Heart Rate Monitor Device

Recently I rode up Black Star on my maiden voyage on my single speed. It was the hardest amount of effort I put in on a single ride for quite some time. When I got home my Fit Bit Charge 4 read that I only got up to 140 BPM. I know that was bullsh$t because my heart was jumping out of my chest. So.. maybe I caught it in the process of going bad. These past couple of years my Fit Bit Charge 4 never got up over 162 BPM on a typical Black Star climb to the doppler. So I decided on the Apple Watch Series 6 without cellular option as a replacement. My first smart watch ever and this past Sunday's ride to Black Star doppler and according to my new watch I got up to 174 BPM. It makes me wonder that the Charge 4 was off all along. So.. what are you all using to monitor that ticker of yours out on rides?

 

A Fitbit charge 4 actually.....

 

Wahoo TICKR for me. My wife wears a Fitbit and it seems to be relatively accurate.

 

Due to some recent issues I've been watching my HR pretty closely. I have an Apple watch SE and a Garmin chest strap. Both read virtually identical. The watch is nice but it's sometimes hard for me to read. It's definitely easier to just look down at the Garmin but I hate wearing the chest strap so I don't use it that often.

 

I'm a chest strap for the Garmin....been using them for years.

I don't like watches so I haven't gone that route.

 

I use a FitBit Charge 4. The one in the pic is not a Charge 4 though .... that looks more like a Charge 2. The Charge 4 does not have a button that extends out from the side like that one. I have had the 2, 3 & 4 and the heart rate is one of the things they have improved greatly from the 2 to the 4 (at least according to their marketing).

 

Yep, I'm replacing a Charge 2 not a Charge 4 as pictured above. The question still remains about the device you are using. I chose the smart watch but that doesn't make it the best choice for heart monitor purposes. If there is something better I'd like to know.

 

I got a CooSpo chest strap ($37.00 on amazon) so I can see it on the Garmin 130. Usually when I want to see what the rate is in real time, I'm struggling up a climb and last thing I want to do is find it on my wrist. I have a fitbit Ionic and it is junk, I think some of their newer models are better. The chest strap + garmin works better than a smartwatch I found, the strap is a bit of a hassle but I have it loose as possible so that it measures and I don't notice it being there..

 

If accuracy is important to me, the Garmin chest strap. I wear it if I am doing intervals or racing. For general trail riding and commuting, I just use my watch (Garmin Fenix 6). It is close enough.

 

Unfortunately keeping track of my HR is something I need to do when I ride.
From my personal experience, watches HRM are not accurate (Apple ser1, and a few Garmins).
I bein using the Wahoo TKR chest strap for years, and I find it to work grate until it doesn't. At that point (6-9months)I just get another one ($50).
I currently were a Garmin Fenix 5 watch, but I try not to relay on it for heart data while riding. Instead I pair the chest strap to my watch and use it to track shorter/slower rides.

 

I used to wear a Garmin chest strap, then gravitated to a Mio wrist monitor. I really liked the Mio, but it died young and never had the battery life for all day adventures... I think it cut out around hour 7 when we did the 100 mile Redlands ride. I could have really used it at the end...

My wife talked me into an Apple Watch back in the series 3 days... I wore the chest strap and the watch for quite a few rides to see how the data compared. They were pretty much identical, so I ditched the strap and have used the watch since. I now have a non-cellular series 6.

I don't use the Apple software or Strava on the watch, though... I like the data screen on the FitIV app better. It's a paid app with a subscription, but it gives me a lot more data during the ride. I credit it with keeping me from blowing up on the Black Star climb during Vision Quest when I looked down and saw that my average HR was about 15 BPM higher than I had ever done on that climb...

The only caveat is that I don't trust the app competely... It's crashed on me twice, so I always run the Wahoo on the bike, too. At the end of the ride, one gets uploaded to Strava...


Edit: Forgot to mention that the ability to take an exportable ECG and measure blood oxygen levels is pretty cool..

 

I updated my original post to include what the Charge 2 recorded along with what my Apple series 6 watch recorded last Sunday.

 

Apple Watch is FDA cleared for various heart rate monitoring functions. To receive FDA clearance, there's a great amount of testing and validation required. I'd expect it to be among the best of choices.

 

I eat watches for lunch. Well, breakfast lunch and dinner. I can't even wear a watch at work. I'll bang it into walls and abuse the crap out of them. Same goes for shoes. I can't have nice shoes either.

I use a Garmin chest strap linked to my Garmin 520+. It "seems" to be very accurate. However, as you will recall @Stkx66 up at Wrightwood, I had that bizarre episode where my Garmin indicated I had a heart beat of 220 under very mild climbing conditions. Although I did "feel" a little weird, I'm not sure if I felt it then looked, or looked and thought I felt it. I had stopped and was just enjoying the scenery and was waiting for some guys to catch up. It dropped slowly then was at 198 for quite some time. I'm not sure if it was a fluke reading or I almost went cardiac. I started wearing an HR monitor a while back after all the latest talk of mountain bikers having heart attacks on the trail. Although, I picture that the only way to go, I'm not exactly ready to go right now.

