MUSE 2: Headband Meditation Tracker and Monitor

Great potential, not yet fully realized
I purchased the Muse S a few months ago and since then, have been using it daily.Here’s the TLDR:The Muse S is a fantastic device, beautifully designed, and the first sleep headband I’ve tried that’s actually comfortable enough to wear to bed. It has tons of sensors to monitor brain activity, heart rate, breath rate, etc… and it’s useful not only for falling asleep, but also for general meditation purposes, as it uses the same software and includes the same sensors as the Muse 2. Interaxon is a solid company that’s been around for a while and considered the industry leader in this space, so it’s unlikely you’ll get stuck with a useless paperweight, as happens so often with products sold on Kickstarter. The downside is the Muse app, in its current form, isn’t the greatest. In fact, it’s pretty bad. It doesn’t support any sleep tracking features, so it’s really only useful for falling asleep, not monitoring your sleep. The included daytime meditations are a mixed bag. Some are decent, others not so much. For example, the breath meditation is great, except unlike most other breathing apps, that allow you to set your desired breath rate, this one forces you to breathe at a preset rate, which can be uncomfortable. The good news is, Muse has a new app in beta, that’s supposed to be vastly improved and includes all the sleep tracking features, which is the main reason why people would buy this device in the first place.Here’s the full review:First, the un-boxing was a really nice experience. It was like un-boxing an Apple product. The packaging was very premium quality and much smaller than I anticipated. The box was literally smaller than the box my Apple watch came in. You can tell they put a lot of effort into making a good first impressionThe device itself looks and feels super-premium. The power source and CPU pod attach to the center of the headband using a strong magnet that snaps into place with a satisfying click. Likewise, the clasp that holds the band in place also uses a strong magnet, rather than a conventional plastic snap connector. It’s very stylish. You could wear this in public without attracting much attention. It might even make a good conversation starter! Most importantly, it’s super comfortable to wear. It feels like you’re wearing a normal headband I often forget I have it on, and have worn it all day without any problems, no headaches or anything. I’m also able to sleep comfortably while wearing it, which makes it the first sleep headband I’ve tried that’s actually comfortable enough to use for its intended purpose.I had never meditated before and didn’t buy the Muse for that purpose. I bought it for two reasons:1. I have high blood pressure and there’s a lot of scientific evidence suggesting the technique used in the Muse breathing meditation can lower blood pressure significantly .I previously purchased and subsequently returned a $300 Resperate unit that’s FDA approved to lower blood pressure using a breathing meditation. While the Muse S is not FDA approved for anything, after using both devices, I can say the Muse S breathing meditation is pretty much the same thing as the Resperate’s, plus the Muse S does a lot more than just breathing meditations. Also, the Resperate uses a wired band with a pressure sensor to detect your breathing and wired ear buds; very inconvenient to use.2. I often have trouble falling asleep and the Muse S is specifically designed as a sleep aid. I previously purchased and returned the $500 Dreem headband, which is a dedicated sleep aid and sleep tracker. Not only did the Dreem look completely ridiculous, but it was extremely uncomfortable to sleep with it on, which pretty much defeated the purpose of all its advanced sensors and technology.So, the theoretical appeal of the Muse S for me, was that it replaced the functionality of two other devices, while offering much additional functionality and being more comfortable and stylish than either of those devices. Over the past several months, I’ve been following a daily meditation protocol, I implemented to attempt to lower my blood pressure:1. Breath meditation for 5 minutes. This calms your body down, putting you in a more relaxed state.2. Heart meditation for 10 minutes. This allows you to slow your heart rate. I’ve been able to get my heart rate down to less than 50 BPM without exercise.3. Mind meditation for 10 minutes. This calms your brain activity.Following this protocol every morning, I’ve been able to lower my blood pressure from 140/90 to 100/70. The effect is both cumulative and persistent thought the day and will actually last for several days without meditating. I’ve been taking blood pressure medication for many years and while it helped in the beginning, I’ve found that it’s become less effective as I’ve gotten older. I believe this meditation protocol has addressed the root cause of the issue, by reducing anxiety and stress.The sleep features are where the Muse S has much room for improvement.First, the Muse S has no built-in speakers. I knew this when I bought it, but still, it was a bit of a “duh” moment when I was getting ready for bed the first time and realized I’d have to either use my iPhone speaker or my Airpods, neither of which seemed ideal for sleeping. I opted for the Airpods and it was fine when I sleeping on my back, but it prevented me from being able to sleep on my side. I ended up purchasing a Dreampad sleep pillow, which delivers sound via bone induction rather than conventional speakers, so when your head is on the pillow, you’re immersed in the sound. The Dreampad has worked out great and could be used effectively with any audio source.Another big problem is the Muse S currently does NOT support sleep tracking! How can a company release an EEG headband, with a 10-hour battery life, specifically advertised as a sleep device and not include sleep tracking? It seems like the device hardware was engineered specifically for sleep tracking, but the app doesn’t support it. I was so shocked by this that I went back and re-read the Muse website to make sure I wasn’t missing something. Sure enough, there’s no mention of sleep tracking on the website. I just assumed it would support it, since every similar device I’ve looked at and tried, supports sleep tracking. The good news is, Muse currently has a new app in beta, which includes all the sleep tracking features.The “Sleep Journeys” are just meh. There’s maybe a dozen to choose from and they only last for 10 – 20 minutes, which is not enough time for me to fall asleep. Supposedly, they adapt to your brainwaves to play different sounds depending on your mental state, but I didn’t notice this happening. The big problem is, after the Sleep Journey ends, the device shuts off and that’s it! If you haven’t yet fallen asleep, you have to open the app and manually start another Sleep Journey. From such a hi-tech device, I’d expect that it would continue playing the Journey at least until it detects that you’ve fallen asleep.The Soundscapes use a timer, so you can play them for up to four hours. This is better than a 20-minute Sleep Journey, but still seems arbitrary. What if you want the sound to play all night, to prevent you from waking up in the middle of the night? What if you want it to play until you fall asleep? What if you want it to play until it’s time to wake up, then use a smart alarm to wake you when you’re not in a REM state? The whole point of an EEG headband is to be able to detect what’s going on in your brain and adapt accordingly. In its present form, the sleep features are actually worse than those offered by numerous iOS apps.It’s also disappointing that the standard Muse app doesn’t support viewing and streaming raw EEG data. For that, you have to buy the Muse Direct app, which presently doesn’t support the Muse S. I ended up buying the Mind Monitor third-party app, which works great, but the UI is not very polished, so it feels like a hobbyist app, not in keeping with the premium feel of the Muse device. For $350, I think Muse should make Muse Direct a free download and add support for the Muse S.Despite all these criticisms, I’m giving the Muse S a 5-star review, because it has helped me lower my stress level and my blood pressure dramatically, which obviously, you can’t put a price on. Moreover, once the new sleep tracking features become available, the Muse S should become one of the best sleep tracking devices on the market, which I view as an added bonus.

