Recent Heart Attack Has Me Looking For Smart Watch W/HR +

[gthopkins]

Hi all, as the subject says, I had a recent heart attack. I am one heck of a lucky guy!

I was shopping for a wearable device with HR monitor, step counter and any other monitor that may help me moving forward. Battery life is very important. Quick charge is also nice to have and what attracked me to the Sense and Charge 5. I had been looking at the Sense and I concerned about a few things.

1.) Is the Sense overkill?

2.) Would I need to subscribe to the monthly service for the Sense to be of use?

3.) With Sense2 coming later this year, should I choose another device or wait or seek elsewhere?

I have never owned a smart watch or tracker so I am open to any and all suggestions. Until two weeks ago, I had never had a heart attack. Maybe I should wait until I begin Cardiac Rehab? Yeah, I am confused, but alive and feeling better each day. 🙂

Thank you for your help,

Greg

[MarylisaM]

There are a lot of really good fitness trackers out there. I’d never buy another Sense. It doesn’t accurately measure my heart rate, is unreliable about charging connection and captures my “sleep score” only about 1-2 days a week. I didn’t have any of these problems with my Versa— sadly they won’t exchange it for another Versa. They did replace the unit, but the same problems continue. The good news is that it does measure my steps and I won’t need to pay for the “premium” plan, since I get so little of that information. Next time I’ll get a different unit, either a Versa or another brand completely. 

[SunsetRunner]

I agree with @MarylisaM, I love Fitbit but Sense fails in the most important aspect of a helath/fitness tracker that is Heart Rate measurement.

If you want a Fitbit  good option is the good old Versa 2 and I'm very happy with my Charge 4 (not longer for sale however).

[slbert]

Good to hear that you're on the mend. My hubby had a stent put in years ago (after a near heart attack). He was using an Ionic until that didn't work anymore. I knew a Sense would be overkill for him since he wouldn't use most of the features so I bought him a Charge 5 for Christmas. The first thing was to update it, which broke it, so I sent it back to Amazon for a replacement. The second one works really well and seems to be accurate (more so than the Sense) as far as heart tracking, which is what he really uses it for. The Charge 5 did come with a free 6 month premium subscription to try out. It seemed to pick up a potential issue with him, so we're going to activate his premium to see what other info it can tell us and print it out for his next doctors appointment in a couple of weeks.

You may want to check out what's being said on the Charge 5 group too, before you make a decision.

Good luck with rehab and continued good health!

[eezeepee]

Remember that none of these fitness trackers are medically certified but they helpful in being mindful of your body both physical and mental. That being said, the accuracy of the HR monitoring has been questioned many times and has been objectively shown to be delayed and can be low for the max hear rate. There's a good YouTube channel: The Quantified Scientist who has tested a lot of fitness devices. That being said, after using my Sense for nearly 4 weeks, I've been pretty happy with all the tracking and haven't had as many problems as some people here. The only one has been syncing issues like my EDA Scan and water amount not going from Sense to app or app to Sense. Currently it's okay, for now.

[scaddenp]

Well not Sense. And given lack of any evidence that programmers are actually trying to fix any of its problems, I wouldnt be rushing into any new Fitbit model at all. Older, simpler fitness bands from Fitbit have a good reputation. If really wanting smart watch features, I would look hard at Apple or Samsung, but go to their support forums first.