Is this the same heart rate sensor for workouts as the AW3?
I’ve read different reports stating different things.
I’ve read different reports stating different things.
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AW4 Heart Rate Sensor for Fitness
- Thread starter rcarter3636
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I’ve read conflicting reports. Most are not saying much about the AW4 heart rate sensor during workouts but I did read one where it did add more sensors to make it more accurate during workouts.
Always go with a chest strap for workouts! I pair a polar with my Apple Watch and it works great!
I use a chest strap for tennis and strength training with the AW3.
If I could get 75-85% accuracy without a strap, I would buy a AW4 in a heartbeat
What app do you use for this? Sounds like a good idea. I have the wahoo bluetooth/ant strap and i mainly just pair it to my cycling computer.
Id love to record tennis matches and jogging with it too. Especially if it is all pretty seamless.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
It does appear to be some sort of “2nd gen” HR monitor; if nothing else they went from 4 sensors down to 1 so clearly it’s changed. However, the fact they didn’t brag about accuracy improvements leads me to think there are minimal, if any enhancements. I’m sure many people will do comparisons once it is released.
The compare Apple Watches feature on the Apple Website says
Apple Watch 3- Optical Heart Rate Sensor
Apple Watch 4- Second-generation optical heart sensor
So it does indeed look like they've developed a new heart rate sensor. I'm quite happy with that because although the HR in my 3 was as good as any other watch out there, it does drop sometimes.
The onscreen display of your Heart Rate on the bigger screen will also show more information.
Apple Watch 3- Optical Heart Rate Sensor
Apple Watch 4- Second-generation optical heart sensor
So it does indeed look like they've developed a new heart rate sensor. I'm quite happy with that because although the HR in my 3 was as good as any other watch out there, it does drop sometimes.
The onscreen display of your Heart Rate on the bigger screen will also show more information.
In the Apple Watch setting, go to Bluetooth and you’ll be able to pair it. You have to pair it each time you use it, it doesn’t automatically pick it up.
Ok, thats good to know. I try to do this on my iphone and it doesn’t pair unless my Garmin bike computer is on and activating it. Will the watch look for it and try and turn it on or do I need to ping it somehow with an app? I have a wahoo ticker. It has Bluetooth.
I’m not sure how much they could improve on that senors as it’s already the best in class and optical heart rate sensors have their limitations, I would think it’s more of a redesign to fit the ECG in.
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Just turn the heart rate sensor on and the watch should find it, when it does just click on it and your good to go.
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Just turn the heart rate sensor on and the watch should find it, when it does just click on it and your good to go.
Agreed. I teach fitness classes and the Optical HR sensor is crap when any strenuous movement or muscle flexion is involved. With that said, we might see some improvements due to the lightening of weight and also where the sensor sits on the wrist with Series 4 compared to Series 3. The oblong size might actually help yield more accurate HR. The pictures I've seen, it appears that the watch can fit more snug on the wrist and prohibit unnecessary wrist movement I'm going to test it out for sure, but will probably still utilize the trusty Chest Rate strap via bluetooth.
I’m a big fitness person as well and for working out, chest strap are the way to go. But the Apple heart rate sensor isn’t crap, it’s outstanding for use outside the gym, it’s great at picking up heart rate info on a walk, resting and out and about in your day.
OHR sensors on fitness watches are generally not the problem. It is the placement and movement of the arm that causes problems. I use a Scosche Rhythm plus or Rhythm 24 for my activities, and it gives identical results to Polar and Garmin HR straps. The Scosche is an OHR device. The reason it is consistently better is it's placement is better for most folks. Sure, the Valencell sensor is industry leading, but placement and use matters.
For best OHR results from a watch: 1) shave a patch, 2) tighten one notch, and 3) wear a wrist sweat band above the watch to lessen sweat running under the sensor.
For best OHR results from a watch: 1) shave a patch, 2) tighten one notch, and 3) wear a wrist sweat band above the watch to lessen sweat running under the sensor.
I agree it is good for walking, at rest and casual activities. But to claim it’s a fitness caliber HR monitor is misleading for people that don’t know about health monitoring. At a gym, you will not get an accurate calorie burn for anything but walking and straight line running on a treadmill. Even then, if you utilize interval training, the optical sensor struggles with jerking movements. And that’s not just an Apple Watch issue.
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Love the Scosche!!
Same here, and it's really amazing how much (how bad) sweat impacts the OHR sensor. Seems like a real counter intuitive (although physics intuitive) result.
That’s why I recommend a chest strap!
Scosche is still an optical heart rate monitor and suffers the same issues the Apple Watch suffers from, not good for HIIT. Chest straps are the only way to go, imo, for hard workouts like HIIT.
Ok, easy enough. Does the Heart rate sensor override the Apple Watches? What I mean is, lets say I put on the sensor, hit the tennis court or gym. The Watch finds the sensor, I click on it, and now it’s basically using my heart sensor to measure heart rate and then that data is paired with the health app instead of whatever Heart rate the watch picks up? I would imagine that is the case, and if so, thats perfect.
I agree that the Apple Watch seems perfect for measuring heart rate throughout the day and getting a great understanding of Cals burned outside of rigorous exercise. For me, that data really helps in recovery. I dont really think about how much energy I burn walking around or climbing stairs throughout the day, or even how well I slept. Currently I just measure cals burnt with a chest monitor and thats a small piece of data compared to the rest of my day/week.
yes, exactly. I imagine the algorithm says, "external sensor connected - priority" "no external sensor-onboard OCR"
I Do expect the AW4 to have a better OHR sensor. There are about 60% more actual sensors (not including the ECG ring) than prior models. I would imagine some level of sensing optimization has been done.