Blood oxygen unrealistic reads?

Neurunni

My new Suunto 9 peak is giving some unrealistic blood oxygen reads, anywhere between 70 and low 90’s with multiple daily Ave of low 90’s. For anyone who knows med, athletes live at 99-100% (almost always) and anything below 94% is hospitalizable SpO2 level, COPD patients live at 89-92%… if this is a simple pulseOx read, just curious if I’m missing anything or if this is a different kind of measure? Any advice is super appreciated!

zhang965

It’s normal, the optical sensor is not for medical usage, if you want accurate value, finger sensor is a better choice

babychai

my S9P reading most of the time are below 94% while my finger sensor are in between 95% to 99% when read at the same time.

Neurunni

@zhang965 Ok. Thank you! As a follow up, are any of the other measures based on this read, I.e. VO2Max, fitness level?

isazi

@Neurunni is this at night, or also with manual measurements? My protocol for manual measurements is very still, arm on the table in from of me, and I usually get good measurements. Anyway I do not use this feature for health (the watch is not a health device), just when at altitude (morning during breakfast and evening during dinner).

isazi

@Neurunni no other metric uses SPO2 as input, for what I know.

zhang965

Apple Watch infringed on Masimo patent, judge rules, raising prospect of import ban

lol just read it

Neurunni

Obviously I’m not using it for medical purposes for myself or anyone else, i was simply curious if it’s normal for my watch to show me inaccurately that my lungs are dying is all.
Thanks for the replies.

Neurunni

@isazi do you happen to know what the VO2Max uses? It’s a formula & wondering if it’s based off of HR only

isazi

@Neurunni well it shouldn’t give such horrible measurements, that’s why I asked if it was during the day or at night you got them.

isazi

@Neurunni should be pace and HR only, I don’t have the exact formula of the Firstbeat VO2max algorithm Suunto is using.

Neurunni

@isazi both day and night and both measuring it &the automated measure. I’ve had it for 2 weeks now‍️ what to do?

Neurunni

@isazi thank you!

freeheeler

@Neurunni
I would recommend to try different strap “settings”. I am used to wear my watch lose, but tighter settings of the strap will improve sensor measurement quality.
maybe you already wear it tight enough, but just mentioning it as a potential improvement

@freeheeler In fact, at least for me, the current strap has made the big difference, now giving me consistent results. also, be careful to stand still during measurements.