HRV band worth it

Dvgalvan said:

HRV chest band

And what the heck is that? Never heard of it with that expression - maybe you can give an example.

Dvgalvan said:

run with a normal HRM chest band

Which exactly?
Nearly every external HRM sensor of the last ten years (definitively from Garmin) is able to measure your HRV during training and send it to the watch. This is used for things like stamina and lactate threshold by the algorithms for a long time now.

Hello, 

As far as I understand it, some bands measure HRV and some others no. Maybe all garmin bands have that feature, the one I have now is not garmin.

So that is my question, is it worth it to buy a band that measures HRV?

All chest HRM's transmit realtime HRV (interbeat intervals) BUT some of the cheaper sensors do not do it exactly right, they derive HRV from BPM per second (some even per 2 or 5 seconds) so the very subtle differences between each beat get evened out. For example (milliseconds):

402 399 401 407 411...

then becomes

400 400 400 410 410 ..

This shows up as banding and clustering (you can see that in for example Runalyze).

As far as I know, it will not change your stats though.

All Garmin chest HRMs including old HRM-1 provide good HRV, as do Polar H10 and probably all Polar HRMs. Only the Magene and Wahoo sensors I have used, produced HRV that was averaged or 'banded'. The XOSS XS2 Pro does mostly OK, only sometimes delivers very weirdly clustered HRV. 

All ANT+ and ANT+/BLE chest HRMs provide HRV (they must, to conform to the ANT+ device profile for a HRM).

Bluetooth-only HRM's may be different as they are not bound by the ANT+ HRM profile.

For accurate HRM, I recommend the Fitbit Charge 6—available at V9Fitness. It tracks real-time heart rate, workouts, and recovery with great precision. Perfect for improving cardio and overall health. Easy to use and super reliable!

Reacting to the obviously commercially motivated post by 552705: The OP was asking about a chest strap HRM. The Fitbit Charge 6 is a wrist-worn device with an optical HR sensor, making it unlikely to perform better than a chest strap HRM when it comes to providing good quality interbeat interval recording during activities. Whilst it could integrate with the OP's Epix Gen 2 because it supports transmitting HR via Bluetooth, it would not be convenient to have to wear two wrist-worn devices. 

Bit said:

Reacting to the obviously commercially motivated post by 552705

Reported as abusive...

Dvgalvan said:

So that is my question, is it worth it to buy a band that measures HRV?

You did not answer the question, which HRM strap (model, manufacturer) you are using now.
I repeat: Most probably it already has HRV, see the explanation by Bit.

Another name, beside "HRV" and "interbeat interval" is "R-R Interval"

And once again, that is standard for a long time, probably your HRM strap already has it. Also has not really to do with ANT+ vs. BT LE/Smart (even though, like Bit wrote, for ANT+ it is mandatory for some profiles).
I had a Sigma R1 Blue (Bluetooth ONLY) some years back before it broke and I changed to Garmin and it had R-R intervals

It is from Decathlon. Took me a while to find, its no longer on sale:

https://support.decathlon.co.uk/heart-belt-dual-ant-bluetooth

Thanks!

One of the ways to see whether your current HRM strap delivers reliable HRV data is by looking at the charts of your runs in Garmin Connect. If there is a chart with Respiration Rate, and does not contain too many important gaps, then the HRV from your HRM seems to be sufficient. You could still profit from wearing a Garmin native HRM such as HRM-Pro, HRM-Fit, or HRM 600, because they have many more features than just the HR and HRV. They offer also Running Dynamics, deliver much more accurate accelerometer data for the distance and pace estimates, can be used without the watch, can be used for swimming, record also steps, Body Battery, Calories, etc, etc.

Another way, perhaps more reliable, to see whether at least some HRV data is broadcasted by your HRM, is analyzing the FIT file of an activity with a tool like for example the https://www.fitfileviewer.com/, where you can see whether the HRV data is part of the file. You may need toi enable HRV recording in the System settings of your watch, though.

Dvgalvan said:

It is from Decathlon. Took me a while to find, its no longer on sale:

https://support.decathlon.co.uk/heart-belt-dual-ant-bluetooth

OK, I looked it up, but the tech specs are... minimal. So it cannot be confirmed, or denied, that it supports R-R intervals.

BUT I would bet that it has it - because it is not so old, and it has the ANT+/BT Dual function, so needs to support one of the ANT+ heart rate profiles. Personally, I am 99% sure.

BTW, it looks pretty like the one I mentioned (I had the version with BT only, still had R-R intervals). Not identical, but close enough that you might suspect it is the same base model from manufacturer xy in China, that just does a little branding for different customers:
https://www.rosebikes.de/sigma-r1-duo-comfortex-sender-inkl-textilbrustgurt-2654162?sf=1

So, coming back to your original question:

Dvgalvan said:

what improvements can I expect while training and afterwards?

Probably none.
If your HRM really would not have R-R intervals, then things like trux mentioned:

trux said:

chart with Respiration Rate

Now I think that I am getting somewhere!

So, I might have the HRV with my actual band, but I will get extra features upgrading to the HRM Pro or HRM 600. I have been checking the specs from both of them, It looks like the HRM pro is good enough for me, would you recommend the HRM 600 instead? One of the main advantages I have seen from the HRM 600 is that it can track without the watch, but I never train without it...

My epix gives me stamina data during training. Stamina is calculated through the HRV, right? would it be using the HRV from the band then?

Thanks again!