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Record activity without watch but with HRM

5724083
over 5 years ago

Hi!

I'm doing a lot of indoor climbing which I would like to record as an activity (to get workout data, training effect, heartrate etc.). Obviously it's a bit too risky to wear the watch.

If I buy a HRM-TRI heartrate strap, can I wear that during the activity, and just leave the watch in my bag somewhere on the gym floor (within 25 meters or so)?

I know that the HRM-TRI has a cache and that the cache seems not only working for swimming but also for other activities but still I couldn't really find in any review saying explicitly whether such a scenario would work well.

Will that work like this?

Thanks!

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    From all I've ever heard, the bach mode for HR is only for swimming - it's because ANT+ has a very limited range in water.

    Also, the 245 doesn't support the batch mode even for swimming.  That's only on higher end watches with Open Water Swimming.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

    Hmm so for example this review https://the5krunner.com/2015/09/22/garmin-hrm-tri-review/#Summary_of_the_HRM-TRI_Review says:

    ---

    1. At the end of a run session where I deliberately went out of range from the HRM-TRI then I can confirm that the cached HR data was correctly retrieved at the end of the session.
    2. Following on from the previous point it seems possible therefore to, for example, start a session on the touchline of a football game. Leave the 920XT in your kit bag and play the game. At the end of the game all your HRM-TRI data will be retrieved and saved to the 920XT. (Edit: Jun 2016 the precise nature of this functionality now appears changed since this review. Possibly due to footpod support with some hardware models. HR is certainly cached but seemingly now no other data)

    ---

    Where did you find the information that the 245 does not support "batch mode" at all? I assume with "batch mode" you mean caching?

    Also what range does ANT+ have? As stated I might always be within 10-20 meters or so of the watch so in principle it could sync more or less regularly with the watch (depending on the range of the connection), so I might not need "batch mode"?

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to 5724083

    Check the watch itself and the specs for the batched data.  It's not on lower end devices.  the 645, etc.  Open Water Swimming is the key.  You'll note that he's talking about the fr920 (one with OWS)

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

    Well I checked the specs, but it's really not obvious.

    245: https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/p/646690/pn/010-02120-32#specs

    945: https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/p/pn/010-02063-01#specs

    The 945 lists under "Swimming features": "Heart rate (real-time during rests, interval and session stats during rests, and automatic heart rate download post-swim)". And the 245 doesn't. But still I am not looking to use this for swimming, nor necessarily for "post-swim"/"post-workout" download. I would be in range of the watch every few minutes or so (and according to some reviews, it starts syncing as soon as you go close enough (or are "out of the water")).

    From the specs it's really not obvious to me if what I'd like to do is going to work.

    If it's not going to work, would another possibility be to get a HRM-DUAL, which has Bluetooth LE ("SMART")? Presumably BLE has a larger range and may thus work keep sending HR data to the watch when I'm wandering around the gym floor? (HRM-DUAL doesn't have caching but that wouldn't be needed in that scenario).

    It seems to me like from all Garmin specs and documentation, and the reviews, it's not possible to say for sure if either of those strategies would work, and the only way seems to be to buy both HRM's and try it out, which is quite expensive...

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to 5724083

    The simple answer is the HR-TRI is for tri watches.  In the forerunner line, that's the 735 (if I recall), 920,935 and 945.

    Trust me, and if you have any doubt, look at the forums for things like the fr23x and 645, and search for info about the HR-Tri/Swimming HR etc..

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to 5724083

    I would trust

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

    but is the new CIQ going to be able to manage the stored HR data ?

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

    I searched through the posts in the FR23x and 645 forums here.

    According to these two posts, the FR235 supports offline HR, but not in open-water/swim mode:

    https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/running-multisport/f/forerunner-645-645-m/153744/fr-645-and-hrm-swim

    https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/running-multisport/f/forerunner-645-645-m/147746/645-and-hrm-tri

    It does not seem to work on the 645 though.

    So the FR235 seems to be able to do what I'd like to do (I am just looking for offline/cache-sync, *not* for swimming or OWS). The 645 doesn't. How about the 245? I am no smarter.

    I think I am the first person that wants to try this and probably no one has a definite answer yet, unless there is someone around on these forums that actually tried it, it looks like the rest is just guess-work?

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to 5724083

    you could ask or REDDIT

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Thanks, I'll do that. I thought the Garmin Forums would be a better place to try first. :-)