Comments on: 23 Top Heart Rate Monitors for iPhone

By: Ernst

Ernst — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:23:25 +0000

In addition to previous post,
I was talking about bluetooth transmitters.

By: Ernst

Ernst — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:22:20 +0000

I was using polar watch with chest belt transmitter for a long time earlier.
and recommend to use Zephyr HxM chest ECG transmitter, instead of Polar, it’s better than polar one:
1. re-chargable battery with USB dock station.
2. Lighter than polar.
3. it has builtin accelerometer for measring speed/distance/cadence.

and Zephyr has open protocol for developers.
and , of course, cost – cheaper than polar.

By: Lois

Lois — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:18:41 +0000

By wearing a Polar transmitter it will measure the actual electrical activity of your heart in moment to moment (or beat to beat) variation. Anything that reads off your wrist is not measuring this activity—it is measuring the opening and closing of an artery at a specific point. In the case of your wrist, that artery is the radial artery. On your neck, it is the carotid artery. Either way is going to be less accurate than actual heart rate. I would love to see the tranmitter worn and the I-touch recording the EKG. Happy Holidays.

By: Ernst

Ernst — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:36:59 +0000

P.S.
Actually, I use GymNow app on iPhone,
this is my favorit app for fitness.

Ci, sorry, when I said about “toy” apps, I mean heart measuring feature. Of course, in your review there are excellent apps as training log and diary.

By: Ernst

Ernst — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:31:45 +0000

Hello, guys

My question was rhetorical.
Actually, Apple doesn’t include full featured bluetooth stack into iPhone firmware, for bluetooth heartrate monitors RFCOMM/SPP (Serial Port) is required. As far as I understand this is a reason of many “toy” apps for heart, instead of real fitness and medical ones.

Ci, we have to admit, iphone is bad choice for cadrio workouts or medical telemetry. All reviewed apps are for “wow” effect only.

As trail runner I prefer Windows Mobile applications, becauses there are not a problem with any BT hardware devices. For example: RunGPS.NET

This is a typical situation for iPhone, if you are looking at similar market (one of my interests) – devices for the cars: OBDII dongles, iPhone “can” work with WiFi devices only, this is unreasonable – they are more expensive than bluetooth ones, drain the battery quickly.

As summary: this is not holy war , I like my iphone, but apple developers are not good, too many semifinished features in iphone were completed yet by enthusiasts.

By: Ci

Ci — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:05:31 +0000

Hi Lois. Not with all these applications. We are in the process of updating this list to address the issues you and many others have brought up.

By: Lois

Lois — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:42:14 +0000

How can this give you an EKG heart rate like a heart rate monitor does with a transmitter? They are all talking about pulse not hear rate. there is a difference, Can the Transmitter made by Polar be used with these applications?

By: Sdfg

Sdfg — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:18:05 +0000

I agree with Ernst. These applications are not interesting as long as they do not support bluetooth HR transmitters. I also like to have GPS-tracking functionality (e.g. like the Nokia Sportstracker application).

By: Ernst

Ernst — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:48:19 +0000

Anyone application which can work with usual bluetooth HR transmitter like Zephyr HxM or similar? instead of ugly way – measure HR via microphone