Yep, I tried Whoop for 6 months and ended up with an Oura. For me the sleep insight is just as good on the Oura (actually you get a bit more) and you avoid the monthly subscription which drives the cost right up. The Whoop wasn’t accurate enough as a HRM for me so I’m back using my trusty Tickr. What I would give them is the UI is fantastic, the insights are very accessible, just a shame that those insights are generated by a slightly dubious HRM and a punchy monthly price point.
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At the start with Whoop, it was you buy it, it’s yours, that’s the end of the story.
Then the monthly gravy train, x dollars per month in perpetuity.
Give me a break. I am glad I got in day 0 and didn’t get jammed with monthly payments.
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With how reviews say the current version is not very accurate at taking heart rate and then claiming the current version improved the accuracy from the origin call version… I saw the Kickstarter and was tempted but kind of glad I didn’t get it way back
It changed a lot of things for me because I was able to think about recovery in a different way. Ended up sleeping more and drinking less. So it could have been a pinewood derby car on a strap. Mattered that I believed it. I’m good with the accuracy while sleeping
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I had mine for a month, decided to return in. I thought the accuracy was very good, It matched my Wahoo strap for the most part on all rides and workouts. However the data started getting to my head, im an overthinking high anxiety person anyway, so for me this turned into one more thing to think about.
I’m signed up for 6 months but wont be renewing.
Unlike others I find the HR very accurate when compared to my Wahoo Tickr. But I find that my recovery score has an inverse relationship with my performance.
In other words, days where I’m at 80 or 90% recovery are days when I’m failing workouts
I can certifiably say the current version is still bad (as of my ride 90 mins ago).
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I’m waiting for the 955 which will probably be the same functionality if history is a guide. I think I’ll be happy if they just tweak the existing functionality to give more accuracy (not saying current gen is bad) and have more processing power and more memory (think connect iq 4)
But I’m betting there will be new insights this platform will have. There hasn’t been much in the way of new first beat functions in awhile so I’m sure they are up to something. None of the first beat functionality currently uses the spo2 sensor data, right?
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I’ve had the whoop for 20 months. I used to find the HR not super accurate during some workouts but fine day to day, however it has improved dramatically (software updates?) To the point that I never wear my chest strap anymore as it matches almost beat for beat. There is a few seconds lag but that’s chest to wrist lag and not the device.
I love the software and I feel the sleep is very accurate. I’ve never gotten on well with any types of watches but I find the whoop comfortable and discreet.
I’d been taking hrv readings long before I used whoop but I found that taking random readings with other methods produced similar results but without the daily faff.
It’s not perfect, and it is expensive, nothing is… but I believe its core purpose (hrv) is accurate.
I used mine for 2 years. After all that time my number one takeaway is this: sleep quantity/quality is the #1 predictor of how well you will perform on a hard workout the next day. AND…alcohol within a few hours of bed time (anything more than 3 beer) will KILL your sleep quality, no matter how well you might feel the next day.
It all seems too obvious but after 2 years of seeing the data and seeing/feeling the results I am a believer for life. Feeling run down? Take a nap. Feeling really run down? Get more sleep. I couldn’t tie the data to nutrition or “life stress” though I am sure there is a correlation. But SLEEP, SLEEP, SLEEP (recovery) is the absolute key.
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I’ve always been intrigued by these but whenever I see someone using it for activities it produces the most drunk looking HR data on my whole Strava feed, worse than any Apple Watch. Considering HR tends to be steadier during sustained work efforts, I never bought one figuring if it’s jumping between 130 and 170bpm for my friends while doing SS work, there’s no chance it’s decent for sleep tracking when you’re doing nothing
During steady workouts like long Z2 or Tempo rides I found the Whoop on a biceps strap pretty good, certainly at least on par with my Fenix 5, perhaps better. However for intervals, especially if shifting in and out of the saddle, the Whoop gave terrible data. For any of these workouts I’d have to put a Tickr chest strap on.
I took my Whoop off yesterday and going to leave it off for the time being. I’ve learnt a lot from it, but at this point it isn’t worth the monthly charge anymore.
Disgraceful there isn’t a buy it, own it plan. It’s clearly for their benefit only. I don’t want to hear about continuing development of the app, improved device, analysis of the data. I have had a Whoop since 2016 and it’s 99.999% the product and software that it was on the first day that I put it on.
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I started using a Whoop strap about a year ago and I’d echo a lot of other comments here. It’s interesting, but doesn’t really tell me much that I can’t figure out based on feel. The biggest benefit to using it was I became more conscious of behaviors that impact my sleep.
On my wrist, the HR seemed to be fairly accurate for me during my TR rides, but would quickly fall apart during any activity with hand and arm movement. So if I wear it during any work around the house it’s a good chance I’ll get a notification for a wildly inaccurate activity, with spikes well beyond my max HR. And once it’s logged that data, you can’t correct it, so you permanently have this outrageous stress score for that day.
The biggest issue I’ve had is after 6 months I started getting a rash under the sensor. At first I tried switching the location, alternating arms and trying the bicep band, but that wasn’t helping. I can soak the sensor with alcohol every day to keep it at bay for the night, but I think some sort of microbe has permanently colonized below the surface and quickly comes back unless I soak it again the next day.
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EF put out a video about Strade Bianche the other day and noticed after Alex’s crash that he had his whoop on his bicep.
So looks like at least some of the pro’s are wearing them in races.
Whoop does sponsor so not sure that means much
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Thanks for everyones reviews on the whoop, i’ve determined that i don’t need it and i’ll stick to my forerunner 745 (that has body battery, stress levels and all that other good stuff)i already didn’t like the subscription model but this kinda tells me that it’s not even that worth it
Thinking about making the plunge to a whoop band. What band is everyone using? Is there any benefit to any of the upgraded bands that they offer like proknit or base knit?
Thanks.
Interesting. I had the exact same thing happen with mine after about a year. I used it on a biceps band and washing and cleaning the strap made no difference. After activity my arm where the strap and device were would get red and itchy. The worst spot was right under the Whoop itself. Taking the strap off for while would help but then the irritation would return once I started wearing it again. I’ve now stopped my subscription and not missing it at this time.
I picked up a Scosche Rhythm Plus 2.0 to use as an arm based HR strap during activities. Based on DCRainmaker reviews it is a much more accurate strap compared to the Whoop. So far so good and no skin irritation when I use it.
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