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Does wrist based heart rate provide HRV data?

waltersjonathan
over 5 years ago

I’m confused whether the wrist based heart rate includes HRV. I assumed it did not since a chest strap is required for the stress test and guided lactate threshold test. But a chest strap is not needed for VO2 Max. Then the following is taken from Garmins support pages...

  • Heart Rate Variability or HRV is used for the calculation of Physiological Measurements such as the VO2 Max Estimator, Stress Score, Performance Condition, Lactate Threshold and Body Battery.  HRV is also used to determine sleep levels on newer Garmin devices that feature an Optical Heart Rate sensor.

is a chest strap only needed for the specific tests, or is it better to use all the time? Im mostly interested in the load data from the watch and training labels. I generally get good results from the wrist based heart rate, consistent with my Rhythm+ worn on upper arm.

thanks 

  • Former Member
    +1 Former Member over 5 years ago

    There are some tools to check the content of the generated .fit files of your activities. You might try and check the recorded data. I only get HRV data when I wear a chest strap. When the watch uses optical HR no HRV data (or better the R-R intervals in ms) is recorded.

    Best!

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    The dedicated Stress Test app requires an external HRM, but the all-day stress feature reads HRV from the optical sensor on your wrist. 

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Garmin-Blake

    Thanks Blake. So I’m clear then, are the VO2, Recovery, Training Load etc any more accurate using a HRM strap than the wrist based sensor?

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Garmin-Blake

    What triggers an HRV reading in the "all day stress feature?" 

    I ask because my external fitness tracking software shows an HRV reading from my 945 however there is no rhyme or reason as to why/when this occurs.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago

    I don't understand why Garmin doesn't write HRV data to iOS Health app. It's really the only thing missing, especially since the FR945 and Fx6 have much more advanced sleep tracking than AW5.