The Apple Watch is fairly inconsistent measuring my heart rate when doing resistance exercises. Seems it picks up best when the strap is pushed further up the arm, but it slides down during exercise. What I end up with is a heart rate graph that goes up and down (red line) whereas in reality it probably follows the trend of the upper green dots (yellow line).
So I was hoping to get an external heart rate monitor that sync’d with the Apple Health data but preferably also the Exercise tracking (and calorie counting) features of the Apple Watch. Anyone have any thoughts on what’s best?
IMore had a review and recommended the Scosche green + red light forearm strap, but this had many bad reviews on Amazon. The Polar H10 and Wahoo TICKR impedance chest straps require other apps and I cannot tell if the Apple Watch will integrate data from this.
I just don’t want to be cheated out of closing my Move ring!
I have used HR straps for many years of cycling (various Polar and Wahoo straps and bands). I’ve been using the Wahoo Tickr Fit for 6 or 7 months (almost daily) and have been very impressed by it. Strongly recommend. I have owned or do own many Wahoo products and am always pleased with the quality and their support.
Having said that, I don’t use it with my Apple Watch. My HR data is isolated within my cycling training apps (Strava, TrainingPeaks)
I’m sure you’ve read this wahoo article. It’s unclear to me if their integration will support your use cases. To my point above, Wahoo service is excellent. You may want to call them to ask your questions.
Personally i use the Polar H10, but i found no clear indicator if the Sensor is connected to my watch or not. So i use the sensor with the iPhone and the Polar-app. Works fine for me to stay in Cario-zone.
I was inspired by the Scosche band to wear the watch higher. It worked pretty well. I put the strap in the last hole and slid it up as high as it could go. You can see in the pic the waveform didn’t drop erroneously to the 50’s or 60’s but bounced up and down with effort in a reasonable range. The same workout last week registered as 140 calories now shows 352.
Moving it up the arm definitely helps. I’m looking at getting the Polar arm strap version at some point, but for now, I’ll move the watch up. With the sport loop band, it’s very easy. I tighten it down, and it stays in place the entire time. It’s been really consistent for me.
A sport-loop-band would not be a solution - instead of moving the band up? I have a cheaper one - 20EUR by Bluestein. Works fine for me and i got the color i wanted (back / red).
Thought I’d close the loop. I ended up buying the Polar H10 chest strap, pairing it with the watch (not the phone and not using any Polar proprietary app). After putting the strap on, I found the Polar H10 in “Health Devices” in the Bluetooth settings on the watch. The watch retrieved HR data from the strap and updated every second or so.
Picture from Apple Watch
The waveform on the watch had less drops and seemingly more data points. Though there was one misread (or maybe my HR did drop there - I did take a minute break to tend to something).
Compared to same workout last week…
Compared to the same workout last week on the iPhone, there are a lot less data points and this had a few HR misreads (drop) at the end.
…the same workout this week
This week there was a lot more data (and hence more calories recorded) and, most importantly, the move ring closes!!
I don’t have an Apple Watch but use a Polar chest strap and the free Polar Beat app. I like the read out asi am trying to keep my HR in a certain range on kettlebell swings. My point is that the app may provide a more granular read out if you need one during your workout.
As a side question, does the stock Watch HR tracking have the ability to alarm if you cross a certain HR level?
Thanks for your reply. Bummed as I don’t want to get a running watch and an Apple Watch. There seems to be a few third party apps referenced in this thread (Including Zones For Training and Heart Graph) which may provide that. Have you checked either of those out?
Does anyone know troubleshooting steps to get the Apple Workout app to use the hr from the HR10 please? Bluetooth connection is fine. I have tried with and without polar Beats app installed on the watch. Apple workout app just will not use the Polar heart rate
If the H10 connects to something else it needs to be reset and repaired with the watch. My bike’s “computer” hijacks the Polar sensor without any input from me. To reset the H10 I had to take the battery out. See if that works?
