Heart rate monitors?

LauraJ23

LauraJ23

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Hi all just trying to find out a bit of the usability of heart rate monitors,

I would like one which keeps a history throughout the day and I would like this to be able to be transferred to a pc/phone showing the log it has recorded through the day. I have an android phone.

Any recommendations? Can't really afford to spend to much on it.
 
Can't you get a comparable chest belt which links to an app on your phone, like Runkeeper?
 
My wife has an IQ fitness tracker which she's happy with. She bought it to monitor her heart rate. Works with iPhone and android. She paid £30
 
There is a shedload of them on Amazon 20 quid upward. How reliable they are I can't say, I have a Fitbit Charge 2 which shows your heart rate again and synced to iPhone gives a history and graph, I'm sure there is a android app too for Fitbit.
I'm not sure how accurate that is either. The only ones I would trust 100% would be the hospital ones but jogging and pulling one of these around would be a bit awkward :):)
 
According to this study it looks like the only wearable that is accurate is the Apple Watch.

Researchers at Cleveland Clinic wanted to test how well four popular wearable devices measured heart rate, which is involved in a formula that calculate how many calories a person is burning while they exercise. They hooked 50 healthy adults up to an electrocardiogram (EKG), the gold-standard test for measuring heart activity, and compared the results to heart rates obtained by Fitbit Charge HR, Apple Watch, Mio Alpha and Basis Peak. They also assessed a chest strap. The researchers measured everyone at rest, then walking and jogging on a treadmill.

The chest strap monitor was the most accurate, nearly matching the EKG with 99% accuracy—both technologies capture electrical activity coming from the heart. Of the wrist wearables, Apple Watch was about 90% accurate, but “the other ones dropped off into the low 80s for their accuracy,” says Dr. Gordon Blackburn, one of the study’s authors and director of cardiac rehabilitation at Cleveland Clinic.
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http://time.com/4527843/accurate-wearable-apple-watch-fitness-tracker/
 
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andy700 said:
This seems to be quite popular with competitive (and non competitive) cyclists, and is very affordable.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/garmin-premium-heart-rate-monitor-strap-1/?lang=en&curr=GBP&dest=1&sku=5360574952&kpid=5360574952&utm_source=google&utm_term&utm_campaign=UK_PLA_Garmin&utm_medium=base&utm_content=mkwid|svCBO9wQR_dc|pcrid|73654722422|pkw||pmt||prd|5360574952uk
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that will need an ANT+ compatible device, such as the garmin GPS devices. it wont be bluetooth enabled.
 
michael23 said:
Hi all just trying to find out a bit of the usability of heart rate monitors,

I would like one which keeps a history throughout the day and I would like this to be able to be transferred to a pc/phone showing the log it has recorded through the day. I have an android phone.

Any recommendations? Can't really afford to spend to much on it.
Click to expand...

Garmin Vivosmart HR will do this fine - and also works as an activity tracker (measures no of steps, flights of stairs climbed etc) tracks sleep patterns (if you wear it in bed obviously) and also tracks resting heart rate (good measure of fitness/potential overtraining for endurance athletes)...

Or, if you're feeling a bit more spendy, there's the VivoActive HR - does all the above, plus has a GPS device that measures how far/fast you've walked/ski'ed/swam/cycled/canoed/ran and a whole load of other stuff... bit shorter battery life (especially if you usee the GPS a lot) but a big cheerful colour display, and a quick charge while you have your shower on a morning is generally enough to keep it going from day to day - then give it a full charge once a week.

For full analysis of the tracking, you'd need the garmin app on your phone (it's available for android or apple, in case you swap affiliations) - you can also use the Garmin Connect software on a PC/Mac which will synch when you plug the trackers into their USB charging stations.

I can personally recommend both of them, I had the old Vivoactive which was pants - display kept dying -after the third expired they gave me a free upgrade to the Vivosmart HR. However in the meantime, I'd bought the VivoActive, so now I kind of alternate between the two - the VivoActive is a bit "outdoorsy" for my working environment, doesn't really sit all that well with the shirt and tie look whereas the Vivosmart is small enough to fit under the cuffs...

