![]() ![]() Both either errored out in multiple tests or were significantly inaccurate compared to the EKG post-exertion, supporting the idea that optical monitors are challenged by quick pulsations. These include the Basis Carbon Steel and the Gear Fit. The Garmin VivoFit, a device that employs a chest strap, was expectedly dead-on at accelerated rates after exercise, however.ĭevices with optical sensors that read the wrist (instead of the fingertip) had the most trouble tracking heart rate. The results were clear: most of the trackers employing optical sensors were only accurate (or close to accurate) at my normal resting heart rate of about 70-80 BPM. The latter required me to stop running completely, as all devices (except for the chest strap), need the user to be completely still to get a reading. I performed two tests for each: three measurements at rest and three immediately after running on a treadmill. The testįive devices were chosen for testing: the Garmin VivoFit, the Basis Carbon Steel, the Withings Pulse O2, the Samsung Gear Fit, and the Samsung Galaxy S5 (a phone with a fingertip sensor, for good measure). (Interestingly, and as we found in our tests, the arterial vessels in our fingertips do accurately reflect our heart rate, even at very high BPMs.) Putting the mobile heart rate monitor to the testīecause non-medical heart rate monitors aren't regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), their accuracy is a mystery, so I set out to conduct real-world tests against the touchstone of heart rate monitoring, an EKG. ![]() By the time blood reaches the capillaries in your wrist, it has already slowed down to a rate that doesn't necessarily reflect your true heart rate - especially, as Dr. ![]() (Three of the devices we tested flashed warnings to enforce peace and quiet during testing.) Thankfully, these devices will tell you when you're too active for them to work. To accomplish these readings, optical sensing requires you to hold absolutely still - no talking, no moving, no muscle-tensing, no sweating, no smudging allowed. Moments later, you've got a BPM (beats per minute) reading. By illuminating your capillaries with an LED, a sensor adjacent to the light measures the frequency at which your blood pumps past (aka your heart rate). Unlike chest strap heart rate monitors - which closely emulate a real EKG machine by measuring electrical pulse - these devices use light to track your blood. Zaroff explained, getting an accurate heart rate using wrist-based sensors is difficult.īiology makes optical sensing a complex and challenging task. Small, bracelet-sized trackers like the Basis Carbon Steel, the Samsung Gear Fit, and the Withings Pulse O2 tout the ability to improve the wearer's life through heart rate monitoring, and in some cases, empower them to share that data with a doctor. If you're looking to hit a target heart rate while moving, you may be better off using a chest-strap device or even the ol' finger-to-the-wrist method. Usually, manufacturers package the heart-rate sensing technology with tried-and-true motion sensors that track steps and activity, too.īut aside from gauging huffing and puffing, heart rate tracking during exercise is one of the best ways to evaluate overall fitness. No manufacturer claims that these bands work for extreme athletes, and most make it clear that this style of band is for casual use only - never for medical use - and that they work only when you're still. That's in comparison to time-tested EKG machines (or the heart rate monitors that emulate them), which sense the electrical impulses that trigger your heartbeats.įor the casual user looking to get a resting heart rate, wrist-based devices are fine. You can find my results below, but it seems the optical sensing technology used in many of today's new, wrist-based mobile heart rate monitors is sometimes inaccurate. Zaroff, a cardiologist at Kaiser Permanente medical center in San Francisco. ![]() I put five leading smart devices with heart rate monitors to the test, measuring their accuracy with an EKG and the help of Dr. Even after repeat tests done in a doctor's office, the finding wasn't a fluke - the band was way off. But as I glanced down at my Basis Carbon Steel device, with my heart rate quickly dropping, it still said I was at 93. Mine did, though it took a cardiologist to tell me so.Īs I stood on a treadmill in his office with an EKG machine connected to my chest, Dr. There may be a problem with your fitness tracker: it could be misreporting your pulse. ![]()
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