Pacing: Very interesting HealthRising article re HR and HRV monitoring and pacing - I may finally spring for an HR/HRV monitor!

[keepswimming]

I went and bought a vivosmart 5 but I am unimpressed by the accuracy, battery life or using it. I have to charge it every 2 days and it takes an hour and a half to charge, but I just turned off the oxy sensor thing and that might help. The strap is a cheap piece of junk, looks like what you might see on a kids toy watch. Not comfortable and the stiffness means it does not sit correctly on my wrist unless I tighten it a lot which is uncomfortable

I will send it back and I'm thinking of a corsense maybe with chest strap? I hear you can just take one or two readings a day with it and get good info. Maybe the one with the arm strap, I think that one measures hrv. I like the body battery but really nothing else, the calorie counter is a joke. Maybe get a better watch than the garmin and the arm band variety both?

I could stay with the garmin if battery life gets better and then get another device for hrv which garmin is worthless for. I just wish I could get rid of half the things that come up on the watch and just get hr, body battery and watch battery. I called garmin support and the support guy could not do it

Sorry you don't like it. I have a vivosmart 5 and love mine, I've found the stress rating in particular very accurate and helpful. The battery lasts a good week for me, you're right it could be the oxygen sensor draining it quickly.

You can alter which data you can see on the watch/home screen it you wish, using the app. For the watch go into device settings > appearance > widgets. For the app scroll to the bottom of the home screen and click edit home.

 

[Jyoti]

@Florida Guy --I am sorry the Garmin hasn't worked out well for you. There are, as several people have suggested, a few things you could do to improve the results you are getting, but if it isn't for you, then..... send it back!

I think this highlights something we were discussing in another thread, namely, that we are a maddeningly heterogeneous group and thus, obliged to really track and trust our own experience. What works brilliantly for one so often does not work at all--or even worse--for another.

Over the years since I have been on PR, I have tried at least 300 of my fellow members suggestions--things that made a positive difference for them--and that is likely a conservative estimate. Everything ranging from, yes--the Garmin, to supplements, diet, exercises, particular doctors and their approaches, pillows, neck braces, etc. And I would say that about 20 of those things have been helpful for me.

And honestly--I am more grateful than I can express for those handful of changes I have made based on others' successes. But I have also gotten my hopes way up with many a protocol or path that has not only not helped, but crashed me, sometimes for a long time. So I guess we are all experimenting on ourselves and it is not without its dangers.

At least in this case, you can just send back the watch! And....I don't know if you've seen this one: https://www.makevisible.com/ It is a tracker with an armband which is designed for people with ME/CFS. Maybe that would work better for you?

 

[SnappingTurtle]

And....I don't know if you've seen this one: https://www.makevisible.com/ It is a tracker with an armband which is designed for people with ME/CFS. Maybe that would work better for you?

Ooooh! I hadn't heard of this. I would like to try it. I sent a question about a free trial and/or being able to switch at anytime to the yearly subscription and still avail of the discount for yearly.

 

[SnappingTurtle]

Ooooh! I hadn't heard of this. I would like to try it. I sent a question about a free trial and/or being able to switch at anytime to the yearly subscription and still avail of the discount for yearly.

I also found this in-depth review of the Polar Verity Sense, which is the armband that Visible uses: see Heart Rate Accuracy section https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2021/02/polar-verity-sense-optical-hr-sensor-band-in-depth-review.html

 

[Florida Guy]

You can alter which data you can see on the watch/home screen it you wish, using the app. For the watch go into device settings > appearance > widgets. For the app scroll to the bottom of the home screen and click edit home.

Yes I finally found it. To find device settings which is the first thing it took a lot of looking but clicking challenges and the 3 dots at the bottom I got to a screen with device settings and then appearance and widgets. Why so complicated? I tried that and I was able to delete a few things from the watch but now I look at the watch and it still shows the storm cloud that I deleted. I edited at a glance leaving hr and stress but could not bring bb in. It was in a section below when doing editing. There is probably a way to do it but I have not been able so far to find out how. The thing is complicated and instructions few.

I also can't change what the watch shows. It still shows the rain cloud and steps, calories and intensity which I've tried to eliminate by clicking the red symbol on the widget.

The battery seems better since I stopped the oxy sensor. The strap turned out to be a bigger problem than I realized, it can not sit flat for more than a minute or so then twists over. I went up to 100 bb this morning, first time for that. But sleep score 62. I think I can go for a walk today. Its not useless just hard to use and to learn all the things you have to do. To find bb I go to home then activities then scroll down on the phone.

Yes the stress score seems useful and I will check out all the links and suggestions. If it just had a decent watch band that would help a lot but I might keep it and get another device but most likely I will struggle with it for another week then order the new one and send old one back

If someone was thinking about getting a garmin I would say get the vivosmart 4 since you will save a chunk of money and the "extra" stuff they give you on the 5 like calories and weather report don't really work. No instructions except on the app and the manual is not very good. I thought the instructions were in the box but it was just one page of legal bs in 17 languages, no help at all. Even the garmin tec could not answer my questions. But many thanks to PR members for revealing some of the secrets, I will keep working on it and have already learned some things

 

[hapl808]

If someone was thinking about getting a garmin I would say get the vivosmart 4 since you will save a chunk of money and the "extra" stuff they give you on the 5 like calories and weather report don't really work.

Yeah, I have the 4 and when the 5 came out I didn't see a single feature that I needed.

When I double tap, mine shows Stress. When I swipe down once it goes to HR, another time and BB. That's about all I do with it. If I swipe down again I think it says steps, but I use my phone for that, as I don't find its step count accurate.