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Any way to compare HR: Watch vs Arm vs Chest Strap?

Kaitlyn
2 months ago

I recently purchased a garmin HRM-Dual along with a Coros (arm) Heart Rate Monitor.

I can use each paired to my Fenix 7s, and since the fenix keeps recording the HR I can export the FIT file, use fitfileviewer.com, and compare the HRs.

But I don't think I can do this with TWO external heart rate monitors? The HRM-Dual also I don't think can pair directly to a phone, although I guess the Coros can.

Is there any way I could log the activity across the 3 devices and actually be able to compare? Maybe I could log the data/activity on a phone app using the coros arm band, and the chest+watch off the watch - but then how could I actually compare them... basically comparing two different FIT files, aligning their time segments or whatever?

Any (easy-ish) way to accmplish this?

  • 0 2 months ago

    Yes, you can connect one of external HRMs to a phone app, and record it with it. The Strava app works fine for this purpose, for example. No problem pairing HRM-Dual with it, and I suppose Coros can broadcast over BT too. You can then manually import the activity from Strava to Garmin Connect, and compare the two activities there (select both of them, click the Compare button, and then select Heart Rate at the top.

  • +1 2 months ago

    You can have all three sources logged in the same activity FIT file: watch (wrist HR), HRM-Dual (external HR), Coros (external HR). The only caveat is that you need to use 1 or 2 third-party Connect IQ data fields, and it's only possible to have up to 2 such data fields in a single activity (so this would be a problem depending on how many CIQ fields you already have, and how many CIQ fields you need to add)

    The procedure depends on which sensor you want the source for activity HR data to be:

    - Use external HR as source [requires 1 additional CIQ data field, and requires use of 3rd-party website to view all the data]

    1) Make sure dynamic source switching is enabled [it should be enabled if you haven't disabled it explicitly]. Hold UP > Health & Wellness > Wrist HR > Source Switching: ensure this setting is On. 

    When dynamic source switching is enabled:

    - For the most part, the external HR is the source for activity HR data (except for the rare occasion when Garmin decides that the wrist HR has better data)

    - more to the point, both wrist hr and external hr will be recorded to the FIT file. You can view this data as follows:

      - export the FIT file (open activity in Connect website, select gear icon at top right, and select Export File)

      - open the file in https://www.fitfileviewer.com

      - select the chart icon

      - select two of the following metrics to view on the chart at the same time: heart rate (the activity heart rate), wrist heart rate, or external heart rate

    2) Enable the connection to the external HR sensor you want to use as a source in the Sensors & Accessories menu. In the same menu, disable the connection to the other external HR sensor

    3) Use a 3rd party data field such as ANT+ HRM to connect to the other external HR sensor, and record its HR data to the FIT file

    4) Now you can use https://www.fitfileviewer.com as described above to compare HR for all 3 sources (wrist heart rate, external heart rate, and the HR recorded by ANT+ HRM)

    - Use wrist HR as source [requires 2 additional CIQ data fields, does not require 3rd-party website to view data]

    EDIT: this only works if both external HRs support ANT+, which is not the case for the Coros armband

    1) Disable the connection to both external HRs in the Sensors & Accessories menu

    2) Use two 3rd party data fields to connect to each of the external HR sensors: e.g. ANT+ HRM and Auxiliary Heart Rate v2

    3) You can view the HR for all 3 sources in Connect

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to FlowState

    Yep I totally forgot about the ANT+ CIQ field, which I was using at first before I realized Garmin actually still records wrist HR... and while I haven't tried yet, Wrist + HRM-Dual via ANT+ CIQ field, and Coros arm HRM paired to device and the "activity HR" seems like it certainly should work - thanks!

    Totally fine with it, but I believe in my setup it HAS to be this way as the Coros doesn't use ANT+ and therefore needs to be paired

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to Kaitlyn

    I too was looking for a solution to compare sensors and yesterday I tried it (I also have a Coros HRM and Garmin HRM Dual) and it worked perfectly.