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Level of detail and frequency of data

Former Member over 13 years ago

Hello,

I have a simple heart monitor watch which gives me the average heart rate, maximum heart rate, and amount of time in a given range.

I am looking for a better watch that gives me data about my heart rate as well as instantaneous speed at frequent intervals.

Which Garmin watch would be good for this? I know the 405 collects data for pace, but I could not find out how frequent this data is collected and what exact data is available. If it could record my current velocity and heart rate every second, and get the data so I could import it into Excel that would be perfect!

Thanks.

0 karlw2000 over 13 years ago

I don't think that's a Garmin Connect question, but all these watches give good heart rate data and lousy instantaneous speed. The gps variations are just too much for that kind of information. Lap speed is pretty good however. Using a foot pod gives better speed data (IMHO), but there are other issues with foot pods like calibration at certain paces and shoes and surfaces.

That said, some of the watches have the option to sample in 1 second intervals (305, 310 for example). The 405 does 'smart recording' and will reduce the information to save memory. Pretty much comes out the same.

0 Former Member over 13 years ago

Thanks for the response KARLW2000. In order to set the sample interval do you just set the 'auto lap' time? Or is there a different way to do it. And what is the least expensive Garmin device that allows a 1-second interval to be set? I don't need GPS, it sounds like a food pod would be sufficient.

I thought that Garmin Connect was the interface used to analyze the data collected by each device, so it would be a appropriate place to ask this question. I apologize if it isn't.

0 karlw2000 over 13 years ago

To the best of my knowledge, the 305 is the cheapest Garmin that collects data at 1 second intervals. You do have to enable that function and it limits the total amount of time since it will fill up the memory quickly.

The 405 doesn't have 1 second recording. The 310 now does, but it cost a lot more than the 305.

0 DW152 over 13 years ago

I am looking for a better watch that gives me data about my heart rate as well as instantaneous speed at frequent intervals.

Which Garmin watch would be good for this? I know the 405 collects data for pace, but I could not find out how frequent this data is collected and what exact data is available. If it could record my current velocity and heart rate every second, and get the data so I could import it into Excel that would be perfect!

Because of the typical error with GPS-based position measurements, instantaneous speed is going to be noisy, and the more frequently you sample (or record) it, the noisier it will be. Using a footpod may give you better results, but that is not perfect either.

Garmin devices record data either at one-second intervals, or using a smart recording algorithm, which records points less often. Not all devices provide one-second recording, so you should check the product specification sheets on the Garmin web page for a complete list of features for each device.