NO 24-hour heart rate monitoring on the Band

[pj737]

​You're coming across as a real jerk in this thread, pal. This is just one example. You're not going to find many allies for your crusade when you talk to people like this.

Don't cherry pick and amplify one particularly caustic quote. I was very cordial (though sarcastic at times) with all my other posts.

The point is that most people here (and when I say "here" I mean the GENERAL PUBLIC) don't appreciate the value of capable and reliable fitness tracking devices. This is NOT an insult to anyone specific. It just means that my opinion is very much slanted (and yes, BIASED) toward fitness because I have an inordinate level of interest in it. It's a lifestyle for me as it is for a small (but rapidly growing) percentage of the general public. But Microsoft knows that we are the early adopters and are willing to invest in the premature wearables market. Any company that wants to lead this market needs to understand the needs of fitness enthusiasts or health-freaks; they need to impress them. I am here to spread the "underwhelming" feedback from our tiny community. Microsoft can do way better.

I genuinely and honestly want Microsoft to succeed. I would prefer to have more seamless integration on the same platform being that virtually all of my devices (that I spend the most time on) are PCs or PCs manufactured by Microsoft... so I'm very much rooting for the Band's success.

I'm still hoping Microsoft has a low-power option soon so people can actually monitor HR continuously. It is by far the most critical feature of an accurate and reliable fitness tracker. I'd be willing to give up many of its other features to have this.

 

[spaulagain]

Wow man, you really are special. No wonder you need HR monitoring every second. Your heart must be bursting at the seems with your high blood pressure.

You do realize, going through and quoting everyone post you hadn't responded to, equating to 12+ posts in a row makes you look like a maniac and doesn't help your cause.

The website pages you quoted for "continuous" are buried in the support pages for the Band. Continuous isn't even mentioned on the main marketing page. Making your claim even more ridiculous.

If you personally need a HR monitor that checks every second for your heart rate (something that stays consistent 90% of the average day) then you should probably be wearing a certified medical device that costs the insurance company well over $1000.

At this point its clear your agenda is to bash the band, pitch Mio, and just **** people off with your ignorant arrogance. We've already pointed out that you've started multiple threads across Mobile Nations with these kind of rants on HR products that aren't the Mio. So you've been made, your arguments are no longer valid, they're just sales pitches and bias.

Daniel Rabino clearly showed this device records more than just once an hour, and records when you start moving. You make claims that the two units you've had don't. But no one here is going to believe you anymore. And were definitely going to believe Daniel before we believe you. So just do yourself a favor and let it go.

 

[teemulehtinen]

I want to get to this issue of recording the HR over time. Is there any way we could, other than just hope, influence MSFT to come up with a proper paper providing for this kind of information which undoubtedly all of us would like to have? Instead of bashing PJ or anyone else, let's get the data out. At this point in time, no one seems to know for sure. I for one would really like to know:

- will the band activate automatically when I start moving and with what accuracy it will measure my HR when in my daily chores?
- how long will the battery last when running (I guess this is what we would also use for cycling and cross-country plus alpine skiing) mode without and with GPS is engaged?
- accuracy data in comparison with Suunto, Polar and Garmin for both GPS and HRM

We need a White Paper to get this all sorted before we get too far in ad hominems.

 

[spaulagain]

I want to get to this issue of recording the HR over time. Is there any way we could, other than just hope, influence MSFT to come up with a proper paper providing for this kind of information which undoubtedly all of us would like to have? Instead of bashing PJ or anyone else, let's get the data out. At this point in time, no one seems to know for sure. I for one would really like to know:

- will the band activate automatically when I start moving and with what accuracy it will measure my HR when in my daily chores?
- how long will the battery last when running (I guess this is what we would also use for cycling and cross-country plus alpine skiing) mode without and with GPS is engaged?
- accuracy data in comparison with Suunto, Polar and Garmin for both GPS and HRM

We need a White Paper to get this all sorted before we get too far in ad hominems.

I'm sure they'll have more details in the near future. Or some official reviews will answer it.


One thing PJ completely ignores is the sources he's grabbing this "continuous" term that he is all up in arms about. The word "continuous" is no where on their main website for the band. It's only used on the support page for it.

