Forget the flimsy fitness bands of yesteryear, wearable tech king Whoop has always played in a different league – as a screenless sentinel favoured by the kind of guy who tracks his HRV like his stock portfolio. Now, it’s upping the ante with its new Whoop 5.0 and its medically-minded sibling, the Whoop MG.
Unveiling its first new device in 4 years, Whoop hasn’t just made incremental upgrades to its existing bands, but rather opted for a full-on data deep dive, promising to turn your wrist into a personal health command centre – albeit with a potentially steeper entry fee.
The new hardware is undeniably sleek. Shaving off 7% in size and boasting a battery that can now comfortably outlast your most demanding week (think 14+ days, extendable to a month with their new Wireless PowerPack), the 5.0 feels like a refined piece of kit. But it’s under the hood where things get truly interesting. Enhanced sensors now sample your biometrics with obsessive frequency, feeding a processor that promises insights delivered with lightning speed.
The Whoop MG is the real headline grabber, however. Simply put, this is an elite level of personal fitness tracker, packing ECG capabilities that will allow you to keep tabs on your heart’s rhythm. Also, for the ultimate in personal health metrics, it’s even dipping its toes into blood pressure estimation – a genuinely intriguing, albeit initially calibration-dependent, feature.
But here’s where the conversation gets a little… nuanced. Whoop has ditched its straightforward subscription model for a tiered system. Want the full biohacker experience, the “Healthspan” metrics, the stress tracking? That’ll be the “Whoop Peak.” Fancy playing doctor with the ECG and blood pressure on the MG? You’re looking at the top-tier “Whoop Life.” The base “Whoop One” still offers the core tracking, but the juiciest data now comes with a premium.
The upgrade path for existing Whoop loyalists involves either a one-time hardware fee or committing to another year of membership. It’s a calculated move by Whoop, betting that the depth and sophistication of their data, especially with the MG’s medical-grade features, will justify the increased cost.
For the data-obsessed, the early adopters, the guys who see their bodies as high-performance machines, the Whoop 5.0 and especially the MG offer an unprecedented level of personal insight. But for the casual tracker, the new pricing structure might just raise an eyebrow. One thing’s for sure: Whoop is betting big on the future of personalized health, and the 5.0 and MG are their most ambitious play yet.
