Compatibility with Coospo optical HRM armband?

Will Morris

Hi, I’ve just bought this optical HRM. It appears to pair fine with the watch and at low intensity the BPM it reports are believable but at higher intensities the BPM shown on the watch are way too high! I’m doing about 120-130bpm and the watch is reading in the 160s! I’m pretty sure it’s a Suunto problem as when the Coospo is paired with my android phone and the WhatsHeart app all readings are believable. Anyone out there with any experience or suggestions? I’d be very grateful. Thank you in advance. Will

surfboomerang

@will-morris Are we talking about this device? https://wearabletech.io/coospo-optical-armband/
And what watch are we talking about? Apparently an Ambit, but what version?

How did you compare the values? How did you know you did 120-130 instead of the 160 the watch shows?

I have no idea how an external HR monitor can differ from device to device, but maybe someone has some more technical knowledge about how HR is measured over bluetooth.

Do HR belts/armbands only send the calculated BPM measurement or do they send every heartbeat and let the device do the BPM calculation?
My guess would be the first option but then the values should be consistant across devices.

cosme.costa

@will-morris Sorry to disagree here but I’m pretty sure that the issue is not in the Suunto side, al least not in the watch.

I’m using a POLAR OH1, which is optical and sends the data over Bluetooth without any issues or illogical readings but furthermore, before I bought the Polar, a friend of mine lend me this Coospo HRM to test and I had consistent readings compared with a belt sensor.

Probably you have some flaw in the communication or some other issue.

Will Morris

@surfboomerang
Yep, the armband on your link. My watch is an Ambit 3 Peak.

Will Morris

@surfboomerang
Since July 2017 I been training using the MAF method, 180-age, using a chest strap HRM (inconsistent in cold dry weather) so I’m pretty sure by now what my heart rate should be for a given pace on flat ground.

Will Morris

@cosmecosta
Before the Coospo optical I’ve been using a Coospo chest strap HRM and the readings for that have been believable. Does anyone know what a ‘soft reset’ is, how to do it and would it have any benefit in this situation?

surfboomerang

@will-morris said in Compatibility with Coospo optical HRM armband?:

using a chest strap HRM (inconsistent in cold dry weather) so I’m pretty sure by now what my heart rate should be for a given pace on flat ground.

Try some contact gel. It does an amazing job!

I think a chest strap is the most consistent and accurate way of measuring HR. Personally I never use optical HR monitors.
Furthermore, keep in mind that your heart rate could vary greatly on the same running pace due to changes in your mood or health/fitness, outdoor temperature and other weather conditions.

Best way to test it in your situation is to connect the HR belt to you phone and the armband to the Ambit at the same time and compare them afterwards. Then switch it, so connect the HR belt to the Ambit and the armband to the phone. Also compare them afterwards.

Ideally you would need to have a third source of HR information to possibly rule out which device/combination is inaccurate, but in your case there are too much variables (sensor types and device types) and not enough devices.

@will-morris said in Compatibility with Coospo optical HRM armband?:

Does anyone know what a ‘soft reset’ is, how to do it and would it have any benefit in this situation

A soft reset is basically a reboot of the watch. It can resolve some issues that went wrong overtime. Because basically the watch never reboots. It is non destructive for your settings, but if I recall correctly, It removes your previous activity logs so sync your watch before you perform this operation.

For an Ambit I believe you had to press and hold all 5 buttons simultaneously for 12 seconds to perform this.

A hard reset (different procedure) reboots the watch and reverts it to the factory defaults, thus removing all your settings.

Will Morris

@cosmecosta Thanks for your reply. Even though it’s considerably cheaper than the Polar OH1, I’ve decided not to faff about anymore with the Coospo and it’s been returned for credit. I’m biting the bullet and splashing out £££ on an OH1 as, thanks to you, I now know it works with Ambit 3 Peak.