Hacker News Reader

Comment by dickfickling | Hacker News Reader

I've had the Microsoft Band for about two months now. For me, it's the perfect combination of pedometer, heart rate monitor, and GPS tracker. It's great for running and removes the need for an uncomfortable chest strap. Although I've found the heart rate monitoring to be inexact to say the least, I'm hopeful that that's something that can be improved via software update.

Very exciting to be able to develop my own applications for it now!

View on HN

Did you notice any difference with your dedicated "heart monitor", if you have one. Please share, i'm quit interested in that

I recently had a full heart work up at a place that had me hooked up to an EKG machine while on a treadmill. I had a Band on and compared the data over time and it was consistent the whole time within just a couple of bpm. I was extremely impressed by how accurate it was.

It was only one day, but I left pretty confident in the data.

It's a lot more accurate when you set it to track an exercise. I believe it decreases polling frequency normally to save battery.

I have some weird heart issues and it can have trouble with that as well. If it's not set to track an exercise, it's frequently reading 10-15 bpm lower than my actual heart rate.

Not OP, but can answer. At its best, the band tracks relatively well to my chest strap. However, it's not 100% consistent - Some days the band seems to bounce around while my chest monitor is steady in the expected range. With that said, the band is close enough that I roll with it alone for my normal short runs(~5k) and only bother with the strap for longer distances. YMMV.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com