Don't Like Wearing Chest Strap Heart Rate Monitors?

In this video I will be comparing the Coros Heart Rate monitor to a Polar H10 and to a wrist watch heart rate. What's the best heart rate monitor from a data standpoint? And does the Armband stack up with the gold standard for measuring heart rate during cycling.

@corosglobalOutdoor

#trainwithCOROS #cycling #heartrate

[vecdran]

I use a Polar armband optical HR monitor placed just off my bicep on the outside. It's accurate enough for my needs, and I'm more than willing to put up with any lag or inaccuracies to get away from chest straps. I absolutely detest how chest straps feel. Armband was an immediate QOL improvement for me. While I haven't run both at the same time to do a direct comparison, it seems to keep up well enough with max efforts. I've never looked down at my Wahoo and thought "Wow, that HR doesn't look right at all!" Can't say the same for my Pixel smartwatch...

[fotmheki]

The problems with optic sensor are mostly interference like hair, skin colour and water as all of them could affect reading precision

[BorjaAOS]

I use my wrist based Fénix 7. To improve the reading I turn the watch to read HR in the lower part of the wrist (significant improvement as there is more blood flow)

[dazza]

After several HRM failures after replacing the battery or drying out on cooler winter days I decided to go with the Coospo arm band unit after reading the review on Roadcc. It’s been super reliable with few if any drop outs over the 2 yrs that I’ve been using it.
I for one will never go back to a chest strap HRM.

[psi]

I find the best spot is the upper forearm for the polar OH+ and scosche rhythm. Only problem is garmin uses hrv to do calculations which neither of them transmit

[cornelhughes]

Have used various arm straps and in general they do not work as well as a chest strap. The chest straps tend not to drop out, have longer battery life (Magene, moofit ). Recall a prior arm strap i used where the explanation given for why it was not working well was: I had hair on my arms and my skin color was black.

[Rafael-vuxn]

Wahoo Ticr ftw, the armband could have a notch grippier velcro because in weight training tends to rip it open often

[playitlouder]

I have had the best result with a Tickr Fit arm strap. The HR reading lags the effort by about 10 s, but I think it peaks out at around the right HR.
With chest straps I found that I got so sweaty, or something, that they'd stop reading just when I was really getting into it after an hour or so, which it why I went for the arm band
For a lot of rides I just use a Fenix 6 - seems OK if I'm just commuting and throwing in a few intervals along the way

[HarryTzianakisTheGodOfSpeed]

i think if the arm strap was positioned on the inside of the bicep it would work better, being that our arteries run on the inside of the bicep.

[nielsperdijk]

I got a question for Neill and the community: Has anyone experienced Sesamoiditis or pain around that area under the ball of the foot? Could cleat postion or cleat type be a reason? Or not enough arch support?

[WariWahab]

I have the polar verity, IMO, not as good as the chest strap, but it feels a lot better. Wear it a lot on days i just want HR, but not important, and if I happen to forget, I still have the Garmin watch, which is not as good as the polar arm band

[RichardMigneron]

well, thanks. I had 2 Wahoo chest straps, and both lasted about 1 year before stopping completely. I have a Withings watch, not ideal, now I know why. Always hated chest straps. Will seriously consider the arm strap.

[caveman]

I kond of would like to try something like the armstrap one to go around the wrist/forearm. Only with a little screen to show the hr. No clock or social notificafions if possible🤔

[mikek]

Semi-serious question - Do skinny road cyclists need at least some bicep bulge to hold it in place without cutting blood supply to the arm ...?

[ronfeldman]

I have used the Wahoo Ticker armband for over 1 year now, I found it to be very accurate. I am thinking about trying this Coros Unit.
Thanks Cam for showing another option. Anyone try a Core temperature sensor or a sweat sensor ?

[peterfullarton]

I have am issue with my chest called pectus excavatum which is a dip in the chest caused by the cartilage joining the ribs to the sternum doesn't grow properly as a teen and leaves the sternum behind essentially creating a dip so, naturally, a chest strap doesn't work for me and i use an arm band but really question its accuracy .

[fiddleronthebike]

when precise HR data is important I use a chest strap, have tested it against different wrist solutions and they all are not as precise and take time to show somewhat reliable data at all. When it's not so important I use my Garmin watch - so no need for that sensor: For those who don't own a sport watch (probably not many active humans...) the arm strap would be an option, when it is not to expensive - but then the BT-only concept is a no go for some applications, they absolutely should include ANT+, shouldn't be a big deal anyways

[buffaloje]

Nice news about the bike computer… as mostly a runner the arm band has had plenty of traction from that market. I’ll have to get their bike computer so everything will be Coros. Edit, forgot to add my Coros arm band turned up this week.

[natus]

Using arm strap for last 7 years or so - no way back to chest strap for me. DCR tests showed that until very extreme cases - optical on the arm is good enough. But tried for some time to exchange it with just garmin fenix - this was very unreliable. So optical is in principle very very good - but the location plays a huge role.

[SonnyDarvish]

I wonder why BLE only in 2024? Garmin Edge 830 gets choked so much on too many BLE connections and I would rather stick with ANT+.