Hi everybody, I know a lot of people on here wear a smart watch. I'm after a smart watch mainly to monitor my heart rate when I'm using my exercise bike and anything else is a bonus. I don't want to spend much on something that I won't be using that much. I tried 3 cheaper ones £12,£24 and £40. All three have given inaccurate results ranging from counting steps when I'm sat, random spikes in heart rate when I'm not doing anything and all three won't give an accurate reading when I'm on the exercise bike. The dearest one recorded my heart rate at 110 but my finger monitor recorded 144. I trust my finger monitor because is always the same as my BP machine. So after all that waffle my question is, has anybody got a cheaper smart watch that is accurate or I'm I trying to buy something that doesn't exist. I do have very skinny wrists so that might not help. I'm starting to look at smart rings if anybody has any experience of them. Thanks in advance
Smart Watch : Hi everybody, I know a... - British Heart Fou...
Smart Watch
I have always found Garmin watches pretty good. They are not the cheapest but they do for me,they measure heart rate , sleep, hrv, pulse ox . Mind you I have one of the dearer ones. There are plenty of other brands out there.
I have an apple watch, it’s expensive. Not too accurate but close enough
Eyup I have a suunto which isn't that cheap but does a decent job. If it's just for while you're exercising have a look at the chest straps. They're inexpensive and accurate but only do one job. I've a wahoo one I use when on an exercise bike at home sometimes as my watch doesn't link to zwift
hi, I use an iwatch as I like the data linking into my phone there are websites like music magpie where you can buy second hand d watchers which is what I do to reduce the cost. just need to research what you want it for I have the iwatch 7 and does all I need ( it also helps out getting my daily steps in as it shows on the watch as well )
Agreed. Watches are not that accurate as heart monitors, and a bike can make it worse as the angle of your wrist can affect how well the contacts sit on your skin. A chest strap is the way to go. Get one that connects up to your watch, wear the strap on the bike or for other exercise, and use the watch the rest of the time.
Straps are not that expensive, and the main cost may be in a watch that will connect to one. After my bypass, the physio team were monitoring us that way in sessions, which was the first time I'd bothered with anything like that. When my sessions with them finished, I got my own.
Thanks for your reply, that does make sense about the angle of the wrist and probably with my skinny wrists it's worse. I think a chest strap is the way to go, I'm not that bothered about measuring steps and sleep etc, I'm sure I do enough steps walking the dog a mile or 2 a day and I don't have any trouble sleeping, waking up can be a tricky sometimes 😂 Presumably I can wear the chest strap for other day today life, I'm just curious as to what my HR is and more importantly how quick it returns to resting.
This afternoon was a case in point. My Garmin Fenix watch was reading about 110bpm. I have quite a low heart rate, so that didn't look right at all. I put on my chest strap to do a ride on Zwift, and that came out at 69bpm. If it weren't that I knew to ignore unlikely readings on the Fenix, I could have been worried!
Probably most people wouldn't bother with a strap for daily life, walking, etc. They are more used for specific exercise sessions - gym, cycling, running, whatever. You're not intended to wear them for extended periods otherwise. Watches should be fine for getting HR indications in daily life, but just don't expect their readings always to be accurate.
I've got myself a DKN chest strap which links to the bike I have. I've returned the watches as they didn't work well enough. I can't justify a more expensive one.
I have Fitbit Versa 3 and seems reasonably accurate and my GP said they are good I have to do BP check every week and it seems pretty accurate with watch and machine
I rely on my Fitbit had it on in hospital was registering the same as there equipment. Wear all day and night . Helps my anxiety when I do keepfit I can keep an eye how the heart rate is coping. Hope this helps
Thanks for that, unfortunately as I haven't worked for 5 months and not sure I'll be going back to my current job I have to watch my spending so a Fitbit is out of my reach. I was hoping to get a cheap one but I don't think they are reliable enough so would be false economy. I will probably get a chest strap which will do what I want.
Hi Redfliyd, try Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Health & Fitness Tracker, obviously not top of the range, but may be all you need. There are many fitness trackers available. Ask on Reddit and make sure you include your budget and your needs. Good luck.
My Apple watch, within a beat, gives the same results as my finger pulse check, blood pressure monitor for heart rate, and my Kardia mobile. So I would say it is accurate. This does depend though on how it fits. If it is too loose, or even too tight, the results would vary. Mine, the Series 9, even takes an ECG!
I tried a Fitbit, not good enough, but do not have experience of any others
I've had the Garmin Forerunner 45 for quite a while now and find it to be very accurate. Tracks BPM, respiration, activity, sleep, etc. I paid £100.
Try CEX or webuy.com - same company. They offer a 2 year guarantee on purchased items.Items to look at
Apple watch
Kardiacare 6L
Polar heart rate strap. Can be used with an Apple watch.
Software apps to use on a smartphone
Fibricheck
Withings app via Withings piece of hardware - see withings.com.
Anura app.
All items will require a certain amount of breaking in and learning.
Healthtec can cause anxiety, so use with caution.
My advice would be 'don't buy one' I did and then turned up at my surgery and asked my Dr if he was ok with the fact my BPM was down to 34. He nearly put me in the back of an Ambulance and spent at least 3 minutes telling me this was an Emergency. So.... I got myself a 'Wellue' Pulse Oximeter and low and behold the low BPM was due to the fact that the sensor had lost contact with my skin. The Pluse Oximeter is the way I go now. I can't comment on the heart rate straps, but I really would stay away from trying to use Smart Watch to do this.
Just my thoughts based on experience.
Good luck
Thank you for your reply. The 3 that I have tried have been ok ish for normal use if you accept that they can't get everything right al of the time. One was fairly accurate on counting steps but no good on sleep, one was good on sleep but not much else and the other counted steps while I was sleeping but was accurate on HR up to 112 and wouldn't go any higher. Maybe I should wear all 3 at once 🤣🤣
That would probably cover it :🤪
All decent well known brands have decent HR monitors. There are differences and this might influence your decision. Apple iWatch doesnt measure your HR 24/7 or continiously. Fitbit does. However, during exercise - Apple watch does monitor it more.
Next important point is accuracy - whilst all decent smartwatches are good to very good during normal operations - the accuracy decreases during exercise. My apple watch is off by at least 10-15bpm compared to my Polar H10.
Finally, if you are into the apple or google ecosystem - some watches would be more suitable.
Apple Watches - as recommended by my cardiologist or the Samsung fe is a good all rounder
as an extra- I had issues and my GP scorned the watch but the cardiologist I saw privately who is a top cardiologist in a leading U.K. hospital practically picked one for me advocating their innate accuracy and picking up any trends. For some reason many gps are ambivalent.
no prob. I got mine secondhand/refurbished from Amazon.. take care .
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