Who has a WHOOP band and how are you getting on with it?

[booyaka]

5 days in and still 58% battery still left....

 

[AndyCr15]

Yeah, I think I'm headed for about 10 days on this first charge, but then I'll charge around 20%. I would expect it might get a little better after a couple of battery cycles?

Hmmmm still hoping it's 'learning me' as at the end of a 107 miles ride (at decent power throughout) and I'm at 20.7 strain. 'Only' 0.7 more than two commutes.

I don't know how it works, but you would imagine as you do longer and harder efforts, it calibrates to what you can do? So, it might make sense at this point?

Hoping it doesn't say I need a month off like Garmin normally does after a decent ride.

Yeah, I've always chuckled when Garmin users state they're being told not to ride for 3 days and we're just starting a cycling holiday Whoop doesn't ever tell you this though, you'll just get your recovery score in the morning and it's up to you what you do with this info

 

[Shadowness]

Anyone find the general HR tracking a bit off?

Sat here at my desk at my Garmin says I'm at about 45-50bpm (day off today!), but Whoop says 70-80. And I AM at about 45-50 as I can feel it.

Impressed with the activity tracking, but the non-activity tracking I'm questioning a fair bit. Thought it would be the other way around!

 

[AndyCr15]

Is yours on your wrist? I'm sat at my desk and it says 54-56 (on bicep band), which I think feels right. It normally has my resting come down to about 45 overnight.

Not that I've checked the 5.0, but my v4 was generally within 2 or 3 beats, within a few seconds, of my chest strap.

 

[Shadowness]

Yes wrist. Do people wear them 24/7 on their bicep then?

 

[AndyCr15]

Yes. I don't really like things on my wrist, like when typing on a keyboard, where as I don't even notice it on my arm.

 

[SoliD]

Just ordered the 5.0 with 2 year subscription, I find mine is pretty much spot on although it does have a few discrepancies with HR compared to Polar chest strap when i'm cycling. Hoopefully the 5.0 can reduce/eradicate these.

 

[Shadowness]

Out of curiosity, what do you get from Whoop? Still trying to figure out what it's telling me that Garmin isn't. (I'm still only 5 days in, so havent unlocked all the data yet, so not a completely fair comparison yet)

 

[Vandle]

Anyone find the general HR tracking a bit off?

Sat here at my desk at my Garmin says I'm at about 45-50bpm (day off today!), but Whoop says 70-80. And I AM at about 45-50 as I can feel it.

Impressed with the activity tracking, but the non-activity tracking I'm questioning a fair bit. Thought it would be the other way around!

One of the reasons I ditched mine was ghost activities. I could be cooking dinner or washing pans in the sink, sit down a few minutes later and it would give me an activity update where I was hitting 150 - 160bpm for several minutes which was just not possible. I contacted support about it a few times but all they did was give me instructions on how to wear it on the wrist properly which wasn't much different to how I was wearing it.
During activities I used to run a manual activity on the whoop app while Zwfiting with a Garmin chest strap on and a Garmin Fenix. The whoop was always a bit higher to begin with then would settle to be pretty much the same. Averages at the end were always pretty close. Fenix and chest strap were almost identical.

Are you tracking steps? I found them to be wildly off.

 

[Shadowness]

One of the reasons I ditched mine was ghost activities. I could be cooking dinner or washing pans in the sink, sit down a few minutes later and it would give me an activity update where I was hitting 150 - 160bpm for several minutes which was just not possible. I contacted support about it a few times but all they did was give me instructions on how to wear it on the wrist properly which wasn't much different to how I was wearing it.
During activities I used to run a manual activity on the whoop app while Zwfiting with a Garmin chest strap on and a Garmin Fenix. The whoop was always a bit higher to begin with then would settle to be pretty much the same. Averages at the end were always pretty close. Fenix and chest strap were almost identical.

Are you tracking steps? I found them to be wildly off.

Haha yes noticed that seems MUCH higher than Garmin. Yesterday for example was a pretty light day at work (no exercise too) and it tracked about 13k. Garmin was about 4k. No idea where it’s counting them from! But I trust the Garmin more at that.

 

[Vandle]

Just an expensive Tamagochi, except the stupid little creature you are trying to keep alive is yourself

 

[Shadowness]

Well I've just cycled to work, and my step count is at 13k! I mean yeh I walked around a bit this morning getting ready but that's silly. My Garmin is showing 850 steps. I wonder if when it detects I cycled it recounts them.

EDIT: yes it did! But still showing 2.7K. Still very high.

The auto activity stats are quite impressive though, compared to my Garmin tracked with a chest strap. Avg HR was only 3 out, and the max was identical.

 

[Roady]

Had to charge it this morning - was at 15% last night. Was tempted to run it flat but was still 11% this morning. Fully charged seemed to take longer than usual - over 4 hours. But isn't something I've tracked or taken much notice of before. So full charge Thursday daytime lasted me until Monday night/Tuesday morning. 4.5 to 5 days.

