Cardiac strain? Fourth frontier x?

I got the Frontier X 2 days ago and have been testing it out, and my experience until now has been very negative...

The ECG functionality is a must to have and the device will still record this but using it along with my Fenix 6X Pro it just renders the device unusable... saying this because their HR data update rate is about 2-4 seconds (as per their support and they say they don't have any plans to bring this down), which is huge!!!
If you do high-intensity training or you use HR zones training then the Frontier X will not help you at all, if not even giving you wrong values because of this data intervals.

An example, I was doing MTB and there is a section on the route that is about 2 Km downhill road, then 700 m uphill and then downhill again. When I reach the end of the first downhill I was still seeing the HR from the top of the hill, then when I reached the top of the next uphill I start seeing the HR going down (for the downhill) and only when I reach the end of that section (final downhill) I started seeing the HR rising for the previous uphill....

For a device that costs about 370€ I was expecting more... If only for the ECG, I already have other devices from Kardia that are way cheaper and allow for 6-point ECG.

I'm still testing this and in contact with their support, as other metrics are way off from what garmin provides (ie: breathing rate), but continuing like this, I will just return it.
It's really a pity because I was hoping to be able to use it with my Fenix, to get the ECG functionally, but still have the proper functionally of a HR chest strap. As much, I would need to use 2 straps, the Frontier X and my HRM-Pro connected to the mobile and to the watch, or I just use the Frontier X and forget about HR zones (which also affects all of the metrics and insights that garmin gives you because it has less data points and some times with a noticable difference...)

I picked up the Frontier up 6 months ago to capture ECG readings.  I tried several products prior to the Frontier.  The Apple Watch was a failure.  During a ride if I wanted to capture the ECG I would have to stop and hold the watch for 30 seconds.  With sweat and escalated heart rate proved to be challenging.  I picked up the Wellu which was also a failure.  Their application has to be on the forefront of your mobile device for it to work.  I use Strava and listen to tunes when running shutting down Wellu. 

Frontier is perfect to monitor my ecg.  It can capture upto 24 hours of ecg.  Once I'm done with my exercise it automatically uploads to their portal where I can review the results from my ecg.  I've sent the results to my cardiologist on several occasions and its proved to be very helpful.  

The support has been great.  I did subscribe to their Cardio program for $150 a month.  My original goal was to have them view my ecg and callout anomalies with the intent of canceling the subscription in a couple of months. Net net I like the product for the ecg and the support.

Your response sounds a bit like the marketing they have on their site. Don't take me wrong, not here bashing on the Frontier X device, but not seeing it as being a competitor in the HR chest straps. Never I have seen a HR chest strap that only provides data with 2-4 seconds of time intervals.... and support says they will not change this....
For me, that's my main downside now. It's strange how you can live stream your ECG but not your HR, and if using HR zones you want that.

Also, you mention escalated heart rate, and for this Frontier X will not be useful as well unless you are live streaming the ECG. Even on their app, the HR values is only update at about 2-4 seconds as well, so if you're doing any exercise and trying to monitor your HR for escalated HR, then you will have delayed values, which is not useful at all... 2 to 4 seconds delay is a lot! Support said that it was to not distract from the exercise.... that's a ridiculous response! if I'm doing an exercise and feel something wrong, of course I will want to check my live HR, not the one from 4 seconds before...

Frontier X has a lot of potencial but seems they will not be developing for that... which is really a pitty.

Like they say, age is just a number
You seem to have had quite the "adventure" there, hope all is good!

From what you say, indeed it's a different need. You needed a live ECG to detect those cardiac values, not HR. However i'm confused, you mentioned first that you had used Kardia, and now Wellue. Didn't knew about Wellue and after checking it seems very similar to Fourth Frontier with some differences on the connectivity, and seems their reports are free, you don't need to subscribe to anything more (also the device is cheaper).

But regarding the Frontier, did you meant that it alerted regarding the cardiac strain or breath rate? From what i see in the app and their FAQs, Frontier X doesn't have a HR threshold alert, only for those two.
Anyway, grabbing your example, when you looked in the app and saw the 220 for HR (btw, for HR abnormal rates, Garmin also detects that), you could have already been at 220 for 20 seconds as their app only shows (records) data values from 20 in 20 seconds, at that is exactly my point here... how come you can have live ECG but not HR? That way you could still be monitoring your HR and have the advantage of the ECG.
They sell it as being something towards sports but as it is, it's not. It's advantage is the ECG as the rest is still very poor.

On my initial example of the MTB ride, I had lot's of warnings/vibrations that made me concern about, but when I arrived home and saw on the dashboard I could see that they were mostly due to the breathing rate and had 3 points detected as Other in the HR. Checking the ECG for those points, it was all good - still trying to understand why it then identified those 3 points. And, again, it failed to detect my lowest and highest HR on about 10 bpm. This, along with the delay on the readings, just make it unusable to be used as a live sensor.

Other examples, I usually do breathwork at night to relax. I've tested the Frontier X doing box breathing (4:4:4:4) and it always fail to detect my breathing rate correctly. In a 4:4:4:4, this is a breathing cycle of 16 seconds, which in a minute would be 3,74 breaths per minute. The Fenix gives 4 brpm while the Frontier X always give me more than 10 (12 to 16).

Again, not here bashing on them. Just sharing my experience so far and trying to see others experience as well. Might be that these posts can be useful for someone looking for a device like this and at least have the information to do a educated purchase.
If someone asked me for a chest strap for HR, I would definitely say HRM-Pro/Tri or something like this. If it was for ECG during movement, then would say to check Fourth Frontier or Wellue. It really depends on your need and the added value.
For me, I'm really finding hard to find the added value that the Frontier X brings as a HR chest strap (unfortunately)... 

Yes, the device does record HRV

I have had ads. pop up for this - actually earlier today and this now thread is on the front page - spooky!!

If the selling point is realtime ECG and HRV then I must be missing something as the Polar H10 can already do that - plenty of apps leveraging the Polar SDK on Android that do one or the other.

I bought it and like it.  The real differentiator is a metric known as "cardiac strain" which measures ST segment depression in real time.  It's like having an on demand stress test.  You know if you are overdoing it, or reassured that your ticker is in good shape.  Isn't that the point of most of this? 

I would make a note there on the "in real time". I had bought it, tested it, and after discussing my concerns with their support i've returned it.

The frontier x could be a really useful tool but they just don't want to develop it better (don't know if it's a hardware limitation or knowledge limitation). In all their site descriptions they always mention that the data is in real-time, but that's a lie, or at least to some extend. Both the ECG streaming and data "listening" is in real-time but the device only records the data in segments of 20 seconds, ie: if you have an activity that is not a multiple of 20 s, then the remaining duration get's discarded.
On the app, the values you see there are also with 20 seconds delay.

This, among other price, security and privacy concerns, was what made me returned it and switch to Wellue ECG recorder (choose this one mainly because it's true real-time and you have the analyzes software that is free).

Regarding the frontier x, the only two strong points it has are the cardiac strain metric (to bad this isn't really a real-time metric) and it's water resistant.

imbl said:

Both the ECG streaming and data "listening" is in real-time but the device only records the data in segments of 20 seconds, ie: if you have an activity that is not a multiple of 20 s, then the remaining duration get's discarded.

I still don't see what this device is doing you can't do with the Polar H10...will do realtime or log to internal memory. Or both.