OHR good enough for everyday tracking
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Yeah, I get that the sensor is working better on some people and worse on others. The Active Ideas guy has no problems with the Vertical 1 either, DC Rainmaker thinks it is complete rubbish.
It wouldn’t bother me that much if the wrong HR didn’t account into other metrics.
I had the same issue (false - too low readings) with the Garmin Epix Pro, but only for intense workouts until I gave in and used a chest strap. That said, the Fenix 6S Pro worked flawlessly in that regards. In Garmins ecosystem it messed up all sorts of metrics. More than with Suunto…
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@2b2bff mine works better when I turn the watch to the underside of the wrist. I guess my skin is thinner or the veins are closer to the skin surface.
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@2b2bff which metrics you are thinking about when you say it impacts metrics?
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@aiv4r higher heart rate - higher TSS… less recovery.
It’s not only within Suunto. I use TrainAsOne that gets the data as well and thinks I worked out harder than I actually have and adjust my trainings to it… -
@2b2bff yes, for me it is also useless. Only works during sleep and when I am sitting still and barely moving my arm. I tried everything. Tighter, more loose, higher on my arm, down-side…Nothing works for me. Sometimes it is even 80 BPM higher than my actual heart rate when I just walk around. When I then sit still it takes minutes to get correct readings again. It can be sped up by taking off the watch for 30s until it loses the OHR reading and then put it back on. So I guess it is a bad sensor together with a bad algorithm.
For sports it is no issue as I anyway always wear a HR belt but do not want to wear it during walking/hiking. As my HR during daily life is often as high as it is during intense sport, the readings also make my resources and my recovery metrics useless.
It is really disappointing as my old forerunner 945 and even my polar m430 from 8 years ago were spot on for me during daily life and light activity. So can’t be that hard to make it work on my skin. Therefore, I never expected it to be so bad on a watch from 2024. Really a bummer as otherwise I really like my race s. -
@2b2bff but you mentioned chest strap when you excersize - so that should not be a problem for TSS. I was wondering what is impacted for non-excersize HR. I might have misunderstood your complain
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@aiv4r I’m certainly not wearing a chest strap on my bicycle commute, a walk or a hike. I do for my runs…
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2b2bff is this your only Suunto? Have you others (eg. a older one like the S9P etc.) to try or compare? I just ask because it may also be a defective sensor. My first Race had a defective OHR Sensor when I got it, delivering way too high values around 150-160 before the sensor completely died after a few hours. Had to send it back, second Race worked like a charm. Since you write other brands work great on your wrist, maybe your specific Race S is defective? Maybe you could try a second device in a shop or from a friend or someone in the Suunto community near you for comparison?
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My OHR works very well—when it works. The problem is that it randomly stops working, sometimes for many hours in a row. I often have to reset my Vertical 2 to make it work (almost) properly for a day.
However, the readings are fairly accurate as long as there aren’t sudden movements (like during running), but in that case, all wrist-based sensors make errors. -
The situation is somewhat similar for me: without a chest strap HR detected by Race S gets into cadence lock. After casual biking it shows sometimes (if I don’t make it very tight above my wrist) >180. what I mentioned is that things tend to get worse when I switch battery mode from performance to endurance. And this makes me wonder, if this issue is SW or HW- based?..
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@ChrisA it is my only Suunto, yes. But I had a couple of Race S in here during a back and forth phase with my Epix Pro. Actually, it is my third Race S. They behaved more or less the same. The other watches had a crown that was somewhat hard to turn. So, I kept this one as the crown turned smoothely as it should.
This is one of the first recordings, so different Race S than I currently have. Just a walk in the park, no real pace changes, just flat land. In fact the last couple of meters I walked up the stairs to the forth floor in our house. Not reflected in the HR graph…
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@2b2bff ah, I see - not very steady (looks like Polar’s Webapp?) So it seems that it’s really You and the Race’ sensor being not matching somehow
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@ChrisA it is Runalyze… yeah, possibly it’s a me problem
