Suunto 9 Baro Pulse Oximeter?

Storz

Will the HRM on the 9 and 9 Baro facilitate a Pulse Ox reading in possible future updates?

sartoric

@Storz
Do you mean the OHR sensor ?

Well, let’s say that data are probably already there (see image below) from spartan age, but maybe they’re patented, so licenses are needed to use/analyze it
Or maybe they aren’t meaningful or precise enough so it was preferred not to share it.

https://valencell.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/How-It-Works-r03.png

freeheeler

@sartoric
I understand from Valencells specs that I found in my researches (since I’ve requested this feature already some time ago) that the sensor with puls oxymeter is a different one to the S9’s Valencell specified sensor.
Hence my wild guessing is: no it will not be possible with the S9 hardware to get oxygen readings with future FW updates.

sartoric

@TELE-HO
Yep, but afair collecting info about the blood flow (as OHR sensor does) should provide data that can be processed to calculate also oxygenation data.
Need to find some slides I’ve seen about this.

That said, measuring it on wrist probably return too noisy data to be used for blood oxygen estimation and that’s why a specific emitter/sensor/wavelength is used on some wearables to works as an oximeter.
In some cases it’s just a matter of certification.

It’s today’s news that Fitbit is going to enable oximeter on their already sold products, but only in Americas market as they still need something (validation/certification) for Europe at least.

freeheeler

@sartoric
the point is… if I read that, I want it

sartoric

@TELE-HO said in Suunto 9 Baro Pulse Oximeter?:

@sartoric
the point is… if I read that, I want it

I want it !

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

We all want this I bet. But is it accurate? Bad data is worse than no data and imo no modern OHR is good with data no matter what brand so far. They do well and that is it.

Pulse Oximeter provides a very very very important function that the human cannot easily understand as he does with HR. Let me explain.

Lets say you had bad HR data. The worse case screnario is that you will get some 200bpm and get scared. On the inverse of the problem/scenario, getting less bpm than you are actually running at, could harm but as a person you be like: I feel it its very intense etc.

Pulse Oximeter is used to see if you are correctly acclimatised. Reading that you are correctly acclimatised and going on to your route can be fatal.

What do you think?

PS. I have no clue if it’s supported just debating and might be 100% wrong.

freeheeler

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos
it’s true, bad HR data is annoying, but we have this sensor and have to learn how to wear the watch that it is reading OHR correct AND does not seal off the baro… for me: mission impossible

For me it would be interesting to see the oxygen level as a reference… I can imagine that it needs a good position on the arm to give nice readings, so during an activity might be less useful.
I think the combination of oxygen saturation and rest HR should give a good indication for acclimatisation. If e.g. the oxy says 99% but you’re sitting in front of your tent at 3’500m and have a rest HR of around 90 either one of the sensor might be lying.

sartoric

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos
Agree

Data could be not precise enough and considering what you can measure / monitor with blood oxygen data, it could really be dangerous.

If you give such measurement to the mass today, most of the people would use it as a medical device maybe (this already happen with googling) replacing a REAL medical opinion.

That’s probably why some certifications are needed to enabale such metric on devices

What is that Spiderman’s quote ?

Fenr1r

@sartoric said in Suunto 9 Baro Pulse Oximeter?:

What is that Spiderman’s quote ?

“Help me, Obi-Wan. You’re my only hope.”?

Should there also be less public confidence in the consistency/accuracy of GPS related measurements? I.e., all those stats in which distance plays a part (esp. speed, ascent/descent). Might knock off a couple of unit/decimal places in comparative analysis.

sartoric

@Fenr1r said in Suunto 9 Baro Pulse Oximeter?:

Should there also be less public confidence in the consistency/accuracy of GPS related measurements?

It depends in which way “you” are using that data., but Imho yes.

You cannot just rely on GPS for navigation (even if precision is quite good nowadays) if you do, let’s say, some mountaineering or some wilderness trekking.
If you do city running … well … hope you can handle signal lost

For other metrics, I don’t care.
I mean, I can live with it, and it is not creating some kind of hazard … I guess