They lied - Whoop 5.0

Summary

In this candid review, Oliur discusses his mixed feelings about the Whoop 5.0 device, expressing frustration over the company's misleading upgrade promises. Despite the impressive features like extended battery life and faster data processing, Oliur highlights his disappointment with Whoop reneging on their promise to upgrade devices for free after six months of membership. This review covers the unboxing experience and design details, explaining why Oliur's trust in the company has been shaken, even as he acknowledges the device’s superior tracking capabilities.

Highlights

• Enhanced battery life on the Whoop 5.0 now lasts up to 14 days. 🔋
• The device promises 60% faster data processing, enhancing user experience. ⚡
• Oliur’s trust was broken due to Whoop’s false upgrade promises, affecting his recommendation. 😕
• Unboxing reveals premium Apple-like packaging, hinting at a luxurious user experience. 📦
• Oliur’s disappointment with the overly thick device design despite being labeled as 7% smaller. 📏
• The high cost of leather straps raises questions about their value despite their premium feel. 💰
• Whoop's decision to remove upgrade information from their website was a major letdown for loyal users. 😞
• A breakdown in trust has led Oliur to question future recommendations of Whoop products. 🤔

Key Takeaways

• The Whoop 5.0 offers better battery life and quicker data processing than its predecessor. 🔋
• Users are frustrated with Whoop's shift in upgrade promises, which have now been removed from their website. 🤨
• Despite its premium features, the new device's thickness might not appeal to all users, especially those with smaller wrists. 🏋️‍♂️
• The cost of accessories, like the leather straps, adds up, with prices around $100. 💸
• Oliur remains a fan of the Whoop's accuracy in activity and health tracking but is disheartened by the company's customer service and trust issues. 💔

Overview

Oliur begins his review with a breakdown of why the Whoop 5.0 caught his attention initially due to its impressive features—extended battery life and fast data processing. However, he quickly shifts to a frustration with the company's broken promises, which, according to him, have misled customers. The initial unboxing was delightful, with a packaging style reminiscent of Apple's attention to detail and premium design.

Continuing his exploration, Oliur notes the subtle design changes in the Whoop 5.0, pointing out the device's thickness as a negative for individuals with smaller wrists. He provides a tangible comparison of the old and new versions, emphasizing that despite claims of a smaller design, the difference is minimal. The accessory costs, like the leather straps, further add to the device's financial burden, making one question their value given the hefty price tag.

The crux of his discontent, though, revolves around the change in Whoop’s upgrade policy, which was allegedly advertised as free after six months of subscription but has now vanished online, leaving users no choice but to pay or extend their membership significantly. This breach of trust has left Oliur questioning his previously strong endorsements of the brand, casting a shadow over his past praises regarding its accuracy and convenience.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 02:00: Introduction and Context The speaker discusses their usual positive approach to product reviews on their channel, noting a focus on products they are interested in. They tend not to review products they dislike or have no personal interest in.
• 02:00 - 05:00: Whoop 5.0 Unboxing The chapter discusses the superiority of the Whoop device, particularly for activity and health tracking compared to the Apple Watch. Highlights include the recovery and strain indicators that allow the user to monitor daily recovery and exertion levels. The user appreciates features that help gauge how much they can push themselves each day. The author clarifies that their positive comments about the Whoop are unbiased, as they have purchased the devices themselves without any sponsorship.
• 05:00 - 07:00: First Impressions of Whoop 5.0 The speaker discusses their past experience with the Whoop product, mentioning a change in their positive perspective, which they will elaborate on later. They critique other reviews of the Whoop 5.0, suggesting that those reviewers had early access to the product through affiliation and their reviews may not be entirely unbiased. The speaker proceeds to unbox their new Whoop 5.0 and leather strap.
• 07:00 - 09:00: Strap and Accessories Discussion The chapter discusses the user's experience with ordering a strap from Whoop. The user intended to order a brown leather strap but mistakenly received confirmation for a black leather strap. They reached out to Whoop for assistance but were informed that changes couldn't be made to the order; instead, they would need to return the item. The user expresses a preference for the brown strap, which they originally wanted. Additionally, the user observes that the strap has an Apple-inspired design.
• 09:00 - 13:00: Issues with Whoop 5.0 and Company Practices The chapter discusses changes in packaging for the Whoop 5.0 product compared to the past. The speaker recalls the packaging being different when they ordered it nearly two years ago, noting that it has undergone some changes. The process of opening the new packaging is described, including scanning to get started. Despite the changes, the speaker appreciates that the packaging is still nice. The chapter concludes with the revelation of the Whoop device and its new charging method.
• 13:00 - 14:00: Conclusion and Future Considerations The chapter discusses the two models of Whoop 5.0, highlighting a comparison between the standard version and the MG model. The narrator expresses a preference for the standard model, citing cost considerations, and proceeds to unbox the device, discarding the packaging materials.

