Does not work for dark skin
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If you have melanated skin, don’t buy this watch. The heart rate monitor will not work. Both Fitbit and Garmin have worked with my skin tone before. If you are darker skinned than Michael B Jordan, skip this watch.
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@AGarrett82 Which Garmin have you tried? I’ve got a Vivofit (or something, it is covered in tape now to keep it together so I can no longer read the logos) as I used the optical HR sensor to broadcast over ANT+ to my Suunto Ambit 2S. But I wasn’t always sure that it was correct so at some point I linked the Ambit to my chest strap (as a typically do for intense workouts) and used the Garmin for comparison. It was way off, especially for higher intensities. Before I had the Garmin, I used a Mio Link for the same purpose. But I couldn’t do any comparison as the Mio didn’t have a screen. I also have a Suunto Spartan Trainer (or well, it just broke) and I don’t think the wrist sensor worked better for me than the Garmin did, but it didn’t work worse either. Would the 5 be worse than the Spartan (hence worse than the Garmin)? I doubt, to be honest. But yeah, in the product description it always says that the optical sensor always gives you an estimate, so I suppose that goes for people with light skin too. Either way, I noticed Mio recently released their MioPOD which is designed to be worn higher up the arm so it may work better (and is also able to broadcast over ANT+ and BLE). I don’t have experience with these nor do I know anyone with one. But yeah, my skin is dark too and I just learned to accept that optical registration is never going to be as accurate as a chest strap. But I always thought the same goes for people with a lighter skin.
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@AGarrett82 said in Does not work for dark skin:
If you have melanated skin, don’t buy this watch. The heart rate monitor will not work. Both Fitbit and Garmin have worked with my skin tone before. If you are darker skinned than Michael B Jordan, skip this watch.
Have you tried to contact suunto support ? Maybe you just have a defective watch.
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@André-Faria It is fairly well known that HR and similar light sensors can struggle with darker skin tones. And sometimes some optical HR readers can work better than others depending on skin tone.
@AGarrett82 - I assume that you have correctly positioned your watch i.e. 1.5-2 fingers width from base of palm (so that the readings aren’t impacted by bones of the wrist etc); and that you have set the strap fairly tightly (I can always see the indentations in my skin post workout, once i have loosened my strap).
