Can anyone recommend a heart monitor for prone foiling? I tend to push it pumping when I see another set way outside and would like to know when I should continue pushing or slow down a bit.
I’m a minimalist and like to disconnect while in the water. I’m looking to measure heart rate only. No texting, phone calls, GPS, etc.
So far this looked like an alright option:
I wear the Polar Verity Sense on my bicep, underneath my wetsuit. It’s connected to my Garmin Fenix 7 that I wear over my wetsuit.
I found that when I wear the Garmin under my wetsuit to record my heart rate, it usually shows a lower hear rate than the Polar bicep sensor. The Polar feels more accurate.
I’ve hit my max HR on long pump runs. The HR monitor confirmed that I quit at the right time and I wasn’t just being a wimp.
Any idea if I’ll have accuracy issues if I wear it on my wrist while wearing just surf shorts?
Garmin HRM pro has been working well for me. Doesn’t interfere with paddling and the elastic strap underneath the wetsuit stays in place.
I tried the HRM swim that doesn’t work under a wetsuit. It’s for pool swimming only.
I’m guessing the arm swing during pumping moves the watch around, which can cause inaccuracy. With no wetsuit over the watch, more movement, less accurate. The wrist HR will be close, it’s just not the best option.
Coming from an endurance sports background - wrist heartrate is very finnicky. Works great for some people, but doesn’t work at all for others (like me). It is highly dependent on the structure of your wrist since it is basically just a lens that monitors the pulse. If it doesn’t seat against your wrist it will be all over the place - for example, my wrist heartrate while running more closely resembles my cadence than it does my heartrate (pumping on foil could have a similar impact). Totally unuseable for me. Bicep and chest monitors are much more accurate and the newest bicep monitors are essentially just as accurate as the chest monitors. Plenty of good options from Garmin, Polar and Coros. Just be mindful of the waterproofing of both the watch and the monitor when comparing options.
I never recommend wrist based HRM, but just because it doesnt work for me, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. Bicep is the least intrusive alternative.