imagination. If you’re looking to spice up your workout routine, BlazePod is a great option. It will help propel your fitness routine to the next level.
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