Whoop 5.0 review: Good value for elite training

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Whoop has come to the forefront of a field full of health trackers. With brand ambassadors like Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, and Niall Horan, it has become the go-to tracker for top athletes and celebrities. But what about everyone else?

Whoop has two devices in its lineup, the Whoop MG and the Whoop 5.0. While 5.0 is technically the base of the two, it’s not empty. This no-nonsense wristband provides a wealth of data on sleep, physical activity, and recovery. I tried the Whoop 5.0 out, wearing it day and night, to see what this health tracker is all about.

Whoop 5.0 at a glance

Whoop 5.0 brings advanced metrics to the most affordable membership levels, One and Peak. The device is compatible with the first two tiers of Whoop membership, which provides a wide range of health information for the average person, including life expectancy and stress information. Also, some users – including myself – think it’s a much better value than the Whoop MG. Whoop 5.0 provides a lot of data, which can be overwhelming for the average user, and also suffers from processing delays.

Whoop 5.0 remains a comfortable fitness tracker

The Whoop 5.0 has a very low profile, much more so than most watches.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

Whoop 5 is a smart fitness band that sits on your arm to measure biometrics. It has no screen or watch face; instead, it works and delivers health data through the Whoop app.

Having previously tested the Whoop 4.0, I knew the Whoop 5.0 would be a relief. Between generations, the same design is maintained, except that the 5.0 is 7 percent smaller. That means a slightly thinner profile that remains lightweight.

It’s easy to forget that Whoop 5.0 is in your hand. The integrated bands are comfortable, allowing your movement to flow without restriction. Also, the device is out of the way enough that it won’t bother you if you’re sleeping or bending your wrist during training. I’ve never woken up with a sore or stiff wrist. Speaking of sleep, the Whoop 5.0 features a haptic alarm that gently vibrates to wake you up, which I must say, is a very pleasant way to wake up.

The Whoop 5.0 charger slides onto the device so you don’t have to remove the health tracker.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

The charger slides onto the device so you don’t have to take it off, but I wouldn’t recommend that. Designed to be worn day and night, including in the shower. However, when the belt gets wet, it feels waterlogged, and keeping it on makes it take a long time to dry, which, in my experience, was an unfortunate experience. Word to the wise: don’t wear it while washing dishes.

For people who love data

In the Whoop app, access all the biometrics collected by 5.0.
Credit: Screenshots courtesy of Whoop

If you want health data, including all the graphs you can dream of, Whoop is for you. Compared to other health tracking apps I’ve used, like Apple’s built-in health apps and Oura, which deliver straightforward, easy-to-digest data in an aesthetically pleasing app, the Whoop app focuses on hard numbers.

The app is simple, with three main metrics at the top. Sleep, recovery, and stress data are front and center with health and stress monitors below (for those with Premium memberships). You can drill down into specific ratios and view graphs tracking past ratios to see your gains.

Admittedly, it can be a lot to make sense of, especially for the average user who may want to know their step count and sleep quality. But if you’re not sure what to do with your heart rate variability and how that relates to your health, Whoop has a built-in trainer.

Need guidance? Whoop has AI for that.

Talk about fixing your route with Whoop Coach.
Credit: Screenshots courtesy of Whoop

One of the best improvements to the Whoop app actually doesn’t have much to do with Whoop 5.0 specifically, but with the app itself. Now, Whoop Coach, which is still in beta on the app, helps you make sense of all the data.

The AI-driven feature processes all your data, makes suggestions and starts a conversation with you about training adjustments based on your sleep and scoring. Since I’m not an elite athlete trying to dig into my biometrics every day, Whoop Coach was very approachable in explaining what my scores meant and how to answer them.

Performance is a mixed bag

The data provided by Whoop 5.0 is accurate. Sleep points reflect how I was feeling. When I only got a few hours of sleep at night, my Whoop warned me to take it easy during the day, but after a full eight hours, it encouraged me to push it through my workouts.

Whoop claims the longest battery life of any fitness tracker at nearly any price, at 14 days. Although my device didn’t last a full two weeks, I was able to last a full week without slipping on the charger.

