Vivosmart HR final wrapup - and some common issues with the Forerunner 235

I've retired my Vivosmart HR (VHR) after several months.  Mostly, its because the Garmin 235 was released, allowing me to measure my resting heart rate (RHR), sleep AND GPS runs on the same device plus having the benefit of Garmin Connect IQ apps.  I would still strongly recommend it as a tracker, with some caveats/misgivings.

• RHR is a little fiddly.  A lot of times it is up to 5 beats on the high side bc it isn't kicking on at the lowest hr part of the day - the hour before wakeup for me.  I would hope Garmin will be fiddling with the algorithm to fix this. Otherwise, its pretty darn close to what I measure with my finger and a second hand.

• Sometimes RHR freaks out, looking like a seismograph when I'm sitting at my desk during the day.  This is a temporary issue that doesn't seem to be resolved by restarts, reconnects, etc.  It's happened two or three times over the last several months with both the VHR and 235, so I suspect it is an issue with the Elevate module. (Note: Garmin just updated the firmware for the 235 which "addressed issue which can cause wrist heart rate to remain on a fixed value."  Not sure whether they've done it for the VHR, but they clearly know it exists, and that its a sensor issue.)

• Intensity Minutes are useless.  A crapshoot as to whether you will be counted or not.  Arm movement seems to help, but doesn't guarantee a brisk walk will be counted.  Bike riding was more missing than hit.

• Steps are also pretty useless.  A wide variation in what's measured - a staircase "up" can show 2 floors, the same one down shows "3".

• Often, there will be a spike at the beginning of the workout that resolves on its own, or if you adjust the placement on your wrist.  Tightening one notch past "normal" comfortable tension definitely improves activity HR monitoring during activities.

The HR issues are pretty similar to what I'm seeing with the Garmin 235. Although they can be annoying, it still works more than good enough for me both in terms of RHR and exercise HR.  And I'm convinced Garmin will work out the kinks if you have some patience - its their MO with other firmwares/devices.

Some non-HR issues:

• I hate the touchscreen.  It activates the backlight at inopportune times.  It messes with HR broadcasting.  There should be a way to by-pass by allowing navigation with the side button.

• I found the quality of the backlight to be second rate.  The lighting was not uniform - it is a minor criticism, but is exactly the kind of build issue that annoyed me on the Vivosmart original (collected a lot of dirt) and the Vivosmart original (dead LEDs).  I guess Garmin views the sub $200 device line as semi-disposable... I don't think most people think like me -- that a device is only good for one product cycle.  If they want to build this brand to be stronger, they need to address hardware issues on fitness bands in the way they have upped their game on mobile software.

Ray Maker covers some of these issues as well in his in-depth VHR review: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2016/01/garmin-vivosmarthr-review.html

Vivosmart HR - broadcasting heart rate data

I bought the new device primarily to monitor resting heart rate, I didn't see the broadcasting feature - whereby the Vivosmart HR ("VHR") broadcasts the heart rate signal from its Elevate optical HR module over ANT+ - to be a major draw.  However, after wearing it for a 5K treadmill run, I am reconsidering it as a strap replacement.  While it doesn't seem as instantly responsive as my Garmin HRM Run (it has a slight lag time -- from my subjective sense), it does seem good enough for my daily use after its first real workout.

I put the VHR into broadcasting mode - pressing the side button, scrolling to the settings icon then sliding to Heart Rate, pressing it, sliding over to broadcasting and then pressing the check icon - paired with my Garmin 920XT in the same way you'd do any other HRM (I now have three devices paired).  I started running, thinking I was good to go, but it seemed that I must have missed a step or the initial pair didn't work - when I went into indoor running and started the activity on the 920XT, it wasn't showing my HR a couple of minutes into the run.  You can see this on the red chart below as its flatlining around 60bpm.

I stopped the treadmill, re-paired, and started the run again (you can see where it happened on the upper (blue) chart.  

The monitor in the VHR broadcast to the 920XT worked like a charm -- it showed approximately 130bpm during my 9-10 min/mi pace on the treadmill, jumped up to around 155-160 during two 7:15 min/mi interval sessions.  I slowed down towards the end to a walk until I got my hr down below 100 - which usually takes about 2 minutes when running outside using the HRM Run strap, same with using the VHR.

The strap was not secured "very tight" -- tight enough not to slide loosely, but not so tight that it was uncomfortable for me (princess and the pea).

One side note:

When I ran on the treadmill, those minutes were reflected in "intensity minutes" metric, even though I didn't "create" an activity on the VHR, just on the 920XT.