But the strap I got also captures running activity. I mean, obviously a waste if I don’t run, but I could run. At some point. It has a cache memory for activities that were not directly fed to a head unit. So to kind of defend Gamin’s price/product, it’s not ‘just’ an HRM strap, it’s a ‘smart strap’.
OMG! Mine did too, but they were ANT+ only! They were tanks! I could go a year without washing the strap, and removing the ‘brains’ meant that I could keep that going for years! It’s part of the reason I was on ANT+ sensors for so long. They were damn near indestructible!! I think what killed one was a misstep in installing the rubber o-ring when swapping a battery, sadly…
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Pulse deficits are a thing but uncommon in the general canine and feline populations. Maybe it’s different in hominids though?
Joe
Well, he’s not entirely wrong.
PPG (using light) is quite different than ECG (measuring electrical signal). For most people, they won’t care. For others, we want as good a measurement as possible.
I’m also a fan of the Verity, it’s the most comfortable I’ve had for cycling. I forget I have it on, so far (knock on wood) it’s been the best optical HRM I’ve used.
The Polar H10 can do that as well.
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After countless warranty replacements with previous Garmin HRMs using the 4-screw casing (whole unit dying once the battery compartment had been opened, or new batteries lasting on a week or two), my Pro+ has been faultless for 18+ months.
The new compartment design is way cleaner and works well, stats are accurate, and it records a good signal in all conditions.
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Now that it’s 2025 it looks like the Garmin HRM 200 came out since this thread started. Kind of deciding between that or an H9/10 or a Trackr HR. Thoughts? I don’t need the extra features on the H10 but the nicer strap seems nice
I went with the Polar H10 and have only had a few snafus. Just changed my first battery after nearly daily use. The strap is fine, I did get some lovely chafing from it during a 50k but that’s bound to happen when you have something tight to your skin for that long.
Every once and a while it just doesnt want to ‘wake up’ and i need to remove the battery and put it back in. Its easy enough to do but still takes a few min before starting your run/ride. There was also an issue with the app where it would not ‘detect’ the device and i needed to ‘forget’ it from my phone before going through the initial pairing exercise again.
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That’s not something I think is acceptable for a $100+ monitor. I’ve never had to do that with my first gen Tickr which was about half the price.
Anyone have experience with the new HRM 200?
I know I have already said it in this thread, but it is hard to go wrong with a Coospo or a Magene at less than a third of the price of a Polar or Garmin. Quality seems to be the same if not better. And at current prices, you can buy at least 3 for the same or cheaper. Which gets you a fresh strap when you do replace, cause even if the electronics last 5 years, usually the strap needs to be replaced at some point regardless.
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I wouldn’t say it was better quality after my CooSpo randomly failed on be after a couple of years, where as, touch wood, my H10 is still OK after 4 years. But as you say CooSpo are cheap in comparison and when it was working it seemed to be accurate. IIRC correctly I replaced the CooSpo strap after about a year when readings started to go dodgy (it seemed good till then) and it was good for another year. I thought it was doing similar a year after that but a new strap never cured it and it was actually on the way out and a few days later it just randomly died.
Does anyone know which HRM’s have the shortest averaging period for the number they broacast? My Garmin HRM Dual seems to send something like an average of the previous 20-30seconds (based on a few anecdotal observation of dropouts and return to average on steady-state rides where HR fluctuations are minimal).
I’ve done some searching but have struggled to find data published by manufacturers. I guess I could ask them directly, but maybe someone already knows the answers.
I use the CooSpo HW9 armband HRM. I first heard about it on this forum.
It is a good piece of equipment and, as it is so much cheaper than some brands (£22.45 on ebay UK just now), I bought another one to keep in stock for when the first one eventually fails.
I went with the Wahoo TRACKR end of end of last season and its been pretty good so far. I personally like that it is rechargeable. I have not killed it yet and really dont take care of it haha.
I don’t know the answer to “which HRM’s have the shortest averaging period for the number they broacast?” but I was intrigued by the question.
I found an article on the terra website that begins
“We frequently get asked if we have any info on how often wearable devices measure data. Since we could not find a compiled list of how often heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) readings are taken for different wearables, we decided to make one.”
“Most wearables’ standard measurement frequency is 5 minutes for HR readings when not continuous. Continuous measurement frequencies are typically 5 seconds. Garmin, Samsung, Suunto, and Coros tout 1 second measurement frequency for their wearables that offer continuous heart rate tracking. Polar wearables feature continuous heart rate tracking, but they only store readings every 5 minutes.”
There is also a section on the apple support pages that says this about the Apple Watch
“When you use the Workout app, Apple Watch measures your heart rate continuously during the workout and for 3 minutes after the workout ends to determine a workout recovery rate.”
“In addition, Apple Watch measures your heart rate throughout the day when you’re still, and periodically when you’re walking (Apple Watch Series 1 or later). Since Apple Watch takes these background readings based on your activity, the time between these measurements will vary.”
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I actually pulled the trigger on the earlier version of it, just to try, having been happy with a chest strap from them. I have eczema, and am finding the (any) straps a source of skin irritation so looking for a different indoor/ non race HRM to minimise that.
I have a 4iiii
It works fine. I had an issue with battery consuption and the customer service advised me how to perform a “hard reset”. It’s fine now. Altough the strap is asking for replacemtne after about 1.5y
While my Garmin HRM Dual does send an update every second during activities, it’s obviously not my “current” HR. Here’s a snip from when I was soft-pedaling & coasting early in a ride with a dry HR strap, and I was getting readings slightly above my max. The first snip shows numbers at 10:08 into the activity, and second snip shows numbers at 10:21 into the activity.
Based on experience with coasting/soft-pedalling, my HR was probably between 85bpm and 105bpm during the period of “181 bpm”. I adjusted the physical position of the strap (in which the HR declined to 174 over a few seconds, then it started to drop very consistently every second over a 14 second interval, and a few seconds later I paused the activity. Assuming an HR of 95bpm, this matches pretty much exactly what the HR strap would broadcast if it were using an average of the previous 30 seconds (see excel calculation below).
I’ve had similar experiences a few other times (from too low coming back to “correct”, and from too high going back to “correct”).
The polar h10 broadcast about every second, but it also broadcast the rr intervals (the time in ms between two beats) that can be used for current hr (you still need to use an average due to the variation introduced by breathing). I will try to check tomorrow for more precise data.
Edit:
- The polar H10 broadcast values about every second, I don’t know what the variation comes from. For higher HR, it still broadcast about every second, and send multiple rr (peak to peak heart rate time) in one block. I don’t know what it does below 60 bpm. The heartrate values that it broadcast look immediate. It must be a short average on the rr values but i cannot find any info about it. rr values have a 1ms precision, so 1kHz sampling rate.
- That was for the nerd part. for the practical part, heartrate looks immediate. I did sprint intervals yesterday, and my heartrate was dropping 7 to 10 seconds after finishing an interval, so definitely not a long average (especially with heartrate lag vs effort).