Reliability of Wrist Heart Rate Monitors – BionicOldGuy

The devices that monitor our heart rate based on a wrist measurement are fairly widespread these days, including Fitbit, Garmin Watches and Apple Watches. There are also devices that promise more sophisticated results such as the variability of Whoop’s heart rate. These devices then tell us insightful things about our recent training sessions or our activity throughout the day, how long we need to recover before our next fierce training, and even to what extent we sleep.

The problem is that the accuracy of the data on which all this information is based is suspect. I first noticed that when I had a fitbit. He often read above than I suspected was correct, depending on the difficulty I thought I was working. The same goes for my Garmin watch. I can just warm up, and it will tell me that my heart rate is in the 130s, what I know cannot be true because I would really blow. I recently put it to the test. It turns out that I also have a H10 heart rate polar strap. And a separate device (my Garmin Bike computer). So, on the same ride, I made sure that my watch was not associated with the strap, and that the wrist data had only heart rate. My bicycle computer was associated with the strap, so it was a chest -based measure. In such a comparison, we expect the thoracic measure to be more precise, but I was blown away how the two differ. The two graphics on a three-hour journey are illustrated below. The maximum heart measurement of the wrist measurement was 41 beats two and suspected when I warmed up. There are various other places in graphics where the results of the wrist are simply not correct.

I had read optimal training techniques based on heart rate, which all seem quite scientific. But I now know that the data on which I founded are not trustworthy (I generally simply use the wrist because it is an additional step to put on the strap). In the future, I will make sure to use the strap when I really want to check the heart rate. I will also trust what my training feels more (perceived effort level).