They lied - Whoop 5.0 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 So, I hate to do negative videos or negative product reviews. I'm usually pretty positive on my channel. I usually like to cover things that I'm personally interested in. If I don't like a product or I'm not personally interested in it, I just won't usually cover it on the channel. However, I have been a Whoop user for nearly 2 years now. I actually I don't know if you guys can see, I actually have a tan line from me wearing my Whoop. Like, I I just pretty much wear it every single day. I've been very happy with it. I even made a 25-minute video comparing it against the Apple Watch and the Ultra Human Ring. My
• 00:30 - 01:00 conclusion was that the Whoop was just superior for activity tracking and health tracking compared to the Apple Watch. What I primarily loved about the Whoop was the recovery and strain indicators. Being able to see what my recovery is like for the day, being able to see what my strain is like for the day, just being able to see how much I can push myself throughout the day. It was a very, very useful feature to have with the Whoop. I want to make it clear as well that I have bought my Whoop, my Whoop 4.0, my Whoop 5.0. I have no inflation with Whoop whatsoever, and I've been very positive about the
• 01:00 - 01:30 product in the past. However, I'm not that positive anymore, but we'll get into that later on in the video. I've also seen a few videos go live about the Whoop 5.0, and they were mainly on release date, which means those people have been getting the product before release. You know, they have some sort of affiliation with the Whoop. So, their videos, their reviews aren't going to be completely unbiased. So, let's get into the unboxing, show you what I've ordered. I have the new Whoop 5.0, and I also have the new leather strap. So,
• 01:30 - 02:00 annoyingly, I actually ordered the brown leather strap so that I could have a black strap and a brown strap. But then when I saw the order after I had ordered it, it said that I had ordered the black leather strap, which I definitely didn't. I was pretty sure about that. I emailed Whoop asking them, "Hey, can I change it?" And they were like, "No, we can't change it anymore. you're just going to have to return it, which is not ideal. I will maybe return it for the brown one because I do want the brown one. That's the one I actually ordered. So, let's move this aside and let's get into this. What I've noticed straight away though is that they have very much gone for an Appleesque style when it
• 02:00 - 02:30 comes to their packaging. This is not what their packaging used to look like when I ordered it nearly 2 years ago. Uh, rip it off like so. Scan to get started. So, just a quick sort of guide. Uh, it's nice packaging. And then we have another box within the box. And there we have the Whoop device. We have the new charging
• 02:30 - 03:00 brick. And we also have a USBC cable to charge the charging brick. There's actually two models, the Whoop 5.0 and the Whoop 5.0 MG. I have the standard Whoop 5.0 I because I don't really see the MG worth it for me for the upgrade because that's a bit more expensive compared to the to the standard Whoop 5.0. Let's open it up. Remove the plastic wrapping like so. Throw that away. And yeah, the device itself is
• 03:00 - 03:30 very similar to the previous device. There isn't actually too much of a difference, but I can definitely tell that there is a size difference, but it's still fairly thick. That is my biggest annoyance with the Whoop. I'd say is the thickness of it. It is still quite thick. So above is the Whoop 5.0 and below is the Whoop 4.0. I actually think the Whoop 5.0 might be thicker from looking at it here. I don't know if that's just me looking at the design. I do need to look at the specs to be sure,
• 03:30 - 04:00 but it does look thicker. But you can definitely tell it's a little bit smaller. They're saying it's 7% smaller. I'll be honest. You know, I think most people aren't even going to be able to tell that it's 7% smaller. Like, it just isn't that much of a difference. If we put them side by side as well, actually, I think that does a better job of maybe showing how much smaller it is. 5.0 4.0. It's a little bit smaller, but not really much of a huge difference. But a big difference
• 04:00 - 04:30 between the two is that you now get 14 days of battery life on the new Whoop 5.0. So, that's significantly more compared to the older version. Another benefit of the Whoop 5.0 is that it's up to 60% faster when it comes to processing your data. I didn't really have much of an issue when it came to processing data on this anyway, but knowing that I can do it faster, I guess is nice. When we look at the bottom of the two devices, 4.0, 5.0, newer, older, we can see that it does look pretty much exactly the same. Because it's a little
