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upgrade heart rate monitor?

Old 07-14-21, 09:27 AM
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NoWhammies
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upgrade heart rate monitor?

I have been riding with the HRM that was included with my 520. Works great. No problems.
I was bored the other day and started googling around HRMs and found out there are different models/options. For example Garmin has a fancy HRM that does not require pairing with a phone to track your stats. Primarily used to swimming needs.
Anyway.
Has anyone changed from the 'stock' HRM to an upgraded model? Any value in doing so?
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Old 07-14-21, 10:07 AM
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caloso
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I bought at 4iiii HRM specifically for one function: it acts as a ANT+ to Bluetooth bridge, in order to use my Quarq and an old fluid trainer on Zwift. Worked great for a couple of years, but started to give wonky HR readings (I'm wondering if the pad contacts were wearing out). I replaced it with a Wahoo Tickr. Works well, and it's nice to have the ability to go for a run without carrying my phone or Garmin if I don't want to.
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Old 07-14-21, 11:30 AM
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I just use a very basic one, the only reason I use an HRM is that when I am pushing up a hill I want to know if my heart rate is higher than I want it to be. And when I am exercising, I often glance at it to see if I am relaxing too much.

In other words, I just want an instantaneous number, nothing else.

If you have specific things in mind, then go shopping.

I consider it to be like the tachometer in my truck, it has an automatic transmission so I certainly do not use the tach to shift, but I like to know how fast the engine is ticking over.

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Old 07-14-21, 12:13 PM
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Originally Posted by NoWhammies
I have been riding with the HRM that was included with my 520. Works great. No problems.
I was bored the other day and started googling around HRMs and found out there are different models/options. For example Garmin has a fancy HRM that does not require pairing with a phone to track your stats. Primarily used to swimming needs.
Anyway.
Has anyone changed from the 'stock' HRM to an upgraded model? Any value in doing so?
​​​​​​I have two of those. I bought it because it has sensors 'needed' to estimate power for cross country skiing. That was with the stupid price to me. It's exactly zero difference on the bike. Interestingly, it isn't working very well in the water.

Seems to be a 50/50 split whether HR data is useful on a bike, period. I'm of the opinion that it is. Even with a power meter, you're measuring a different thing. So I'm not going to tell antibody to ride without one. But unless you run, swim, or ski, you're going to gain nothing whatsoever.
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Old 07-14-21, 02:33 PM
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What extra stuff will be useful to you? I like knowing my HR info. But HR probably just gave me a lot of something to talk about and speculate on during the previous 11 or so years.

Certainly without it, in those 11 years I would have learned to judge my perceived effort fairly well and know when I'm going at a effort level that I can't sustain on a bike. Which is pretty much what I do now. The HR info just gets to be almost to the point of being gee-whiz info. But still it's useful somewhat. But only somewhat.
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