Please ELEMNT reports my companion apt as 1.77.2.2. It’s own version seems to be WR24-17055.
My Trackr chest strap is reported as ALT+:22589.
I am 75yo, 65kg, long time active cyclist. Sometimes the Wahoo reports my HR at over 200! My measured (in a gym) maximum is 150.
My FitBit Charge2 wrist watch reports my HR a lot lower.
So, should I be worried? If the strap or Wahoo are not fully charged could this lead to inaccurate high HR? Who should I believe the Wahoo, or the FitBit?
Please help! I have had a couple of strokes so it is really important that I have accurate HR!
@Joe_McCool Standard caveat: not a doctor, but a long-time medical professional(ish). At 75yo, there is almost zero medical chance that a normal HR would approach 200bpm unless you are a freak of nature. That said, you mention having prior strokes, so possibly have underlying medical conditions and/or medications that could very likely be spiking your HR beyond “normal” ranges.
With that in mind - with your prior (and likely ongoing) medical condition, I would imagine you have a regular relationship with a medical care team. You should address this with them, and possibly get medical grade heart rate monitoring. I would not be putting my life in the hands of a fitness app, and certainly not relying on wrist-based HR monitoring like a Fitbit.
Thanks a lot for that. I’ve already had two medical grade 24hr monitoring’s and nothing out of the ordinary showed up. So, does that mean I should throw the Fitbit and the Wahoo in the bin and stop worrying? How can I measure my HR reliably?
Definitely don’t believe the Fitbit Charge2. My experience is that wrist based optical sensors consistently under report HR compared a HR strap and are just as likely to mistake your cadence for your HR.
Occasionally my Wahoo HR strap goes haywire and reports a crazy high HR, this is usually down to a flat battery, bad connection etc. On my last Saturday ride mine went nuts and started reporting 220bpm for almost 10 minutes! it was very clear that this was not the case, It wasn’t till I stopped after descending the hill and took my pulse manually that it suddenly jumped back down 70bpm to a realistic value. Look at the sudden increase and drop in HR in the chart below
If your max HR is 150, unless you are the type of person that doesn’t have the ability to listen to their own body, you would know if your HR 50bpm above your max.
Thanks for the response, I really appreciate it. Given my age etc, I am still keen to measure my HR. Are you saying that if the Wahoo and strap are fully charged, they’ll not tell me lies?
I missed the 150 max HR part. Yeah, you would know if your HR was +50 because you’d be waking up on the side of the road, staring at the sky, wondering what just happened.
Ask me how I know.
@Joe_McCool to your follow-up, given your history, you should track your HR more than most. As @JGreengrass says, wrist-based optical sensors range from unreliable to hot garbage - you more than most should not rely on it at all.
I was referring to a potential medical grade wearable, which are usually prescribed by a cardiologist (in the US at least). Barring that, do some research as to which chest-based straps are considered the most reliable and accurate and go with that. I agree with everything @JGreengrass says re: wahoo straps, flat batteries, poor connectivity, etc.
A trick I hear from pro athlete/Ironman friends is to run the entire strap and sensor under water to improve connectivity. You could also consider sourcing a decent electrode conductivity gel.
Second this. If you’re not at least licking the electrodes before you put the strap on, it won’t have a good electrical connection to your chest and can’t be expected to work. I’ve had rides on very dry freezing cold days in winter where my strap has stopped working because there is no sweat at all.
@Joe_McCool I’ve found the battery in my Tickr HR monitor lasts months longer if I unclip one of the press-studs from strap after use. I think the sweaty strap must still be conductive enough for the electronics to think I’m still wearing it.
Have you found a particular frequency with which you need to replace the strap portion of the H10 HRM itself (or tried any of the cheaper third-party replacement strap options)?
I think the electrodes in my strap might be nearing end-of-life after around three years, and I’ve read people citing replacement frequencies of between 12 and 36 months for the newer Polar straps (and saying older ones might have lasted longer). Clearly it depends somewhat on how much and how salty you sweat along with other factors.
I’m sorry I don’t have an answer for that. I’ve had mine about a year and the strap is certainly showing wear (150 miles/week, regular washings), but can’t say I’ve seen any connectivity or monitoring issues with the actual electrode unit as yet.
Optical HR sensors of any kind are consistently less accurate and more prone to errors. Wrist-based more than most. They aren’t bad for measuring your non-exercise heart rate when you’re walking normally or sitting/standing. But the more move - and especially the vigorously - they become more and more error-prone and less and less accurate. The most accurate HR sensors are electrical chest straps that read the actual electrical impulses from your heart. Any optical HR sensor data should be viewed as “relative” data that’s “nice to have” but definitely not medical grade (as @JGreengrass and @CPT_A have previously mentioned) and should be viewed with hefty and generous helpings of salt. I almost never even look at my Apple Watch HR values any more, especially when I’m exercising. Buy and use a chest strap is your best solution. There’s plenty out and there and they aren’t that expensive.
Some optical HR monitors are pretty good. The polar OH-1 and it’s descendants do an excellent job. My Garmin Venu3 watch actually does a very good job, in the sense that it closely matches my Polar H10 chest strap, as long as I start it recording a cycling or indoor cycling activity. It seems to react a bit slowly, but for indoor Zone 2 rides it is completely adequate and I occasionally skip the chest strap and just have the watch send HR to apps.
Chest strap monitors have failed me before, especially in winter when I wear layers of dissimilar fabrics which can build up static on the rare Seattle dry winter day. I have seen these monitors report sustained HRs of 225, when the max I observe under normal circumstances is about 175.
But talk to your doc if you suspect anything is wrong or have a history of heart issues and see an anomaly. I did (ramp tests always have me showing a linear HR increase then 15-20 bps jump a step or two before hitting the wall, cardiologist says don’t worry if you hit 191 you would feel it, Garmin watch says no AFIB).
Interesting thread. I also get HR spikes or plateaus of around +50 above what I would expect HR to during fairly intense works. Running more than cycling. Feel entirely normal during the workout then see these sections way above my normal maximum. Happens on both Garmin Watch and Polar Chest Strap. They do mess up load and recovery metrics unfortunately.
My Garmin Forerunner 265 does match well with a medical grade HRM at least when I am stationary. I have had many reliability problems with chest straps from many manufactureres.