• 04:30 - 05:00 bit smaller, it also means that the older battery pack and the older straps like this strap I have here for my 4.0 will not work on the new one. So any accessories that you've bought will not work. Apart from maybe the clothing, I think the clothing is a little bit different. If you're interested in getting another strap, the straps are not cheap. This leather one that I've got here, which I'll unbox in a second, I think was like $100, maybe more. I can't remember. I'll put it on the screen. So, this was not cheap whatsoever. Let's move it all aside and let's get the black strap. the black leather strap. Um, even though I ordered
• 05:00 - 05:30 the brown, I mean, I'm sort of hoping that the brown is in here. This is made from genuine leather. Now, genuine leather doesn't necessarily mean it's the best grade of leather. It's packaged nicely, though. Like, it comes in this felt sort of suede uh package, which is nice. A premium experience. Feels very Appleike. Again, it has Don't know if you guys can read that. It has a leather lux written on the inside there. And then if we get the strap out, it is the black strap. So, not the brown one,
• 05:30 - 06:00 unfortunately. It is the black one. It does look very, very nice. I'm not going to lie. Like, it feels very premium. Looks really nice. Looks really smart. And that's the reason why I wanted the brown one because then I could wear it with another watch. I could wear the Whoop on one arm and wear my watch on the other. I'm usually wearing my Apple Watch dayto-day, but if I want to change it to any other watch, I can do that while still being able to track my health with the Whoop. Some people think it's crazy that I wear the Whoop and Apple Watch at the same time, but I actually use them quite differently, but that's for another video. For the leather strap, this black leather strap,
• 06:00 - 06:30 it is very, very nice. There's some silvery chrome accents on it as well. Feels luxurious. Feels expensive. Um, and it literally just I guess Yeah, there we go. So, it comes out like so. And then you can adjust the length of it to however you like. I think it's really, really nice. Is it worth the price tag that it goes for? I'm not sure. I'm not sure if it's worth that really high price tag because at the end of the day, it's just a piece of leather
• 06:30 - 07:00 and some metal bits. I think they're metal anyway. They feel it. They don't feel like plastic. Does feel like metal, but is it worth the money? Not sure. It'll be cool to see if there's any aftermarket straps that come along. I mean, it's a bit fiddly. We're on I think I could probably get it a bit tighter. There we go. It does look smart. I'm not going to lie. with the leather strap. It does look more of like a premium device, but it is thick, man. Like, I don't know if you guys can see that. Feel like a Power Ranger or something. Like, it's quite thick, but
• 07:00 - 07:30 I've got quite small wrists. Uh, I don't actually know the measurement of my wrist, but I've got quite small wrists and I feel like it looks quite bulky. I would have preferred if they actually made it thinner rather than increase the battery life. I'm happy to take a hit on the battery life. I'm happy to have the same battery life that I had before, but for it to be a thinner device purely because I have small wrists. So, let's get on to why I'm not happy and why this is just a negative experience. So, Whoop is straight up lying to customers. I
• 07:30 - 08:00 have some information here. They have gone back on something that they promised. And the thing that they promised was that if you bought a Whoop 4.0, Oh, if you bought one of these uh and you had it for at least 6 months, you would be entitled to any future hardware upgrades for free. That's part of the subscription. That was one of the reasons why I subscribe. That was one of the reasons why lots of people subscribe because it's different from the Apple Watch, right? With the Apple Watch, you kind of just have to pay every year for the new model. With this, you know, if you're paying the subscription, you get a new model as long as you've been subscribed for at least 6 months. They
• 08:00 - 08:30 even had all this information on their website. I have a screenshot here of a blog post I had on the website and it clearly says Whoop members receive the next generation device for free after having been a member for 6 months or more. Conveniently, they have removed this. They have removed this blog post. They have removed any information regarding upgrading your device or anything like that. The only way you can see this is by using the way back machine, the way back time machine thing that you can see that you can use to basically see older pages on websites.
• 08:30 - 09:00 Now, to get the new hardware like I've got here, you need to either extend your membership by 12 months on top of whatever months you've got left. Um, so I think my membership sort of runs out in like August, September. So, I've had to pay 12 months on top. Um, and it extends it from August September. So, I now I have it until August September 2026. So, that's one way. Or you pay $49 to upgrade. So, you're either forced to extend your membership or you're forced
