Polar vs Mio

I got a pacemaker for the first time in March to treat heart block. My polar F7 Monitor began giving me all kinds of crazy readings. I was also having a variety of complications causing my heart to behave erratically. I recently purchased a Mio Alpha and although it is not perfect, it is done a good enough job for me to pinpoint my current problem and to go to an electrophysiologist who was able to figure out what the problem was and make adjustments to my pacemaker.
The good thing about the alpha mio is it does not get spurious readings from the pacemaker. The other advantages no chest strap! The bad thing is if you were running along or walking fast and swinging your arms it will give you a high reading. You have to hold it out in front of you, while still running for a while to get the accurate reading.
If you want to try one get it from REI or from Amazon and see if it works for you. They both have easy return policies. The cost isabout $200. It's pricey, but it has allowed me to give the electrophysiologist a clear enough Record of what has been going on for her to be able to determine the problem with my pacemaker.
Love to hear about other people's experience with athletic heart monitors.

1 Comments

Mio Alpha via Garmin & Polar

by JerryG - 2014-07-14 11:07:37

I had a Polar FT7 HRM before my PM implant. Not long after implant, the Polar started giving me crazy readings and as it was out of guarantee, I bought a new Garmin FR70.

Proved not to be clever as it only worked a few weeks and then stopped reading altogether. I contacted a tech geek I know at Garmin South Africa and he told me that I would never get the Garmin to read properly as my PM was interfering with the radio signal from the chest strap to the wrist computer. He had thoroughly researched the issue and failed to come up with a solution.

Mio Alpha is not normally available here in South Africa so I imported one from the USA myself. Cost me a few $ but after using it for a couple of months now, I am very happy with its performance. No chest strap is wonderful and I use my Samsung Galaxy S5 Android cellphone with an app called BLE which records my workouts (Mio Alpha only stores the current workout & overwrites it next time you work out).

I can only brisk walk on my treadmill so I have no problem with arm movement upsetting the readings from the Mio Alpha. I am happy with the heart rates recording on my phone as they are comparable to my rates prior to PM implant in September last year.

Bushvled greetings

JerryG

You know you're wired when...

Your pacemaker receives radio frequencies.

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Do feel free to contact the manufacturer of your device. I have found them to be quite helpful when I have had questions and concerns.