At my company, our marketing pages go under a lot of scrutiny and revisions before publicized. We pick a part every sentence and word used. But on our support pages and knowledge base, those pages are written by our support staff. For the most part, they are not gone through with nearly as much scrutiny or revision. So it's very well possible that the people that wrote those support pages just didn't know the difference, or didn't review what they wrote in away that would catch these kind of "misunderstandings."

Either way, I don't want a fitness band that tracks my heart rate every second (oh, and is that continuous?). That's a waste of time and resources. I do want it to track when it senses my activity changes. While we haven't 100% confirmed this, everyone in this thread has indicated from their experience that it does. Everyone except PJ of course...

 

[valadon]

I do want it to track when it senses my activity changes. While we haven't 100% confirmed this, everyone in this thread has indicated from their experience that it does. Everyone except PJ of course...

As much as I hate to agree with PJ I have not found that the HRM comes on when my activity changes. I have been watching it as I sit at my desk....no green light, I get up move around....no green light, run up the stairs....no green light. I could just be missing it but it kind of seems to me that it only reads at set intervals. Maybe every 20 mins, maybe once an hour? Who knows. However; does heart-rate really play a big factor in calories burned? We know that heart rate is a good indicator of calories burned from steady state cardio, but from what I have read it is much less accurate at predicting calories burned during other types of movement. So maybe at the end of the day it doesn't matter that much, unless of course you are looking for a detailed graph of your heart rate for other reason.

 

[pj737]

Wow man, you really are special. No wonder you need HR monitoring every second. Your heart must be bursting at the seems with your high blood pressure.

You do realize, going through and quoting everyone post you hadn't responded to, equating to 12+ posts in a row makes you look like a maniac and doesn't help your cause.

The website pages you quoted for "continuous" are buried in the support pages for the Band. Continuous isn't even mentioned on the main marketing page. Making your claim even more ridiculous.

If you personally need a HR monitor that checks every second for your heart rate (something that stays consistent 90% of the average day) then you should probably be wearing a certified medical device that costs the insurance company well over $1000.

At this point its clear your agenda is to bash the band, pitch Mio, and just **** people off with your ignorant arrogance. We've already pointed out that you've started multiple threads across Mobile Nations with these kind of rants on HR products that aren't the Mio. So you've been made, your arguments are no longer valid, they're just sales pitches and bias.

Daniel Rabino clearly showed this device records more than just once an hour, and records when you start moving. You make claims that the two units you've had don't. But no one here is going to believe you anymore. And were definitely going to believe Daniel before we believe you. So just do yourself a favor and let it go.

So let me get this straight... I am respectful enough to respond to posts made toward me and I type fast - this apparently makes me a "maniac"? LOL. I'm not questioning your odd obsession to posting to this forum more than once a day for 2.5 years, am I? I'm simply discrediting what you're saying because all of it is baseless and false.

You're the one that said my Band was defective, no? So I returned it and got a new one. The new one behaves IDENTICALLY to the one you claimed was defective. Thank you very much for making me waste my gas and time returning it.

You have made false claims that the Band automatically takes your rate when you become active. That is patently FALSE. The Band does NOT take your heart rate based on movement, perspiration, temperature, etc.

Further, you make claims that the Band automatically takes your heart rate more than once an hour. That is patently FALSE. Unless you are sleeping, the band only takes your rate when you ask it to and NO MORE than once an hour.

And your play on words is making you look plain silly. I know you have your cheerleader/support group of fellow forum posters here (I mean anyone with a 1,000 posts in 2 years is hopefully going to make some friends here) that constantly "like" and "thank" your posts like this is some silly facebook page. You think it's just fine and dandy for Microsoft to state "continuous" in all their product support AND product marketing pages as long as they don't post the same language on their product SALES page? Now that my friend, is ridiculous.

I own both the Mio and the Gear 2. I have the right to question product that doesn't perform AS ADVERTISED. You constantly and incessantly bringing up another thread I made for the Samsung Gear 2 because the heart rate monitor is vastly inaccurate (many other fitness enthusiasts on countless forums later agreed 100% with me after testing the device themselves) and then accusing me of being a paid shill for Mio indeed makes you look like a maniac.