• 09:00 - 09:30 to pay $49 to upgrade. That isn't what Woop promised. And I think that is not right. They've straight up been lying to customers, deceiving customers. I've been a big praiser of Whoop. I've been a big fan of Whoop. I have recommended to so many people. Like I said, I've made a 25minute video on my channel. You guys have probably seen me wear it over the years in every single video. And yet, here they are. They've just straight up lied to me. They've lied to their customers. They've lied to everyone about the upgrade program. I usually don't like doing videos like this. Like
• 09:30 - 10:00 I said, I don't I don't want to say negative things like this, like really negative things. But because this is a product that I use, but because this is a product that I've been paying for, and there's been this promise ever since I bought it, it's just very very disappointing. It's not what I expected. It's not what most people signed up for because we're already paying the subscription for it. Now, I get it if maybe it was someone who signed up just a few months ago. Maybe they sort of grandfathered it in. Maybe they changed their policy and only people who signed up before a certain date um were entitled to the upgrade for free. But
• 10:00 - 10:30 the problem is it was everyone who purchased the W 4.0 sort of like I think they started removing all the material on the website a few months ago. So anyone before that who was paying for the week was under the assumption that any hardware upgrades they will be getting for free which is obviously not the case. I know some people also disagree with the monthly subscription. I completely get it. I was personally happy to pay the monthly subscription and it wasn't even really for the device. It was actually for the software. It was the information that it would give me. It was the health analytics that it will give me about my
• 10:30 - 11:00 life. That's what made it valuable for me. That's what made it worth it paying the monthly subscription. Some people will see the value in that, some people won't. And now that I have extended it for 12 months, I mainly wanted to extend it for 12 months because I wanted to try the device. I wanted to see what it's like. I wanted to see how much of an upgrade it was. and being in the position I'm in with viewing tech and stuff, I think it also made sense just for me to pay for the upgrade because it's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things in me making videos and whatever else for the channel. But I
• 11:00 - 11:30 think if I weren't a tech reviewer, if I weren't someone who covers products, who who recommends products and stuff, and I bought this and then I had to pay for the upgrade, I would be livid. Like, I would be so so upset. And because of that, I don't think I'll be recommending the Whoop to anyone anymore. Like, as great of a device it is, the monthly subscription that I was happy to pay, not really anymore, you know, all the health and everything, like it was just so good. I just can't recommend it to
• 11:30 - 12:00 other people because if that promise was there and they're willing to go back on that promise, what's to say that in the future they won't go back on a bunch of other promises? I feel like you can't really trust a company like that. Like I said though, you know, they had grandfathered it in. I completely get it. Policies and things change, but the problem is they lied to people like me and a bunch of other customers who bought Whoop 4.0 and other devices, whatever, with the expectation of they were going to be getting upgrades for free. I am going to personally keep wearing it until my subscription comes
• 12:00 - 12:30 to an end. Whether I'll be renewing that subscription, I'm not sure. Like, I really don't know yet. I think I'm going to wait until it's over and then see what I want to do with it. I'm hoping by then there's a lot more competition. There is already quite a bit of competition. The Ultra Human Ring is one of them. The Aura ring. The Apple Watch as well. I feel like Apple have been sort of sleep on the Apple Watch. Um Apple Watch is good for health tracking and stuff and activity tracking, but it's just not, I don't think, as good as the Whoop. I found the Whoop more
• 12:30 - 13:00 accurate and because there's no screen or anything on it, um it can track the data a lot more often. The Apple Watch isn't tracking your heart rate constantly. This is, and that's one of the benefits of it with it being able to track my heart rate constantly. You can really see how much my heart rate is changing throughout the day, how much sort of strain and stress I'm going through. And when it comes to sleep as well, it just does a better job of tracking my sleep. Even though Apple Watch is a very, very good sleep tracker as it is, I still stand by a lot of the things that I said in my 25minute review
• 13:00 - 13:30 of this thing comparing it to the other devices. A lot of those things are true. It's still a fantastic device, but like I said, I'm not sure I'm going to be as willing or I'm going to recommend it to people as much as I did before.