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BP and HR monitors

Keela Too

Sally Burch
Messages
900
Location
N.Ireland
Kevinj - this post is about the hardware & software I use for monitoring heart rate. I hope to do another article on how I use it to manage my condition later. I wrote a little once before on things I found raised my HR and have linked that article at the bottom of this one.
 

Seven7

Seven
Messages
3,444
Location
USA
@Keela Too I was just looking for something last night. I have used several things (finger) and my favorite is the polar FT4 but I have some issues:

1) I liked the watch because my family see when I am doing bad and I dont have to be "complaining" Is a measure for everybody to follow and they help me keep myself in check. But the app won't be as visual.
2) Chest strap gets smelly and have some spontaniety :redface: issues.
3) I want something that is continious all day long but let me know when I am over my AT-
4) I want collection of data that I can analyze.

But I cannot find one device that gives me all that. I was just looking last night. So if this would have a watch too would of been perfect.
 
Messages
15,786
@lnester7 - The Alpha Mio is a watch HR monitor, using optical sensors to detect the pulse and motion sensors to correct for body movements. It has two "high" alarms and two "low" alarms, so I have the milder (one beep) alarm at 100 and the serious (two beep) alarm at 110. Additionally a green light flashes regularly while in range in exercise mode, a blue light if heart rate is too low, and a red light if heart rate is too high.

It has to be in exercise mode to beep, record, or transmit data, so it can be left in the regular HR mode if you want to keep an eye on things without beeping and flashing :D It only seems to directly show limited info in summary after using it in exercise mode, such as average heart rate, time spent in heart rate zone, etc. But it can transmit live data via bluetooth, so if you have the right sort of phone, it can probably record and calculate a lot more data.

It recharges in about two hours I think, and a full charge would definitely last at least a day, probably two or three.

The manual is at help.mioglobal.com/hc/en-us/article_attachments/200607264/Mio_ALPHA_User_Guide_EN.pdf , which is where there's the most data about the data recording.
 

Keela Too

Sally Burch
Messages
900
Location
N.Ireland
@Inester7

1. My phone shows the HR all the time. I have a cut-out made now in my phone cover so that the HR reading shows even when the case is shut. I image if I wanted to let my family see what was happening then it would be as easy for them to check my phone as a watch on my wrist. I do sometimes just turn my phone round so they can see, but mostly I prefer my real-time monitoring to be private.

2. Yup I hated the chest strap too. I find I can wear this one on my ankle which is very unobtrusive.

3. This works for about 8 hours. No beeping though, but continuous feedback.

4. And YES data collects and is available online for later analysis.

Hope that helps. ;)