S7 HR terrible whilst cycling!
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Guys
I didn’t notice this issue up until yesterday when I took my S7 alongside my AW for a ride and tried to compare the HR accuracy. Oh boy , the S7 took about 20 minutes to find out what it wants to do. I was on hill where my HR was pounding. My AW was showing 169bpm and the S7 is 98bpm!!!
Is this sensor on the S7 that bad or do I need to do a factory reset and hope for the best?
It seems like the S7 was in dreamland for about 15 to 20 minutes before it started to get closed to the AW but still about 6/7 bpm out
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I think that wrist OHR struggles at best when riding, probably due to a mix of arm stillness and surface induced vibration… better get a chest strap if you want correct readings.
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@martin That’s true but clearly some watches cope better than others. S7 certainly struggles badly here…… sometimes you just want a watch that can be working within a margin of error form a chest strap.
The Apple Watch seem to have a far more superior HR sensor and algorithm.
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@BinoWorld-UK said in S7 HR terrible whilst cycling!:
The Apple Watch seem to have a far more superior HR sensor and algorithm.
So use an apple watch
AW is also far lighter then s7 I guess -
@sartoric tbh I want to use my S7 so I don’t understand why Suunto cannot fix this with a software update
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@BinoWorld-UK
because Suunto can not send you an update to reduce the size and weight of S7
I know that S7 has a very good OHR, but measurements have their limits when the sensor does not sit properly on the skin.
S9B is a very nice watch, but in my case, OHR is basically useless. S7 has the same shape and it worked so much better when reading HR.living sideways
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@freeheeler a brother of mine made the OHR on the S9B work like a charm by wearing it on the inside of the wrist, he has wide wrists and normal position wasn’t working at all.
SRS Ti + STRYD Duo ;)
A3P (drill mode for pool swimming 🤦🤷)
Galaxy Z Flip 3 / Galaxy S22+ -
@herlas
I use the verity sense since around April. I couldn’t imagine how it is compared to the chest strap. Now I can’t imagine using a chest strap again.
I did recently to try something, but I much more prefer the OHR on my upper forearm… I know, this info doesn’t help with S7
@BinoWorld-UK
not sure if you have tried different locations on the wrist while cycling, e.g. higher up on the arm or tighter etc… maybe playing with this could help to make the sensor see into the skin a bit better? -
@BinoWorld-UK I think in the end a lot of the results are mostly a case of in/adequation between your specific watch HW and your own body.
Watches like the AW use a lot of IA for things like detecting you’re riding a bike, and I suspect that allows them to correct the HR it displays accordingly.
Optical HR on the wrist is less than optimal, but we all came to expect that because it works for someone we know with some piece of gear, it should for us with some other gear… sometimes it just doesn’t… -
@herlas said in S7 HR terrible whilst cycling!:
@freeheeler a brother of mine made the OHR on the S9B work like a charm by wearing it on the inside of the wrist, he has wide wrists and normal position wasn’t working at all.I wear it in the same way for speed skating. I get better results also for HR and GPS because looks that the S7 is not covered by my arm and be cleared exposed to the sky (skating with the arms on back).
@freeheeler said in [S7 HR terrible whilst cycling!]
not sure if you have tried different locations on the wrist while cycling, e.g. higher up on the arm or tighter etc… maybe playing with this could help to make the sensor see into the skin a bit better?Yes, this change a lot the results. On cycling, gravel and MTB I normally wear with the at least 2 figers of space from the writst like the user guide recomends in sports. Also I put tightened (not to strangle, but neither loose. Slightly squeeze it but don’t strangle).
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@flypg said in S7 HR terrible whilst cycling!:
@herlas said in S7 HR terrible whilst cycling!:
@freeheeler a brother of mine made the OHR on the S9B work like a charm by wearing it on the inside of the wrist, he has wide wrists and normal position wasn’t working at all.I wear it in the same way for speed skating. I get better results also for HR and GPS because looks that the S7 is not covered by my arm and be cleared exposed to the sky (skating with the arms on back).
@freeheeler said in [S7 HR terrible whilst cycling!]
not sure if you have tried different locations on the wrist while cycling, e.g. higher up on the arm or tighter etc… maybe playing with this could help to make the sensor see into the skin a bit better?Yes, this change a lot the results. On cycling, gravel and MTB I normally wear with the at least 2 figers of space from the writst like the user guide recomends in sports. Also I put tightened (not to strangle, but neither loose. Slightly squeeze it but don’t strangle).
Don’t know if it matters for the case but while I am riding bike with Garmin’s 945 lte , once you start pushing (like intervals) it struggles with reading HR.
And I believe it is a more up to date sensor than suunto’s 7.
While riding “soft” it matches an hr strap.
So my conclusion is that for accurate measurements better take an hr strap. -
@BinoWorld-UK HR and altimeter work very well, a little less the gps. S7 use for bike, gym, bodyweight exercises, running and walking. the gps track is bad only for energy saving walking.
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@freeheeler Hi
I have come to a huge realisation!!! I normally wear my S7 on my left wrist and it can never keep up with the AW even when climbing stairs where HR can increase very quickly. The AW would say 130bpm and S7 88bpm.
So today I switched my S7 to my right wrist and climbed the same staircase and WOW the HR was following the AW to the beat!!! What on earth is going on here?! Can anyone explain why my left reading were so behind all the time?
Next I will be riding with the same set up and see what happens. So far it’s promising….
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@BinoWorld-UK
I can not think of a reason why the watch should work better on one or the other side, from “the watch point of view”. I can imagine that the wrist might be stronger and you picked the same hole on the strap and hence it sits tighter? or arm movement is different?
it is difficult to explain, like almost all phenomenons where several different parameters can have an impact on a behavior.
it would be interesting to see if you can reproduce your observation and maybe you can double check about the wearing style, position, tightness etc between left and right?living sideways
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@freeheeler I shall replicate the same on both sides and revert back back. Cheers
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@BinoWorld-UK
Maybe just vascular system different (just enough) on the other wrist. -
@freeheeler ok I ran another test and it seems like the left wrist can also keep up, but oh boy the strap needs to be tight and I mean tight and quite high on my wrist. Look either way, I am now at least convinced that the S7 sensor isn’t crap at all, it just need a precise placement on the wrist……
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@BinoWorld-UK S7 measures HR good only when walking and running, everything else is mixed at best… try to do some weightlifting or some circular training with weights… you’ll be dying with HR of ~80-100
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@Metalmi I did a bit of HIT workout and seem to hold the elevated HR.
For Weight lifting isn’t not my thing really.
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@BinoWorld-UK I am just about ready to give up on the Suunto OHR. It is easily the worst device I have had in this respect. DCR said the same thing. I have had two Garmins, one Polar and a few wrist trackers which have worked well without any problems. My Suunto takes ages to get a proper fix however it is worn. The readings are insanely high for the first 10 minutes. The tips on the Suunto support pages don’t really help. If the Suunto app could use an external heart rate monitor it would be a different story. I’ve given up using it for any fitness activities. Such a shame because in every other way I love this watch. It’s the best Wear OS watch I’ve had.
