Do different fitness watches differ a lot in the most basic functions like heart rate tracking?
Hello!
I just wanted to hear the experiences of people who have used at least two different fitness/smart watches in their lives and if there have been significant differences in their precision regarding the most basic functions, such as tracking heart rate and active zone minutes.
Background - I got my first smart watch, an oldish Fitbit versa 2, about 1.5 years ago. As a home-office worker and homebody in general, my priority with working out is really to make sure that I get that necessary amount of cardio to maintain the basic level of stamina. All the other good stuff like toning comes after that. As heart rate & active zone minute (or whatever they are called outside the Fitbit system) tracking is like the bare minimum function, I thought getting a bit older model at a bargain price would do just fine.
Only that it wasn't. My Fitbit gets my heart rate during workouts wrong at least 30% of the time (definitely more if I'm not taking my time to readjust the watch every now and then). Sure, I might not be able to feel the difference between heart rate 120 and 130, but I do know the difference between 110 and 160. I'm talking about that level of imprecision happening all the time. I've tried all - having it tight, lose, medium, high up the wrist, way down, middle ground, right in the middle, slightly off to the side, etc. None of it worked to improve the precision in the long term and I wonder if it is the typical problem of all fitness watches or if older models are simply more prone to imprecision. I thought the model and production year didn't matter with this kind of basic tracking, but perhaps it does. Perhaps not..
I just want to hear different experiences from people before I decide if it's worth upgrading my device or not. Thank you very much for reading my rant so far and I wish you all a lovely day!
Do different fitness watches differ a lot in the most basic functions like heart rate tracking?
Hello!
I just wanted to hear the experiences of people who have used at least two different fitness/smart watches in their lives and if there have been significant differences in their precision regarding the most basic functions, such as tracking heart rate and active zone minutes.
Background - I got my first smart watch, an oldish Fitbit versa 2, about 1.5 years ago. As a home-office worker and homebody in general, my priority with working out is really to make sure that I get that necessary amount of cardio to maintain the basic level of stamina. All the other good stuff like toning comes after that. As heart rate & active zone minute (or whatever they are called outside the Fitbit system) tracking is like the bare minimum function, I thought getting a bit older model at a bargain price would do just fine.
Only that it wasn't. My Fitbit gets my heart rate during workouts wrong at least 30% of the time (definitely more if I'm not taking my time to readjust the watch every now and then). Sure, I might not be able to feel the difference between heart rate 120 and 130, but I do know the difference between 110 and 160. I'm talking about that level of imprecision happening all the time. I've tried all - having it tight, lose, medium, high up the wrist, way down, middle ground, right in the middle, slightly off to the side, etc. None of it worked to improve the precision in the long term and I wonder if it is the typical problem of all fitness watches or if older models are simply more prone to imprecision. I thought the model and production year didn't matter with this kind of basic tracking, but perhaps it does. Perhaps not..
I just want to hear different experiences from people before I decide if it's worth upgrading my device or not. Thank you very much for reading my rant so far and I wish you all a lovely day!