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heartrate monitor by freediving

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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U31

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Apr 16, 2005
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Freediving not beeing a popular activity enough, you won't find any heartrate monitor especially designed for this purpose. At best, some HRM specifications indicate "waterproof" or "ok for swimming".
Because a lot of people (as myself) was wondering if a heartrate monitor could be used underwater and because the device behavior in water was more suspected then really known - in spite of some very interesting opinions about the question on this forum - I finally decided to buy the relative cheap Polar A5 (wich is actually the same as the A3 with one more useless calory burning option) for 65 euros.

I can now say : yes, it works very well, with no lost of measure precision, at least until 10 feet and in a pool. I don't know how radio waves react in the salted water of seas or by higher pressures, maybe variation of water composition and density may affect them. The watch is 30m waterproof and the chest belt holds its position well by wearing a diving suit, otherwise it slips down when moving fast.

The heart rate is not a crucial information, it just helps knowing youself better. For exemple it is impressive to see how fast the beat slows down when starting a static apnea, then rises up again in dynamics, and so on...

ps : to save battery life try getting your chest belt electrods dry after using them, when they are wet (by perspiration or else) it activates the transmitter.
 
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I use a Timex heart rate monitor and it works well enough in the pool. I don't use it often, but it is useful to see what happens to my heart rate during static and dynamic.

Lucia
 
So.. what happens to your heart on the water?. Come on you two lazy
people share the data :D

I tried my A5 last Saturday (couple of days ago) and the data is:

@ Statics: 41 bpm @ easy phase. No measure at strugle (didn't have a partner!!!)
@ Dinamics: Somewhere between 80-90 bpm easy phase. No measure
at strugle (same reason)

I had the worst experience trying the dynamic HR in my life. The lifeguard
jumped into the water thinking I had drowned (I was only @ 40 seconds in the static, not much more) and into my peaceful frame of mind suddenly she appeared shaking me violently and shouting at me. She spent the next full hour just pointing at me and sharing her 'bad' moment with everybody she knew. I don't know what to do to counteract the bad time she had.. maybe a box of chocolates? :D

Cheers,

Oscar
 
hi
i bought a cheap polar after some friends reported no problems on dives even below 60m. i haven't had any problems with mine either. one thing, though, the monitor doesn't show anything below 30 bpm.

cheers

roland
 
BlueIcarus said:
I had the worst experience trying the dynamic HR in my life. The lifeguard
jumped into the water thinking I had drowned (I was only @ 40 seconds in the static, not much more) and into my peaceful frame of mind suddenly she appeared shaking me violently and shouting at me. She spent the next full hour just pointing at me and sharing her 'bad' moment with everybody she knew. I don't know what to do to counteract the bad time she had.. maybe a box of chocolates? :D
Next time, tell the lifeguard what you are doing.
Though that's a really strange rescue techinque, shaking and shouting...
 
yep, strange rescue technique.
The fact is: I was just looking at the HR monitor for 40 seconds just to see the
HR number. Of course for us 40 seconds static is not even a warm up but for them
is just nuts. I assured her of course I won't do that again and that it was completely my fault.
 
I also use timex HRM, before i used polar and some friends use Sigma. They all work perfectly in the pool at 4m. Even through the wetsuit. Havent tryed it in the sea though.

The problem occours whit no suit as water pushes the HRM away from ur chest so u have to make it wery tight.
 
Something to know...

In AIDA competitions there is a new rule: The athlete may use electronic devices to monitor the external situation but he/she is not allowed to use any electronic divice which monitors the internal state of his organism.

best regards,
Bill Stromberg
 
ok, so are ya'll saying tha tyou took two part heartrate monitors and submerged both parts and they both still worked/
 
I once wrote an email to suunto to check out if the combination of heartrate and depth gauge for freediving is in the pipeline (like the combi of altitude and heartrate in other suunto products). Negative. It isn't. So maybe the HR function once finds its way into a more advanced diving instrument like Erics F1... ? ;)
 
I now tested the Polar A5 in the sea = no problem occured at 15 meters depth, it clearely displays my heart beats slowing down to 40 bps ;)
 
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Hmm, I tried my cheap Sigma HRM in the pool, and it worked fine for the first minute or so until my wetsuit had some water in it, and then my heart rate seems to have dropped to zero for the rest of my training session. I'd like to think that this represents a particularly effective mammalian diving reflex, but I suspect that I'd be deluding myself.

Niall
 
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Has anyone tryed the Polar AXN 500 Outdoor Computer ? It says its good for 100m and also has Vertical speed (ascent and descent rate}
Altitude alarms
Slope Counter
Cumulative Ascent and Descent
Any idea how these features would work on deep dives. Could these work like a D3 perhaps?

Thanks Nathan
 
Last year I contacted Polar wrt using their HRM watches underwater, and one of their staff responded stating that although it would work, the water and chlorine or salt would affect the radio and electrodes effectiveness - so accuracy could not be guaranteed.

However, I see they've obviously been getting a few queries about this - because they've added this interesting FAQ: http://www.polarusa.com/service_repair/show_faq_con.asp?ID=7

HTH
Tim
 
Ive never had any problem with my Polar 610 under a wetsuit in salt or chlorinated water
 
"Has anyone tryed the Polar AXN 500 Outdoor Computer ?"
Nathan, I am in touch with Polar and their PR people. I am working on getting some technical questions answered on this model. I am thinking about testing it and writing my next article for DB on the subject.
I'll keep you updated..

Cheers,
Nico
 
Sounds like a top watch. Looking forward to seeing the review. :wave

Cheers Nathan Watts
 
Nath, the polar 610 is good to 50m according to the manufacturer but I've heard of people who have taken them further....
 
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