Is HRM-tri supported by Connect IQ?

I believe it will works as a basic HRM, so you'll likely see the HR data while the app is running (if that's an option) and in your activity when it's synced to Garmin Connect. The "batched HR data" is really for swimming as transmitting the data while in the water can be an issue.

In a CIQ app, it can't even tell if the HR is from an the wrist HR or an external source like a band, so you may want to peak under the watch as see if the LEDs are on. If so, it's using the wrist HR. Some devices give you a notification when an external HR source is connected.

The reason why batched data is used when swimming is because water blocks the signal from the hrm. Well, guess what? The human body is mostly water. Thus if your body is between is between the watch and the hrm transmitter, the signal is blocked or at least highly attenuated. This doesn't come up when running or cycling because the normal body position has the hands (and thus, the watch) in front. The signal only has to penetrate air and clothing which it does easily.

In inline speed skating, hands are usually held behind the back. This is a problem. The torso is between the watch and the hrm transmitter. Frequent dropouts occur. I've actually tried putting the hrm on my back. This worked well when cruising. The data I recorded was noticeably more consistent. However, when I sprint, my hands go to the front and the dropouts return. Thus, hrm on the back gave me more data but lost the most important data.

With HRM-tri, all data is recorded locally. I may get spotty data during the activity but after I am done, all the buffer is transmitted and I get clean heart rate date for the entire session. It is a near perfect solution except it doesn't work with the Inline Skating+ app.

What if you skip the band and just use the wrist HR on the watch?

My 920xt doesn't have wrist HR. I've looked at some third-party optical heart rate monitors but they have issues with fit, run time, and accuracy.

I think putting the HRM on the back was mentioned in post #3....

Don’t know if you’ve tried the Schosche Rhythm+ armband, but I used it for about a year until I switched back to a strap for most activities and I was happy with it. Has a rep for accuracy (as far as optical HR goes). I would’ve kept using it had I not upgraded to a watch with wrist HR (and used a strap for certain activities like running intervals).

I recommended to a friend once and they seemed happy with it.

https://www.scosche.com/rhythm-plus-...onitor-armband
https://www.amazon.com/Scosche-RHYTH.../dp/B00JQHTJS2

What about having the band sensor on the left/right side of the body based on the wrist where you wear the watch?

I'm fairly certain that ConnectIQ doesn't have the bits necessary to handle the buffered data from the HRM-Tri. Data that is passed to the app is the real-time data from the device, and does not include the cache-and-forward data that is stored on the HRM temporarily.

Travis

Curious. I see a few dedicated swim apps on the app store that claim to track heart rate. How do they work if they can't access the buffer on the hrm-swim or hrm-tri?

I would assume the applications can open the channel for these straps and connect to them, and the system would download and merge the data in the normal way. I don't actually know if this works though, you would probably have to try it out.

The application is not going to have access to this data though. It also doesn't really have a way to know when the data has been downloaded. If the user exited the application before that step was complete, the connection would be terminated, and the data would probably be lost.