Chest strap for HR Integration?

[bbarrera]

Wahoo Tickr X is a little more money, however it has memory for phone-free workouts (swimming, HIIT, Insanity, etc) and will store up to 16 hours before you need to sync with phone. Lots of interesting features, running smoothness, stride rate, cycling cadence w/o footpod, ANT+ and BTLE to connect with watches/phones/etc.

http://www.wahoofitness.com/wahoo-tickr-x-heart-rate-strap.html

I've had TickrX since August and its worked perfectly for biking, spinning, and free weights. Will start swimming soon and plan to use phone-free workout mode to record HR during swim.

After sending my Force back in Sept must say I really miss the FitBit dashboard, if FitBit would integrate with chest HRM that would bring me back as my workouts now are interval training with heart rate spiking and then quickly falling back. I started my fitness journey with Flex, then Force, and at this point the all-day tracking isn't very useful as my workouts are intense and burn 900-2000 calories and that is the focus of my tracking/analysis.

[catsprat]

I actually did LOL!! Can you imagine Shaun T. doing a commercial for Fitbit? "Trust me and push harder because when you read your results on Fitbit it will look like you were just sitting in a chair. Come on people!". Love it! 

Personally I am breathing so hard and sweating so much, that I don't think I could even read a tracker duing the workout.

I really wanted to know if I was getting the same intensity doing things like power jumps slower but not stopping, or jumping full out for a little bit and then stopping. I like everything else about this tracker, so now I guess we either wait for some (hopefully) updates, find something that works with the Fitbit technology or something totally different.

[Renay8]

@catsprat 

You will have to find a complementary product. See my immediate previous post.  I am trying to figure that out myself right now. It hurts my pocket book that I just paid $250 on Surge and have to buy an additional product. But like you, I do pretty much really like everything else about my Surge.

[catsprat]

@Renay8 

The good news for me is that I have a Charge HR - so that only set me back $150. 🙂 That being said, I still don't want to spend more money or find anything else. I thought this was going to be my solution. I do know that I really don't want a chest strap. Although I haven't used one before, I would guess there would be issues using one with a workout bra (movement, slippage, rubbing, etc.). I guess my best bet is to find another wrist tracker just for workouts. I am toying with the idea of going to a whole other product that is more fitness oriented, even if it doesn't complimet Fitbit. 

[Renay8]

@catsprat 

I like you did not want a chest strap.  However, I just spoke to a guy over the phone at REI asking about Mio Fuse and Rhythm Plus HR rate monitors and he said by far the chest strap would be the best option. I told him I had not worn one in over 10 years and just stopped wearing them because I didn't like putting them on and how they felt.  He gave me great news and I should have done more research but they are no longer the plastic bulky straps I use to wear.  They are mainly elastic.  I was looking at the Polar H7 Bluetooth HRM. It is only $51 at BestBuy.com and it works with Runtastic MapmyRun/Fitness. So I think I will try a chest strap again. It will have the best accuracy anyway. They really do look a lot better! LOL! Having the Surge dashboard makes me want to get all the data accurate including my food diary. :  )

@Zombieagain are you using Polar H7 with Digifit in place of a runtastic or wahoofitness, or endomondo or along with? Not sure if Digifit is an app like those or not?

[Zombieagain]

@Renay8 Yes Digifit is just another app. I haven't used the other you mentioned directly, but I read many reviews on the internet and decided to give Digifit a shot. No complaints so far. $5.99 well spent, but maybe people who used multiple apps have a more direct experience.

I agree that the new soft straps are mostly comfortable, but you need to wear them tight for best results. Among other things, like breathing hard and calves pain, it is the last thing I think about when I workout.

[amandaparks]

i have used a chest strap (polar) for monitoring HR and calories for three years....I have logged 5 workouts with my surge and it is TERRIBLE!  I have tried adjusting the strap, different exercise settings.....nothing works.  It will drop my heart rate all together and the calories are off by 50%!  I am extremely disappointed, especially for the price!  I have sent two emails and recieved no response!

[catsprat]

@Renay8 and @Rich_Laue

As long as the Polar H7 and Digifit link to Fitbit I think I would be ok with that. I like the idea that the chest straps aren't as cumbersome as I thought. I agree that most of the time I am sure I would be concerned about other things - like trying not to drool on the floor after Shaun T. puts me through the wringer during Insanity than having a piece of elastic on my chest.  I am just glad that other people understand my issue. Most people that I talk to have the Flex and didn't even understand why I was waiting for the Charge HR, let alone the fact that the HR monitor isn't up to par for my use.

[catsprat]

@Rich_Laue  Question about the apps. Right now I have Fitbit on my phone and my PC. If I decide to add a heart rate monitor, do I download the Digifit to my phone and then the workout info will sync to my Fitbit dashboard and be accessible on my PC?