Adds stress to what should be a peaceful exercise
I was hoping this product would be great, but sadly it’s poorly created and thought out. I’m writing this with the hope of saving others a $300 mistake.First, the hardware is crap. After roughly 30 days the band started to show signs of wear. The coating on the band starts to rub off on your skin. Not sure if it’s going to cause irritation or cancer, but it will cause your device to stop reading some of the sensors. I wrote support but they were useless and refused to send out a replacement band. The extended warranty was also useless, they claimed it was still under warranty and wouldn’t cover what the manufacturer refused to cover.Another issue flaky Bluetooth. The connection breaks. I have other sleep trackers (Oura) and devices that do not exhibit this problem.Lastly, the data doesn’t add up. I’m not sure if it’s because of the crappy sensors, worn pads, it it’s just not accurate. Even during the first two weeks when it worked correctly, it was extremely frustrating to adjust the headband to get it to work. Getting frustrated before meditation or sleep really isn’t a great start.Out of all my sleep trackers – Oura ring, withings sleep pad, garmin Fenix 6, zeo sleep machine, this is the worst. Zeo is the best, although it’s discontinued.Aside from the crappy hardware and software, the icing on the cake is they try to sucker you in on a free trial that renews at over $100.I really wanted to like this devise and was hoping it could replace my zeo sleep machine, but it’s junk made by a company with crappy support.Hoping to save others money as this product truly is garbage and should he pulled.

I LOVE this Muse S head band as it has helped me learn to mediate better. The app has 4 different series – mind, heart, body and breath – that will guide any beginner how to use your mind to find calm, lower heart rate, and stay relaxed during meditations. The other big plus for me is the accurate tracking of my sleeps so I know the quality of my sleep as it breaks down minute by minute the different stages of my sleep (light sleep, REM, deep sleep) and shows me my sleep position, my heart rate, and stillness! It will generate a sleep score using all these data! It takes the guesswork out and that is super useful!

Llegó a tiempo y en buen estado. A mi esposa le sirve para medir sus ondas cerebrales mientras duerme y a mi hijo le ha permitido dormirse más rápido. Mide sólo las 3 primeras horas de sueño, no toda la noche, pero con eso se puede observar que te deja y que no te deja dormir. En las meditaciones se dan cuenta si las están haciendo concetrados o no.