Fitness tracker watches and heart rate monitors are not accurate during AF, even my Polar Vantage with a professional grade chest strap and transmitter.
For an ECG the iWatch is adequate but agree the HR trackers are not always accurate when they slip on your wrist and they can show odd unexplained spikes.
I think you will find the latest model is 7. The 4 is no longer made but they used to be available refurbished and from 3rd party sources. Personally I liked it but not for the ECG function and having trashed so many smart watches have found the Apple Watch to be the sturdiest so for that reason alone - it’s worth the latest model!
Which model to choose will depend what you want it to do as well as ECG, which is quite basic but not as good as the Kardia so if you just want a mobile ECG - Kardia. I have iWatch6 and like it for the fall alarm, the O2 sats monitoring, I can answer calls on it when I can’t find my phone quickly, sleep tracker, continuous heart rate monitor and health app. I think you will find that you can’t buy a new iWatch4 - only refurbished and I’d be very wary buying from 3rd party.
Hi there I'd be very interested in the fall alarm as I live alone and dont have any family in this country. My worry is having a stroke and not being found.
Exactly - it senses when you have a fall - asks you if you require help, if no response it automatically calls emergency numbers & sends texts to friends and family on predetermined numbers.
In my opinion, if you use an iPhone the the Apple Watch is great addition.My Apple Watch 6 monitors me 23.5 hours, day and night - I charge it for about half an hour when I am showering.
It checks and reports AFib about every 2 hours when I am still, usually asleep.
I can do a manual ECG by starting the App on the Watch and holding my opposite finger to the crown, 30 seconds later I have an ECG trace which I can email to my Cardiologist.
Ditto, fall alert, HR monitor and AFIB alert all bonuses for a watch tells you time/temp/messages and answers calls without touching it *thanks Siri* As far as sketchy readings because of loose fitting, just adjust so it's snug, not right or sliding around. 🙂
All watches since Series 4 use identical sensors for heart rate and ECG. I've just changed from a Series 4 to a Series 7 as my battery went faulty - no difference. The only improvement is that the screen is a smidgeon larger and stays on all the time. I would stay with the one you have if the battery is fine.
As CD pointed out, there is also a blood oxygen monitor on the Series 6 and 7 watches. If you don't have one, then the latest model 7 is probably the best to get.
They are all very good watches but bear in mind that if the battery goes after your warranty is finished, they cannot be repaired, just replaced. If the "Battery Health" drops to below 80%, Apple will replace the watch for £90.00; before that, it's £290. Mine was at 87% and the watch wasn't quite lasting a day. I felt let down by Apple, truthfully, as my watch was only two and half years old, but, in the end, went to John Lewis to get a free two-year warranty on a Series 7.
You can buy a new series 4 for about £200 or second hand for £100-150 so not that much money. I've worn mine every day for two and a half years so it's been a very good buy for me.
And you can use it to find your phone. I've done that a few times and it is a torch - and quite a lot of other things. I've never bought an Apple product before, no Mac computer, no phone etc but my watch was a good buy. A Kardia sits in the drawer but your watch is always available, night and day.
An iPhone 6 to go with the series 4 watch can be bought for about £50 on ebay. Later versions of the watch need later phones. One has just sold for £51.
I think I paid about £70 or £80 for mine three years in 2019
You can attached a Kardia to your phone, most people carry their phones or have them nearby.
Hi Davidc1075, I'd say that a watch is supposed to be of more use than a less than perfect ecg device, so if you have a use for a really good iwatch generally, then it's perhaps worth considering, but hardly a great idea just to take an ecg reading, which most likely won't be accepted as evidence for a diagnosis of AF. It is only useful as a guide as to whether AF is present.
If you were thinking of upgrading to a newer Apple watch then consider all the uses to which it will be put. All devices which record ecg traces tend to end up overused, when it's not at all necessary and can be detrimental to you and your condition if it becomes an obsessive use, and probably never more so than one that's actually strapped to your body and which you can use without even going to find it first.
There's one other thing with Apple watches too, in that it's like most Apple products and it needs recharging really regularly, (daily). The ecg app in particular will drain your battery really quickly and although recharge is very quick, it means the watch might not be on your wrist or available at that vital moment when you need a quick ecg trace.
I think you will find that ‘most’ will accept ECG reading these days as SO many people use them and at Patient Day there was a session on the future of green light tech and value of constant monitoring, however, doctors will still ask for full 12 lead as evidence because unfortunately NICE is still 10 years behind the times. Only the Kardia seems to have been ‘officially’ approved here. Technology is advancing so fast but unfortunately the beaurocracy is still 20C.
It fully charges in 10-20 minutes and mine lasts about 25-30 hours and nothing is perfect but still better than trying to capture elusive AF on 12 lead!
Hi CDreamer, I did manage to get one doctor to agree that 'there might be something going on here' from one of my Apple watch traces. It was the best I achieved though, but it did encourage me to have another go at getting a proper diagnosis!
Yes, I did tell my tale of woe here a little while ago, in which I took a reading with me to my GP surgery, which I'd even printed out for ease of viewing, and saw a locum GP during investigations for AF (which in all took 4 years plus), and she asked "what is that?' It means nothing to me". And as I was preparing to leave and left the print out on her desk, she pointed at it and said "and you can take that thing with you"! Naturally after that, I never bothered with trying to show another one! After a while, when the 111 service sent me to A&E with symptoms, the emergency doctor I saw did take a quick look at my watch and it was then that she acknowledged that 'something might be going on'.I'm not quite as confident as CDreamer about a watch trace being acceptable as an actual diagnostic tool. The more progressive GPs, emergency doctors and indeed even cardiologists are now taking more notice of technological aids, but in the main they aren't generally being used for actual diagnoses but only a indicators. The Kardia may be the exception. TracyAdmin posted recently that the Kardia is now approved by NICE for diagnosis, but quite how this pans out, practically speaking, I have no idea.
No, I'm really sorry, but I'm not happy to share my personal information online in that way. In any case I'm not even sure they would still exist anyway, as we're talking about a period of time some months ago.
My Advice - i have an Apple 6 , if you want to feel better do NOT look at your watch. It will drive you nuts. My watch reckons I am duff all the time . Do not take your pulse all the time. If you have AF you will know when it is worse or better. Simply carry on with life, and if you peg out you at least enjoy yourself. I am not willing to spend half an hour with the undertaker yet !
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