Irregular HR

drean said:

I've got an irregular heartbeat, (one of the valves in my heart is slightly longer than the others-there is some or other obscene medical term for it) it poses no health threat, but my heartrate sometimes go ballistic on my HR monitor.

I am currently using a Ciclosport Monitor - is there any other monitors on the market than can actually accurately compensate for my HR?

Could you please describe how it looks on the monitor? I have seen such strange behaviour on my Polar, switched it and didn't do any good. Under certain circumstances, it suddenly shows way over 200 even though I feel quite relaxed. It is roughly 1.5 times the actual HR. I suspect it is not related to my heart but rather to my skin's permeability.

Wild flux is due to the fact that the HR monitor is not coded and thus picks up interference. Only the newer Polars are coded...

allanw said:

Wild flux is due to the fact that the HR monitor is not coded and thus picks up interference. Only the newer Polars are coded...

It's not interference I'm afraid, it happens on different locations at different times. These are the common factors: Face wind combined with low sweat, usually in lower temperature. e.g. riding downhill or just across town. That's why I suspect permieability. As I start sweating on the next climb the polar settles on the right reading again. I should note that I am having problems with touch buttons (in elevators) and touch screens, too. Maybe I'm not human :p

ItsikH said:

It's not interference I'm afraid, it happens on different locations at different times. These are the common factors: Face wind combined with low sweat, usually in lower temperature. e.g. riding downhill or just across town. That's why I suspect permieability. As I start sweating on the next climb the polar settles on the right reading again. I should note that I am having problems with touch buttons (in elevators) and touch screens, too. Maybe I'm not human :p

Exactly, my polar does the same thing. Colder temperatures take it forever to get accurate, the other day it took 10 minutes (at 50 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming up for the Polar to register accurately. Just for fun I stopped the watch and it said my average HR was 210 for those 10 minutes! LIkely it really was about 105-110 as I was not working hard at all. Once it starts working accurately, though, it is flawless.

drean said:

I've got an irregular heartbeat, (one of the valves in my heart is slightly longer than the others-there is some or other obscene medical term for it) it poses no health threat, but my heartrate sometimes go ballistic on my HR monitor.

I am currently using a Ciclosport Monitor - is there any other monitors on the market than can actually accurately compensate for my HR?

I think what you are asking for is an impossiblity. Your HR monitor simply records for a very short period of time (<2sec) and then extrapolates out to 1min to give you the number you see in bpm. If your pulse skips a beat or contracts prematurely, the extrapolted number gets blown out of proportion. If there were a way for the HR monitor to know not to use any heart contractions that extrapolated over (eg) you known max pulse, then it could just wait for you HR to settle down again before it gave you anymore numbers. But either way, your not getting an acurate reading on your pulse. 6 of one, half dozen of the other I suppose.
Interesting thought though. 🙂

Smartt/RST said:

I think what you are asking for is an impossiblity. Your HR monitor simply records for a very short period of time (<2sec) and then extrapolates out to 1min to give you the number you see in bpm. If your pulse skips a beat or contracts prematurely, the extrapolted number gets blown out of proportion. If there were a way for the HR monitor to know not to use any heart contractions that extrapolated over (eg) you known max pulse, then it could just wait for you HR to settle down again before it gave you anymore numbers. But either way, your not getting an acurate reading on your pulse. 6 of one, half dozen of the other I suppose.
Interesting thought though. 🙂

I thought I was asking for a bit much, thanks for the reply anyway - guess i'll have to use the HR monitor as a guide, but rather take my bursting lungs, burning legs, blurred vision and vomit on my handlebars as a more accurate rule of thumb.
Blessings
Drean du Preez 😉

drean said:

I thought I was asking for a bit much, thanks for the reply anyway - guess i'll have to use the HR monitor as a guide, but rather take my bursting lungs, burning legs, blurred vision and vomit on my handlebars as a more accurate rule of thumb.
Blessings
Drean du Preez 😉

There are a number of "professional" chest worn ecg products on the market which do provide extremely accurate readings and wont go mad with respect to an irregular heartbeat, although most dont allow for real time viewing, more a data capture which can be uploaded to a pc/laptop when you get home.

Considering the cost of £2000+ (unless you buy used) you may just have to tolerate the inability of your pulse monitor.

ItsikH said:

It's not interference I'm afraid, it happens on different locations at different times. These are the common factors: Face wind combined with low sweat, usually in lower temperature. e.g. riding downhill or just across town. That's why I suspect permieability. As I start sweating on the next climb the polar settles on the right reading again. I should note that I am having problems with touch buttons (in elevators) and touch screens, too. Maybe I'm not human :p

It's static electricity from your jersey.

From Polar's support site:
6. Static electricity, technical sportswear and special conditions

If the humidity of the air is low, or you are exercising in windy conditions (for example high-speed road racing), a fluttering shirt may rub the transmitter and generate static electricity. This causes additional signals, especially if the contact between skin and transmitter is poor. To avoid this:
6.1. Moisten the electrodes before use, or use the conductive lotion or gel
6.2. Use a cotton shirt instead of a synthetic shirt
6.3. Use a tighter shirt to avoid fluttering of the material
6.4. Use the transmitter on a wet shirt
6.5. Wet the shirt

Thanks a lot!
It makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, some of the solutions don't work for me - try riding in cold face wind with a wet shirt😄 - but I do have tighter shirts, so I'll try it next winter.
BTW, could you give the link to Polar?

ItsikH said:

Thanks a lot!
It makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, some of the solutions don't work for me - try riding in cold face wind with a wet shirt😄 - but I do have tighter shirts, so I'll try it next winter.
BTW, could you give the link to Polar?

Surething: http://support.polar.fi/PKBSupport.nsf/ALLDOCS/42256C2B001E0F6A422568110042DE81?OpenDocument

drean said:

I thought I was asking for a bit much, thanks for the reply anyway - guess i'll have to use the HR monitor as a guide, but rather take my bursting lungs, burning legs, blurred vision and vomit on my handlebars as a more accurate rule of thumb.
Blessings
Drean du Preez 😉

Is your monitor coded? My old Polar would jump to 200bpm here and there mostly near power polls, in the car, ect. The New 725 works with out a hitch, but it has a coded strap. Have you stopped and checked your pulse manually when the monitor is acting up?