HR Tracking on both is pretty decent, at least in general day-to-day stuff - optical tracking isn't quite as good as an ECG type Heart-rate belt when you're really working out hard - you get occasional spikes or lags in comparison (yes, I am obsessive enough to have paired he optical wristband to one Garmin Headunit on the handlebars, and a chestband to another Headunit, and compared the two while riding on the indoor trainer... they track pretty well - but the optical doesn't respond to "spikes" when you do hard intervals as quickly as the chestband. (it's kind of important for me to be a bit over-nerdy on this stuff, as I'm making a recovery from having a couple of stents fitted to a damaged artery I acquired as a result of complications after Pneumonia and Pericarditis a couple of years ago - the cardiologists are happy with the repairs, and encourage me to exercise, but it's only sensible to monitor things as well as you can...)
 
TheBigYin said:
Garmin Vivosmart HR will do this fine - and also works as an activity tracker (measures no of steps, flights of stairs climbed etc) tracks sleep patterns (if you wear it in bed obviously) and also tracks resting heart rate (good measure of fitness/potential overtraining for endurance athletes)...

Or, if you're feeling a bit more spendy, there's the VivoActive HR - does all the above, plus has a GPS device that measures how far/fast you've walked/ski'ed/swam/cycled/canoed/ran and a whole load of other stuff... bit shorter battery life (especially if you usee the GPS a lot) but a big cheerful colour display, and a quick charge while you have your shower on a morning is generally enough to keep it going from day to day - then give it a full charge once a week.

For full analysis of the tracking, you'd need the garmin app on your phone (it's available for android or apple, in case you swap affiliations) - you can also use the Garmin Connect software on a PC/Mac which will synch when you plug the trackers into their USB charging stations.

I can personally recommend both of them, I had the old Vivoactive which was pants - display kept dying -after the third expired they gave me a free upgrade to the Vivosmart HR. However in the meantime, I'd bought the VivoActive, so now I kind of alternate between the two - the VivoActive is a bit "outdoorsy" for my working environment, doesn't really sit all that well with the shirt and tie look whereas the Vivosmart is small enough to fit under the cuffs...

HR Tracking on both is pretty decent, at least in general day-to-day stuff - optical tracking isn't quite as good as an ECG type Heart-rate belt when you're really working out hard - you get occasional spikes or lags in comparison (yes, I am obsessive enough to have paired he optical wristband to one Garmin Headunit on the handlebars, and a chestband to another Headunit, and compared the two while riding on the indoor trainer... they track pretty well - but the optical doesn't respond to "spikes" when you do hard intervals as quickly as the chestband. (it's kind of important for me to be a bit over-nerdy on this stuff, as I'm making a recovery from having a couple of stents fitted to a damaged artery I acquired as a result of complications after Pneumonia and Pericarditis a couple of years ago - the cardiologists are happy with the repairs, and encourage me to exercise, but it's only sensible to monitor things as well as you can...)
Click to expand...

Thanks Mark for that, very useful.
 
frank said:
There is a shedload of them on Amazon 20 quid upward. How reliable they are I can't say, I have a Fitbit Charge 2 which shows your heart rate again and synced to iPhone gives a history and graph, I'm sure there is a android app too for Fitbit.
I'm not sure how accurate that is either. The only ones I would trust 100% would be the hospital ones but jogging and pulling one of these around would be a bit awkward :):)
Click to expand...

Yes there is one for Android (y)
I bought a Charge2 to connect to the phone whilst driving at work, no bluetooth in firms vehicle, works welland lets me know who's calling without
searching for the p[hone
I don't check other aspects regularly, but apparently according the app history, my heart is really healthy for my age :D
I do sometimes check it when I'm relaxing reading a book and it's scary that my heart rate drops to 40bpm quite quickly,
rarely goes over 110bpm even when I'm rushing about at work, apparently yesterday I climbed enough stairs to reach the top of
a lighthouse :eek:
 
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This site is the best review site i have seen for hr monitors (in fact it is among the best review sites i have seen for anything due to the depth and objectivity of his reviews)
https://www.dcrainmaker.com
 
I use the Mi Band 2, doesn't do continuous monitoring out of the box but there are other apps which link to it which can provide this function, at zero additional cost. Certainly worth a peek, it's by Xiaomi

Aside from that, the Fitbit range seem good

Interesting that the Apple Watch was commended for its accuracy, but slated for the same thing when it came to skin pigmentation, not just limited to tattoos.
 
I've used a couple of different kinds to monitor exercise including 2 different chest straps and a wrist mounted LED kind. What I found is reflected by most people I know who have tried them: they don't work in the real world. Sure if you want to sit in a chair all day (or hospital bed) and track things or maybe sit on a bike where your chest doesn't move so much then they are fine. Also if you just want an average over the day then they work out OK. But I've set off on a run more than once and seen my HR spike over 200 and then drop to 40 or so.

