Latino

Hello bikers

I have been a cyclist for a number of years, but only two years ago started training and racing more seriously. Early on I learnt the value of measuring resting HR consistently, and track it to spot early signs of over training or illness. The problem is, I keep forgetting to measure it! and measuring it sporadically is of little value

However, more and more fitness gadgets are being launched, and I am wondering if there is one that will help me track resting HR without me having to manually measure it every morning as I wake up. The earliest fitness watch that promised to deliver was the Basis watch, but that has been plaged by bugs and lock-in into their ecosystem (big no no). I also looked at the Withings scales that measure HR, but again I read the HR measurement is unreliable

There are more devices coming out now, but I've lost track, and this is where I'd love some help.

Ideally I'm looking for some kind of band that I can put out of sight (wrist in winter, further up the arm in summer). I have no interest in a watch (I already have a nice watch, thank you!), or GPS, or any other functionality other than measuring resting HR. But it needs to sync to some kind of tool (desktop or online), and I must be able to access the data other than with a silly gamified proprietary application.

Know of anything that fits the bill? please post below!

Thanks

GravelMN

There are many options out there but off the top of my head I can't think of any that can worn on the upper arm rather than the wrist. There are chest bands but they rely on electrical contact rather than light waves (like a pulse oximeter) and I can't imagine using one for daily wear or overnight for accurate waking HR. I've got a Mio Alpha and have been very happy with it's accuracy. It links well with my phone for both Wahoo Fitness and Ride with GPS apps. It is comfortable to wear and looks like a regular watch and has watch functions.

Snicklefritz

Latino, I used to measuring rest HR by using my wireless bike/HR monitor. I'd wear the chest strap at night, put the monitor on the table next to the bed and then the next morning I'd load the data to my computer. This was great because I could get a full 6-8 hour profile to see how low it could get without being influenced by moving around right after waking up. It was also useful for showing indirectly how much I'd turned over during the night because I'd see an HR spike each time that happened.

the most important things for doing this are continuous HR monitoring and ease of downloading. I'd go for one that has continuous monitoring and the best reviews for interfacing it with a smartphone or computer.

Latino

@GravelMN: Just checked the Mio Alpha... no offense, but that thing is hideous . I have had a Mio Link before and that could go anywhere on the arm and it'd still work. I could use a wrist based solution, but I don't want or need a watch. In fact, a band with no screen would work just fine, I can see the data on a computer
@Snicklefritz: I've tried that approach, but loading the data daily on a computer to review was just too cumbersome and time consuming to be practical. As a "part time athlete" with a more than full time job and a life on the side, I really don't want to faff around with this and am hoping for something that will automate it all. I even tried those phone apps that use the camera to read the HR. They work fine, but again, took me around five minutes every morning, which is not acceptable

Something with 24x7 HR monitoring would work, but it would need to detect my resting HR automatically. With an accelerometer built in it could detect the time I get out of bed, and look at the HR just prior to this to estimate resting HR. But I would still like to see the recorded data, so if there is a spike, I can go sniffing

Snicklefritz

@Latino: I have a full time job, am basically going from 6am to 10pm almost every day during the week and I can find time to do HR monitoring. I don't mean to be rude, but if HR is that important to you, you can find a few minutes each day to track it. If 5 minutes is "unacceptable" then maybe you need to look at how busy you are and make changes elsewhere.

Latino

Hi Snicklefritz

35 minutes per week is unacceptable to me. I would like to have daily resting HR readings, but the technology exists to achieve what I'm looking for so I rather save my 35 minutes to do something more useful

More importantly though, when I tried to take those daily readings I found that I wouldn't always remember, ending up with patchy data. If it's all automatic, then there's no forgetting.

Don't want to take this off track, so please, if you know of devices that can do this please share

GSJon

The Scosche Rhythm+ Highly Accurate Armband Heart Rate Monitor - Rhythm+ may meet you requirements.

Latino

@GSJon: Something with that format would be perfect, but it needs to actually record HR, and have the ability to extract the data for an external application (desktop or web) to process it and spit out some useful metrics

on the path

Anybody have experience with one of these? Looks promising..

Seattle Forrest

Scoshe Rhythm+ has been pretty popular with runners for more than a year. People claim the accuracy for pulse rate is basically not distinguishable from a chest strap. Doesn't do HRM though.

GSJon

You can use any of the fitness apps on your phone to record/view the data.

I jus got one last night and have not tried it out yet except for wearing it around the house. Seems to work pretty well.

Seattle Forrest

I did this, once. Got me a number to use for stuff that doesn't involve a power meter, like running and swimming. My watch is a Garmin, it records like a bike computer, uploads to the server automatically; I just had to put up with the HRM overnight, and voila, my data is available. Couple seasons later, I got hit by a car, they had me on an ECG in the hospital, it agreed with my previous number while I lay there not doing anything.

kevmk81

I use a fitbit charge HR

GSJon

So I used the Schocshe last night paired up to the Wahoo Fitness app on my phone. It was dead on with the Garmin heart rate strap which I had paired to my 920xt watch. It worked very well I think.