For treadmill.

I have a fitbit alto but the digital readout is too small to see without my reading glasses. That's just too much hassle on a treadmill.

I'm looking for a large screen like a typical wrist watch.

My Suunto watch has one built in and also has a large watch face. But honestly I do not monitor while exercising, I look at the app after to monitor that. I do believe it has a feature where it will keep you in a heart rate range. Probably more than you want to spend though.

One way to train is to use the Apple Watch HR monitor and set the display to match the intensity zone color of your heart rate. In this way, you can focus on maintaining a desired color rather than reading a number and trying to remember if this is OK or not. The proper HR zone is more important than the number.

I bought a Garmin Vivoactive 4 a couple of years ago to monitor my heart rate & pulse O2, and it has been great so far! When one of the exercise modes (walk/bike/run/etc) are started, the heart rate monitor is one of the large print displays, and others can be scrolled through from there. I have since added their Index BPM, which is a Wi-Fi enabled wireless cuff that will sync to the Garmin Connect app to track along with all the watch data. It's a very basic smart watch display, and I'm considering upgrading to the Venu 3 for the additional display options in smart watch mode, but I haven't yet because it's really not necessary.

I've had good luck with any of the fitness watches on the market. Samsung, amazfit and garmin come to mind. I'd cash in on black friday for sure currently.

I will say that I have often heard that the chest strap is the best monitor but I've found my Galaxy 7 watch to be about on with the treadmills hand grip thingy.

I'm looking into a ring mostly for sleep monitoring, but I know they monitor other things as well, I'm almost sure heart rate is one. I am looking at oura brand, and also looking to score some kind of Black Friday deal. If they monitor the things you want, they might be a very good idea for a treadmill; very unobtrusive.

quote:

Originally posted by amals:
I'm looking into a ring mostly for sleep monitoring, but I know they monitor other things as well, I'm almost sure heart rate is one. I am looking at oura brand, and also looking to score some kind of Black Friday deal. If they monitor the things you want, they might be a very good idea for a treadmill; very unobtrusive.

Love my Oura Ring 4 Ceramic.

I also wear a Samsung smartwatch, but Oura ring Sleep metrics are next level.

Order a sizing kit and get ready for Black Friday!

Men's Health Link

quote:

Originally posted by EZ_B:

quote:

Originally posted by amals:
I'm looking into a ring mostly for sleep monitoring, but I know they monitor other things as well, I'm almost sure heart rate is one. I am looking at oura brand, and also looking to score some kind of Black Friday deal. If they monitor the things you want, they might be a very good idea for a treadmill; very unobtrusive.

Love my Oura Ring 4 Ceramic.

I also wear a Samsung smartwatch, but Oura ring Sleep metrics are next level.

Order a sizing kit and get ready for Black Friday!

Men's Health Link

Thank you, EZ_B. I was aware they were supposed to be having a Black Friday sale, but did not have info on it. I already ordered my sizing kit and have been wearing ring to get feel for it. Looking forward to getting one. Oura 4 is what I have in mind.

Do you know where is the best place to purchase? Amazon or Oura website or other? On second look, it seems Men's Health is going to offer a link.

quote:

Originally posted by amals:

Do you know where is the best place to purchase? Amazon or Oura website or other? On second look, it seems Men's Health is going to offer a link.

I ordered directly from Oura because American Express is offering an annual $200 Oura statement credit for Platinum Card holders. Orders need to me made directly from Oura to receive the credit though.

Fulfillment was fast - not Amazon Prime fast - but still quick and efficient.

Oura rocks! Enjoy!

quote:

Originally posted by EZ_B:

quote:

Originally posted by amals:
I'm looking into a ring mostly for sleep monitoring, but I know they monitor other things as well, I'm almost sure heart rate is one. I am looking at oura brand, and also looking to score some kind of Black Friday deal. If they monitor the things you want, they might be a very good idea for a treadmill; very unobtrusive.

Love my Oura Ring 4 Ceramic.

