The WHOOP Strap has been updated to v3.0. It looks similar but there are new straps and new changes to the WHOOP platform too.
A Look-Back
WHOOP was a proprietary wrist-based HR (resting HRV) sensor linking to only their iOS/Android app and online platform. It is sold as a conveniently worn strap that’s suited for 24×7 wearing, including sport. WHOOP looks to measure and assess your strain (exercise/stress), sleep, recovery and hence your readiness to train optimally.
Interestingly WHOOP changed their sales model in 2018 to that of a monthly subscription ($30) which is a similar amount to the effective cost of owning and replacing a high-end sports watch every 2 years but with the added, effective security of a permanent warranty. Some members/subscribers will have to pay for the WHOOP Live upgrade.
WHOOP v3.0 – Looking Forwards
The sensor firmware and platform have been changed and improved in a few notable ways. .
Firstly the battery life has been significantly increased to 5 days and existing WHOOP users will likely find that reason enough to take the upgrade.
Secondly, WHOOP is now BLE-compatible. This means that it broadcasts your HR for you to OPTIONALLY record on another app or gym machine, rowing machine, treadmill or bike computer – even your Garmin wristwatch (on the other wrist). I know some people asked me if the previous version could do that, so there are DEFINITELY some of you out there who want to integrate WHOOP Review into your sporting gadget infrastructure. That will handily help me verify the accuracy of the new sensor setup.
Thirdly there are also new colours and bands which help sweat wicking and slip avoidance.
So those are the changes to the strap. There are also app and platform changes announced at the same time which include 2 main features
- Strain Coach – Real-time workout feedback to tell you to push harder or pull back a little and when you’ve achieved your workout target.
- SNAP+ – You can overlay real-time WHOOP data onto videos or photos, no doubt handy for social media influencers 😉
All said, it’s a nice, practical upgrade.
FYI: The hardware of the optical HR unit on the strap is UNchanged but what HAS changed is the ability of the HR calculations to be made on the wrist…previosuly on v2.0 these calculations were performed on the web and then sent back down to the app after processing
WHOOP Strap 3.0 – Availability and Discount
WHOOP Strap 3.0 – Availability and DiscountCode: THE5KRUNNER10 or THE5KRUNNER10EU
It’s available now with USA and EU fulfilment, so no unexpected import duties.
Check your upgrade status: whoop.com/upgrade
US$30/month, minimum 6 months that’s $180, less the US$30 WHOOP promo code from here
Fulfilment is from the EU and the USA. Buyers in the EU do not pay any import duties but do pay normal local taxes (VAT).
The code THE5KRUNNER10, on the WHOOP site, gets a $30 discount
Whoop Band 4.0 Review – Free Strap + Subscription Discount Code
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In your opinion is this significantly better than firstbeats body battery? Reading between the blurry lines there is convergence in what is trying to be achieved. I’m happy with my vivosmart 4, it only comes off to be charged when I’m exercising with my 645, thanks to Garmin’s true-up and behind the scenes analysis, body battery does register a thumping when I put the vivosmart 4 back on post workout and sync.
there’s more intelligence and subsequent recommendations from whoop
Whoop certainly gives you more recommendations and more data to look at, but the question is whether it’s actually useful or, rather, whether Whoop is largely a marketing scam based on false precision.
Whoop is very secretive about what it’s doing behind the scenes, and the peer reviewed science on HRV is still pretty limited. Basically, it’s a potentially useful training guide, but still no more accurate than an athlete’s perception of fatigue. And, of course, even if the science were there, that doesn’t overcome the limitations of the sensor tech. It’s still an optical heart rate monitor, and it’s not even one of the better ones on the market at reporting workout heart rate accurately, which is not confidence inspiring.
Based on my observation, I think Whoop’s main value is psychological. They get people to trust them (by giving false precision, through heavy marketing by professional athletes, and by charging a lot of money for the product). Then their algorithms are tuned to tell people that they always need more sleep and should never drink. People who spent a lot of money on a fancy device are more likely to do what it tells them to do; it would be a waste otherwise. Then they start seeing results because they’re sleeping a lot and not drinking. Well that’s not surprising. The research on sleep is pretty unequivocal. (The research on moderate alcohol consumption by athletes, less so.)
Which is not to say that psychological tricks like this aren’t useful. A simple bathroom scale works basically the same way. Your day-to-day weight down to the tenth of a pound is meaningless information, but the fact that you know you’re going to step on the scale every day makes you eat better every day. I just don’t like the idea of one company charging a fortune for a bathroom scale just because it happens to give you your weight down to 6 decimals and also suggests that you eat more vegetables.
I think that is a little unfair to whoop but i sense where you are coming from.
– any optical hr tech worn on the wrist during a workout is likely to gather incorrect data. any ohr tech worn on the upper arm or forearm is likely to gather mostly correct data.
– whoop now broadcasts hr and, as it happens, i’ve been gathering whoop data independently (on and off) for a few months now. I’ll report back at some point
– measurements like TRAINING LOAD do not need to be precise to give meaningful guidance.
– I would have thought that HRV related recommendations DO require precision, so i would agree with you there
PS Garmin and Polar and other smart scales are quite expensive 😉
Yes, I guess it was unfair to call it a scam, since the product does basically do what it says, and when it launched, there was nothing comparable on the market. At present, however I’m not convinced that what it’s doing is any better than Body Battery, which is obviously far, far less expensive. I should say that I’ve never used Whoop 3.0.