Down to 17% charge Tuesday afternoon. Charging up now, so that last charge (from 11% up to 100%) was 7 days. Only reached 92% but didn't bother finishing it, expecting next charge to be late sunday/monday 2nd - which is great as means my charge times are almost/around 7 days and not the 5 I thought...

Still on the fence about the 5.0 maybe need to commit, need to read up if 18 month/24 month options are enough of a saving. I think I'm ok with the money side of it - I feel I get enough value from mine. Now really the call about going for the MG, can I justify that. One of my reasons for getting Whoop is my father suffering from arrhythmia and it going undiagnosed for at least a decade (maybe more). The little we've spoken about it, some of the 'moments' he had in his 50's and 60's which he didn't say anything about where likely indications of it and I think I've felt minor versions of occasionally (brief shortness of breath/feeling of heartburn or something stuck in your throat which only lasts for 10s/low-high blood pressure feeling of being a bit 'floaty' for no reason). It would be great if the MG has the data to back any of that up - certainly now the 4.0 isn't showing me anything meaningful - but they are very few and far between (10+ months apart).

Hmmmm still hoping it's 'learning me' as at the end of a 107 miles ride (at decent power throughout) and I'm at 20.7 strain. 'Only' 0.7 more than two commutes. I know it's not linear but seems a bit odd. Hoping it doesn't say I need a month off like Garmin normally does after a decent ride. (95 hours recovery according to that!)

You likely won't see massive difference to that until you've more longer rides on it... It hasn't learnt what a 'big' day for you is yet...!

I got a 20.2 from mine on Saturday, which looking at trends is about normal for a harder than usual Club social. If anything it sounds a bit high for only 4 hours on the bike with mostly 3 of those at a social pace.

Making sure you've seen, but plenty of reports in the press about Whoop having a batch of faulty units, only really the MG mentioned and not the base 5.0 - was that what you got?

Users of the new Whoop MG fitness band are reporting widespread failures

This is a problem

www.techradar.com

Is yours on your wrist? I'm sat at my desk and it says 54-56 (on bicep band), which I think feels right. It normally has my resting come down to about 45 overnight.

Not that I've checked the 5.0, but my v4 was generally within 2 or 3 beats, within a few seconds, of my chest strap.

I found my 4.0 pretty close to my chest strap (Wahoo TICKR) on general 'sitting around' and some light riding, but I was getting bigger peaks when Zwifting, sometimes it being 20 or more beats off (low) when I was putting maximum efforts in.

70bpm sat at my desk now, but commuted 30 mins ago and will be fatigued from Zwifting hard last night so won't see it drop much below 55/60 today. Carrying less fatigue around 50. RHR was 47 overnight, see that sometimes as low as 38-40 but generally mid-40's are normal for me.

Out of curiosity, what do you get from Whoop? Still trying to figure out what it's telling me that Garmin isn't. (I'm still only 5 days in, so havent unlocked all the data yet, so not a completely fair comparison yet)

I've not used Garmin so can't comment, just always makes me laugh (like you) when people do a couple of hours ride and need '72 hours recovery'. Seems bizarre & really bad advice as anyone exercising volume like we do (I'd call myself even low volume) taking 3 days to recover from any 'normal' riding (2 hours z3/4) you'd barely maintain fitness.

One of the reasons I ditched mine was ghost activities.

My 4.0 has got much better at this the last 12-18 months. I still see a lot, but my main ones are some of the manual/DIY stuff I'm doing at home - it loves to pickup me using a belt sander on an exterior wall as 'commuting' or 'spinning'. I guess the vibration really throws it off - also see higher HR with it than I'd expect. The times I do any hammer & chisel work, it loves to detect that as Moutainbiking or an 'Assault bike', but again it's the movement and type of impacts. I think I don't mind it doing it, I can see how it's picking those up and it's every time... But the times it picks up my Zwifting as riding are so few and far between it catches me out. That should be far easier to pick up! Mine hardly ever picks up false posititives anymore - like washing up - but did see some of those at the start.

Haha yes noticed that seems MUCH higher than Garmin. Yesterday for example was a pretty light day at work (no exercise too) and it tracked about 13k. Garmin was about 4k. No idea where it’s counting them from! But I trust the Garmin more at that.

Yeah the little I've looked at it seems really off. I've no real comparison - just Google Fit on my phone (which I know even picks up cycling as steps!) but the Whoop massively higher than it. It's been in 'Beta' for months.

Just an expensive Tamagochi, except the stupid little creature you are trying to keep alive is yourself

I've got a meme/quote saved of that from somewhere

 

[Shadowness]

@Roady Mine's a 4.0. I understand they made some improvements (hardware) to the 5.0 for steps, but I don't really care about that. I find the Garmin to be accurate (or at least realistic for what I do day to day).

I'm curious about the recovery scores, as after the 100 mile ride, I had 84% recovery the next day. I wonder what it takes to get a much lower score (aside from poor sleep, alcohol etc).

