Suunto 9 OHR readings

[jsuarez]

@sartoric I use 24/7 and it gives me good results specially during sleep. However, OHR for running really works bad for me, so I always use a belt. My watch is Spartan Sport WHR Baro.

It was funny one day that I forgot the belt and trained with OHR to find that I was supposedly warming up at 196bpm…

[Brad_Olwin]

I tried this long ago and for me OHR just does not work well…unless I run on pavement and it is relatively flat. I found out at a conference that OHR is good to great if run on pavement and am not running steep hills. But on trails it just doesn’t work. This is variable as for some it works well. Hopefully more work will get it functioning better!

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@Brad_Olwin same experience . I would add also treadmill.

However, I have tattoos and really slim arms

[jw cou]

@valdis830 thanks a million for this!!
I gave it a try today (=while preparing for my run, I activated the heart rate reading from the main menu of the watch - I don’t use 24/7 hr), and see the difference below! Same track/pace/weather/absence of warmup.

Without your trick:

With:

[jsuarez]

@jean-william-cousin Those look like pretty good readings!

[SlaSh]

Funny thing that Farmin acting the same, if you turn HR reading before workout it is way more accurate

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

Keep the posts coming here people

[Droro]

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos tried it, didn’t work, still unrealistic hr for first 10 min.

[Jessica Monk]

@valdis830 said in Suunto 9 OHR readings:

More tricks to improve reading?

Use a chest strap
Suunto OHR has never worked for me (consistently 40bpm higher than actual). Chest strap fixes this for me. Can’t blame 'em, tattoos don’t play nice with OHR readings!

[plopes73]

Hi,
I just added this :
https://forum.suunto.com/topic/2374/heart-rate/6

Cheers

[zadow]

Hi Guys,
Did you know that Suunto knows all these tips and tricks and there is whole blog on Suunto web site about this? And especially about warm-up before activity. Not only warm up for your body, but warm up for Heart Rate sensor as well

*If your watch shows inaccurate heart rate readings at the start of your exercises, a warm up may solve the issue:

Warm up for yourself: The quality of wrist-based HR measurement heavily depends on the blood flow to your arms and hands. A proper warm up for 10-15 minutes increases the blood flow and improves the quality of WHR readings.
AND
Warm up for the heart rate sensor: The sensor needs some time (several minutes) to lock on your heart rate. To give the sensor time to warm up, we recommend opening the exercise start screen already while getting ready for your workout (e.g. when changing clothes).*

https://www.suunto.com/cs-cz/Content-pages/what-should-you-know-about-wrist-heart-rate2/

[pilleus]

I tested a Suunto 9 and a Spartan Sport WHR Baro for cycling. Both gave me bad OHR values. I used all tips and tricks given from Suunto.

Then I placed the watches on my right arm/wrist and was astonished to have usable values immediately. Not only once, but ongoing.

May be this is worth trying for other people too.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@pilleus this ?

https://forum.suunto.com/topic/2374/heart-rate/6

[pilleus]

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said in Suunto 9 OHR readings:

this ?

Ah, okay, I didn’t read it before.

Yes, I can confirm this. The same 2 - 3 cm behind the wrist, the same width of the strap, just the other (right) arm.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@pilleus Perhaps we need to make a poll about this ?

[jsr184]

For me, with Spartan Sport WHR Baro OHR doesn’t work no matter what I do. I didn’t try yet to jump on my right foot during the full moon spitting behind my left shoulder Usually, I use the chest strap and whenever I forget it or for some reason it won’t connect ( this week I totally forgot that I left the watch in airplane mode and used OHR during cycling accidentally ) the HR I get is rubbish. In my case it’s a lot lower than if should be, almost near my resting HR recording values 50-60bpm during activities like cycling, running or HIIT circuit. Sometimes it elevates 100-130 just to drop down again and in some cases I am not able to re-adjust my watch every few seconds measuring 2 inches from my wrist etc. Considering other devices I have been using, OHR in Suunto is the worst I have experienced so far. If not that I can pair it with the chest strap I would probably switch already to something else.

[A Former User]

@jsr184 Same for me. I avoid using OHR as much as possible. But yesterday I had issues with my Polar H10 and had to use OHR for a short warmup on treadmill. OHR was correct in the beginning of the warm-up, but once I picked up the pace it shot up to 185, and then to 200+. I am pretty sure my actual HR at that moment was in upper 150s or lower 160s.

By the way, a bit of off-topic - my Polar H10 HRM fully discharges battery in about 3 months. It has just gone through the second battery in about 6-7 months of usage. Is that only me who has this issue?

[Shrek3k]

Just to give my 2 cents … currently using a Suunto 9 and before a Spartan Sport WHR, and I am usually quote fine with the OHR with both watches.
Usually means: excellent results while cycling, walking, hiking and on a stationary bike, very good results on an elliptical trainer and while doing “street runs” and not too rugged/technical trail runs, really acceptable while doing technical trail runs and … not so good (and I knew it before because of the movement) while rowing and during cross training / weights.

[pilleus]

@Shrek3k said in Suunto 9 OHR readings:

I am usually quote fine

On the left arm/wrist? How strong is the strap fixed? Can you show us the exact position (behind the wrist, 2 cm or 3 cm)?

Thanks for your advice!

[plopes73]

Hi all,
Just to avoid misunterstandings, In my case, I had to change the watch to my right wrist because I’m right-handed, if one is left-handed, so left wirst it’s the dominant wrist.

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos if you do a poll about this, my sugestion is to use "dominant " and "non-dominant " wrist, to keep it clear

Cheers