Heartrate monitor in pool..

[Semi]

Hello anyone has experience with using heartrate monitor while doing DYN in pool ? I know most of major companies like Polar has water resistant models but they state that wireless transmission wont work underwater. So anyone has expirience if so with which model / company. Thanks a lot

 

[Jouskari]

Hi,

I had a cheap chinese noname pulse monitor that worked at 5 m depth in the pool. But as I managed to loose the chest transmiter belt I´m forced to buy a whole new one. The chinese model lived up to the hopes I had for it and as I´m not interested in flooding a 200 € suunto I´m again going to go for the cheapest functional model possible.

This time I´m going for this one:

beurer PM 55 Heart rate monitor - Mit einer PC-Schnittstelle, der dazu gehörigen Software und einem individuellen Trainingsplan, ist diese Uhr der perfekte Begleiter für jeden Sportler. - WELLANGO

I´ll try to post any experiences asap...

 

[Jon]

I used my old Polar heart rate monitor in borh the pool and the lake. It would read right through my 3mm wetsuit and was good to at least 70'- which was the bottom of the lake where I was diving. It would probably go deeper- I just never took it there.

BTW: I was diving fresh (not salt) water with it.

Jon

 

[apneaboy]

Yep i've used polar monitors in the pool with no problems.

 

[Ol Dirty Diver]

No problem for me either. It's amazing to see how low your HR is immediately upon surfacing after a hard dynamic...

 

[B-J]

I have a Polar rs100 and it works great. If you go fast or from a DNF-pushoff it wont work, but if you wear it under a suit it works flawless. I initially bought a Suunto t3 and that didn`t work at all. If I put it in a glas of water 10cm from the belt it didn`t work.
There is another product wich is called a "smartbelt" or something. I think this is a belt with both transmitter and receiver built in. You need to download the data afterwards. This was what Suunto recomended me, but I`m happy with the rs100. Some of the most expensive models from Polar will not work in water.

 

[erdooom]

I use a s725x which is a bit expensive (but i also use it for cycling and other sports so it works out to be a good deal) the need thing about it is that it has an built in altimeter so that later i can see on the computer when i start a drill. of course the readings are way off, its not a depth gage, but it dose give a clear indication when the watch is submerged. Plus it has a very easy multi lap timer so that i can (when i remember) take accurate times of both rest periods and performances.

oh one other thing, u have to be wearing something on your torso or the stap doesn't stay in the right place.

 

[Macnaughty]

I use the Polar Rs100 as well,- it works fine. I think some of their other models will also work, but the problem is that the new transmiters they supply with them aren't suited for freediving (as they are made to have user-replaceable batteries).
If you get a another model than the RS100 make sure you also ge the old T31 coded transmitter, which is totally embedded in plastic and completely watertight. Just remember that you cannot replace the batteries. But as long as you don't use it daily (or leav it in the bag with wet swimgear,- it activates when the electrodes are damp) it should still last for years.
Cheers Martin

 

[Kimmo]

Couple of tiny comments (mayby somebody commeted these already...)
Most of the Suunto (+Polar) HR monitors may work also underwater although they do not recommend them to use underwater, I guess. Trick is to keep watch and the belt really close each other (usually I keep it under my suit next to belt). Another thing is to keep in mind that most of the average HR monitors calculates average heart beats for saving storage memory so they may not be always quite acurate (fast enough for dive response). Although most of the peak-to-peak monitors are also capable to follow heart beats quite fast.

- kimmo

 

[NotSoDeep]

Suunto t1c & t1 works under water, whereas Suunto t3c won't work. Different technology on data transmission.

 

[chrismar]

Unfortunately I can't find a HRM that works in the pool (ie. not 2.4GHz transmission) that can also save & download data.

I've tried a T6 with memory belt, but it was a disappointment. I may have to give up on the idea.

 

[Kimmo]

Hmmmm....my T6 works fine underwater but it has to be close to the belt.

- kimmo

 

[jome]

I could only get it to work while wearing the belt under the suit. Without a suit no matter how close the belt and watch are, it remains blank.

Don't competitive swimmers use heart rate monitors? One would think they would've solved this problem by now...

 

[cdavis]

kimmo,

I ran into the slow response problem with my polar (bottom of their line). I can tell my heart rate is dropping well below whats on the display and I'l love to know how much. What is a "peak to peak" monitor and where do I get one"? How short an interval do they measure?

Thanks

Connor

 

[Kimmo]

Hello Connor,

You may be aware already about these but I checked Polar faq site where they mention something about arrhytmia:
"Polar products are not designed to detect arrhythmia or irregular rhythms and will interpret them as noise or interference. The computer in the wrist unit will make error corrections, so that arrhythmia beats are not included in the averaged beats per minute. The blinking heart symbol in the face of the unit, however, will continue to show all heart beats received. In most cases the Polar products will work fine for persons with arrhythmia. "

About that peak-to-peak meters. Most of them are little more expensive but they measure and saves every beat from the heart (Suunto T6 for example is that kind but it would not work underwater until it is under the suit close the belt).

At the Polar site they also mention that:
"Depending on the Polar product model and accessories used, the samples of your heart rate, speed, cycling cadence, power and altitude are stored in 1, 5, 15 or 60 second intervals. A longer interval gives you more recording time, while a shorter interval allows you to record more detailed data. A shorter recording rate uses the memory of the running and cycling computer up more rapidly. The remaining recording time is shown at the start of the workout or on the bottom row of the product display when setting the recording rate. The samples recorded during your workout are transferred to the software where they can be used to further analyse your training."

I also found these threads which may contain interesting information.

[ame=http://forum.polar.fi/showthread.php?t=603]Which Polar model would be good for regular swimming training? - Polar Forum[/ame]
[ame=http://forum.polar.fi/showthread.php?t=765]Heart rate of 217 while swimming??? - Polar Forum[/ame]

As I´m not anykind of specialist in this kind of technical stuff I may also be wrong

Hopefully this helps,

- kimmo