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I did this am. Walked 2 miles on my Matrix treadmill. My watch indicated heart rate was within two beats of my Polar chest strap. Perfect in my opinion, it tracked is well even in recovery.
Haven’t you had trouble with HR on the older models. I “think” you always had problems in the past, and if so, this must make you really happy.
 
Haven’t you had trouble with HR on the older models. I “think” you always had problems in the past, and if so, this must make you really happy.

Yes my early AW units did not do well. Even my S3 would loose my HR while in excercise. The S4 seems much better, the back is sure different, time will tell, but I still use my Polar. It produces a great uninterrupted graph compared been to the S4
 
I am not sure if WatchOS 5 is really more efficient at reading your heart or if it is cheating on us.

Did you guys realize that when AW loses your HR the number is still brilliant red on WatchOS 5? There is no opacity anymore. Now I think the difference between reading or not reading is the little heart on the right.

What do you think about that?

I am using AW3.
 
I am not sure if WatchOS 5 is really more efficient at reading your heart or if it is cheating on us.

Did you guys realize that when AW loses your HR the number is still brilliant red on WatchOS 5? There is no opacity anymore. Now I think the difference between reading or not reading is the little heart on the right.

What do you think about that?

I am using AW3.

I had thought the same but when I look at calories burned during a workout (strength training or tennis) are the same when using external heart rate monitor after update. Was not even close before update. The heart rate average are the same as well after update. I too use AW3.
 
Day 2:

TechnoGYM: 264 Calories & Distance 3.54km (2.19 Miles)
AW4: 350 Calories & Distance 3.19 Miles (5.13 km)

Different between TechoGYM & AW4 86 Calories & Distance 1 Mile

Heart rate: 181BPM I'm within maximum heart rate zone for my age.

I'm not sure which method is far more accurate TechnoGYM or AW4 :confused: 1 mile extra that's big different!

Outdoor walking from home to GYM and GYM to home - 0.7 Miles which I've checked with the google map - they're correct distance, Indoor distance is wrong figure somewhat i guess maybe the next update 'watchOS 5.01' might fix issue?

GYM_Day2.JPG
 
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My treadmill is old & clearly my S3 is more accurate (I know because I know my runs from outdoor), much more accurate.. like 2 km. more accurate. :eek:
(And OS5 is also a bit more accurate than OS4)

Yours looks like new so it could be more accurate then AW. Who knows.
 
My treadmill is old & clearly my S3 is more accurate (I know because I know my runs from outdoor), much more accurate.. like 2 km. more accurate. :eek:
(And OS5 is also a bit more accurate than OS4)

Yours looks like new so it could be more accurate then AW. Who knows.

yes, I think this technoGYM treadmill might be older model (need update firmware :p) - "indoor distance" that's really baffled to me :D:p:confused::)

Please do share the photo, so we all can share information to see how accurate it can be...
 
Interestingly I would’ve thought a treadmill would always be able to show the correct distance travelled, but I could be very wrong on this?
 
Interestingly I would’ve thought a treadmill would always be able to show the correct distance travelled, but I could be very wrong on this?

Body weight put on friction on a running area, obviously that could put extra pressure to the roller/motor which might slow down in few years of usage - maybe i could be wrong that too :p
 
Day 2:

TechnoGYM: 264 Calories & Distance 3.54km (2.19 Miles)
AW4: 350 Calories & Distance 3.19 Miles (5.13 km)

Different between TechoGYM & AW4 86 Calories & Distance 1 Mile

Heart rate: 181BPM I'm within maximum heart rate zone for my age.

I'm not sure which method is far more accurate TechnoGYM or AW4 :confused: 1 mile extra that's big different!

Outdoor walking from home to GYM and GYM to home - 0.7 Miles which I've checked with the google map - they're correct distance, Indoor distance is wrong figure somewhat i guess maybe the next update 'watchOS 5.01' might fix issue?

View attachment 789005

Just got the new series 4 Apple Watch and was initially very impressed with the heart rate. My series 3 would do quite well with an outdoor run and walk but would not do well while playing hockey or swimming. New Series 4 seems to be bang on for hockey and swimming. However, when I went for an outdoor run it was way off! It would not change and stayed at the same reading of 126 for nine minutes, and I know I was a lot harder than that. After that it went to 146 for five minutes and I know I was not that high . Has anyone else experienced this?
 
