Review: Muse 2, Muse S Meditation Devices
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TL;DR: Get the Muse S if you want some sleep data and can easily ship to/from North America. Get the Muse 2 if you live anywhere else or your priority is brainwave data. Responsive device, solid app, great price point, excellent customer support. I meditate more by having a Muse. Highly recommend!
I’ve always been a fan of wearables. I believe that eventually, it is inevitable that we are going to be much more connected, and the interconnection of technology with our human experience is accelerating. It’s not about trying to resist the integration with technology, but how can we use technology to make us happier, more mindful, and more peaceful?
Searching for EEG devices in the <$500 range. After I was given Neurosky’s Mindwave several years ago, I found that being able to visualize my brainwave activity especially while doing a lot of ThetaHealing work, gave me a lot of useful data. Some of the things that I was taught and that I was teaching had to do with the brainwave state that we were in. And getting the neural feedback was extremely useful. However, I wanted a better, faster, user-friendly device. I scoured the internet to find which wearables were on the market in the under $500 range and what the reviews were. Based on reviews and the price point, I opted for a Muse 1 device (not available anymore). I was so happy with its performance- it provided almost no delay of feedback of brain activity especially relative to the Neurosky Mindwave, and the easy-to-use Muse app made it simple to have the neural feedback to come in audio form of rain or other soundscapes. I found it to be a game-changer for myself but also different clients to who I was able to demonstrate the device to. They were amazed at how getting the feedback helped them in their processes of learning how to meditate and how to become even more aware of their brain activity and to hear when their minds started to drift off.
Sleek design and portable. I am also a sucker for good design. If you enjoy the unboxing experience you get with Apple products, Muse devices have a similar feel. And it just looks sleek and modern. I don’t want to name names, but there are other devices which I am sure have wonderful functionality, but it’s not the kind of thing I’d want to wear in public unless I wanted to draw a crowd. One of the things I like about Muse devices is that I can travel with them. I’ve used them on planes and they look discreet. When I had bangs, the whole device would be hidden.
Muse-S and Muse 2. At the beginning of the COVID crisis, I found myself stuck in the US away from my home in South America for an indefinite amount of time. I was far away from my Muse device as well, and after several weeks, I decided I needed a new Muse. I decided to give the Muse S a shot, and was really happy with it! I loved the flexible and comfortable band. I noticed that I used it a lot more compared to the Muse 1 just because of how easy it was to use and handle and I enjoyed falling asleep with it. The data you get while falling asleep is one of the big benefits of the Muse-S. The year prior, I had done an interview with the company to offer some feedback of my experience with Muse 1, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that several of the points I made about the device were actually integrated into this device. However, after about 4 months of using the device almost daily, there were several connection issues. I communicated with the support team to troubleshoot, and they were very helpful. In the end, they offered to replace it. I decided that I would return it and instead get the Muse 2. The main reason for not just getting a replacement of the Muse S was that I was concerned that if I had problems again with the wear and tear of the Muse S and I was somewhere internationally, that it would be too much of a pain to try to return it or get the replacement straps, especially with travel being so up in the air.
Thoughts on Muse 2 compared to Muse 1. The Muse 2 is similar to the Muse 1, but has some bonus features- it tracks your heart rate and breathing beyond just brainwave activity and has an accelerometer and gyroscope to be able to track movement. I noticed that I don’t use the meditations that focus on heart rate and breathing, as I’m most interested in brainwave activity. But I hope on creating some integrations with other apps to be able to utilize those functions in a different way in the future.
What would I choose now, Muse S or Muse 2? Overall, if I had to choose again, if I lived in the US or Canada, I’d probably prefer the Muse S. Anywhere else in the world, I’d get a Muse 2 and not look back. However, I read that the sensitivity of the neural activity is not as high in the Muse S, so if you care about that data, opt for the Muse 2.
How it’s made a difference in my life. I meditate significantly more than I would without this device. Sometimes I use the app without the device just to track my meditation time for the week. It’s motivating to see how many minutes I’ve meditated in a week or just to have the visual graph to store my meditations. Muse also has monthly “challenges” with guided meditations which I find motivating especially when I engage with the online community. The function of the device, the easy to use app, the price point which is not too high, and the amount that I meditate more because of the device, makes it an easy buy for me. For more experienced meditators like me who want to understand their brains in a deeper way, I’d recommend trying one.
Benefits for non-meditators. I nominated my sister, a pediatric emergency doctor at Johns Hopkins, to receive a free Muse at the start of the quarantine period of COVID-19 (Muse does giveaways every so often). She was one of the recipients and as she’s a super type-A driven, action-oriented, never-relaxes kind of person, it has helped her to learn how to quiet her mind and to have something to focus on. Her first meditations had “0% calm” and now she can gets to the 60-70% range. That’s a huge improvement! I recommend it to anyone who wants to get into meditation but doesn’t know where to begin or people who know they should meditate more and are motivated by getting game-like feedback and the visuals of accomplishing something!
App options. The Muse app has great functionality and has clean and simple usability. There are other apps that can be used with a Muse device such as Mind Monitor which gives real-time EEG raw data. This is great when you want to read the data beyond “calm”, “active”, and “neutral”.
Shop for your Muse device here. I do receive affiliate commissions if you do purchase through this link. I would never recommend something I didn’t believe in!