I find the 'training readiness' on the Garmin quite frustrating. All of the metrics are green (ie sleep, stress, HRV etc) apart from recovery time. After a day off yesterday I'm still on 46 hours. I'd literally have to do nothing for 3-4 days to get this metric in the green. I've only ever seen 'prime', which I think is above 95, a few times.

 

[SoliD]

Out of curiosity, what do you get from Whoop? Still trying to figure out what it's telling me that Garmin isn't. (I'm still only 5 days in, so havent unlocked all the data yet, so not a completely fair comparison yet)

I don't have a garmin watch anymore, so it gives me the full day stats, but I couldn't sleep with the Garmin so I never got this. Like you've said above when I had a Garmin it just gave some random rest time after my ride and never adjusted. My Whoop took about a month, but slowly adjusted my recovery etc which does reflect my mood. It's moved me slowly forward over the last 8 months to have a better sleep schedule and quality, reducing the times I get up in the night from 3-4 to once, I don't interact with the Whoop guide as much now but it was a help asking questions on what I can do to improve overall.

Odd about your ghost activities. mine doesn't pick up if I go for a walk with the dog first thing most mornings as my HR never really rises, but it does pick up all my cycling, running, and if I'm doing proper DIY or manual work, but it won't pick up if I'm just pootling around with a multi tool or screwdriver. Re your 100 mile ride, this may not have taken out of you as much as you think, especially if you just went around at your z2 HR, this is what Whoop has challenged me with, actually reflecting on if the ride I thought knackered me out has actually killed me. I saw in Majorca earlier in the year a gradual reduction in recovery as the week went off and spot a big drop if I have a few drinks and generally this reflects how I'm feeling, although I've had some days where i've been told i'm green but my legs have had nothing in them.

 

[Shadowness]

@SoliD ah fair enough.
The 100 mile was at pretty high intensity, but I did feel good the next day, so maybe it was 'correct'. I'm intrigued to see what it says when I do genuinely feel rubbish.

 

[SoliD]

Need to force yourself to be ill with flu then you'll see a nice sub 10%

 

[Shadowness]

So this is the biggest issue I have with Whoop. The non-activity HR data.
Sitting at my desk, taking it easy my Garmin says im sub 50bpm (which I can feel I am physically) so I trust the Garmin.

However Whoop in the same moment says 90bpm.



I've fiddled with position, and am wearing it relatively tight, much more than the Garmin, but still reads high. Even as I type this, Garmin says 53 bpm, Whoop 72 bmp. Anytime I look at the Whoop app, it's always notably higher than Garmin.

Not sure what else to try, but I'm not having as much faith in it, and I'm constantly checking in on the app to see how it's reading compared to the Garmin.

 

[Roady]

That does sound weird, like a faulty sensor to be consistently 'off'? We all know sat at a desk unstressed and fairly relaxed what our HR's would be around. 90 does sound high, I'm bouncing between 50-70 generally at work.

Pretty much echo Paul above - Whoop for me is just 'data'. I have not really tried to use it to guide my training (not that I have any structure), or even change my other patterns much (alcohol). I don't aim to 'keep Whoop happy' like many people get drawn into (and then rage against it - like a diet).

But Whoops scores and the data prompting me about just how much poor sleep affects my performances, has encouraged me towards better sleeping habits. I did many years of sleeping 4-5 hours a night and it became 'normal'. That did increase when more physically tired from cycling, but the times I wasn't tired I easily slipped back into bad habits. Having the data shows my sleep quality improves after I've ridden. More time in deeper sleep zones, less interruptions etc. Most nights now I'm sleeping 6-7 hours and the odd times it's below that tend to get a poor recovery score, even if I'm not feeling it, which will usually make me have a couple of slightly earlier nights. Before I was likely pushing through then would have a 'catch up' saturday night (after my long ride of the week). I'd sleep 12+ hours. I don't see that much anymore, generally 9-10 hours max. The times I couldn't do that I was probably suffering more the following days and hampering my performances - not to mention the other health issues it could bring. I've had a few niggle type things, probably poor sleep related, which I see far less of now. Blood pressure symptoms of dizzyness (turning or 'getting up too quick') & occular migranes.

The times I've seen Red recoveries are always sleep related. Some of them after a massive day on the bike, then find the sleep after it poor for some reason, lots of interruptions and wake up tired. Or the times getting <3 hours of sleep due to child/pets/early flights.

Had a low HRV this mornign, 69. Resting HR of 43 and slept 6 hours 32mins. My HRV average is 80 for the month, improved from 72 gradually over the last 6 months. I've found it not unusual to have a few dips for no real reason and not feel any different. *shrug*

 

[AndyCr15]

So this is the biggest issue I have with Whoop.

Yeah, as with Roady, I think mine is a lot more accurate and maybe there's something wrong with yours? It would be interesting if you literally measured your pulse, finger on wrist for 10 seconds, to be sure exactly what your HR is...