Just got the new series 4 Apple Watch and was initially very impressed with the heart rate. My series 3 would do quite well with an outdoor run and walk but would not do well while playing hockey or swimming. New Series 4 seems to be bang on for hockey and swimming. However, when I went for an outdoor run it was way off! It would not change and stayed at the same reading of 126 for nine minutes, and I know I was a lot harder than that. After that it went to 146 for five minutes and I know I was not that high . Has anyone else experienced this?

Every Apple watch I have owned has, at times, given me erratic HR readings. The AW4 seems better but still use my Polar strap.
 
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Just got the new series 4 Apple Watch and was initially very impressed with the heart rate. My series 3 would do quite well with an outdoor run and walk but would not do well while playing hockey or swimming. New Series 4 seems to be bang on for hockey and swimming. However, when I went for an outdoor run it was way off! It would not change and stayed at the same reading of 126 for nine minutes, and I know I was a lot harder than that. After that it went to 146 for five minutes and I know I was not that high . Has anyone else experienced this?
 
Comparison of HR on intervals.

Purple: Apple Watch Series 4 - Wrist HR
Rust: Garmin Forerunner 920XT - Chest Strap
Green: Garmin Fenix 5X Plus - Wrist HR

Very impressed with the Apple Watch Series 4 which is consistent with the Forerunner 920XT Chest Strap
The Garmin Fenix 5X Plus consistent with my previous experience with wrist HR - not too accurate.

Information: Incline treadmill, intervals 15 sec high intensity, 45 sec rest

All 3 uploaded to MapMyFitness web site. TCX files exported, then imported to DC Rainmaker Analyzer

ADDED: AW 4 Left Wrist, Fenix 5X Plus Right Wrist
 

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Day 2:

TechnoGYM: 264 Calories & Distance 3.54km (2.19 Miles)
AW4: 350 Calories & Distance 3.19 Miles (5.13 km)

Different between TechoGYM & AW4 86 Calories & Distance 1 Mile

Heart rate: 181BPM I'm within maximum heart rate zone for my age.

I'm not sure which method is far more accurate TechnoGYM or AW4 :confused: 1 mile extra that's big different!

Outdoor walking from home to GYM and GYM to home - 0.7 Miles which I've checked with the google map - they're correct distance, Indoor distance is wrong figure somewhat i guess maybe the next update 'watchOS 5.01' might fix issue?

View attachment 789005

Have you calibrated the watch by doing runs outdoors, GPS tracked? It can be wildly off indoors if you don't have outdoor calibration. I believe Apple calls for 20 min activity outdoors. I can tell you that it needs to be 20 mins outdoors at close to the same pace you run on the treadmill. It's also important that your arm swinging be normal/average on the outdoor calibration runs since all Apple has to do the match is GPS distance divided by steps taken = distance per step. It then multiplies on indoor runs for pace and distance.

Calories burned vary wildly depending on platform. I share my AW activities with Health, Garmin, Strava and Runkeeper. Apple gives me about 100 calories per mile, so 310 for a 5K, 3.11 mile run. Runkeeper, Garmin, Strava sometimes add 200 calories. I use the most conservative low number in MyFitnessPal when determining how many extra calories I can eat......:cool:
 
My heart rate was much more consistent on my other workout type I do weekly... which is a combination kettle bells, lunges, planks, push ups etc... but I did notice it took a while at some point to update my heart rate when it was increasing at the beginning of the work out. It stayed at 96 bpm for like 4 minutes and I know that isn’t where it was. I wonder if it will just display the last know heart rate when it can’t get a good read. After that it kept up better than my 3. Also, can I prompt it to take another reading or is it really a constant read when in workout mode?
 
Comparison of HR on intervals.

Purple: Apple Watch Series 4 - Wrist HR
Rust: Garmin Forerunner 920XT - Chest Strap
Green: Garmin Fenix 5X Plus - Wrist HR

Very impressed with the Apple Watch Series 4 which is consistent with the Forerunner 920XT Chest Strap
The Garmin Fenix 5X Plus consistent with my previous experience with wrist HR - not too accurate.

