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Heart rate Series 1,2 vs 3
- Thread starter iFan83
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I was trying to get an answer this earlier today... the best I can tell is that it has been software updates that has improved the accuracy of the HR monitor of the AW over time. I was curious about this too and if there have been hardware improvements that would improve the accuracy (besides improved processing power/efficiency) I would love to know more since I am going from a S0 to a S3.
similar thing here, I don't own an Apple Watch but thinking of buying one, mostly for the heart rate tracking and notifications so if the heart rate has been improved and offers more benefits to that of series 1, I'll go for series 3 but if not series 1 should cover me. With the heart rate sensors being a bit thicker, I would've thought some changes were done but can't find anything about this.
I believe the heart rate sensor is a bit thicker because of the increase internals such as the LTE chip and e-sim. I don't think the fact that it protrudes more has anything to do with a hardware change to the HR sensors.
Also... from my anecdotal experience the accuracy has improved over time with the series 0.
I do sprints as part of my running workout. When I first got the AW I started getting max HR readings of almost 220. This obviously caused me some concern so I booked an appointment with my doctor and had an EKG. According to the EKG everything was fine. So next I bought a Wahoo Tickr X and ran it side by side with the AW. I was still got the extremely high HR occasionally with the AW but was never over 195ish with the Tickr. After the first or second update (don't honestly remember) it never happened again. Now the main issue I have is it being unable to get a reading at all although usually it is during exercises where I bend my wrist (e.g. pushups or dips).
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