If you really want to track all day then something low tech like an alarm every 20 mins and then checking your pulse and writing it down on a bit of paper might avoid some of the more alarming highs and lows.

BTW I'd be very happy to sell you a second hand wrist strap. Syncs with ANT+ devices and Android app. I mean, it's as accurate as anything I've used :D
 
JonathanRyan said:
Sure if you want to sit in a chair all day (or hospital bed) and track things or maybe sit on a bike where your chest doesn't move so much then they are fine.
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that's pretty much it - fortunately pretty much all my cardio work is on a bike (or indoor trainer bike) - knackered knees/hips prevent running or more "high impact" stuff, at least at my current weight, so the chest-belt ones are fine - the optical wrist ones aren't so good unless you keep them a good 4" or so up the wrist from the joint, as the flexing/movement of the tendons etc just moves the band and lets external light in, and the readings go crackers again.
 
JonathanRyan said:
I've used a couple of different kinds to monitor exercise including 2 different chest straps and a wrist mounted LED kind. What I found is reflected by most people I know who have tried them: they don't work in the real world. Sure if you want to sit in a chair all day (or hospital bed) and track things or maybe sit on a bike where your chest doesn't move so much then they are fine. Also if you just want an average over the day then they work out OK. But I've set off on a run more than once and seen my HR spike over 200 and then drop to 40 or so.
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sorry I don't understand why a chest strap would care whether you're on a bike or running. done up correctly and the contact patches wetted as advised it really shouldn't matter.

sensor lag and drop outs on the other hand are far more common.

same can be said about the LED wrist sensors, don't fit them correctly so that light gets in and the reading wont be correct.
 
neil_g said:
sorry I don't understand why a chest strap would care whether you're on a bike or running. done up correctly and the contact patches wetted as advised it really shouldn't matter.
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Me neither. But with the strap properly adjusted and conductive gel on the sensors my experience has been that they behave erratically at best. Several people have told me they have found the same - unexpected surges of very high heart rates followed by drops to catatonic numbers. All the people I asked were runners.

I just kind of assumed they must work properly if you don't move so much.
 
neil_g said:
weird. I cycle with a chest strap but am a mountain biker so not a smooth ride like a roadie.
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Is the receiver on your handlebars or wrist? It may that you're right and it's dropout rather than poor transmission. I think I read somewhere that ANT+ is *really* bad at transmitting through your body so as my arm swings back it may drop out.
 
One thing at the moment I won't be doing is strenuous exercise, i'm not fit enough to do that. So as long as it can work well for normal day to day stuff walking around he house and when im out walking or shopping or using the camera then I would be happy, To be able to see it on an app with all the info from the day would be helpful.
 
Any of the solutions mentioned above should work for that apart from battery life. HRM straps will run for many hours on a watch battery but your receiver may not last all day. My Mio Fuse (and srsly, you if I can find it you can have it...) lasts 5 -7 days on a charge but nothing like that in "active" mode. If you're looking at a device then I bet you want to be looking at battery life more than anything - otherwise you'll be recharging all the time or worse swapping batteries.
 
After quite a bit of asking around and reading reviews I got a Vivosmart HR a few weeks ago and it does everything you want, syncs with phone/PC, heart rate, steps, etc each day. Has the option to set goals and do specific activities but it is great for just daily walking, step count etc. Battery lasts about 5 or 6 days between charges. There is an Amazon seller doing grey imports which is what I went for and saved about £20.
 
michael23 said:
One thing at the moment I won't be doing is strenuous exercise, i'm not fit enough to do that. So as long as it can work well for normal day to day stuff walking around he house and when im out walking or shopping or using the camera then I would be happy, To be able to see it on an app with all the info from the day would be helpful.
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Why would you need a hrm for any of that?
 
nilagin said:
Why would you need a hrm for any of that?
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Exactly what I was wondering.

I have used a chest strap one with my Garmin on the bike in the past, but unless you are doing focused training in certain zones and analyzing the numbers the benefit even for exercise is pretty much non-existent, it's just data that has no meaning or use.
 
I suffer with black outs and dizzy spells, and right sided weakness and cost symptoms too. Its a bit of curiosity and self research in mind. . While i wait for hospital to get there act together. If that makes sense. I have been described as complicated in my medical history.
A build up to an exercise programme to help with my weakness has been suggested
 
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