Adventurer heart rate accuracy — TomTom Community

TomTom Adventurer

Adventurer heart rate accuracy

q345456q345456 Posts: 11 [Legendary Explorer]
edited January 2019 in TomTom Adventurer
More of a complaint than a query, but I'm bitterly disappointed with the consistency of the accuracy of the HRM on the Adventurer. It is accurate about half the time, which means it is inaccurate about half the time. Grossly overstates the HRM, by which I mean by 30 - 50BPM and more for considerable periods. It is not a problem of just warming up to find a strong reading, but can happen at any time including mid-run. I've tried wearing it looser and tighter, soft re-sets, hard re-sets, factory re-sets, left wrist, right wrist - nothing improves it. TT customer service tried to help including recommending wearing it on the underside of the wrist, contrary to the manual's instruction not to do so! It wouldn't be so bad if the HRM data was just for fun, but it was the largest reason I got the watch. The effect is that I can't trust the calorie count, VO2 improvement or heart rate training zones, plus anything else reliant on the HRM calculation. It turns out I could have got a chest strap then downloaded some free running apps to my iPhone and saved myself a couple of hundred quid. If anyone is thinking about buying this watch, I would advise thinking again.

Comments

  • tfarabaughtfarabaugh Posts: 16,573
    Superusers
    Have you asked Customer Support to replace the unit, as it sounds like it may be defective? As to others buying it, since TT has left he industry and is not producing any new devices, this is not really an issue.
  • q345456q345456 Posts: 11 [Legendary Explorer]
    TT has replaced it and still the same problems arises, so I think it is something in the design combined with something in my own physiology. I see that it works for most people with good accuracy on the HRM, but the point is it doesn't work for me. I can't be the only one! When I "borrow" my partner's Garmin I get consistent readings throughout, so it's a problem with TT.

    As for TT leaving the wearables market, does that mean they will stop doing updates (in case future updates fix the problem)?
  • tfarabaughtfarabaugh Posts: 16,573
    Superusers
    They are no longer producing new devices and I imagine updating will be limited to bug fixes and at some point the entire platform will be shut down (likely in several years though).
  • icemacicemac Posts: 199 [Legendary Explorer]
    @q345456

    try to use external chest HRM. Now I have Adventurer I'm using external TT HRM and it works very good. If I'm can compare with build in HR, it is better the first one but both works good :)
  • q345456q345456 Posts: 11 [Legendary Explorer]
    Could do that, but it kinda defeats getting a wrist based HRM and watch to go with it. Like I said earlier, if I knew there would be these problems, I could have just bought a chest HRM and uploaded some free apps to my iPhone to get the same (or more accurate) data and saved myself a couple of hundred quid - not to mention the frustration and annoyance of not knowing whether the watch will be accurate on any given run or not. It is no threat to TT now that I know they are leaving the wearables market, but its Garmin for me from now on.
  • Jackie2016Jackie2016 Posts: 5 [Neophyte Traveler]
    Mine is consistently similar when in hike mode though seems to cope when cycling.
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