On a Christmas Day recovery ride, and after I received the Scosche Rhythm HR Armband Heart Rate Monitor for Christmas from my brother Nick. I thought I would compare the two, the Garmin vs. the Scoshe, head to head, well almost.
VS.
First, we are all familiar with the traditional HR Strap from Garmin with the plastic sensors in the soft strap. It only read through Ant+, but does a tremendous job as long as the plastic sensors are wet, otherwise the readings are not forthcoming in the beginning of the ride. I was having trouble getting the strap to read my HR during the beginning of my ride even after moistening it with saliva, (spitting on it). So I bought some HR strap gel, which made it work again. Thus the seed was planted in my brothers head and the Scosche was purchased.
Now for the Scosche Rhythm HR Armband. According the Scosche website: "
This heart monitor employs patented optical sensor technology for highly accurate monitoring and measurement. Many other heart rate monitors fall short in this area, but the high-quality Rhythm+ excels in providing remarkably accurate measurement of exercise intensity." This may be true after all. The Rhythm is also both bluetooth and Ant+ which is great for all types of fitness apps. I used it with TrainerRoad which senses both on a Mac. The Rhythm is also an armband that is ultra comfortable and adjustable. I can with two sizes. I am assuming on for the forearm and one for the upper arm, but I had to the use the bigger one for my forearm...FAT.
To set the Rhythm up with TrainerRoad, first you turn it on by pushing on the top of the device, then in the program you go to devices and select it, then forget the other one...Easy Peazy.
While the Rhythm was set up to the Mac and TrainerRoad, the Garmin soft strap was set up to my Garmin 810, tried and true. This way I could check the active HR, the Rhythm on the TrainerRoad on the TV, and the Garmin on the Garmin.
Accuracy:
The active accuracy was spot on. The Rhythm actually gave me more variation of HR during activity then did the Garmin, and adjusted more quickly to changes in HR. I was on a recovery ride, so I did not bring my HR up too high, but elevated and lower it several times in the short 25 minute ride. Each time the HR was within a beat of each other while moving up and down, and alway the same when a stable pace was achieved.
After the ride comparison: TrainerRoad does not display maxHR therefore that data point was out, however the avgHR was spot on at 115bts/min. So good new for those of us who hate putting on a chest strap...The Scosche Rhythm matched the Garmin Soft Strap at every turn! Nice!
