Heart rate monitor -- be honest!

[profmjh]

For me, the heart rate monitor is like the feature unique to the iPhone 6+: the barometer. It sounds really cool and on the first day it's the best thing ever. Then you stop caring and never use it again.

I don't go to the gym. I'm never going to the gym. There's an awful lot of time and money and weight and space put into the AW to provide a heart rate monitor. How many people are going to use it regularly.

Be honest!

Because a lot of people are talking about waiting till the second generation or even the third. But will Apple add genuinely useful new features, or will it stuff that sounds cool but ultimately really doesn't make that much difference, day-to-day?

 

[mightyjabba]

The 6 Plus has a barometer?

 

[dilap]

I wil use it. I go running around 3 times a week, and it will be nice to see how hard I am working, and compare to last week.

 

[Knowimagination]

I'm honestly really excited about the HR monitor. I was originally going to look at the Fitbit Charge HR to be able to see what my heart rate was doing day to day, but knowing I was looking at apple watch and then poor reviews of the fitbit HR sensor kept me away.

I saw at least one review that mentioned the Apple watch seeming to be nearly as accurate as a chest strap even with elevated HR so I think it's going to be great!

 

[maflynn]

I typically run 6 days a week and work out on various other cardio/karate classes 4 to 5 days a week. I use the heart monitor that is on my Fitbit surge all the time.

 

[profmjh]

The 6 Plus has a barometer?

Yes. It does.

 

[cmChimera]

For me, the heart rate monitor is like the feature unique to the iPhone 6+: the barometer. It sounds really cool and on the first day it's the best thing ever. Then you stop caring and never use it again.

I don't go to the gym. I'm never going to the gym. There's an awful lot of time and money and weight and space put into the AW to provide a heart rate monitor. How many people are going to use it regularly.

Be honest!

Because a lot of people are talking about waiting till the second generation or even the third. But will Apple add genuinely useful new features, or will it stuff that sounds cool but ultimately really doesn't make that much difference, day-to-day?

Both iPhone 6 models have a barometer, and I'll use the heart rate monitor almost every day because I work out almost every day.

 

[bjdraw]

I expect that the Watch will be a great all day heart rate monitor, but not motivate anyone to stop using their heart rate strap (or other fitness focused exercise HR monitor). I am interested to see what my heart rate is throughout the day, though. Especially as I'm dealing with things that frustrate me, etc.

 

[Ries]

I use the phone to log steps and stairs until the jawbone up3 comes out (if it ever does). Sometimes i go 3 floors up at work to get coffee, just to keep the flights of stairs count average at 10 a day over the week.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I don't go to the gym. I'm never going to the gym.

So because you live a sedentary lifestyle an HRM shouldn't have been included in the AW? W/o the HRM selling the AW as a fitness monitor is a tough sell. Apple had to incorporate one in the watch.

Personally I'm looking forward to it if it's accurate and I never have to wear a chest strap again. I'll be using it every run if it can match my strap.

 

[blackbear219]

It's one of the things my wife and I are looking forward to the most. The heart rate sensors that are built in to the handles on the machines at the gym are terrible, I usually can't even get a number out of them.

Lots of people in the world exercise. Keeping your heart rate in the optimal range while you're doing that is a big part of it. It's pretty short sighted to think that just because YOU don't exercise that no one else will use the feature.

 

[cmChimera]

So because you live a sedentary lifestyle an HRM shouldn't have been included in the AW? W/o the HRM selling the AW as a fitness monitor is a tough sell. Apple had to incorporate one in the watch.

Personally I'm looking forward to it if it's accurate and I never have to wear a chest strap again. I'll be using it every run if it can match my strap.

Re/code review said it was about as accurate as a chest strap, which is pretty impressive.

 

[Donoban]

I typically run 6 days a week and work out on various other cardio/karate classes 4 to 5 days a week. I use the heart monitor that is on my Fitbit surge all the time.

Ok ok ok, now show us your physique or riot.

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For me, the heart rate monitor is like the feature unique to the iPhone 6+: the barometer. It sounds really cool and on the first day it's the best thing ever. Then you stop caring and never use it again.

I don't go to the gym. I'm never going to the gym. There's an awful lot of time and money and weight and space put into the AW to provide a heart rate monitor. How many people are going to use it regularly.

Be honest!

Because a lot of people are talking about waiting till the second generation or even the third. But will Apple add genuinely useful new features, or will it stuff that sounds cool but ultimately really doesn't make that much difference, day-to-day?

I hear you man. I'm skipping leg day too!

 

[PatrickNSF]

I'm a marathon runner and hope to rely on the HRM of the Apple Watch. I run six days a week but rarely use my Garmin HRM strap because I find it to be a nuisance.

 

[VFC]

I'm honestly really excited about the HR monitor. I was originally going to look at the Fitbit Charge HR to be able to see what my heart rate was doing day to day, but knowing I was looking at apple watch and then poor reviews of the fitbit HR sensor kept me away.

I saw at least one review that mentioned the Apple watch seeming to be nearly as accurate as a chest strap even with elevated HR so I think it's going to be great!

From the Verge review:

" And I found that the heart rate sensor struggled during my workouts, especially when I was really sweaty; it consistently measured about half my correct heart rate instead of my full 148bpm. "

I'm holding on to my Surge.

