Similar to how the iPhone is one of the best smartphones, Whoop is among the best fitness trackers available. Our in-depth Whoop 4.0 review will let existing Whoop users are able to advise first-time buyers on whether an upgrade is worthwhile and whether they should make the purchase.

Whoop Strap 4.0 is smaller and sleeker than its previous iteration with a few added features like skin temperature and blood oxygen readings as well as a haptic notification alarm function.

Keep reading and you will know whether it is worth buying.

What is the Whoop 4.0?

The Whoop 4.0 is a fitness tracker that aims to help you optimize your exercise and recovery time. It records information about your health, including your pulse, heart rate variability, blood oxygen levels, and skin temperature, as well as information about your sleep, including the length of time you spend in each sleep stage, your efficiency (the amount of time you actually sleep in bed), and your respiratory rate.

It offers automatic activity and sleep tracking, as well as manual tracking of more than 80 workouts and recovery activities, like massages or ice baths.

To help users better understand the information it records, Whoop turns your health data into three scores to indicate your “strain,” sleep, and recovery levels.

The strain score ranges from zero to 21 and is based on how long you spend in an elevated heart rate zone; the longer you stay in an elevated zone, the higher your score.

Whoop’s sleep and recovery scores range from 0% to 100% and, similar to the strain score, the more rested and relaxed you are, the higher your scores.

Related Reading: Whoop Vs Amazon Halo

Who is Whoop 4.0 For?

For those who want to maximize their workouts and recovery, there is the Whoop Strap 4.0. A tracker like the Fitbit Inspire 2 is suitable if all you need it for is calorie and step counting.

The Whoop Strap 4.0, on the other hand, is for you if you’re an athlete or fitness enthusiast who loves detailed information.

Pros and Cons of Whoop 4.0

Pros

• Comfortable enough to wear 24/7
• Tracks heart rate and strain accurately
• Sleep tracking is excellent
• Health Monitor overview is useful and easy to understand

Cons

• Higher-than-average price
• Slow companion app
• Doesn’t track basic stats (e.g. steps)

Whoop 4.0 Review: Design

At first glance, the Whoop 4.0 band comes across as a pretty basic fitness wearable: it’s an optical heart rate sensor unit attached to a band. Although the actual technology is more complex than this, Whoop 4.0 is a simple device to use on a daily basis.

That said, the Whoop 4.0 introduces an upgraded sensor configuration that now features three green, one red and one infrared LEDs (five in total), four photodiodes, and advanced algorithms to improve accuracy and heart rate measurements (more on accuracy in just a bit).

Overall, the new Whoop 4.0 weighs 33% less than the Whoop 3.0. Because Sila’s silicon anode battery materials are used in the new Whoop Battery Pack 4.0 technology, the Whoop 4.0 actually has longer battery life despite having a lighter body. Given that the fitness band uses an optical heart rate sensor, battery life (on average four days) is not too bad.

The vibration motor for the wake-up alarm is another new addition. Given the focus on sleep tracking in the Whoop ecosystem, it performs as promised and is a nice touch. The Whoop 4.0 can also measure skin temperature, blood oxygen levels, heart rate variability and resting heart rate.

Whoop 4.0 Review: Accuracy

Although people liked the Whoop 3.0, it was widely criticised for not being terribly accurate. Whoop thankfully addressed this with the new sensor, which in my opinion is much more accurate.

Only on occasions did the heart rate reading go off the chart; the Whoop 4.0 even performed well during strength workouts which are generally harder to track.

Speaking of workouts: I tested the Whoop 4.0 for a lot of those, mostly strength workouts. I think of the ten or so activities I tracked, only once the Whoop 4.0 lost the plot and said my heart stopped. It was on the ball most of the time, and I could clearly see the rising and falling pattern of my heart rate as I did my sets.

It was struggling a bit when trying to keep up with the peaks and troughs of my heart rate during workouts and after a bigger dip, the Whoop 4.0 seemed to have lost track of the heart rate rhythm. The average heart rate appeared normal.

As for tracking runs, I took the Whoop 4.0 out for a couple without the phone to see if After that, I was able to manually add workouts to the app and sync the band with it. Similar to before, there were no abnormalities in the heart rate graph during this experience.

Also monitoring sleep is the Whoop 4.0. Additionally, because sleep is essential to recovery, the Whoop system places a strong emphasis on tracking and analyzing sleep. Only twice did I need to manually edit the sleep data because it mistook my evening laziness on the couch for sleeping, so accuracy here was excellent as well.

Whoop 4.0 Review: The Whoop App

In the World of Whoop, every single piece of data collected has something to do with strain. Your Strain Score is therefore the most important aspect of the Whoop App. According to your workload and recovery, Whoop will suggest the appropriate amount of strain for each day, which can range from 0 to 21.

Your Strain Score will rise just by existing every day, but exercising will also raise it (obviously). Although each activity has a unique strain score, those scores don’t simply add up to your daily score.

As Whoop explains, strain uses a “non-linear calculation”, and the algorithm aggregates your raw data then scale the final results to get your overall strain score.

Remember that you don’t have to make an extra effort to reach the recommended daily strain goal just because the Whoop App suggests a certain amount of strain. The Whoop App will assess your body’s readiness for action and recommend some exercise, should you want to exercise. It is only a suggestion and not a requirement.

The majority of fitness wearables have a similar behavior, so this is not just a Whoop problem. Some will go as far as saying you’re “detraining” when you don’t exercise as much as recommended, resulting in people massively overtraining and injuring themselves.

How Much Does the Whoop 4.0 Cost?

Unlike other fitness trackers, the main expense of using the Whoop 4.0 is the membership fee to use its companion app—and without that, the device itself is totally useless.

The cost of the subscription is $360 per year if you pay monthly at $30, $300 for one year if you pay in full (or $25 per month), or $480 for two years ($240 per year or $20 per month).

Although different color straps will set you back an additional $49 to $99, the basic black wearable is already included in Whoop’s subscription fees.

Final Verdict on Whoop 4.0 Review

In conclusion, the Whoop 4.0 is an excellent fitness tracker but mainly for those who prefer to train hard and would like to know when to slow down a bit.

The Whoop is now easier to use every day thanks to its physical improvements, such as its smaller size and waterproof battery pack. We also adore how the updated tracking and software features give you more resources to improve your health.

The Whoop Strap 4.0 has significantly improved the ease of consuming fitness data thanks to its physical upgrades, feature-rich app, and the addition of Whoop Body.

If you have serious fitness goals and want to exercise, sleep and recover as best as you can without an actual personal trainer, the monthly price of Whoop is well worth it.

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