Go with a chest strap based monitor that links to your smart watch or phone (Polar, Wahoo TIKR, Garmin, etc.). The optical sensors in watches or pucks (ex. Polar OH1) have a slower response to changes since they rely on smoothing algorithms to avoid anomalous readings.

---

ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Instant readout is easy. Cell phone is not required....or, even recommended. Pick your poison: gps watch, or bike computer. I have a garmin Edge 130 for my bike, and a garmin fenix 6 watch. There are plenty of non-garmin options also. DCRainmaker is the best place for comprehensive tech reviews of all the latest sports gadgets.

That said, your use-case (reading heart-rate on an arythmic beat), may prove challenging. I had a few bouts with Aflutter and Afib after heart-surgery....and, all of my garmin chest straps read wildly wrong. I have switched to a Wahoo TIKR (but, I no longer have known bouts of afib/flutter). Others have had better results (there was another, similar thread not long ago), so...I'm sure it depends exactly on the nature of YOUR electrical pulses, and how well they interact with the algorithm of the manufacturer.

So, I'm not sure how much you can "trust" the consumer grade products without extensive testing of your own against a known source of truth.

If I had to lean in any direction it would be Polar. But, I think I'd discuss my options with my doctor for serious medical grade functionality.

Mentioned this in another thread, but the Frontier X2 is probably what you're after for your afib. You'll be able to get a real time trace or retrospective print out for your GP.

---

https://athletica.ai/
https://hiitscience.com/

It’s $100 off through the 14th plus can use your HSA to pay for it.

---

Let food be thy medicine...

An update. First, Thank You everyone who replied!

I've ordered a Polar H9 Strap, a Garmin Edge 130+, and a Profile Design BTA bottle carrier with the Garmin mount on top. This should position the Edge+ right in my face!

To the best of my knowledge, my AFIB due to irregular heartbeat has never caused a runaway bpm condition - I've never been winded, out of breath, etc. - so hopefully the Polar H9/Garmin combination will be all I need on the bike.

I looked into the Frontier X2, which does look good, but also had a high number questionable ratings, so for off the bike I ordered a KardiaMobile 6. It uses fingers from each hand plus you touch the back to your leg - effectively giving 3 leads for a supposedly very accurate EKG. We shall see.

I have the kardia 6. It's a 6 lead device (not 3) through the three touch points.

It does not work well at exercise intensities and heart rates. It jyst can't get a lock onto such a wild signal. I tried repeatedly when I was having my issues with AFlutter and afib. It works great at resting heart rates.

I'm curious how you haven't had high heart rates with afib...it's somewhat inherent in the nature of afib. How do you intend to monitor for afib with a consumer hrm? What do you plan to look for? If your afib always locks in at pseudo normal rates.... How will you know it's happening?

My experience was that all I could tell was that my hr just didn't look right. I spent weeks and several hundred dollars buying various straps trying to compare reading A to B. I tried optical straps, polar, garmin, wahoo chest straps wearing multiple devices with two watches and my edge 130 all at the same time trying to figure out what meant what.

It was a mess.

I have no delusions about about this stuff working like medical grade equipment. Hopefully the H9/Garmin combination will give reasonably accurate real time pulse rate readings - that's all I'm expecting it to do. I also have no plans to use the Kardia while exercising, but plan to use it with my iPad for better screen resolution so I well hopefully know if it is getting worse (irregular heartbeat at rest).

I failed to mention that my hands shake due to either "essential tremor" or "parkinsonian like symptoms" (from exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam) - the Docs aren't sure which, but they've had me on 60mg/day Propranolol for years. It is a beta blocker that limits my maximum heart rate, but has a side effect of helping with the shakes. Perhaps that's why I haven't had runaway heart rates??

I hope that this approach works for you. I'm not a cardiologist (or an MD of any flavor) but a PhD biomedical engineer with a son with Afib. Consumer grade HR sensors designed to provide a HR at rest (or exercise) are only counting the number of HR 'spikes' per minute - the 'R' wave that is most obvious in a normal ECG. With Afib, you need more - the waveform of the ECG is important in identifying Afib. That is why some devices are specially designed to detect Afib - they are looking for more than 'peaks per unit time' and are using signal processing algorithms to assess the potential for Afib-like patterns. That Polar/Garmin combo can't do that - although it *may* report a high (or low) HR if you are in Afib and that might be a clue for you in real time. In this case, *you* are the algorithm trying to decide if the HR shown on the monitor is too high or too low for your exertion and, potentially, an indicator of 'something is wrong'.

This is exactly what I hope it does - give real time low latency readouts. If I see a fast jump from 120 bpm to 180 bps, I'll know something is amiss. The problem I've had with a lot of the watch based HR monitors is that I think they put like a "smoothing" algorithm in the firmware so bpm changes are too slow. This is probably done to minimize false readings from interference due to electrical power lines, etc.

I dunno. I was on metroprolol, as well. I didn't notice any impact on my afib. I would routinly get stuck at 150 bpm.

I hope it works for what you want. I was never able to gain the trust in the devices. They always just seemedike random number generators. I still occasionally have issues with erratic readings, but haven't had a known bout of afib in over 2 years---I've done all the continuous 24/7 monitoring to look for it.

I suppose that could be a side effect of my heart surgery, on my hearts electrical pattern that the straps just don't always lock onto.

As an aside, my dad has a left bundle branch block (another electrical irregularity)... And he has to wear his strap upside down and sideways (centered under his left armpit) in order to get it to read a heart rate.

Good luck. I'll be interested in your experience, and if you are able to establish a relationship between afib events and hrm readings.

Wow! You"ve certainly had a go at it!! Lucky me, I've only been at this three weeks so far. Actually, the hardest thing so far has been giving up coffee - yup, no more caffeine of any kind - and I sure do miss that cup in the morning, which I've enjoyed for 45+ years.

I'll update this thread once all the equipment arrives and is working. Good Luck!

I had 5x coronary bypass surgery in February of 2020. There's a thread on here that chronicles the experience. Search for cabg if you're interested.

I am an engineer and fundamentally data driven. So, I did spend a lot of time trying to sort things out.

Well, the KardiaMobile 6 definitely works - here's the last 7 seconds of a 30 second scan

Indeed it does.

I take it you weren't exercising at the time. Noting the ~85bpm. Di you try your chest strap to see if it reads it?

I haven't messed with the H9 strap yet.

Correct, this was not exercising, but just sitting in a chair a few hours after a moderate pace 40 mile ride. Of interest is that my resting heart rate has gone up since starting Xarelto.

...but the Kardia App pairs with, and will transfer data from, my Omron blood pressure monitor BP7350. Welcome to Cardiology 101 :)

The Polar H9/Garmin Edge combination is excellent. Very low latency heart rate readings, you can see changes in your bpm quickly. While the Profile Design bottle holder is great at holding bottles, I moved the Garmin mount further forward (by my hands) for better visibility -