What I meant by “false precision” was that there’s an illusion created by giving really specific advice. One coach says, “Run 6 miles at 7-minute pace this afternoon.” Another coach says, “Do another easy run this afternoon.” The body is hardly going to know the difference between 6 and 7 miles or between 7 and 7:15 pace, which makes the second prescribed workout just as valid. The difference is that the specificity of the first workout has psychological value for some athletes. It’s a way for the coach to signal that he knows EXACTLY what he’s doing, and some athletes who are dependent on their coaches will also freak out if they have to decide on their own what an easy run is.
My view on Whoop is that it’s more like the first coach. It doesn’t actually know more than the second coach, but it just has a different approach, which some athletes may appreciate and other may not.
yes , i mean, there’s only so many ways you can cut hrv and hr data for recovery feedback. whoop certainly have packaged it well and, as you say, were one of the first of their kind. just like Garmin was one of the first successes with running gps which they then capitalised on when others didn’t (as well)
false precision: well the example you give is probably right, unless it takes you over a threshold perhaps lt1/lt2. but if you look at micro recovery interval timing between HIIT-type efforts then the exact specification and execution are important.
I am very excited for this! Loved the idea of Whoop but strongly disliked the short battery life and inability to broadcast heart rate to my watch or bike computer! Super excited for this upgrade!
yes i am glad they implemented it. I talked about this with them 2 years ago!
discount code doesn’t seem to work anymore, even if you click the “on the WHOOP site” link
thank you
i have just chased them to see what is going on
s/be good now – in the USA $30 off
Looking for some advice on this. I want to replace my Fitbit charge 2 with something that gives me more info. Torn between going with the whoop or new polar ignite. Any advice would be great
for sure whoop will give you more actionable athletic-type info that is actionable. Fit bit has way more data…just not sure how much of it is useful to you.
Ignite is an interesting alternative and i might yet write a specific piece comparing the two. I’d say that the ignite is a more rounded athletic tool when combined with the FLOW app/platform; whoop hits a couple of things (strain/readiness) but does it fairly well
thank you for the support. https://geni.us/PolarIgnite
Not sure if you’ll see this now that it’s been a few months, but is there anything that the Whoop offers that my Polar Vantage V won’t after the October update? Thanks!
good question
the general thrust of whoop is a simpler interface to the recovery/strain tech.
Polar VV is a much wider and more complex offering, perhaps for someone who wants to immerse themselves more in their sports data.
Given my overall nerdiness it sounds like I don’t need to add the Whoop to my Vantage. Curious…outside of the simplified interface, can you see a sport that the Whoop would be better than the Polar for?
My nerdiness has me wanting a Whoop…but I can’t seem to think of a reason to get it…
a few years back I would say that Whoop’s advantage was that it covered many sports in the sense that it was just looking at how your body reacted regardless of the sport undertaken. But that’s true of other product’s these days too.
whoop is about the holistic you…not about a specific sport. Polar VV *CAN* be about a specific sport(s)
you certainly do NOT need whoop PLUS a polar VV…as much as I’d like you to buy one using my link/code! 😉
Lol…thanks! I’m sure I can find something to buy through you!
just before Christmas just click my amazon link and then do all your shopping.
hey!! If you don’t ask…you don’t get. 😉
enjoy whichever you choose !
Not sure why I can’t reply to your last comment, but does your link work for Amazon france (.fr)? If so I will gladly do it!
yes the EU link and code should work…thank you for the support
So for XMas shopping just click on the Amazon link, buy my stuff and you’ll get taken care of?
ha! thank you. if you buy the stuff without clicking anywhere else first then, yes, i believe so.
thank you.
All good…at least someone can get paid off me!
I am between a whoop strap and a vivo move hr – not sure which one, I want to track my hrv, my stress level and my recovery and I want to see how hard I am pushing at the gym (I do crossfit). Right now I go by feeling on when to push or not. I also have an oura ring that tracks my sleep.
What does the whoop does that the vivo move hr watch doesn’t? which one would you recommend??
Thanks a lot!
for sports usage i’d recommend the whoop over the vivomove hr.
vivomove hr only has the Firstbeat’s “all day stress and recovery” feature for your context. whoop gives more insight, feedback and recommendations than that.
edit: as an off-field suggestion, for pushing really hard maybe consider HUMON HEX.
Really interested to see how you think this compares to the Oura Ring (also a great review, thx!). From my perspective I’m looking for (a) detailed sleep analysis and prompts on what’s impacting, how to improve) and (b) a view on recovery and again, how to improve recovery. Exercise tracking I’ve got covered with various garmin devices.
My research makes it look as if they are a wash on sleep analysis (maybe whoop has an edge on advice and trends?) but whoop edges on recovery tracking and advice. But the form factor of the Oura has a lot of appeal…
Thoughts?
yep, i think you’ve got it.
https://the5krunner.com/2019/10/25/oura-vs-whoop-vs-biostrap/
Thanks for that, your over view is good. If you could only choose one, which way would you go?
my needs are different to yours.
of the choice of those two, if you consider yourself to be an athlete of some sort then go for whoop.
if you consider non-intrusiveness to be important and don’t like wearing your Garmin (except for sport) then a ring is more wearable 24×7
if you are an athlete and just want the overnight piece then get Emfit and link it to you Trainingpeaks account.
if you want to get your head around recovery/hrv first then go for the hrv4training app
😉 that’s narrowed your choice of 2 to 4