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I'm curious how good the heart rate tracking is. Most current fitness gadgets suck terribly at tracking heart rate while exercising. afaik polar or garmin plu

by x0x0 12y ago

I'm curious how good the heart rate tracking is. Most current fitness gadgets suck terribly at tracking heart rate while exercising. afaik polar or garmin plus a chest band is the only thing that does a good job, whereas most fitbit type gadgets are only good at calculating resting heart rates. If apple can crack that, they'll find a lot of purchasers. And garmin / polar will be roadkill: their devices are expensive, single use, a big hassle (that damn chest strap is annoying, plus now you have two batteries to worry about), with shitty software.

craigmccaskill 12y ago
The heart monitor technology used via diodes on these smart watches isn't very accurate. I can't seem to find the article I was reading but I remember a roughly +/- 10bpm error rate. That's also roughly what I've experienced myself on the LG and Moto watches I've tried. That said, if you buy a Garmin or similar heart tracker watch, they package it with a Heart Rate monitor transmitter you strap around your chest. Garmin would love to be able to cut costs and keep everything in one piece of hardware, but the prosumer crowd who buy this hardware for Triathlons etc would be furious if the product was inaccurate.
spudlyo 12y ago
I love the consistency of the HR data I get from my old-school Polar watch and band, but you're right, after a few hours the band is pretty uncomfortable. I was quite disappointed with the Basis watch. Even when it did work my HR would often swing up and down unpredictably. If Apple nails the HR sensor, I will be stoked. I have often wanted to have an entire days worth of HR data so I can make better guesses about my daily caloric burn rate.
mobiuscog 12y ago
A good reference may be the Mio: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/01/mio-link-first-look.html http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/01/mio-link-first-look.html

by x0x0 12y ago

craigmccaskill 12y ago

The heart monitor technology used via diodes on these smart watches isn't very accurate. I can't seem to find the article I was reading but I remember a roughly +/- 10bpm error rate. That's also roughly what I've experienced myself on the LG and Moto watches I've tried. That said, if you buy a Garmin or similar heart tracker watch, they package it with a Heart Rate monitor transmitter you strap around your chest. Garmin would love to be able to cut costs and keep everything in one piece of hardware, but the prosumer crowd who buy this hardware for Triathlons etc would be furious if the product was inaccurate.

spudlyo 12y ago

I love the consistency of the HR data I get from my old-school Polar watch and band, but you're right, after a few hours the band is pretty uncomfortable. I was quite disappointed with the Basis watch. Even when it did work my HR would often swing up and down unpredictably. If Apple nails the HR sensor, I will be stoked. I have often wanted to have an entire days worth of HR data so I can make better guesses about my daily caloric burn rate.

mobiuscog 12y ago

A good reference may be the Mio: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/01/mio-link-first-look.html http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/01/mio-link-first-look.html