I’ve mentioned the AURA Band a few times in passing so here is a little bit more information to whet your appetite. It’s currently a Kickstarter project (£13k raised vs £71k target as of 18/2/18) and has a nice focus on providing some key insights to certain types of people interested in a slightly deeper…
Today’s new SPARTAN firmware release is a combination of ‘meh’ and ‘oooh’. There are some general stability improvements and better connectivity. Some people experience issues when first connecting to the HR belts…that is addressed. So that’s definitely bug-fixed mehness. Then the firmware also introduces HR Zones on to the watch. This is no huge secret…
This one just took the biscuit. Then crunched it up and threw it back at me. A Day At The Testing Track – the 3x 5krunner There’s normally one device that plays ball. Actually normally two and a half. But c’mon. None of them playing ball. Really! This run was supposed to be either the…
What! A heart rate of 280bpm, that can’t be right can it? Oh hang on a minute now there’s no reading at all. Most of you have been there with Garmin HR straps. It’s annoying when the readings are wrong especially if you train by heart rate. Luckily you’ve just bought an expensive, optical HR…
Another day, another test on the new Polar M600. Despite a relatively nice day outside I settled down to watch the newish ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ movie…on the bike, in the shed. It was either that or the ‘Unbearable Lightness of Being’ but I thought I just might understand the former and could pedal a bit…
I was a bit tired today but still managed 8×1 minute @’quite fast’. The Polar M600 managed to keep up quite nicely. This time I was comparing to a HRM-TRI as the STRYD+Garmin Strap I had been using seemed to be throwing out a few spikes early in previous runs. The little blue M600 peak anomaly…
Polar’s M600 is one of the few wrist-based oHR devices that will ‘properly’ support HR when swimming. By that I mean that there is a swimming mode AND the optical HR works in that mode. Other watches, such as the Garmin 235 (optical HR), have optical HR DISabled in swim mode. Of course it’s possible…
This is the test that is the lull before the storm for the M600. A nice easy run. I also ran with a 920XT and a STRYD HRM. So really the test is the M600’s oHR vs. the STRYD’s pod. I’m only using the STRYD as I’ve been playing with STRYD quite a bit recently…
Suunto have registered their optical HR version of the SPARTAN at the FCC. Is the bump back? It is called the SUUNTO SPARTAN TRAINER Thank you TF for this link: https://fccid.io/document.php?id=3178841. And thank you for the comments below (some of you are more observant than me, changes made). Whilst the SPORT and ULTRA share the same…
A bizarrely scientific, yet incomplete, study by the Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic published through the American Medical Association purports to show that the Apple Watch has the best accuracy of wrist-based optical HR. Or at least that is how it is being headlined by various tech publications on the internet. This is the first page:…
It’s worth checking your favourite websites LATE this afternoon European time. Maybe even the evening. There will be a notable announcement. Not Polar, Suunto, Garmin…don’t get too excited. (Here) it is, the Samsung Gear Fit2. I like it.
Most reviews are based on the original 2015 unit. Things have moved on with improvements to the device’s software. Let’s see how the improvements stack up approaching Summer 2016. You can find a much more detailed review (here). But first I’ll try to position the product for you so you understand where it really sits.…
Garmin sneaked out the 735XT today. It looks good. The widely predicted 925XT therefore probably won’t happen – bang go my predictions!. The 735XT is very much in the form of the forerunner running series. It’s like someone was really keen to put Garmin’s optical HR (ELEVATE) technology onto the 630 and then thought “what…
I was perhaps a little unfair when I ‘berated’ the vivosmart HR a while back. Mostly I focussed on my personal aversion towards its looks and also a lack of GPS. Well Garmin are about to announce a GPS version (kudos; circe, ty for the leaked info!) and also several people did write to say that…
Fitbit’s Surge was released in 2015. Most reviews are based on the original unit. Things have moved on with improvements to the device’s software. How does it stack up to the competition in Spring/Summer 2016? We’ll address that in this review. But first I’ll try to position the product for you so you understand where…
Garmin Fenix 3 Review Even as 2017 draws to a close we will see from this Garmin Fenix 3 review that the Fenix 5 is NOT that much better than the Fenix 3. Why spend all that extra money? Why indeed… Back to the start… I was lucky enough to be one of the first…
After the awful-looking VIVOSMART HR Garmin have just announced the confusingly similarly named VIVOACTIVE HR (not to be confused with the also-announced VIVOFITT 3) Don’t get the two err three (or is it two?) confused. The VIVOACTIVE HR ticks ALL the right boxes. GPS, optical HR (ELEVATE technology), many sports, proper activity tracking and a…
Some much better news today for the A360. This time running tests. OK they were fairly short runs but they followed a bit of bike work beforehand each time and were suitably sweaty and outdoors. Fairly cold, not windy and nice and flat. They were all into Z4 territory. This was a MUCH better than…
I updated the A360 today with the new firmware v1.128. Even though HR improvements are not listed as part of the firmware release, I hoped for the best. I hoped to shed some light on a few tests I’ve been doing over the last couple of weeks. This test was on a turbo trainer. Cooled…
FitbitI’ve been checking through some old posts and ‘accidentally’ put together a gallery of optical sports watches/devices. I’ve had most, but not all, of them to test and play with at some point. Was it worth it? Yes. I’m now a more complete person. Most Accurate? Scosche (arm band) Most Accurate Watch? Maybe the Epson…