This forum is not a popularity contest for me as it is for you and several other posters here. Please stop bringing up entirely irrelevant information about me personally and focus on the device this discussion is targeting. You trying to band members together to discredit my complaints is comical.

 

[tbsteph]

OK pj737, I think it's about time you find something else to do than post on this thread. We get it - you feel the Band is being falsely advertised and the heart rate monitor is inaccurate. You have made the same point over and over again accepting no contrary evidence. (For example your claim that one's HR is only being checked once an hour has been demonstrable proved false numerous times.) Read a book - go for a walk: isn't your time more valuable to you than this thread? Too bad the Band can't check for OCD.

 

[spaulagain]

So let me get this straight... I am respectful enough to respond to posts made toward me and I type fast - this apparently makes me a "maniac"? LOL. I'm not questioning your odd obsession to posting to this forum more than once a day for 2.5 years, am I? I'm simply discrediting what you're saying because all of it is baseless and false.

You're the one that said my Band was defective, no? So I returned it and got a new one. The new one behaves IDENTICALLY to the one you claimed was defective. Thank you very much for making me waste my gas and time returning it.

You have made false claims that the Band automatically takes your rate when you become active. That is patently FALSE. The Band does NOT take your heart rate based on movement, perspiration, temperature, etc.

Further, you make claims that the Band automatically takes your heart rate more than once an hour. That is patently FALSE. Unless you are sleeping, the band only takes your rate when you ask it to and NO MORE than once an hour.

And your play on words is making you look plain silly. I know you have your cheerleader/support group of fellow forum posters here (I mean anyone with a 1,000 posts in 2 years is hopefully going to make some friends here) that constantly "like" and "thank" your posts like this is some silly facebook page. You think it's just fine and dandy for Microsoft to state "continuous" in all their product support AND product marketing pages as long as they don't post the same language on their product SALES page? Now that my friend, is ridiculous.

I own both the Mio and the Gear 2. I have the right to question product that doesn't perform AS ADVERTISED. You constantly and incessantly bringing up another thread I made for the Samsung Gear 2 because the heart rate monitor is vastly inaccurate (many other fitness enthusiasts on countless forums later agreed 100% with me after testing the device themselves) and then accusing me of being a paid shill for Mio indeed makes you look like a maniac.

This forum is not a popularity contest for me as it is for you and several other posters here. Please stop bringing up entirely irrelevant information about me personally and focus on the device this discussion is targeting. You trying to band members together to discredit my complaints is comical.

Who the heck said anything about a popularity contest? The fact that you think that's what this is about is what makes you so ridiculous. When I say credibility, I'm not talking about who's "popular", it's whether or not that person can be respected by virtue of the information they add to the conversation, the attitude in which they add it, and how they refer to others. The fact that you think I care whether or not someone "thanked" my post is just ridiculous. That mechanism is simply there for people to share their agreement. And then attacking my post count? WTF? Now you really are just here to give people ****. You're clearly up on a soap box trying to prove our community how stupid we are because you know everything (NOT).

You've consistently stomped around in this thread barking at members, calling us all fanboys, and just being a jerk in general. As a result, your opinions/input have been greatly tarnished. That has nothing to do with popularity, and everything to do with gaining respect via your manners/actions.

And you can deny it all you want, but your history on another Mobile Nations forum ******** about another HR product, makes it clear you have an agenda to oust "inferior" HR monitors.

Further, you make claims that the Band automatically takes your heart rate more than once an hour. That is patently FALSE. Unless you are sleeping, the band only takes your rate when you ask it to and NO MORE than once an hour.

How is this patently false? Several people on this thread have already stated that it DOES, they've seen it happen. So your statement is the one that is patently false. My Band gets here tomorrow, and I will monitor when it checks my HR and see if I can map it out.

For now, it's just you going on a childish rampage on about how magically your two bands don't behave like everyone else's has so far. And therefore you are the one that is right.

I have never seen someone get so **** hurt over how a company uses a term in marketing. Especially one that has a lose definition to begin with. Companies use terms all the time that only speak half truths. That's pretty much what Marketing is. Personally, continuous to me means exactly what MS has intended it to mean.

But no, because the Mio product you brag about which is a dedicated HR monitor, looks at it every second, then every other HR product out there that doesn't is a complete LIE!!!! Even when those other products have a 100 other functionalities they have to balance the battery usage with. Apples to Oranges.

