Heart Rate Monitor

[Pearlman]

I have a Garmin fit bit type watch that's waterproof to 140ft. You can use it to monitor your heart rate real time. I normally look after diving out of curiosity.

So it’s survived a few dives deeper than 10mtr? Asking because normally with the waterproof rating of consumer watches a 50mtr rated watch does not mean you can dive down to 50mtr.. I would never dive down to 30 mtrs with anything rated for less than 200m.

 

[Tigerpaw]

So it’s survived a few dives deeper than 10mtr? Asking because normally with the waterproof rating of consumer watches a 50mtr rated watch does not mean you can dive down to 50mtr.. I would never dive down to 30 mtrs with anything rated for less than 200m.

Yes. It is a Garmin Vivoactive 5. I bought it mainly to track swimming laps in a pool but I end up wearing it all the time. This past July I wore it in the Gulf of Mexico on oil rig dives at depths of 110ft and I just returned from Cozumel where I had hit 120ft and no issues. Good little watch.

Edit: I just looked it up, it's actually rated for 165ft.

 

[oldschool45]

I don't want to side track this too bad. My wife did her OW cert dives wearing a Venu SQ (Looks like a square Apple watch, color touch screen) rated to 50 meters without much problem. The concerns I hear about the non- dive rated Garmins is that using the buttons or touch screens may not hold up well to 100'FSW repeadately. I almost used my Forerunner 245 for diving but figured the Decent G1 would check the box if any dive operators insisted on having a dive computer. Haven't been big on dive computers because when I first leared to dive they were in their infancy...a Shearwater will probably be under my Christmas tree this year

 

[GregPRoundTheWorld]

I use a G1. The HR data are fun to look at for some of us physiology nerds (some of the work I do relates to this kind of thing), but I really doubt their validity. Even on land, wrist-worn wearables don't tend to give very accurate HR readings, especially during exercise (the data get confounded by biofouling from sweat, additional motion, etc). Chest straps tend to be the pick of the bunch if you want good data (incidentally, pulse rate at the wrist isn't perfectly concordant with HR per se, measured at the chest).

So, get something like a G1 if you just want to have a play (it's a great computer anyway)... just don't overinterpret the results!

 

[MBinDC]

I'd ping DC Rainmaker with this question, as he's been testing/reviewing in-water HR equipment for years, and mentions here that's he's going to be doing a lot of diving soon. I doubt there's many people on the internet with a bigger collection of HR monitors (or more interest in testing them out).

 

[fafi2]

I have a Garmin fit bit type watch that's waterproof to 140ft. You can use it to monitor your heart rate real time. I normally look after diving out of curiosity.

thanks Tigerpaw, what Garmin do you have please? I think some of them just give you a reading AFTER you surface, ie retrospectively, and I am after real time monitor..

 

[grantctobin]

and I am after real time monitor..

Why?

 

[fafi2]

I'd ping DC Rainmaker with this question, as he's been testing/reviewing in-water HR equipment for years, and mentions here that's he's going to be doing a lot of diving soon. I doubt there's many people on the internet with a bigger collection of HR monitors (or more interest in testing them out).

 

[fafi2]

thanks Tigerpaw, what Garmin do you have please? I think some of them just give you a reading AFTER you surface, ie retrospectively, and I am after real time monitor.
sorry MbinDC, wrong person answer - this message board is a bit clunky I have tried to DM DC Rainmaker but it says that there is no member found with that name... thanks for the link though

 

[Nick_Radov]

I own a Garmin Descent Mk2 dive computer and sometimes use it with an HRM-Pro+ chest strap under a drysuit or wetsuit. The computer has a built-in optical wrist heart rate sensor which is pretty accurate, even in the water. If your arms are bare then you can get real time heart rate during a dive, but obviously it can't measure through an exposure suit. In fact I've found that I have to manually disable the wrist sensor before diving because otherwise it seems to pick up reflections and display random inaccurate heart rates.

You can download stored heart rate data from the HRM-Pro+ to the dive computer after the dive and it seems to be accurate. However, on some dives I get intermittent missing data points. And the bigger problem is that if you use the "Download HR" feature the device occasionally corrupts the stored FIT file in a way that prevents it from syncing the dive to Garmin Connect. This seems to impact all activity profiles, not just diving. You can fix corrupt files with the Fit File Repair Tool but still this is super annoying.