[Renay8]

@EmilyEL 

Are you saying Fitbit sells a chest strap I can use with Surge?

[EmilyEL]

Hi everyone, thanks for your participation in this thread. I've broken this portion of the conversation out from the original Surge Heartrate thread here, because it was beginning to meander pretty far off topic. As I mentioned before, let's keep the focus on Fitbit products and services per our Community Guidelines.

We do not offer a chest strap, but as @Rich_Laue suggested, please take a look at Fitbit.com/apps for ideas on integrations. These are not at all controlled by Fitbit. 

[Renay8]

Ok Great, well I'm glad they were just not deleted all together.

[Renay8]

@catsprat 

I'm glad that our discussion in complementary HR Accurary products to use with Fitbit may have prevented you from returning your fitbit product. I thought that was Fitbit's goal. 

[Renay8]

@catsprat 

Try this written by @branning when using your Charge HR product. Its really sad moderators don't want to help people like you and me trying to figure this out.

I think you should consider @JHaze 's suggestion to get a Charge HR and a Wahoo Tickr X. This will cost the same as the $250 plus tax that you paid just 2 days ago for the Surge, and it will offer more flexibility than using the Polar strap and Digifit, mainly because you won't be forced to carry your smartphone around with you while you're at Title Boxing. The Tickr X can store up to 16 hours of HR data, which gets synced the next time you are near your phone, similar to how the Surge syncs. You'll also get some fancy pace analysis and running dynamics analysis through the accelerometer that's integrated into the Tickr X, since you mentioned that you're also doing some interval running. The battery on the Tickr X also lasts about a year. You won't get GPS measurements, but I haven't heard you say that you like to run outside. This way you can get chest strap-accurate HR data during exercise (even if you decide to start swimming), and still get all-day activity measurement, resting HR, and automatic sleep detection from the Charge HR. Though you can sleep on it for a while, because Fitbit offers a 45-day money back guarantee, which I think is pretty cool of them, as a company.

[Renay8]

Unfortunately @catsprat the people that really know this stuff well are not going to be on this thread. Its buried and no one really knows where it is.  

I understand your pain so I would like to help you. See here (tickr x) to intergrate with your Charge HR.

http://www.wahoofitness.com/devices/hr.html

[catsprat]

@ranay8 Thanks so much for your help. Tickr X with Wahoo seems like a good solution. It still makes me mad that it is that difficult when I thought I was buying one product that would do it all. At least there is a solution and I'very got some help to get there.

[Renay8]

Feel good about that. I have posted 37 times and just got this great solution from @branning 

I see you have only had to post 9 times 

[Rich_Laue]

Personally I have bewildered why somebody would lay out 250 for a product without doing a little research. There are plenty of reviews online for the Surge, from businesses to individuals, blogs, magazines, and videos.. Many are canned, others do tell you the pros and cons. I have sent several head to head reviews with various competition.
The ideal work and actuality sometimes don't overlap as much as we would like, it's good to be an informed consumer and with today's internet this is not hard.

[Heybales]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:
Personally I have bewildered why somebody would lay out 250 for a product without doing a little research. There are plenty of reviews online for the Surge, from businesses to individuals, blogs, magazines, and videos.. Many are canned, others do tell you the pros and cons. I have sent several head to head reviews with various competition.
The ideal work and actuality sometimes don't overlap as much as we would like, it's good to be an informed consumer and with today's internet this is not hard.

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Reading through forums on many topics - you get a pretty good idea that the power of Google is being massively underused.

Or lack of skills to actually glean useful info fast to make an informed decision, or perhaps inability to put together best search term to get exactly what you want.

Or a bad assumption that $250 will get you exactly what you want, never mind what it actually does.

In this case, I'm betting "fitbit surge hr reviews" would work well.

Yep, just tried it, right here from the browser with good old right-click and search Google.

Merely glancing at the website the info is on gives some nice direction. There's one all about wearable devices, I'll bet that has comparisons.

[catsprat]

@ heybales. Wow. We certainly wish we could all be as smart as you! By your account everything on the Internet is not only true, it is accurate as well!! So, by that theory, if I read and believed every review on the internet, I wouldn't have gone on any vacation, stayed in any hotel, bought any car or attended any movie because of the negative reviews. What if I believed all the positive reviews? I am sure someone out there thought Gigli was a good movie!
In fact, there are a lot of reviews that say the HR works. As in daily life, it is hard to weed out the helpful information. However, I certainly don't have that problem today. Your comments are not helpful. The topic is chest strap integration, which you are providing no helpful information. The moderator should move your comment to the "berate other members who are looking for solutions " topic. Thanks for your input though. I will have to try that Google thing.