Information: Incline treadmill, intervals 15 sec high intensity, 45 sec rest

All 3 uploaded to MapMyFitness web site. TCX files exported, then imported to DC Rainmaker Analyzer

Thanks for going through the effort! Would love to see a graph like this for Series 3 vs Series 4. Would be interesting to see if the second generation HR sensor is actually an improvement over the first gen, or if it's mostly software improvements. I returned my Apple Watch Series 3 after being utterly disappointed with the heart rate detection during HIIT. It would often be stuck scanning for my heart rate and was very slow to react to fast changes in heart rate. It also seemed to work less reliably when there was a small amount of sweat between the watch and wrist.
 
Very impressed with the Apple Watch Series 4 which is consistent with the Forerunner 920XT Chest Strap

That's very impressive indeed. If that holds up with further testing, it'll knock out one of the two things that are holding me back. The first is sleep tracking. The second is high intensity exercise.

Do you mind me asking if you have a fairly typical pattern with a max HR that tacks more or less to the 220-age equation and a heart rate that ramps up commensurately to level of effort?

I know that wrist trackers are generally less capable, but I also wonder if my unusual patterns cause the algorithms that predict what your HR should be at the moment to lose their bearings. I have a very high Max HR for my age, a low resting pulse, but my pulse ramps up very quickly.
 
That's very impressive indeed. If that holds up with further testing, it'll knock out one of the two things that are holding me back. The first is sleep tracking. The second is high intensity exercise.

Do you mind me asking if you have a fairly typical pattern with a max HR that tacks more or less to the 220-age equation and a heart rate that ramps up commensurately to level of effort?

I know that wrist trackers are generally less capable, but I also wonder if my unusual patterns cause the algorithms that predict what your HR should be at the moment to lose their bearings. I have a very high Max HR for my age, a low resting pulse, but my pulse ramps up very quickly.
I think my pattern is fairly consistent with max HR, ramping up commensurately consistent with the effort, and quick recoveries in intervals. Resting HR in the 50s generally. My recommendation is if you have an S3, update the software and try it. Otherwise, you can always use the 14 day return window for an S4 purchase
 
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Here are 2 similar HIIT workouts - one with S4 and the other a wahoo chest strap.
 

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Here are 2 similar HIIT workouts - one with S4 and the other a wahoo chest strap.
What does it mean when it shows these long vertical lines in the 2nd chart as compared to dots/small vertical lines?
 
What does it mean when it shows these long vertical lines in the 2nd chart as compared to dots/small vertical lines?

I think it’s a scale issue. Here’s another example showing the difficulties of picking up the HR
 

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Comparison of HR on intervals.

Purple: Apple Watch Series 4 - Wrist HR
Rust: Garmin Forerunner 920XT - Chest Strap
Green: Garmin Fenix 5X Plus - Wrist HR

Very impressed with the Apple Watch Series 4 which is consistent with the Forerunner 920XT Chest Strap
The Garmin Fenix 5X Plus consistent with my previous experience with wrist HR - not too accurate.

Information: Incline treadmill, intervals 15 sec high intensity, 45 sec rest

All 3 uploaded to MapMyFitness web site. TCX files exported, then imported to DC Rainmaker Analyzer

ADDED: AW 4 Left Wrist, Fenix 5X Plus Right Wrist
Exact same protocol as before, but AW 4 on Right Wrist. Fenix 5X Plus Left Wrist but all over the place so graph only shows AW 4 and Forerunner 920XT Chest Strap.

Changing wrists with the AW 4 led to no change. Excellent consistency with the chest strap. On both workouts, the chest strap HR is slightly quicker (ramp up slightly sooner). Could be due to differences between chest and wrist measurements and/or any damping algorithms used by Apple to provide more stable measurements. For intervals based on time, where HR analysis used mostly post-exercise, I would say any differences are unimportant. For interval training where intervals are brief and based on HR rather than time, the slight delay could be an issue.

I have compared wrist measurements with chest strap using Garmin Fenix 5X, 5X Plus, Forerunner 935, and Suunto Spartan Wrist HR in addition to the Apple Watch Series 3 and 4. None of the others besides the Apple Watch Series 4 came even close to the chest strap measurements.

Purple: Apple Watch Series 4 - Wrist HR
Green: Garmin Forerunner 920XT - Chest Strap

Compare AW S4 920 XT 092918.png
 
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The HR monitor on the AW 4 is sick. Even tracks my hr in the shower. EKG will be the icing on the cake. Goodbye Rolex.
 
Apple is using CoreML (machine learning) for heart rate tracking in watchOS 5, so this is likely the source of most improvements, not the sensor itself.
 
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