Monday, July 7, 2014

Product Review: iThlete HRV Finger Sensor


A few months ago I purchased the iThlete HRV finger sensor.  I had big hopes to take some HRV measurements for not only myself but a few patients and some athletes that I train.  It was 75 dollars and I believe the app for your phone was 10 bucks.  I liked the idea of not having to strap a heart rate monitor every morning and also having to hook up the chest strap to other people.  

I have a Samsung Note 3.  My first reading was -7.  Negative.  I asked someone that knows a lot about HRV and he had never even heard of that.  The next few readings were in mid fifties, then all of a sudden I'm at 99 for a readings.  Let me backtrack...I get these readings when I get a reading.  Most of the time I've never been able to get one and I'm continually told there was an error.  

As you can imagine this is pretty frustrating.  So much so that after 3-5 tries, I just quit as I can feel my frustration rising.  So honestly, I wouldn't recommend it.  But, my one caveat is that perhaps it's my phone and people with iPhones would be fine. 

Either way, I can't recommend it from my own experience.  

1 comment:

Simon ithlete said...

Dear Dr Ross

Sorry to hear you have not had a good experience with the new finger sensor. The reason for this is that it's not compatible with your Note 3. The product page on our website does state
under the Compatibility tab:

The ithlete HRV Finger Sensor is compatible with the following devices:

iPhone 3GS & above
iPod Touch 3rd Generation & above
iPad & iPad mini
Samsung Galaxy S3 & S4
HTC One

We would be happy to exchange it for a Bluetooth Smart or ECG receiver + chest strap if you would like another try.

Sincerely,
Simon (ithlete creator).