A Flawed launch but overall an enjoyable product that I hope to grow with
I'm brand new to strength training and having a lot of fun with this product so far. Racing in Dash against intermediate level bots is very entertaining and I am enjoying the potential of Orbital Early Access, despite the fact it does have a lot of bugs at the moment. I have to say, there have been numerous launch issues including the software, and a less-than advertised item that comes in the hardware setup, but overall the core product is working well, and the unboxing experience was very nice. It's clear a lot of care went into the sourcing of the dumbbells, down to the laser etching of the weight on each plate, the general quality twist function is very neat and looks/feels great. Even the branded black Styrofoam protection inside the beautiful boxes which housed the dumbbells was beautiful. It feels so extra to say I was impressed by branded Styrofoam, but that was a really pleasant surprise, after all of the shipping delays I would have expected more haphazard shipping. I just can't throw out the packaging. In case I move to a new home, I want to re-pack my setup in them. The training mat is thick, and does not slip on the floor, so it's definitely adequate. The dock is not as advertised on the website, so I assume there were some sourcing issues here. Nonetheless it holds the weight of my phone without issue. I would hope that they could issue an as-advertised dock later, however, because the custom design on the website did seem really nice. All cables required are included, one for iPhone it looks like, and the other for Android (USB-C) and the quick start instruction booklet is succinct and very cleanly laid out in English and German.
On the software side, it's still leaving something to be desired, with a slightly awkward setup (I need to open the app first, choose my exercise, THEN plug it in to the tv and mount to the stand, and THEN turn it backwards?) and occasionally the audio plays from my phone instead of the TV.
I am finding 4kg weights challenging enough already, and the dumbbells go between 4kg and 24kg, so I think there's plenty of room to grow in Dash, which seems a bit limited in terms of content, but is largely bug-free. Two to three short exercises per day (under thirty minutes) already have me feeling pretty sore. I also enjoy the visuals a lot, which are smooth and relaxing. I'm playing on a Samsung S22 and don't notice overheating, though my phone doesn't charge when the USB portion of the dongle is plugged into my TV! I've set up an alternative plug behind entertainment system since the USB cable can reach that far, but hopefully this is fixed for other customers. Starting this game without confidence that it can charge via USB from my TV set is a bit problematic. What if I need to leave the house shortly after my workout and my phone is nearly out of juice?
What's saving this whole thing for me right now is that I am getting 6 months free subscription upon buying this product. Without that, I think I would be disappointed in the money-spent-versus value at launch, since the software is not entirely there yet. For now, I am happy to stick around doing daily races in Dash, but expecting much, much more from Staedium in the coming months.
23 de enero de 2023
Opinión espontánea