Ionic Heart Rate accuracy

[msg270]

i would like to know if the new Ionic will have the same or a better Hear Rate monitor than the fitbit Blaze. 

[skratchgonzo]

My ionic has been pretty accurate except for when doing hard exercise. I ran some steps today where I know my HR gets to about 180+ and the watch said it was 120! It was very annoying. 

[Martinefski]

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@skratchgonzo wrote:

My ionic has been pretty accurate except for when doing hard exercise. I ran some steps today where I know my HR gets to about 180+ and the watch said it was 120! It was very annoying. 

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This is exactly what I see every day, off by 70 beats per minute is very common.

[msg270]

Fine i was wrong about the price. but your willing to pay $300 for a bad smart watch and cannot accurately measure your HR. Hey i like the idea of my blaze. I love the fact that it doesn't do EVERYTHING. I bought it because i wanted a HR tracker I could wear easily. but if it's not accurate then it's not anything.  The most annoying thing is that fitbit as a company just ignores this issue and continues to act as if it's the best thing since slice bread. Admit there is an issue and fix it. 

[RalfSD]

After 2 weeks of usage the accuracy is still a somewhat mixed bag and
somewhat sensitive to location of ionic on arm. For cycling I found that I
had tighten the armband quite a bit to get readings better matching the
Myzone readings.

[WavyDavey]

In general, I find that, the more intense (higher bpm) an exercise is, the tighter the band has to be.

The more the exercise involves wrist flexing (like some weightlifting), the higher up on the arm it has to be.  Once I found the sweet spot for each type of exercise, it's been pretty consistent.

For those that are having trouble, try doing a restart right before the exercise, and see if that helps.makes a difference.

[bkonichiwa]

I have the same problem with the elliptical. It it is usually about 40 to 60 bpm off. I did have the same issue with the Blaze and the Sruge too from time to time but this is consistently off  for every workout. I have to admit to being pretty disappointed. I am keeping the Ionic because it is a new product just at the beginning of it’s development cycle but I did have higher hopes.

[wedzir]

Right now I would say its the same. Comparing it to my Charge2 its just as wild and all over the place as the Ionic. 

I would say the Ionic HR measurements are spot on when sleeping or sitting.. When moving its not accurate at all.. Getting readings in the extreme zones when doing something like walking.. And besides that turning on a workout and comparing that to the overall hr usage eg comparing the ionic with itself shows also strange data.. 

Picture 1 shows my activity from the moment I got up.. around 5 am.. walking for about 90 minutes.. HR high (not correct) but not so high as it sometimes gets. Then from 7 am to 8 am a workout including running. HR lets say around 120 average..

Now have a look at the second picture.. That is the IONIC workout.. You would think the same data, the same graph..but the average hr is higher and there is a peak in there of around 176. Mind you. I ran during the first 15 minutes of the workout and the other part was strength. So everything is still in a development fase I would say..

[Blackish]

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@wedzir wrote:

Right now I would say its the same. Comparing it to my Charge2 its just as wild and all over the place as the Ionic. 

I would say the Ionic HR measurements are spot on when sleeping or sitting.. When moving its not accurate at all.

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After using the Blaze and Charge2 my main reason to buy the Ionic was the more accurate heart rate measuring. After reading DC Rainmaker's in depth review I was convinced the HRM on the Ionic was what I was looking for. And I'm not disappointed, in fact I'm very happy with the HRM on my Ionic. Maybe it has something to do with placement on my wrist? I like my watches a bit tighter.

When on a run measurement sometimes is off for the first minutes, but then is stable and rock solid (compared to my Polar running watch). I never experienced a difference of 20 or more beats, except for when I'm on a bike and my wrist jumps all over the place. Not really the Ionic's fault then. When compared to the Charge2 HRM accuracy of the Ionic is a difference of night and day as far as I am concerned.

[WavyDavey]

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@wedzir wrote:

Now have a look at the second picture.. That is the IONIC workout.. You would think the same data, the same graph..but the average hr is higher and there is a peak in there of around 176.

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You would think, but that's not the case. The daily heart rate graph is a five-minute average, while the activity graph is one-minute intervals. Because of this the daily graph gets the peaks and valleys smoothed out somewhat. All my heart and activity graphs exhibit this.

[Nedwob]

I had to get surgery a few days ago and as I went through the pre-op procedures they hooked me up to a heart rate monitor and took the opportunity to test results from the state of the art equipment and my New Ionic and they were exactly the same was impressed... unfortunately I was not allowed to wear during surgery, I did try lol 

[NellyG]

I have found my Ionic very good as far as heart rate goes, especially when exerciseing. The Alta HR never seemed to function well when I was working hard (eg on my bike) but the Ionic seems to give a much more realistic reading. I dont have a chest strap to compare it to, but have checked by manual checking (which has been done after a big hill rather than during it lol).

[firbit34422]

................. ,..

[INTENSE]

Has anyone tried to pair any of the popular bluetooth HR Straps.

heart rate strap

heartrate

[shipo]

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@INTENSE wrote:

Has anyone tried to pair any of the popular bluetooth HR Straps.

heart rate strap

heartrate

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My understanding is that is not possible.  Did I get that wrong?

[MiamiKids1]

another down side to the Ionic

[ggalexgg]

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@N8teGee wrote:

As far as I can see the red LEDs are not active. I even looked at it through a video camera to see if there was any infrared light, none. 

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It seems the red and infrared LEDs are only active during sleep. I just stumbled upon this fact this morning after noticing the red light right after i woke up. Struggled to take a pic with my crappy phone camera then the red LED turned off, I'm assuming because it registered as me being awake. 

[CaptainAdhoc]

I see a lot of people having issues with HR when using an elliptical.

I've now done about +200 minutes on elliptical and HR is spot on for me. For those with problems getting weird values, is the Ionic tight enough around your wrist?

I've tested and compared the following HR devices:

Adidas Smart Run, Built in HR (via the grips) on the elliptical, Garmin Forerunner with a chest strap and of course the Ionic. They're all very close to each other, it might differ 2-5 bpm give or take on some occasions but most of the time they're almost identical.

My impressions is that the Ionic has very good HR monitoring.

[MiamiKids1]

Your in the minority

Sent from my iPad

[shipo]

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@MiamiKids1 wrote:
Your in the minority

Sent from my iPad

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I suspect the majority of folks with the Ionic are quite happy with the device, I know I am, and I know all of the runners I run with are happy as well.

[Martinefski]

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@CaptainAdhoc wrote:

I see a lot of people having issues with HR when using an elliptical.

I've now done about +200 minutes on elliptical and HR is spot on for me. For those with problems getting weird values, is the Ionic tight enough around your wrist?

I've tested and compared the following HR devices:

Adidas Smart Run, Built in HR (via the grips) on the elliptical, Garmin Forerunner with a chest strap and of course the Ionic. They're all very close to each other, it might differ 2-5 bpm give or take on some occasions but most of the time they're almost identical.

My impressions is that the Ionic has very good HR monitoring.

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Ummmmmm, we’re going to have to have a ruling on this.......... LOL

I average at least 40 beats per minute too slow while using the elliptical, tightness is not an issue. Actually too tight will give you even more false readings.

the only reason why I like this trackers is because the gps tracking and auto start and stop feature. I also like the ability to have music, but even that is diminished by how difficult or problematic it can be to keep Pandora synced.

The heart rate is factually not very accurate for many exercises people who say other wise are fooling themselves or misleading others.