 

[tkermit]

I'd use it regularly if it turned out to be accurate enough which I suspect it won't be. So I'll probably continue wearing my heart rate monitor strap when I'm out for a run or on my road bike. I will be ecstatic if I'm proven wrong on this.

 

[slvrscoobie]

Never cared. Thought it was kinda dumb really. Watch would probably be 20-30% slimmer if they took that non-sense out of it.
I get its a 'good selling point' for all those fitness people the other health bands are going after, and seem to be making a decent buck. But for me, sell me a 30% slimmer one without that and 15% better battery life, or keep it the same size and double the battery life.
I dont need it to tell me what my heart rate is. GMAFB.

 

[VFC]

Never cared. Thought it was kinda dumb really. Watch would probably be 20-30% slimmer if they took that non-sense out of it.
I get its a 'good selling point' for all those fitness people the other health bands are going after, and seem to be making a decent buck. But for me, sell me a 30% slimmer one without that and 15% better battery life, or keep it the same size and double the battery life.
I dont need it to tell me what my heart rate is. GMAFB.

Apple should release two versions of the AW:
1 - AW Fit
2 - AW Slug

 

[Tom G.]

The HRM is one of the things on the Watch that I'm really looking forward to as well.

A few of the other features I'm not so interested in, such as the ability to send your heart rate to another person, unless that person is a physician. Then it would become useful. I don't know of any of my friends or acquaintances, that may be getting a watch, that are interested in the least in my heart rate.

Most of the apps that require another Watch are, to me, pretty much useless.

 

[Steviejobz]

I am only buying the watch for the heart rate monitor. I cycle indoors and it's tough to get good data unless I wear a cumbersome heart rate strap around my chest.

 

[bjdraw]

I think it is very telling that the Watch will read heart rate from a BT heart rate strap, why would Apple include that if the builtin heart rate monitor was adequate in all situations?

http://cnet.com/products/apple-watch/2/

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I am only buying the watch for the heart rate monitor. I cycle indoors and it's tough to get good data unless I wear a cumbersome heart rate strap around my chest.

I have a Mio Link wrist based HR monitor I wear while I cycle, it works great. Feels just like a watch.

 

[Chiguy12]

I don't go to the gym. I'm never going to the gym. There's an awful lot of time and money and weight and space put into the AW to provide a heart rate monitor. How many people are going to use it regularly.

But will Apple add genuinely useful new features, or will it stuff that sounds cool but ultimately really doesn't make that much difference, day-to-day?

There's an awful lot of time and money and weight and space put into the AW to provide a heart rate monitor

In fact the heart rate monitor are those little led lights on the bottom of the watch

And maybe you should start going to the gym and watch your health instead of "cool features". It's very obvious that Apple is going after the health market especially after they launched the Health App and Reaserach kit. If the Apple watch didn't have any fitness features then nobody would buy it except for the geeks. In fact lots of runners and myself were let down by the watch because we would like GPS and a product that doesn't require us to carry our phones during runs (not possible yet but maybe in the future). The fitness market is huge and its great that Apple is allowing people see their progress and make fitness goals. The gym and running are the main reasons why I'm getting the watch. With the watch I will no longer need to wear a bulky armband and I can quickly switch my music. While working I can quickly look at notifications and not stare at my phone because hugging a bench and playing with your phone is rude. The new features you will see in the next generations will focus on fitness. You will see more health sensors on the watch as well as gps and maybe an antenna that works with the cardio equipment.

 

[gsmornot]

I'm not sure yet how I'm going to use the watch data. I like to see my current heart rate/zone while I'm on my road bike. I can feel the work I'm doing but its nice to know where I'm at and record the data for later. The watch would remove that data from my Garmin. If an iPhone app could replace the Garmin for all that it does I would be fine with that.

 

[Runt888]

I think it is very telling that the Watch will read heart rate from a BT heart rate strap, why would Apple include that if the builtin heart rate monitor was adequate in all situations?

http://cnet.com/products/apple-watch/2/

I'm wondering if this is a case of a journalist not understanding the technology (as happens all too frequently). I haven't seen any mention of the watch being able to connect to a different HR monitor other than in this review. Maybe what is really going on is that the phone will connect to the chest strap and the data is synced through HealthKit.

I'm taking this with a grain of salt until more info is available.

 

[Exile714]

I consider myself an avid cyclist, and already use a chest strap to monitor my heart rate during rides. But the damn thing is far too uncomfortable for wearing all day, and I want heart rate data for those times too.

Why? Because it's an excellent predictor of upcoming sickness. Not just heart attacks and stuff like that, but if your resting heart rate suddenly jumps there's a huge chance you have a cold coming on, or the flu, or appendicitis, or whatever. It's a sign to watch your body closely and take necessary precautions, for instance take some zinc to blunt the symptoms of a cold before they start.

Everyone keeps looking at this from a fitness perspective. Isn't the "heart rate zones" model outdated anyway? I know specifically the "fat burning heart rate zone" myth has been debunked. Tracking your pulse during workouts is good, but it's far more useful to me to have an all day tracker (even if it just allows spot checks, though all day tracking would be preferred).