I know that wrist HR monitors can be a bit inaccurate, but...

I've noticed that if my watch is too loose it starts to pick up on my cadence instead. So I'll be jogging at an easy pace and it says my heart it at 170 or 180BPM.

I've also noticed that if the strap is too loose it can show my heart rate to be maybe 30 or 40 beats higher than it actually is. I can tell by perceived effort that it is off so if I stop, clean any sweat off the back of the GPS and then put the strap on tighter it will then read correctly within a few beats of the real value. This doesn't happen often enough for me that I feel compelled to put one of those smelly straps back on though

Naperville Runner wrote:

I've also noticed that if the strap is too loose it can show my heart rate to be maybe 30 or 40 beats higher than it actually is. I can tell by perceived effort that it is off so if I stop, clean any sweat off the back of the GPS and then put the strap on tighter it will then read correctly within a few beats of the real value. This doesn't happen often enough for me that I feel compelled to put one of those smelly straps back on though

Interesting. I always thought that if you wore the watch loosely, it wouldn't pick up the "beats" in your arm as often and would be lower. I guess it would make sense if the light flashes more it would lead to a higher recording.

I’m been experimenting with this lately. My watch had been consistently measuring 30-40bmp higher than my actually HR. What worked for me was wearing the watch way up on my wrist. Like almost to the halfway point between my wrist and elbow. I also wear it tightly. Now the watch is super close to being accurate. I have skinny wrists with not much fat.

FL863 wrote:

I’m been experimenting with this lately. My watch had been consistently measuring 30-40bmp higher than my actually HR. What worked for me was wearing the watch way up on my wrist. Like almost to the halfway point between my wrist and elbow. I also wear it tightly. Now the watch is super close to being accurate. I have skinny wrists with not much fat.

I should ask for everyone responding, which watch do you use?

I have a Garmin 645 Music. Mine seems pretty accurate, consistent and I just wear it about an inch back from my wrist. If my heart rate is 30-40 above what it is supposed to be that would mean I was around 100 bpm on my runs which is obviously way too low haha.

I have the Garmin Fenix 6s. But I’ve had issues with the wrist based HR sensor on other Garmin models as well.

FL863 wrote:

I have the Garmin Fenix 6s. But I’ve had issues with the wrist based HR sensor on other Garmin models as well.

It's amazing how much these numbers can fluctuate.

FartKing69 wrote:

I've noticed that if my watch is too loose it starts to pick up on my cadence instead. So I'll be jogging at an easy pace and it says my heart it at 170 or 180BPM.

This is the most common problem. If you see a steady HR in the high 160s to low 180s, it's picking up on your cadence.

outsider69 wrote:

Can somebody explain to me how wearing it differently affect the watch?

If I wear it the "correct" way, my readings are somewhat consistent day-to-day. I really just look for the consistency.

If somebody wears the watch too loose, would that mean the watch would record a higher or lower rate?

If somebody wears their watch too high up on their wrist, it probably wouldn't change much as that main vein it uses to record is still accessible, right?

How can I expect the readings to change based on how I wear the watch? My friend claims that his HR is not accurate because he wears his watch too high on his wrist.

I use a Garmin 735xt and half the time a heart strap. Tbh the wrist accuracy is probably good enough to ditch the strap. It feels like 2 things happen...

a) with watch, it locks to cadence if too loose.

b) with strap, it loses connection and you miss a bit, maybe if the straps not wet enough or it jiggles account. More likely to just have an odd reading in that case.

When both are working and not loose etc, they are pretty close.

s/account/about

Raysism wrote:

FartKing69 wrote:

I've noticed that if my watch is too loose it starts to pick up on my cadence instead. So I'll be jogging at an easy pace and it says my heart it at 170 or 180BPM.

This is the most common problem. If you see a steady HR in the high 160s to low 180s, it's picking up on your cadence.

Yeah, but it can happen two ways; if your heart rate is too low, or too high, it might pick up on the cadence instead.

Compare the latter with counting cadence manually. Up until around 160 steps per minute you can, if you really try, count the fotfalls of both legs. Above 170 it pretty much impossible to do it with counting just one leg and then multiply by two.

The upper limit for counting beats per minute in music is pretty much the same - though there's not much music outside of power metal with a pure beat that high.

Anyone have experience with accuracy while wearing the watch on the inside/palm side of wrist? As in how serious runners wear their watch?

The newer watches are more accurate. I used to have a Garmin 735xt and upgraded to the 745. I don't use HR to train anymore so don't bother with a strap but the wrist-based readings are really close to what I was getting in similar workouts with the strap. I'm now using power to guide my training so HR is just something I check after but don't pay close attention to.

I have a polar vantage and it works very well when tight on the wrist.I use a HRM on some days and the easy efforts come out just a couple of beats higher then the watch.

Five is the magic number wrote:

The upper limit for counting beats per minute in music is pretty much the same - though there's not much music outside of power metal with a pure beat that high.

Hey "master" - If you're into music running, try some of this:

http://k1chyd.adress.eksjo.com/steps-per-minute.htm

For me, it is accurate. When I run at a 10 minute pace, my HR literally is around 170 BPM

My Fenix 5S is consistently in the 150s. Sometimes it will go up into the 160s even if I'm at 9:xx mileage and the threshold (Zone 3) is at 165. I always wondered why...it could be the cadence.

When I go really easy it's around 135-138 but that means I'm at around 10:00 or 9:40 pace.

I have a cadence around 190 - 200 and I don't have trouble counting each individual footfall. The way I count is to count from one to ten in my mind (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 1, 2, 3,...), then use my hands (fingers) to count the tens. I think I'd be able to count up to at least 240 if I could turn over that fast.