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The Accuracy of Heart Rate Monitors vs. Power Meters

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by (120 points)
What is the measure of effectiveness of fitness efforts using heart rate monitors and fitness power meters?

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by (500 points)
Your heart can be controlled as Trinity’s data shows a general wearable heart rate monitor to be nervously impacted by the variability because of environmental factors and emotional states. For example, heart rate drift can take place over the progress of the course as the body gets worn out. Power meter manufacturers say of accuracy range of between and 1% which also fluctuates by factors such as temperature. It is wise to perform a zero offset to your cycle power meter prior to any riding as this is helpful to ensure temperature compensation. To categories any body sensors such as the power meters are assumed to have comparatively very uniform readings but as usual both the tools have their own genre of variability.
by (100 points)
Don't get gp lama started on the accuracy of Alex's power meter
by (100 points)
Optical HR are very inacurate on the intencive load, they are more for casual HR monitoring, not training. For training only strap HR monitor.
by (100 points)
Well done! Listen to this great advice.... pinpoint accuracy is not mandatory, consistency is. I'm ok if my meter is off by high single digit percent. As long as it does so consistently, I can still meaningfully track my training.
by (100 points)
The more advanced optical HRMs like on the high end Garmin watches track extremely well with the chest strap. My old watch used to under read the chest strap like Alex's (and would throw the odd glitch) but the Fenix reads almost identically +/- 2 bpm. I think the biggest issue with using heart rate alone is the lag , but the combined data allows analysis of relative  general health and overtraining etc as well.
by (100 points)
Regarding the differences in power - I think aslong as you train and race with the same measuring device that its neither here nor there but if you train with a one device on your training bike and another on your race day bike, that could be problimatic.

Regarding the HR differences, thats massive. For me, the difference between 170-180bpm isnt too noticable but 180-190 is pain train zone.
by (100 points)
that 5.5% variation between cranks and pedals is around the variation that Shane Milller (GP Lama) measured for Shimano power meter cranks. Typically, the Assioma pedals are held to be the gold standard of power meter measurement, if I've understood Shane's work correctly
by (100 points)
What's the claimed accuracy of those power meters? At 5% difference it might be time to look at the manufacturer's warranty
by (100 points)
What accuracy are those power meters rated to?
by (100 points)
The cheapest and most accurate HR available today is huawei watch fit 2, it only costs around 120-140 dollars. But now days high end smartwatch like apple watch uses ecg to record heartrate which is very and more accurate than using photoblablabla.
by (100 points)
Liked the content, as usual. It might be a bit of a 3rd rail topic, but I could have liked some mention of the documented accuracy issues with Shimano PMs or better yet, test on another PM like SRAM/quark. I don't think it's normal to see 5%+ variances from PMs that are supposed to be 1% accuracy; I'm assuming that your head units were set up for the same sampling interval. GPLama and DCRainmaker have both prepared numerous PM comparison including documenting the issues with Shimano PMs.
by (100 points)
Great ! Power meters don't measure power the same way? Do we know which ones are the most accurate?
by (100 points)
If you want to be really accurate then perhaps using lactate acid measurements is better but that is really involved to do it properly. For the vast majority of people does the variance really matter, especially if you are always using the same measure? It’s just a guide for most people
by (100 points)
Use both, but Power is how i train. also, not surprisingly your crank powermeter is higher - it's a Shimano if i'm not mistaken which is HORRIBLY inaccurate. I also get the same HR variations between my whoop (on my wrist) and chest strap
by (100 points)
The discrepancy between heart rates on the two devices presented is truly disturbing.  That should be tracked down, because really, there should be no difference.  A reason it could occur is due to drop outs, when the Bluetooth is not quite working.  The lower rate monitor would be the one with the drop out.  I have had this with my $30 Amazon chest heart rate monitor once, when it was apparently only picking up half the beats for a while.  In any event, the discrepancy between heart rate monitors should be looked at more closely.  The variance should not be that big.
by (100 points)
:13... this shouldn't surprise us. The watches' LED tech is inherently less accurate than the ECG in the chest strap. Plus, watches move around on your wrist which degrades accuracy.
by (100 points)
Says if you have an accurate power meter, and the editor shows a close up of the Dura Ace power meter
by (100 points)
Eight percent difference on HR is pretty significant.
by (100 points)
I think using an apple watch would have been much better than the Wahoo Rival which is known for its dramatic inaccuracy. Apple watch and Wahoo chest strap is 99.9% accurate.
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