MUSE 2 The Brain Sensing Headband USB-C EEG Meditation Tracker Multi Sensor Biofeedback Device For Home Neurofeedback

So glad I made the jump to get this, after years of reading reviews and wondering if it would be another gadget that I would push aside after a while. I have been meditating since 2016, rarely missing a day, using Headspace (and sometimes TRIPP on Oculus Quest). I have an extremely distracted mind and sometimes I'd go a full 15 minutes forgetting that I was meditating, instead obsessing over something that happened years ago, yesterday or anxiety over what is coming up next week.Muse 2 is a game-changer for me. I've not only learned mindful awareness through some of their courses, but I've also learned how to tune everything out and focus on my breath *without* the device, like in a doctor's waiting room or visiting my family, lol. I've become more self-aware and present throughout the day, aware of the floor beneath my feet or the sound of the outdoors. Basically, my busy mind has calmed considerably.I've never, ever had an issue with signal drop, so I can't speak to that. I wonder if the negative reviewers may be expecting too much? It doesn't instantly make you meditate better and take you straight to nirvana, it trains your mind to do better over time.I'm especially intrigued at how accurate it tunes in to my brain. You can choose from several different soundscapes, such as City Park, Ocean, Rainforest, Desert, Gentle Rain, and I think there are others. The sound of the birds differ just a bit depending on the soundscape. I like the Rainforest, and the moment my thoughts drift to how funny my 5-year-old niece is, or the research paper I have to turn in, or the noise my husband is making in the kitchen, I immediately hear the chatter in the Rainforest get louder. As I bring my breath and attention back to the task at hand, the chatter dies down and I can once again hear the birds. (City Park is pretty cool though, you hear people chattering non-distinctly until your mind calms them down to quiet. Great practice for those get-togethers from which you want to mentally escape!)There was an update made just a couple of weeks ago that was very interesting! Premium subscribers (and I paid less than $20 for a year) can now listen to other apps on the same device, at the same time you use the Muse app. I loaded up binaural beats on Pandora and to my surprise, the beats didn't help one bit, in fact they distracted me greatly. My husband uses this feature to listen to Headscape along with his Muse meditation.One more thing: you can choose to meditate your mind, or breath, or heart rate or body. You can only do one at a time. I use the mind meditation in the morning to clear my mind for a good work-day, and the breath meditation in the evening. The breath meditation measures how you sync your breathing with the beats they give you and it's very calming. For the courses they offer, Muse measures the mind, heart rate and body (body, meaning if you are fidgety or still).If I had to complain I would say these two things: (1) I wish you could choose two or more meditations on which you want to focus. For example, I have heart problems and when I do the heart meditation, I can see the sudden dips in my heart rate that I've told my doctor about. I can do that with the heart rate meditation, but if I could do the mind and heart together, it would be better. I can also measure three features with the courses, but sometimes I don't want to hear talking. (2) Yes, you calibrate the device each time you put it on your head to meditate but it's only about 6-10 seconds long. I would like to have a 30-second lead time to ground myself, set my intention and prepare for meditation (habit from Headspace).

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from the Muse 2, but my sister had been using hers for a couple of months and loved having a visual sense of how her meditations were actually going. That idea really appealed to me-especially since I often felt like I was just sitting in the dark with my mind racing.I've now had the device for two weeks and have been using it every morning and evening. What surprised me most is how often I *thought* I wasn't reaching a meditative state simply because my mind was busy. In reality, the Muse 2 has shown me that even when my thoughts are active-or when I'm mentally "programming"-I'm actually entering a heightened awareness state rather than failing at meditation.It also makes it very clear when I'm *not* being effective in my practice, which has already helped me improve my sessions. This has genuinely become a valuable tool for me. I plan to take it everywhere: to sound baths, meditation classes, when I travel-pretty much anytime I meditate.I'm looking forward to diving deeper into all the metrics it offers: brainwave activity, heart rate, Alpha peak (cognitive performance), brain recharge, and stillness. I did end up purchasing their subscription for the additional metrics and AI insights. I'm not sure it's absolutely necessary, but it's definitely nice to have. I've also tried several of their guided and unguided meditations. There's a wide variety-some I really enjoy, and others don't resonate with me as much-but the selection is impressive.If you're wanting a clearer understanding of what's happening during your meditation sessions, this is a fantastic tool to add to your practice.

I really liked this headband.. when it worked. The bio-feedback experience was very useful, particularly for my poor focus. I also enjoyed the ease of operation, various background sounds offered. This definitely helped me improve the effectiveness of meditation. However, the reason for the poor rating are reliability issues. I never dropped it, or abused it in any way. In fact, I stored it in a case specifically designed for this headband to ensure it was safe from any accidents, Within 7 months, the headband stopped working. I believe this was caused by a broken wire, part of a thin internal ribbon cable that flexes when the ear pieces are adjusted while fitting it on. Moving the earpiece ends often will eventually break a wire. Warranty replacement was offered. Now, just out of warranty period, the second unit started acting up with intermittent Bluetooth connection issues. Fortunately I took out a 3 year extended warranty. But I won't be buying this model again, due to poor durability even under light use. I highly recommend purchasing an extended warranty if you decide to buy this model.Update 11/2023: My Bluetooth connection issue was resolved by the Muse team. The phone app was updated to be more compatible with other background running Bluetooth apps. So I up my rating to 4 stars.Regarding reliability, I try to keep the earpieces in the same setting without retracting them each time. This should prevent the internal ribbon cable breaking prematurely.

UPDATE: Muse Customer Care actually reached out to me after I posted this review and gave me some suggestions to improve my connection. I was so impressed they did that, and they were thorough in their troubleshooting. I used their suggestions and haven't had a connection or calibration issue since! There is a wealth of troubleshooting information available on their website; it's just up to the consumer to take the time to learn about it all. I've been wanting to get into meditation for a while, and the Muse 2 finally helped me do it. I was so intrigued by it when I got it and tried out all the different included meditations over time. I believe the feedback truly works and the accuracy is high, and this motivates me to improve my meditation practice. I quickly learned which meditations were my favorite and I loved the journal entry feature for each session. Once I did the included meditations for a while, I gave in and subscribed to the guided meditations. I do think the subscription could be cheaper (or, really, included in the price of the headband). I've had the Muse 2 for over 6 months now and still have plenty of guided meditations to try out - and they're always adding more. I really enjoy the variety and situation-specificity of the guided meditations - everything from calming down, to breathing exercises, to sleep, to yoga, to productivity, and much more. I will say that my headband has trouble calibrating or loses connectivity more often than I'd like, which has led to frequent frustration - I would estimate it happens 20% of the time (more so having trouble calibrating before a session). Overall, it's certainly a luxury item, and there are plenty of meditation tools/options out there that don't require an investment, but for me it motivated me to begin and maintain an almost daily meditation practice and for that I am thankful. I truly see the benefits of meditation in my life.

I was previously using the original Muse headband and was very excited to see the release of the updated version with additional experiences and sensors. After trying each of the new experiences (body, breath, and heart) I have quickly come to love the breathing exercise and the heart exercise. I find the breathing feedback extremely relaxing, and the soundscape with guided feedback is extremely helpful. The heart experience is also something I'd never experienced before. It's almost like feeling your heartbeat and breathing as an instrument/drum - Muse then teaches you how to understand the relationship between breath rate and heart rate and how to slow down. VERY calming. Would highly recommend to anyone looking to start meditation or who is looking to go deeper in a meditation practice! Thanks Muse team!