Wahoo TRACKR HEART RATE Review – heart rate monitor

Wahoo TRACKR is a great-looking heart rate monitor, here is my review of it warts and all.

Let’s start with a summary review of the Wahoo TRACKR as there is not a huge amount to say about it, thus the accuracy tests and other detailed points are covered further below for those who are interested.

Wahoo TRACKR HEART RATE Environmental Positioning

Wahoo sells the new TRACKR in packaging that looks recycled. It has also made a point of claiming the environmental credentials of its rechargeable battery vs. the credentials of CR2032 coin cell batteries usually found in HRMs.

I’m unsure of how efficient the charging process is for TRACKR’s battery compared to the chemical efficiency of a coin cell battery and unsure of the additional materials required to make the bespoke charging strap that other brands do not need. From an eco standpoint, I suspect the new design makes little difference.

The only clear advantage of ditching the CR2032 batteries is that pets and children can’t inadvertently swallow them, which can kill. Killing Fido is generally a bad thing.

Wahoo TRACKR HEART RATE Accuracy Tests

I’ve done an all-day ride of over 16 hours!, some intervals, an indoor FTP test, more outdoor rides and a few runs. I’ve not found anything that makes me think TRACKR is any more or less accurate than a regular chest strap. It’s good to go.

These tests have circles shown on the graphs but they point out the competitor errors.

TRACKR HEART RATE Pairing

TRACKR HEART RATE pairs properly with everything I tried. Perhaps there may have been a slight delay in its discovery by my Garmin Forerunner 965 but we’re talking a couple of seconds more than I expected on one occasion.

The bottom-line is that TRACKR pairs as you need it, TRACKR supports ANT+ and 3 simultaneous BLE connections, ideal for unusual indoor cycling setups. For example when using Apple TV alongside other smart accessories.

Wahoo Fitness TRACKR HEART RATE: Charging

TRACKR HEART RATE has yet another bespoke charging cable to misplace for you to fail to discover 6 months later. Wahoo probably couldn’t use a standard USB-C cable as the port would be very susceptible to water ingress and, sweat being salty, the port would soon be damaged.

That said, the charging cable is excellent and its magnetic attachment easily attaches to TRACKR. An internal LED flashes to indicate the charging state which can also be seen in the Wahoo app and on a Wahoo ELEMNT.

Battery Life

Battery life is stated as up to 100 hours.

Wahoo TRACKR HEART RATE vs Garmin vs Polar vs TICKR

They are all equally as accurate and in straightforward setups, all can be connected equally to your fitness equipment be that an app, bike computer, or watch.

The old TICKR suffered from reports of poor reliability, Polar HRMs are more widely respected in the sports lab community and high-end Garmin straps support more features. Perhaps Polar suffers from lower battery life and Garmin from higher prices.

TRACKR HEART RATE compares well in size to the old TICKR and a Polar H10/H9, being smaller. However, it’s very slightly larger than a Garmin HRM pod.

I find them all to be equally as comfortable.

Some other differences can be found if you inspect the details behind the specs. The Polar strap and Wahoo strap have 2 large and 2 small contact pads, whilst this won’t increase accuracy it will increase reliability if the strap moves. The rationale is that more pads means more chance of maintaining an HR reading. To further aid this, Polar has rubber nodules on the inside of its strap which inhibit movement, Garmin and Wahoo don’t have those although the Polar strap should fit the Wahoo pod…

Polar H10/H9, Garmin HRM-PRO and Wahoo TRACKR all support HRV to the standard that an athlete needs. Wahoo sends data once per second but has not specified how many RR (HRV) values can be included per second and if they are included over ANT+ in the same way as over BLE. Polar H10 also acts as an ECG meaning a higher frequency of data per second is captured and allows the analysis of the finer details of each heartbeat rather than ‘simply’ the time between each beat (RR) or number of beats per minute. If you have a heart rate issue and are an aging athlete consider Fourth Frontier X2 ECG.

Wahoo TRACKR has standard lugs to connect to a standard HRM strap just like the old TICKR and Polar HRMs. Garmin’s more recent HRMs are one complete unit and once it breaks you have to throw away the whole thing. In my experience, it’s normally the straps that degrade before the pods, so the Wahoo TRACKR pod can be switched to another strap if that happens down the line.

Wahoo claims to use new accuracy algorithms. It’s unclear how these are better or different to what came before.

Summary:  Wahoo TRACKR Heart Rate Monitor Review

This is a good sports heart rate strap and I can recommend it to anyone who wants a rechargeable cycling, running or general sports HRM. I’ll stick with the coin cell battery versions but that’s my personal preference.

That said, I am tempted by the looks of the Wahoo, it’s about as sexy as a chest strap can get. I am using it as my Summer heart rate monitor for cycling. However, I swim and this product is not suitable for swimming.

I’m left wondering though; what problem has the rechargeable HRM solved? Perhaps Wahoo has gone down the rechargeable route to be different, which is fine; or perhaps, the slight change to the product format is part of a subtle rebranding of the HRM range as the company moves to forget the TICKR.

USD $89.99
CAD $119.99
GBP £79.99
Euro €89.99
AUD $149.95
JPY ¥10,100