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forum
Heart Rate Monitors
I use Strava regularly, have been thinking of getting Heart Rate and CAdence monitoring going for a while.
loads of devices out there, question is, what do ppl use and recommend?
have seen wahoo and thought that was good. It supports both Bluetooth & ANT (connect to both Strava and a bike comp?)
any suggetions..
or and then what about cadence - wahoo again?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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sorry didn't see that last post in time, could have saved some dough!
alright, Wahoo Tickr is now in service! worked great in my 58mile training yesterday, but i only had Strava to display the HR!
that won't work because it kills phone battery. so the next question
what cycle computers do ppl use to display bpm, along with i'd presume gps based speed?
thx
I've got a brand new, unused Garmin HRM that I'm going to sell, if you're interested. Got it with my Edge 1000 performance pack, but only want the speed/cadence sensors.
coospo hrm on ebay...£15 and have a nice elastic strap.
mine has lasted well so far (about 3 months) thought the strap has needed washing once after it kept glitching on one ride due to salt buildup i guess
even if it only lasts a year that will be £15 well spent as it seems the £40 garmin and many others don't last particularly well.
the only slight -ive is that it does give you a strange looking lump in the centre of your chest.
Yes the Mio is expensive but by the time you're facing your third Garmin chest strap you'll be saving money.
I've got the Mio link and really like it - the strap is comfortable even when it is done up firmly enough to stay in place on your wrist and I like the fact that they have not used metal wherever possible so it won't rust and tarnish.
The Garmin strap is terrible. DC Rainmaker has a good hack for anyone who has one that has stopped working - take the Garmin pod off and it fits on a Polar strap, which can be bought separately and works better.
Apparently the issue with Garmin is that after time the salts build up and start to interfere with the connections inside the strap. You could wash it after every 7 or 8 uses as recommended by Garmin but then the glue holding the pads to the strap will wash out. Take your pick... and choose something else.
The Garmin premium chest strap has a poor reputation for durability and washability - strangely the non-premium doesn't (which is what I was suggesting). On the non-premium HRM the strap unclips to allow it to be washed and the sensor part is entirely plastic and wipes clean - no external contacts, nothing to peel or separate, works fine. Sensor part on mine has also been through the first part of the wash cycle without any noticeable side-effects. They're fine, pretty comfy and cost buttons online.
That said i'd probably spring the extra for a basic Tickr if I was buying a new HRM now, just for the option of BTLE in future. Edit : I like the idea of the Mio, but it's not worth double the price of the Tickr to me.
i'm taken up by the Mio Link's wrist wear-ability, but then will it start slipping down the wrist and not picking up the HR?
also this..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aexErj8fdz0
I own the Wahoo Tickr HRM, and would endorse it. It's a reasonable price and the dual mode bluetooth/ANT+ is reliable (it can actually do both at the same time to different devices).
The Wahoo dual-BTLE/ANT+ HRM seem to get very good reviews, not too pricey and future proof.
The non-premium Garmin HRM I use is cheap as chips (e.g. off eBay), has great battery life, washable (unlike the 'premium' one) and works fine with an ANT+ head-unit - but no smart phone linking.
Mio Link looks lovely, has BTLE/ANT+ but, as mentioned, has low battery life (probably not an issue for most rides unless you forget to charge it) and is 'kin expensive. I'd love one but far too expensive just for HR for me.
Cadence wise, the easiest and neatest one i've used is the accelerometer-based Garmin cadence one - just straps to your crank arm, accuracy seems OK and no fiddling with magnets, strapping stuff to the chain arm etc. ANT+ only though. Wahoo looks OK but don't know anything about it.
Bontrager Speed/Cadence dual sensor or Garmin GSC-10 are the obvious other candidates (had the Bontrager one, it was great apart from the usual faff with keeping it aligned/on the chain-arm, and very reasonably priced) - but both ANT+ only again.
Forget chest straps if you are hairy, just totally pointless. I got both the new and old one and shit. (If anyone wants them for a token price let me know).
I now have the Mio Velo and whilst not perfect 100% of the time (tend to get some low readings occasionally) other than that perfect but double the price of the heart strap.
I have the Wahoo Cadence sensor and have been having real problems getting it to work properly with Strava - the recorded trace usually contains long periods where no data is recorded. Strava technical support are working on it, but don't have any answers at the moment.
The Mio Link that I also have works fine, though - like Richard1982 I find it much more convenient than a chest strap.
Buy yourself a Garmin Edge 810... Get the performance & navigation bundle and you get a device able to record all of the variables you question along with navigation too... Well worth the investment.
I use the Mio Link. It's a wrist strap that uses green light to measure your pulse (a bit like the things they shove on your finger in hospital). Personally I think it is a lot more convenient than a chest strap. The only disadvantage is that you only get 10 hours of continuous use out of it between charges.
It does Bluetooth and Ant+ and broadcasts on both simultaneously. A great bit of kit, imho.
I use the current Garmin strap for heart-rate, which I use when I'm cycling - can't fault it so far
I also have the Garmin cadence sensor on my track bike. I find that information less useful, although when doing speed drills it was interesting to see afterwards.
If there was some new law passed that prohibited the use of sensors, I wouldn't really miss cadence, heart-rate on the other hand I would.