I’ve used loads. Currently the Polar OH1, but I’ve also used the Mio Fuse, Mio Link and the one built into the Garmin Forerunner 735 XT (rebroadcast). Main two chest straps are the Wahoo Tickr X and 4iiii Viiiiva, but I learnt on a German one I can’t remember the name of and there was a Bontrager one at some point.
There’s a learning curve, but even chest straps can be too loose or dry. At least an arm strap is easier to rearrange if the numbers look odd.
If you’ve not used either before I wouldn’t use accuracy as the discriminating factor. People always whine about new technology. The battery life is the main problem. The Mio Fuse lasts 20 hours, but they don’t make them anymore and the App was rubbish. The Polar OH1 is tiny, but doesn’t last more than a half ironman or so.
Accuracy is actually better if you want to swim without a wetsuit (standard chest straps can slip down - Gamins are extra grippy). If you bend your wrist much just move them away from the wrist. The killer to accuracy is extraneous light so they need to be snug and you wouldn’t want them that tight all day, which is probably why people diss them so much, but for a workout…
On the trainer I wear both a Garmin basic heart rate strap which I pair to TR and also my Vivoactive3 watch which I track separately with speed and cadence sensor data. I consider the strap to be the accurate device, but I note that the watch tracks very well, within a couple beats typically, to the strap during exercise. I find the strap is great as long as I moisten the pads first and make sure it is reasonably snug.
When not exercising, I find the watch to be less accurate than during exercise, and sometimes wildly inaccurate. I conjecture that when I put the watch into workout mode (select run, ride, etc.) it puts more effort into measuring the heart rate during activity. For running, I just wear the watch since the one time I tried a heart rate strap running I got some bad chaffing. The watch performance during the trainer rides, along with a couple earlier manual heart rate checks I did give me decent confidence in those running heart rate measurements.
Using a heart rate monitor with a chest strap is not difficult at all. You will have the most effective monitor that is wearable on the chest. Moreover, your heart signals will be automatically monitored once you wear the chest strap. On the other side, the chest strap will work like an ECG. This guide will help out to know how exactly using hear rate monitors effectively. How To Use A Heart Rate Monitor?
After having bought one too many Wahoo HRM that didn’t work probably I have now come to the dark side and can say after 6 weeks with the Garmin one for triathlon I am extremely happy. Super consistent and very comfortable to wear. Doesn’t slip down my body.
When I tried to get the TickR last year it was sold out and I ended up with a similar CooSpo HRM. Nearly two years later, I think its been my best hrm for reliability.
I’m now on my 5th Wahoo TICKR strap. Had the original TICKR X. It stopped pairing - to anything. That happened at the time when the new model launched. Bought the new TICKR II. Same thing happened as you’re reporting; 3 months after purchase. Got stuck at some random HR.
Replaced under warranty (they didnt want it back; just proof of destruction. Very much enjoyed smashing it to pieces).
Replacement 1: 4 months then same thing. Stuck at 225bpm. Warranty. Smash. Replace agian.
Replacement 2: see above (except 3 months)
Replacement 3: waiting for it to fail
This will be my last one. Changing to something else.
I had the same thing with my tickr (stuck at a random BPM) - didn’t think to warranty
I’m using a Garmin dual now that has been good but I’ve always had trouble in the past with my sweat eating through the Garmin straps.
Luckily the wahoo strap from my dud tickr is compatible with my current garmin dual so have been using that to get the best if both worlds. Only wear my original Garmin strap when the old wahoo one is in the wash.
I’m on my second Tickr. After about a month, the first simply refused to pair with anything for more than a few minutes. Wahoo replaced it, no problems, and I had a new one in the post within a week.
The second one has been ok. You have to go through precisely the right sequence to get it to pair, especially with Zwift, but if you do that, it’s fine. Very occasionally it drops out, but that’s rare. Likewise, I too get the weird random, sudden 10 beat drop, but that’s only ever when I’m getting very hot and sweaty, and quickly moving it and wiping underneath is fine to finish the interval.
It’s not the best HRM on the market, but it works largely reliably for my purposes and isn’t expensive, so I’m happy with it, to the point where my Polar chest strap unit has been gathering dust in the drawer for quite a long time now!
Ive been using a Whoop and the HR tracking while riding is awful. Its fine when im not exercising. Ive tried all the usual things to improve accuracy for wrist based HRM but it doesnt help. Id love to get a Garmin watch for a variety of reasons but I definitely want to be able to track HR while riding.
Does anyone know if having trouble with one wrist based HRM device means ill have problems with other wrist based HRM?? I’ve heard from others that for certain people optical wrist based monitors dont work (complexion, arm hair or other reasons). I dont want to drop money on a Garmin watch and get suboptimal HR measurements.
As you suggest optical HR sensors simply don’t work during cycling and you’ll likely have problems whatever the brand. I’ve a lower end Garmin Vivioactive 3 and wear a chest strap. The vivioactive often records 10bpm+ less than the strap. I think you could probably rig up a Garmin (ant +) watch to read a strap if you want greater accuracy.
I’ve had similar issues with Tickr. Didn’t realize until late that the straps were the problem. Two different Tickrs, 4th strap, after Wahoo warranty. I’ve moved onto the Polar H10.
I also moved from Tickr to Polar H10. Did you also see higher heart rates in intervals? I switched between the two and it looks like the H10 gives higher values (5-10beats!) at VO2 Max efforts.