I did do some digging and found that other companies make better straps. Straps, not senders. The Garmin "Sender" actually fits on another companies strap, but the connection to our skin is much better with a different strap. I'm going to check that out and I will report back. I think I saw the article on the "Radivist" <--Spelling?

Edit: Maybe it was DC Rainmaker. Searching now.

 

The screens on the newest Apple watches are tougher than any watch you've worn... My newest one probably has 15 bike crashes on it, a few hundred drops to concrete, and all the other issues of wearing a watch every single day... The bikes are beat to hell from the crashes, but the watch still looks brand new. I don't have any form of cover on it...

And more consistent than a chest strap. I had flaky readings from the Garmin, as well as days where it just didn't want to work. Like @AKAKTM says above, these newest models are in a different league. It always works, no matter how sweaty I get, or how tight/loose I wear it.

 

Found it!
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/08/solution-to-heart-rate-dropoutsspikes.html

 

What my Charge 2 recorded Memorial Day. Your recorded part is the last camel hump in red I'm pretty sure.

 

I currently use the FitBit Charge 4. I have never really paid much attention to exercise heart rate before, which is odd, because I do geek out on the other stats like Resting Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability, Breathing Rate, sleep score and oxygen saturation.

Saturday I had a low HR of 39 (sleeping) and a high of 155 (riding).
Sunday I had a low HR of 41 (sleeping) and a high of 152 (riding).

I will have to remember to look at it the next time I do the extra credit climb on the way to The Luge ... my heart is always pounding like crazy at the top of that hill.

I have been thinking about getting a Whoop Strap to compare numbers with FitBits, but it is probably more important to know the baseline numbers for the device you are using, and then watching for deviations from the norm. For example, when I switched from the Charge 3 to Charge 4, my resting heart rate went up by 5 BPM on average. It could be an improved heart rate sensor, or it could be just using a different device.

 

Input from the Pleistocene:

I bought a Garmin 500 Edge in January 2013. Garmin HRM strap & transmitter doodad that buttons into it shortly thereafter. I've been mandated to watch my heart rate since 2017 and so far this little doohickey combo hasn't failed.

The Edge has failed to boot or record a grand total of 2 times in the last 8 years. It has never failed to pick up the HRM. Come to think of it, it even picked up someone else's once. For 30 seconds or so, many moons ago.

From my readings on the subject a wrist strap is just okay, and not as accurate as a chest strap. As long as mine continues to work and report that I'm not dead, I'll keep using it.

I'm guessing that I'll need to replace the Edge someday. Hopefully not before I'm no longer able to ride...

 

I hate to make Bezos even richer, but Amazon is having a Prime Day sale on Garmin watches.
Any suggested ones?

 

Don't know if my experience with some Garmin Vivoactive? from 2 or 3 years back is relevant but I find it much flakier than my old Fitbit. Slow to update, readings for over a minute that are obviously wrong (showing 120 when rate is clearly below 60, slow to update when climbing when heart is pounding out of my chest), absolutely farcical sleep ratings, stupid graphs and so on. Worst part is there is no way to tell when it is feeding me garbage. Not recommended, will be replacing it with an Apple Watch.

 

apple watch is worth it price)

 

Just from my search for "Whoop," I found my own post .

I am trying out the Whoop 4.0 starting tomorrow (30 day free trial, $8.99 shipping). I currently use a Fitbit Charge 5 with the premium subscription, so super interested in seeing how the Charge 5 compares to the Whoop 4.0.

From all my preliminary research, they are super similar, but the Whoop app probably provides much more detailed information.

We shall see if it is worth $30 per month . Kinda hoping the Fitbit wins.

 

Wahoo TIKR
Done Garmin, Polar, Knockoffs

Like TIKR the best, light, good strap, seems accurate, battery lasts if you know the trick...(disconnect from the strap)

 

So, disconnect the device from the strap at both ends? Curious, have you ever thrown your strap in the wash? Mine gets pretty gunky.

 

Yes, disconnect from both ends.

No I do a quick sink wash by hand with it about once a week.

 

Bought the Wahoo TIKR HR monitor that goes around the forearm a few weeks ago. Seems pretty accurate and out of the way, but don't have anything to compare it to other than my intuition.

 

Whoop has plenty of options for where it can be worn, most of which are all proprietary. Even in your underwear (4 pairs for $99, lol). I will be wearing it on my wrist for my 30 day trial. If I keep it I might get one of their shirts or a bicep or chest band for mountain biking.

Wrist is not ideal for the activities I do. Wrist wearables suffer with two things I do frequently, which is mountain biking & weightlifting.

A few months ago, I wore a medical grade heart rate monitor (prescribed by my cardiologist) on my chest for a week, and I did one mountain bike ride with it on. The heart monitor showed a max BPM of 159 on my ride, while my Fitbit showed 176, so huge difference.

I also did a heart stress test on an incline treadmill, with a grip of sensors attached to my torso, and got up to 169 on that ... and again the Fitbit was much higher, though I forgot the exact number. During the rest phase, they both synced up from around 130 and down to 60, so I find it highly accurate under 130.

I don't have any concern nor need to monitor my heart for high BPM, so just knowing how I feel within each reported range is good enough, as long as it is consistent. Looking forward to see how they compare on tomorrow's ride.