 

[pj737]

I don't want a fitness band that tracks my heart rate every second (oh, and is that continuous?). That's a waste of time and resources. I do want it to track when it senses my activity changes. While we haven't 100% confirmed this, everyone in this thread has indicated from their experience that it does. Everyone except PJ of course...

Well glad to hear you don't want an always-on heart rate monitor. There are a lot of people out there that do want this feature.

And what is indeed scary is that you say all (with the exception of poor little me) the forum posters here are saying the device turns on automatically from movement. Well, that pretty much validates the "bias" argument I've been making. If what you're saying is true, forum posters here are literally LYING about the Band's features and capabilities. Telling the world that the HRM turns on from movement, etc when it doesn't just so they can invalidate my complaints is the epitome of bias.

 

[pj737]

My Band gets here tomorrow, and I will monitor when it checks my HR and see if I can map it out.

Wait, you don't even own a Band yourself? You've been arguing with me this whole time and you don't even have a unit in your own hands? Good grief. I must be in the twilight zone.

 

[BobLobIaw]

Bottom line is people that have a decent amount of brain cells will understand that a Microsoft forum (and its forum members) is not going to provide unbiased feedback regarding the use/features of a fitness tracking device.. when the people on this forum are generally NOT hardcore fitness enthusiasts. Unless you're a hardcore fitness enthusiast or into sports, training etc you will not care about my comments. Which is fine because I started a SPECIFIC THREAD about the SEVERE limitations of the HR monitor on the Band. The complainers on this forum are not hardcore fitness people; they are (generally) people interested or have a liking to Microsoft products; over the eons Microsoft has not introduced a product SPECIFICALLY targeting FITNESS-ORIENTED people. So of course I expect to get buried here.

If you post to a hardcore fitness forum about the Band not being able to read entire emails, etc, you're not going to have a bunch of dooshie forum members saying "shut up nobody cares about reading emails, we just want to track our metrics - beat it loser". But here when somebody cries about MICROSOFT'S BLATANT FALSE MARKETING about a feature a lot of fitness buffs have been waiting years for, all I get is bashed to the ground with nonsensical analogies, blabbering about technology when they have zero understanding of it and twisting commonly accepted words like "24-hour" and "continuous" into some ridiculous new meaning that only applies to readers of this forum. As long as other health enthusiasts read my posts they will be well-informed when they buy the Band. It will save Microsoft a little bit of money on all the returns they'll get from unhappy hardcore fitness enthusiasts.

As a former professional athlete and current enthusiast, I guess I'd consider myself a "hardcore fitness person", but it doesn't make me any more special than any other poster chiming in on this topic. In addition, I doubt very much I am the only other hardcore fitness person here, so your first mistake is assuming that you are so much more of a fitness authority than others. As an aside, why would you post to a "biased" forum if you know you won't get an informed audience? Maybe your comments should be directed to the hardcore fitness forums you mention.

I think you started out with some valid points, but then your propensity to over-argue and berate others drowned out any practical observations you were seemingly providing to the forum. Now you are just digging a deeper hole with every additional comment. The bottom line is that the methodology of the Band's HR tracking is an interesting topic that should be considered by any prospective purchaser to ensure that his or her specific needs are met. However, to say that MS has engaged in false advertising is just folly in my opinion because the semantics of "continuous" do not support your extreme viewpoint. I submit that neither casual users nor "hardcore fitness enthusiasts" are being duped by Microsoft. It's pretty obvious in reading the literature that MS is building a platform to aggregate data from a variety of different sensors to build a fitness picture that is different from other existing devices. Other reporting has indicated that the focus is on the platform, not the device. With respect to the device itself, I don't know a single fellow athlete that would expect a wristband device without a chest strap to provide non-stop HR data over 48 hours. If it did, I might as well toss my Suunto Ambit 2 watch, which costs three times as much, into the trash. Casual users have no use for such data overkill either.

Nevertheless, if you feel so strongly about it I'd recommend contacting an attorney to see about a lawsuit against Microsoft for deceptive trade practices. After all, a plaintiff was able to successfully sue the manufacturer of Red Bull to drop its deceptive claims that the drink "gives you wings" because, as we all know, it doesn't really give you wings.

