fitness trackers

[Edgarwallace]

has anyone any advice re best tracker to monitor heart rate please

[IndieDot]

I use a Garmin Forerunner 55. Much cheaper than my previous Fitbit but as accurate as they can be. It's useful as a general guide for heart rate but try not to keep looking at it all day as it can cause some anxiety even over just a slightly raised BPM. I was continually checking mine initially but now only check it if I feel my BPM may be on the high side.....and often it proves me wrong😂 It does link to an app so you can also track your steps, sleep patterns, respiration etc so gives a good general overview.

[Edgarwallace in reply to IndieDot]

thanks. I’ve previously had a Fitbit so know what you mean about constantly checking!

[CyclingTime]

Garmin and Apple are the best. Apple very expensive but Garmin has some lower price models that are excellent.

[L8Again]

Not surprisingly, the BBC and others have suggested that fitness trackers are most accurate when the wearer is at rest!

My wife has a pacemaker which is set a minimum heart rate of 60bpm. When she looks at her heart rate on her Apple Watch the rate on some days falls as low as 45bpm. She raised this as a concern at a recent pacing check: she was told that her pacemaker was performing as per its settings and the low heart rates were a function of how an Apple Watch monitors the heart rate.

[Chinkoflight in reply to L8Again]

I have a dual lead IV/ICD fitted 3 weeks ago to protect against a LVT. The pacing function was set at 60 to counter the effects of bisoprolol impacting on my 'normal' resting HR of 40. My budget Amazfit watch with ZEPP app always perfectly matched the pacing function. The pacing function lead has been found to be faulty this week and I was aware of this over two weeks ago because of feeling the problem and recording the low end irregularity on my watch. The temporary fix for my current dilemma was to dial down the pacing function to HR35, and my watch has immediately dropped to my usual circa 40 BPM at rest.You mentioned the Sliced Bread BBC radio 4 programme broadcast on Feb 23rd I believe and available on BBC sounds now.

The programme was very informative and my takeaway was that vigourous exercise can cause challenges for watches recording higher HR rates and accelerometer steps measurements because of watch movement, sweating etc.

But in general fitness use, low to mid price trackers etc performed as well as or better than expensive watches. The benefits of more expensive watches was functionality around none fitness related features, like reading messages, acting as phones etc.

Kif you want an accurate HR monitor with additional benefits of an ECG function then a Kardia device and a cheap smartwatch is a cheaper option by far than a Samsung or Apple watch.

I hope this is fair and balanced.

[Survivor1952]

Garmin Forerunner here, GP accepts it as accurate.

[Stentsandrun]

Depends how accurate you want it to be. Best bet is a cheap and cheerful chest strap device, the wrist worn "smart" watches are not intended to be used for medical purposes, as advised on the instructions on most of them. Anyone who has worn one will tell you they are prone to inaccuracies which is not really unexpected due to the way in which they work. Chest strap one's actually use the electrical signals from your heart.