Review on RENPHO Smart Jump Rope, Fitness Skipping Rope With APP Data Analysis, Workout Jump Ropes For Home Gym, Crossfit, Jumping Rope Counter For Exercise For Men, Women by Jordan Ford

I recently had to write a review for another brand's jump rope for the Revain Vine program, and compared it to the Renpho model which I have had for 1-2 years. It made me realize how much I love the Renpho, so I’m including the review here:I have used jump roping as a regular exercise of mine for years, and own at least a dozen different types; anything from $8-80 models. A few years ago, I started using a Renpho Smart jumping rope, and, although it’s not my particularly the best made or my favorite jump rope, I have used it almost exclusively several times a week because of the "smart” features. I base my work outs on the number of jumps, so this thing has allowed me to stop counting and listen to music or podcasts because it counts for me. I love it. As a frame of reference, I typically do 4000 jumps and it takes me 27-28 minutes.The rope on my Renpho has started to wear in the center (which happens) so I needed to replace it anyway. I had the opportunity to try this brand, WEGYM, through the Revain Vine program, so decided to compare the 2. There are more similarities than differences, so I will mostly point out why I would absolutely recommend the Renpho over this brand:The app for the WEGYM is more confusing to navigate. It’s part of a multi-training workout app that incorporates many other (non jump rope) exercises. The Renpho is just a jump rope app. While someone else may want to also have an app that does core exercises, strength training, etc it made this clunkier to navigate for me because only a small section of the app is dedicated to rope jumping. It looks like they also sell some type of resistance band ("Rally-X”?), and most of the app is focused on that.While many of the features of the jump rope section WEGYM app are the same as the Renpho, it was also just a little more confusing to navigate (and I’m usually pretty tech savvy - I like gadgets). For example, there is a "metronome” setting which ticks while you jump, and I thought this was going to be a deal breaker, because it’s really annoying. You can turn it off, but it wasn’t obvious at first how. It’s probably just that I've been using the Renpho for so long and that I’m used to it, but it seems simpler and more sleek to use, even though the interface looks more rudimentary and not as polished as the WEGYM. Also, the Renpho let’s you compare your jumps, time, and calories burned to other users for that day, week, month, etc (just a little motivating factor) and I didn’t see that feature on the WEGYM.The main issue though, are the handles. They are on the thin side (about the width of your thumb) and are short and made of a smooth plastic. I typically like the thicker handles, just for the feel and grip. However, if you are going to have thin, light handles you need to have a thin, light rope as well (which I also don’t usually like). I’m sure there are official weights/designations, but I would call this rope moderately heavy (it’s a steel cable surrounded by a plastic sheath - fairly typical) and moderately thick for a jump rope.When jumping, the handles are not heavy enough to support the weight of the rope, so there is a lot of motion/toggle on the inner portion of the handles. This is annoying, especially if you are jumping for a while. I tried "choking up” on the handle, so I was essentially hitting the rope, and it still moved a lot. Basically, the balance is off so it’s not very comfortable to use for a long time.The Renpho, at the time of this writing, is also $8 cheaper ($17 vs $25) than the WEGYM, making it a no-brainer. I will say, though, that the WEGYM and it’s features are worth $25, it’s just the Renpho is a much better bargain.I think I’m going to remove the rope part from the WEGYM and put it on the Renpho handles. If it doesn’t fit (or is still too heavy for those handles), then I’ll just but another Renpho.