 

[ytrewq]

I guess I'm the moron

You got that right.

As for respecting people's time, you are clearly clueless. You have posted your whining drivel nearly one hundred times in the same thread. You are the poster child for not respecting people's time. You have added nothing to the dialogue. You continue to claim that the Band measures heartrate only once per hour, even though you've cited nothing to back that up, and even though others (including myself) are seeing the green light go on far more than once per hour.

I'm sorry you are such a whining loser. Move on and get a life.

 

[Daniel Rubino]

I asked Microsoft about heart-rate sampling and got a very specific answer that I'll put on the front page in a bit.

In short, this:

Further, you make claims that the Band automatically takes your heart rate more than once an hour. That is patently FALSE. Unless you are sleeping, the band only takes your rate when you ask it to and NO MORE than once an hour.

Is complete crap, but I am sure many of you in this thread are already aware of that, lol.

I'll probably close this thread soon because, let's face it, it's ******* annoying and there was very little in the way of facts/official statements presented here.

 

[Yonic Boom]

Thanks, Daniel.

 

[pj737]

As a former professional athlete and current enthusiast, I guess I'd consider myself a "hardcore fitness person", but it doesn't make me any more special than any other poster chiming in on this topic. In addition, I doubt very much I am the only other hardcore fitness person here, so your first mistake is assuming that you are so much more of a fitness authority than others. As an aside, why would you post to a "biased" forum if you know you won't get an informed audience? Maybe your comments should be directed to the hardcore fitness forums you mention.

I think you started out with some valid points, but then your propensity to over-argue and berate others drowned out any practical observations you were seemingly providing to the forum. Now you are just digging a deeper hole with every additional comment. The bottom line is that the methodology of the Band's HR tracking is an interesting topic that should be considered by any prospective purchaser to ensure that his or her specific needs are met. However, to say that MS has engaged in false advertising is just folly in my opinion because the semantics of "continuous" do not support your extreme viewpoint. I submit that neither casual users nor "hardcore fitness enthusiasts" are being duped by Microsoft. It's pretty obvious in reading the literature that MS is building a platform to aggregate data from a variety of different sensors to build a fitness picture that is different from other existing devices. Other reporting has indicated that the focus is on the platform, not the device. With respect to the device itself, I don't know a single fellow athlete that would expect a wristband device without a chest strap to provide non-stop HR data over 48 hours. If it did, I might as well toss my Suunto Ambit 2 watch, which costs three times as much, into the trash. Casual users have no use for such data overkill either.

Nevertheless, if you feel so strongly about it I'd recommend contacting an attorney to see about a lawsuit against Microsoft for deceptive trade practices. After all, a plaintiff was able to successfully sue the manufacturer of Red Bull to drop its deceptive claims that the drink "gives you wings" because, as we all know, it doesn't really give you wings.

Because this is the only forum with a high number of Band owners/users.

If you read from the beginning of the thread, people have been stating that the unit automatically pings HR more than once an hour during the day while active and that the HRM is activated by motion. Whenever I state that is not true I get nailed to the stake and am accused of being dishonest, dumb, a shill for Mio, etc etc. Does that sound reasonable to you?

You are the third person on this forum to bring up potential lawsuit with Microsoft. That's disturbing. I would never in a million years consider suing for this... I am simply making posts on a forum. To assume that could be the harbinger for a full blown lawsuit is ridiculous. Times that by 3. Very disturbing.

Again, my purpose here is to let others that do care about continuous heart rate monitoring know that this device does not accomplish that. It may only be 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 readers here but some people do indeed care. The misinformation being tossed around here is beyond unacceptable.

 

[tk-093]

But now I keep refreshing the home page waiting for the news.... #firstworldproblem

 

[agentmikeyd99]

Returned. Bummer they are being deceptive.

 

[Daniel Rubino]

Returned. Bummer they are being deceptive.

They are most certainly not being deceptive.

 

[Yonic Boom]

I wish people freaking out and returning them would have just left them on the shelves in the first place. Then I could have bought one instead of being stuck waiting.

 

[runamuck83]

They are most certainly not being deceptive.

Looking forward to the front page story so we can finally put this to rest and this guy can move on with his life.... of monitoring his heart rate 24/7