I also wear a Samsung smartwatch, but Oura ring Sleep metrics are next level.

Order a sizing kit and get ready for Black Friday!

Men's Health Link

I may have to pick one up, their website states you can use FSA/HSA to purchase them.

Thanks, EZ_B.

For anyone interested and following this thread, I just snagged ring at Amazon Black Friday sale at 38% off. Different vendors have it a different discounts, so check around the site.

I ended up getting one direct from manufacturer. It will take much longer than getting from spamazon but I wanted to buy direct.

When I get it I will see how the metrics compare to Suunto.

When I went through cardiac rehab, they told me to get a Polar heart rate monitor. It has a sensor band that wraps around your chest and a watch style display on your wrist to display the reading.

FYI I have had the Oura ring for a few days and compared the data to my Suunto watch. They are pretty close with the data they provide, Oura does give a little more but you also have to pay to use their app.

I did not gain by much with the ring except that it is less intrusive to wear at night than the watch.

After 3 years of a FitBit Sense 2, I am transitioning to a Google Pixel 4 watch.

Google bought Fitbit and is discontinuing the Sense 2 from their lineup.

I wear mine 24/7/365, except when charging.

First off Cardiologists HATE these LED based heart rate monitors. Because they can have people in a panic calling an ambulance because their heart rate suddenly went to the 150's or higher. All because the LED monitor estimated a bad heart rate due to a firmware screwup.

I've been using Garmin sports watches since the Forerunner 15 which required wearing an electronic sensing heart rate monitor on a chest strap. At a time with i had the Forerunner 15 and a Forerunner 235 which featured the LED based monitor I learned that the LED based monitors are CRAP when you are running because the watches shifts to a mode that Estimates your heart rate because any movement of the watch on your wrist creates false signals. Basically if you want truly accurate results the LED monitors won't do that even if you have the watch tight enough to turn your hand blue.

So, how bad can these estimates be? Here is a hint, they use the general population to provide a "base" for these estimates. A population with an obesity rate of 35% or higher, at higher ages the rate does go up. It is about a 20 foot walk to my back door and that short walk would take my heart rate from 55-60 bpm to 108 bpm. With a chest band in place my heart rate would only increase by 4-6 bpm.

I will also note my current watch is the Garmin Venu 3 and after 1 update I could go out for a 3 mile walk and my heart rate was showing at 61bpm for half that walk. Anytime your watch updates it's possible that the heart rate data will be totally useless. BTW I have heart disease and with a chest band I will generally build up to 102 -105 bpm and stay stable at that rate. I will also note that at 70 I no longer go out to meet or beat a specific time, now it's all about keeping the heart working well enough to enjoy life. For me a heart rate of 105 is life extending, higher would lead to damage.

Point here is DO NOT BELIEVE what these watches tell you. One reason why Garmin has a battery life of 5 days or more is because they don't turn the leds on very much, I suspect that 97% of the time it's all estimated. Apple is notorious for needing charging every 18 hours and I suspect that is because they are probably running the LED's all the time. So it's very likely that Apple is more accurate. However the watch shifting on the wrist issue still remains. Summing it all up and if you aren't wearing an electronic HRM on a chest band you can be getting bad data. BTW, chest bands also have issues with losing an effective contact. It's one reason why I purchased the Venu 3, it will do a two lead ECG and that does yield at accurate reading. Also carry the Kardiamobile with my everywhere.

I have never been able to reliably use a heart rate monitor that requires a chest strap for whatever reason. It seems to lose contact too much. The wrist monitors also seemed to be unreliable for me. I finally had success with a Polar optical monitor that straps around my forearm. I don’t know how accurate it truly is, but at least I got consistent readings. It syncs to an app on my phone that is easy to see.

Thought I would update - Oura has much more accurate sleep tracking than does Suunto or when I used to wear an Apple Watch. The Oura ring is pretty accurate on when you fall asleep, wake up at night and wake up in the morning. It is pretty close to the same as the others for heart rate and other things.