We just got our new pods in January. We were the last club to get them in the US. Here's my experience.

When I received the pod I noticed that the heart rate monitor was elevated. I was reaching the Orange and even Red zones very easily, so I performed a test. I calibrated it with my Apple watch and the treadmill during workout. I found that it was elevated by 14 beats per minute. I think everyone should calibrate new hardware with 3 points of reference. So I had the staff lower it in the system. Now its much harder to reach the "Orange Zone" and its perfectly accurate with the heart rate monitors in my watch and the tread mill. So the hardware is issue. No one is calibrating and testing each and every one of them coming from the manufacturing facility. I have forgotten my strap and pod a few times and one out of every 3 have the same problem and so I have had the staff fix them as I find them.

I think the overall fitness program is great, but I think if you are going to base it on heart rates then you need to have more information on each of the individuals health and more data points to adjust the program to their needs. I get in classes all the time and I am huffing and puffing in an all out and dropping a few lbs in sweat and I look at the tread mill next to me and some guy is in the red zone and he walking at half the rate and not even breaking a sweat... lol!

Also, the algorithm they are using has been bumped up for the calorie burn when they rolled out the new hardware so you feel better about your work out. That's why you are seeing a lift in burn calories. When your heart rate is over 85% it's very easy to measure accurate calorie burn, but when your heart rate is below 85% then it is very subjective and that's why you see many gym equipment displaying all different numbers of calorie burn. Each manufacturer computes these numbers below 85% bpm differently.

I hope some of this helps.