Smart sensor

Fatih Kale · 28 Oct 2019, 15:03

Folks,

It might be a weird question but may I ask if the Smart Sensor works while swimming?

Once I connected my watch and smart sensor and get into the water. When I check my HR. I could only see wrist HR value.

Is there an issue with my sensor?

Thanks,

cosme.costa · 28 Oct 2019, 15:04

Folks,

It might be a weird question but may I ask if the Smart Sensor works while swimming?

Once I connected my watch and smart sensor and get into the water. When I check my HR. I could only see wrist HR value.

Is there an issue with my sensor?

Thanks,

I think so, I think is downloaded and synced after the swim.

Egika · 28 Oct 2019, 15:07

@Fatih-Kale said in Smart sensor:

Folks,

It might be a weird question but may I ask if the Smart Sensor works while swimming?

Once I connected my watch and smart sensor and get into the water. When I check my HR. I could only see wrist HR value.

Is there an issue with my sensor?

Thanks,

The smart sensor works under water.
It just does not transmit the data in real time since Bluetooth radio frequencies don’t travel through water.
This is why the smart sensor has memory built in to store the heart rate data internally during your activity.
Just make sure watch and sensor are out of the water when stopping the activity - then the heart rate data will be sent to the watch.

btw: I found it difficult to keep the chest belt in place during pushing off of the wall… If you use a wet suit it will work better.

Plus I am not sure how to select the chest belt as a HR source in favor of the wrist sensor (I own a Spartan Ultra without wrist sensor and it works perfectly)

Fatih Kale · 28 Oct 2019, 15:10

@Egika Thank you for the clarification.

I am not sure about choosing the HR source but I think when chest strap is connected it is prioritized. If there is no chest strap then wrist HR is measured.

Cheers,

isazi · 28 Oct 2019, 15:12

@Fatih-Kale said in Smart sensor:

@Egika Thank you for the clarification.

I am not sure about choosing the HR source but I think when chest strap is connected it is prioritized. If there is no chest strap then wrist HR is measured.

Yes, this is the behavior I also noticed.

freeheeler · 28 Oct 2019, 15:13

@Egika said in Smart sensor:

Plus I am not sure how to select the chest belt as a HR source in favor of the wrist sensor

I wonder how that works.
If you select activity without HR then neither OHR nor the belt will be recorded. If you select with HR then only OHR will be showing the values. But does the belt overwrite OHR values later? Then it wouldn’t make sense that for swimming OHR is active…?! Should be a toggle instead of automatic recognition.
I don’t use it in the water but I’d like to know because of interest.

…by the way, I like the automatic recognition

Brad_Olwin · 28 Oct 2019, 16:03

@TELE-HO @Egika If you start the activity with the belt on, the belt will have priority and if the signal is lost the belt will cache (it can record 2-3h of HR data) and resync with the watch (i.e. when you get out of the water). If you take the belt off during the activity there will be no HR recorded as it does not switch to OHR. I often start gym activities with the watch and belt and leave my watch in the locker, when I return the HR data are synced to the activity.

Egika · 28 Oct 2019, 20:20

@Brad_Olwin
Now still the question is open why the wrist sensor starts flashing during an activity that was started with the chest sensor…?!

Fatih Kale · 28 Oct 2019, 20:49

@Egika maybe I was mistaken with the OHR readings when I was in the water. Brad knows better the watches.

Brad_Olwin · 29 Oct 2019, 14:02

@Egika I will have to check this, it should not. It may flash for a moment until you see the HR symbol with the belt indicating HR is being read from the belt. The LEDs should stop once the connection occurs. There were issues with older firmware where the LEDs would continue but I believe that was fixed awhile ago.

Shrek3k · 29 Oct 2019, 20:09

@Brad_Olwin said in Smart sensor:

@Egika I will have to check this, it should not. It may flash for a moment until you see the HR symbol with the belt indicating HR is being read from the belt. The LEDs should stop once the connection occurs. There were issues with older firmware where the LEDs would continue but I believe that was fixed awhile ago.

Exactly the same experience with my S9 when using an external HF-band: flashing OHR-sensor on the watch during the initial phase, until the external sensor is identified. Then the OHR is deactivated and won’t reactivate during that activity.

Fatih Kale · 1 Nov 2019, 08:10

Hi all,

Once again I have another issue with my smart sensor.

I sometimes see peaking in HR at the beginning of my runs. I know that the HR is wrong as I am going slow at the beginning but I read around 190 bpm. After first 4 5 mins readings get corrected and no issues are observed but first 5 mins mess all the metrics of the training.
I copied some screenshots below.

You can see that at the beginning I always see peaking but my HR should be around 130 bpm.

I always wet the belt before I start training.
I am soaking belt into water after every run.

link text

zadow · 1 Nov 2019, 08:24

@Fatih-Kale Hi, well, there could be a billion reasons for that. You’d find around here tons of discussions why the hell the HR reading from Smart Sensor is like this and that. First of all, and most likely reason is, that your strap is dying. However, before you buy a new strap, replace battery in the Smart Sensor. If that won’t help, you probably need a new strap. However, there might be another reason, as I discovered just yesterday and mentioned here in different thread. Your Smart Sensor may be broken. It happened to me. I replaced three straps within one year due to wrong readings from the belt. I was so convinced that strap is guilty for bad readings that I was only replacing them and did not check the sensor. Anyway, at the end, I sent sensor to Suunto (via local Suunto store) and Suunto immediately gave me a new sensor with note, that the old one was defective.

Fatih Kale · 1 Nov 2019, 08:38

@zadow thanks, belt or battery should not be dead yet I believe. I bought it 2 months ago. Life of belt should not be that short huh?

zadow · 1 Nov 2019, 08:45

@Fatih-Kale well, keep washing the belt after each run, also don’t forget to wash sensor’s connectros after each use. You’ll prolong it’s lifetime. How long it will last then…hard to tell. One more thing came to my mind. I do not know, where you live, but in my location, is currently autumn and temperature is decreasing rapidly. It’s freezing in the mornings. Low temperature also affects HR reading from straps. So, if you put your belt on inside, then you go outside, where the temperature is really low, it may take few minutes to warm up the sensor again for proper readings.

Fatih Kale · 1 Nov 2019, 08:51

@zadow that’s a lot of useful information thank you. I usually wear the belt inside and weather is usually 10 C low outside so this may explain why. Cheers

fleshymutant · 1 Nov 2019, 12:59

@Fatih-Kale one more thing, especially in winter would be to also moisten your skin as well as the belt. The belt relies on conductivity so until you begin to perspire the conductivity of your skin is poor.

fejker · 1 Nov 2019, 22:02

A friend of mine also gets these 200 bpm spikes at the start of activities … new watch, new belt, new sensor, wets the belt properly before start but the spikes at start are quite random. I myself have had some issues with the sensor, but mostly flatlines at the start of recording for a couple of minutes or occasional spikes over 200 bpm (which are an abnormality for me).

Darqu · 11 Jan 2021, 18:55

I observe same things with sensor. Peaks, drop downs, no HR measurement randomly. I’ve got belt replaced by suunto service, worked well for a while but it happens again. Any update if it got fixed?

Also… How I can update firmware in smart sensor?

Cheers!

Brad_Olwin · 11 Jan 2021, 19:55

@Darqu No firmware updates AFIAK, I am using the sensor I bought with an A3P, many years ago. The belts have had the contact area recently redesigned. If the area where the sensor attaches is black you have an older belt, the newer ones have a grey area where the sensor attaches. The newer belts should last a long time and are available at the Suunto store online.