Often I would wake up to check my sleep score and find that the Whoop app was missing data.
Credit: Screenshot courtesy of Whoop

My biggest disappointment about Whoop was its time to load data into the app. When you close the Whoop app, it immediately tells you to reopen it to keep the data updated, which definitely drained my phone’s battery.

Even if I kept the app open all the time, Whoop 5.0 was slow to load data, especially in the morning. Often, I would wake up ready to see my sleep data, only to find out that Whoop was missing data from the previous eight hours. After refreshing the app a few times, the data finally appeared, but it was disappointing how often this happened.

Releases Apple Watch functionality

While I was testing Whoop, I simultaneously wore my Apple Watch to compare data and track my workout in real time. I synced my Whoop with Apple Health, and a serious problem arose. Whoop data overrode all my Apple Fitness data. Suddenly, my calorie count after my normal activities was much lower than expected.

The Whoop 5.0 has more conservative calorie counts than my Apple Watch. Usually, after my morning walk, my Apple Watch shows that I burned about 400 active calories, but with Whoop 5.0, it only shows about 200. Both programs use the same weight, heart rate, and step count data, so it raises the question of which is more accurate, and unfortunately, I can’t ask my omniscient body for that exact number.

Whoop 5.0 includes two tiers of membership

Whoop has three membership tiers: Single, Peak, and Life. The One and Peak use Whoop 5.0 while the Life tier comes with Whoop MG. One is the basic tier ($199 per year), but its data is more than basic. It includes 24/7 biometric monitoring, as well as sleep, stress, and recovery data. It also provides information on automatic activity detection, step tracking, cardiovascular strain, VO2 Max measurements, and heart rate zones.

With a Beak membership ($239 a year), you get all that plus lifetime data. That includes Healthspan, which tracks your Whoop age and your aging page. Also, Peak includes stress and health monitors that analyze signals from your heart rate, temperature, and blood oxygen levels.

The great thing about Whoop 5.0 is that you can upgrade from One to Peak at any time using the same device. Membership is billed annually, so you can choose the category that suits you without switching devices.

What’s missing in Whoop 5.0

Technically, the Whoop 5.0 is the product’s basic fitness tracker. The most advanced option is Whoop MG, which stands for medical grade. Whoop MG is part of the most expensive membership, the Life tier, which costs $359. It includes everything in the Premium membership category, plus blood pressure information and AFIB detection. If both of these are negotiable for you, depending on your health concerns, the Whoop 5.0 may not be right for you.

However, if you browse the Whoop community on Reddit, the majority of users say that MG is not worth the price of those two features and prefer the Peak membership and Whoop 5.0.

It’s cheaper than that other fitness tracker – at first

Thanks to Whoop’s unique pricing structure, it’s deceptively cheap. With other fitness trackers like Apple Watch, Oura Ring, and Fitbit, you buy the device directly and use it freely, or maybe pay a small membership fee. But since you buy a membership with Whoop and get a device with it, the price is different.

Oura Ring 5 starts at $399, plus an annual membership fee of $69.99, for a total of $468.99 in the first year. Whoop’s average membership, Peak, is $239 per year. Whoop remains cheap after two years of use, but after three years of paying $239, it’s more expensive than the Oura ring and three years of membership.

However, if you don’t want to deal with any membership fees, that’s where the Apple Watch or Fitbit come in.

Should you buy Whoop 5.0?

Should the Whoop 5.0 accompany you on your workout?
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

Yes, Whoop 5.0 is a great fitness tracker, best suited for people who focus on stress and recovery for daily life and exercise. It provides a wealth of data and a Whoop Coach to help you make sense of the data. Its low-profile, stretchy woven waistband makes it comfortable to wear at all times.

If you want training data during your workouts, you’ll need another fitness tracker over the 5.0, since it doesn’t have a screen. Not to mention, while all the data is pretty accurate, the app’s processing speed is often slow.

But for $239, or a more affordable $199 membership option, the Whoop 5.0 is a solid health tracker.