Suunto 9 Peak HR is SUPER Inaccurate

cs2nd

@dmytro I believe (and in my experience too) is that there is a delay. I believe the sensor is reading on the second, but the display refresh is delayed. I’d love to be proven wrong though.

DMytro

@cs2nd that too is a peculiarity of all optical HT sensors, that’s why HR strap is usually better for interval training.

cs2nd

@dmytro you are 100% right. I personally religiously use my Polar H10. The issue still remains though, there seems to be a lag/delay with what the SP9 displays. Otherwise, yes, I trust my Polar H10 readings.

DMytro

@cs2nd how bit of a delay are you experiencing? And how do you know that it’s a lag in the first place?
For example, if I climb a hill, my HR doesn’t elevate for the first few seconds either, but I am quite confident that it’s due to physiological reasons and not just a signal delay.

Brad_Olwin

@grayson-bangay I don’t care which one you have, Garmin, Suunto, Polar, Coros, TomTom, Apple, etc. The optical HR is just not that good. If you want accuracy use a belt.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28538708/

Simon

Optical heart rate sensors always have a lag of about 4-5 sec. Not sure, but I believe this is currently a general technical limit for all manufacturers.

As for accuracy: You can place the watch much higher up, where your arm is thicker. Or you can use an OHR arm sensor like the Wahoo Tickr Fit. It’s almost/comparable accurate to a chest band sensor, but less annoying. But it also has the 4-5 sec lag. It’s what I’m using and I’m really happy with it.

Cheers

jR0n6

@brad_olwin the link is 2017 which in tech world is like 10 years

If u looking for HR accuracy on wrist Apple Watch 6+ is very close to a chest strap… in my testing overall for a 2 Hour activity my difference to a Polar H9 was 2-3 beats (vs measures min / max)… the only issue is a lag up to 2 seconds…

This depends of course on your fit, skin etc…in case u require a scientific test u can refer to:
https://youtu.be/0Ub7qmZz9ec

P.S. Peak 9 is btw not bad at all for HR (for activities where the watch is not moving a lot…)

P.S.2.0 the best alternative if u don’t want to wear a chest strap… Polar Verity Sense, Polar OH1, or the mentioned Wahoo in that order…

Brad_Olwin

@jr0n6 I’ve tested all of the Suunto OHR models as well as Apple Watch 5 and 6. They are about equal for what I do. The Suunto 7 and Apple watches are a tie for me. And IMHO the best belt is the Suunto Smartsensor as missed HR and HR during swimming is synced bac to the watch. The belt can be worn 2-3h without the watch and sync back HR for exercises where one does not want to wear the watch.

jR0n6

@brad_olwin swimming is the only thing I did not try yet … for me the sensor of the Apple Watch is better but that 1,5 day battery life a no go… and was looking a long time for a watch that I like and the HR sensor is acceptable. S9P at least for me delivers this…

Simon

@jr0n6 Tried the Polar Verity Sense. It’s awesome Indeed better accuracy and more reliable than the Wahoo. Although the Wahoo is not bad by any means! And it has a longer lasting battery (20 h vs 30 h). Still, for the improved accuracy, I’ve switched to the Polar Verity Sense. Thanks for the hint!

Today first run with my new S9P (all black) via OHR.
I had the idea to test it with my old S9B with my smart sensor.
Holy shit is S9P accurate. I had nearly always nearly same values.
The average HR was exactly the same.
No drops or unplausible high values on S9P…
Amazing! Great job Suunto!!!

It was a steady run. Of course I would expect some difference in generell with every OHR device in compare to HR belt with fast sprints, unsteady sports…

I liked also the avg km pace of S9P.
Didn’t have so much jumps in the beginning of each km.

S9P all the way…

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@mountainchris keep in mind that during cold days of winter ohr has flaws due to its nature.

Summer is super accurate

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos it was 5 degrees. super good! in cold winter I will still use smart sensor. One indicator for me to use OHR is never have cold hands…

surfboomerang

As @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos says…
Below a certain temperature OHR can become very unreliable but in warmer weather it works perfectly. Just use a strap in the winter for best results.

Warm weather

Cold weather