Smart Watch- HRM + Strava

NoNameNoNumber

NoNameNoNumber

NoNameNoNumber

Soldato
Joined
25 Nov 2009
Posts
5,391
Afternoon guys,

Since signing up for an Ironman in Sept I'm starting to up my game a bit, running is coming on at a comfortable 3 miles of around 8min/mile... Steady increasing it. Swimming is a write off at the minute... 250m front crawl and I'm done and I haven't been on a bike yet this year :/

Decided buying some gadgetry will help :D

I'm after something that'll sync with Strava nicely and measure HR, that's about it. Oh and It'd be a bonus if it could help out with swimming too :D The Fitbits seem to be inaccurate and not rated too highly amongst people I know with them... What's out there?

Cheers :)
 
So I'm starting to increase my activity/exercise levels (from none essentially :() and in the last few weeks I've been adding in some cycling using Strava, I've also been testing a fitbit charge hr that I borrowed off a mate, and I've had my Moto 360 Android Wear watch for ages.

For cycling/strava the Moto 360 doesn't really do anything, Strava (nor google fit) want to use the heart rate sensor, and frankly it's not overly reliable most of the time either (in terms of getting a reading at all, if it gets a reading it seems to be about right) so I'd avoid a smartwatch really from that perspective (although I do love my Moto 360 for other/'normal' smartwatch stuffs).

The one caveat would be from the link above the Sony Smartwatch 3, which as it mentions you can track your run with purely via the watch and leave your phone at home, if that appeals. As I cycle it's easy enough to put the phone in the saddle bag or rucksack so that's not a selling point.

The fitbit seems to vary, it appears to over-estimate most things, specifically calorie counts, the heart rate sensor is a lot better than the Moto 360's but it also seems to suffer a bit whilst cycling (see below).

So, in the end I got bored/had some spare cash so I bought a Wahoo TICKR, which is one of the heart rate bands properly supported by Strava (and Bluetooth as well as ANT+ so would work with my phone, Nexus 5), I used it for the first time on a ride today and as expected got a nice graph with heart rate and averages/max etc, all good, except not seeing it during the ride perhaps (it was on the screen display, not really investigated the android wear display enough to know if it's somehow visible there, not on the base page at least).

Going back to the fitbit, and it's accuracy, over the ride I did earlier the Wahoo TICKR/Strava gave me an average of 172bpm and a max of 188bpm. The Fitbit only gives an average and a vague graph on the app, but it gave me an average of 92, I'm fairly sure I trust the chest band over the fitbit's optical sensor but was surprised by just how much out it seemed to be. It does however seem to be fine when walking, so perhaps the position of my wrist and/or sweat did it?
 
I've used a tomtom cardio, which was ok, has its own app from tomtom which is reasonably good. I liked it as it updated / linked with most apps inc strava - I mainly used it for running. Had HRM built in and some useful tricks for interval training etc. Had it for just short of a year then the waterproof seal started to fail and the nit started to mist - took it back and exhchanged it for a Fitbit surge - again has its own app, but does not link as good with other apps - mainly map my run - I've recently gone and got another tomtom, this time the multi cardio one, this tracks running, swimming, cycling, treadmill and other gym activities - waterproof too. There are a number of training aids in built and available accessories for cycling - bonus for me is its got some inbuilt storage for MP3 and Bluetooth for earbuds - the strap is also easy to replace. Don't know how accurate the HRM is, but it normally gives a reading within 2 / 3 bpm to the equipment at the gym.
 
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