My take on The 5X HRM.....what about yours?

Former Member over 7 years ago

Hey all, I’m a new user of the 5X. I am very active and have a very regimented indoor workout routine. I also have a Fitbit and an Apple Watch (series 2).

I have been using the “strength” widget to monitor/record my workouts. The easiest way I’ve found to do this is to just let it record on 1 rep and to keep
it going for my 1.5-2 hour workout. I find this easier then customizing each daily workout (perhaps this is part of the problem?) but it appears to me that Garmin’s wrist HRM must calculate motion on the wrist wearing the watch when calculating heart rate? I say this because while doing a workout that is high intensity but has little hand/arm motion, my heart rate drops vs a lower intensity exercise that has more movement, recording a higher heart rate. I believe it has more to do with Garmin’s algorithm then the actual accuracy of wrist worn HRM’s (if there is an algorithm which I assume there must be?) because my Fitbit and Apple Watch recorded very accurately in the exact same exercise movements which I’ve tested regularly. So, my question is, is this the norm? I know a lot of people on the forums have noted “chalk it up to the inaccuracy of wrist worn HRM’s” but this is just not the case in my experience because I’ve had very accurate wrist worn HRM’s with Fitbit and Apple. Now, I’ve made the decision that the Garmin is what I need for several reasons but I’m wondering if Garmin will fix this as I believe it is their software as the hardware can be and is way more accurate.

Can you guys chime in with your experience?

Is garmin willing to address the software issue? Or are they using lower quality HRM components then Fitbit and Apple? It looks pretty similar visually to me but I am
no hardware expert.

Thank you for any time you may take to respond guys. Otherwise, I am extremely happy with the features of this watch. But it seems like a software issue as I’ve mentioned.

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

As long as you're "in" an activity, it should track HR at the highest polling frequency I believe. When indoor cycling you hardly move the arms at all but at least mine tracks HR pretty well still. A common cause of WHR monitors not tracking accurately is arm movement (skin color, hair and loose fitting watch are others) which again causes the watch to move. A larger, heavier watch might be more at risk for this to happen. What you are describing is kind of the opposite and I am at loss to suggest why this happens for you.

Other than that I think the sensor the different brands use are probably pretty similar in quality and type and have become slightly better over the years. What differs is how the back is designed (some watches might "embed" the sensor better with less stray light) and whatever algorithms the brands use to interpret the data recorded. From personal experience I've found the Garmin watches I've had to be a bit more precise and realistic compared to the Fitbits (I have double-checked with a strap). In general my impression is that WHR is better suited, regardless of watch brand, to all-day HR tracking and types of exercise that does not give huge and sudden spikes in HR, or cause a lot of arm movement (boxing, martial arts...football). For that reason I use a strap when doing interval type training.

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

Thank you for your response. Yes, I found this very unusual. Like, you could do a single arm dumbbell exercise (as an example) with the exact same intensity, once you switch to the hand without the watch, the heart rate begins dropping. Then, when you switch to the hand with the watch, the heart rate begins going up. This definitely leads me to believe HRM is being calculated by an algorithm which includes movement of the watch itself. Again, I never had this issue doing the exact same workouts with my Fitbit and Apple Series 2 Watch.

Anyone else? I’d appreciate any other feedback and if anyone knows If this has been brought up to Garmin before? It appears to be a software issue, not a hardware issue.