Get ready, it’s time to Moov.

Remember that little voice in your head which tells you to keep going during or workout, or reasons with you to give in? Now Moov HR is here to act like your conscious, with artificial intelligence persuading you to push harder and get the best from every workout.

Moov HR is your very own artificial intelligence powered PT, which keeps you updated on how hard you're working throughout your workout via a heart rate monitor in a headband.

Heart rate in a head band? We’ve heard of chest straps, wrist watches and even in ear heart rate, but in a head band is a new one!

What is HIIT?

HIIT has become somewhat of a buzzword in the industry and I’m sure you must have heard of it. High-intensity interval training has taken the fitness world by storm and with good reason. HIIT has been scientifically designed to burn more fat in less time by having you give an all-out blast of effort followed by a short rest interval and then repeating intense bursts of effort to keep you heart rate high.

According to the Journal of Sport Sciences, this will cause you body to increase the calorie burn by up to 15 percent for as long as 30 hours post workout.

How effective is HIIT?

HIIT is most effective when you listen to your heart rate, and no I don’t mean listening out for that pounding in your chest. I mean using an accurate monitor to ensure you’re getting the best from your workout. For most people, this will involve wearing a strap. Which can often be difficult to pick up real-time data from, as either you review the data post workout, or you’re constantly having to look at a screen to see how you’re doing whilst trying to keep up the intensity of your exercise.

The Moov HR sweat is designed to give real-time coaching as you follow MOOVs very own HIIT workouts, to ensure you get maximum results.

Moov HR HIIT Workout Review

Setting up the Moov HR is really easy, you simply charge the sensor itself for around two hours and then insert it into the pouch in the sweatband.

Wearing the headband was daunting and I did feel self conscious, where the heart rate monitor causes the headband to stick out, I did feel like Mr Bump and having a pea head doesn’t help keep the band discrete - it covered half my face and did get a lot of attention.

Appearance and fit of the band : 5/10 - As this is a test product it’s likely that the sweat band will come in better sizing for males and females which can be more discreet and a better fit for female users.

The Moov HR works by tutoring you through a choice of 5 HIIT workouts, pictured below.

From the app you can view the exercises in each of these workouts which is worth doing so you’re familiar before your coach starts bossing you around.

In order to test the heart rate accuracy of the band, I wore my Wahoo TICKR X, which is reviewed here, this strap has the most accurate reading of all the monitors I have used (and there’s been plenty).

The head based heart rate is easy to pick up and takes about 20 seconds with minor adjustments of the headband and the reading matched that of the Wahoo Tickr X.

The workouts are simple and guide you through a warm up before entering into the workout itself.The electronic voice of your coach is a little weird when it first start shouting at you through your headphones, but you soon get used to it. The coach is great as you move through the exercises, keeping you posted on your heart rate so that you can make sure you're putting in enough effort to get results.

Whilst at the moment there are only a few different workouts, I’m sure once the app develops there will be more, making this a far more useful tool.

Moov HR Running

The Moov app is a great tool to use to accompany a run. I found that it was less embarrassing training in the headband, as it’s more of a familiar sight to see a headband being worn on a run, plus you’re never by one person for more than a few moments glance.

The run feature can be set up for indoors or outdoors, as I mentioned I wore the band outdoors and I found it great to know whether I needed to up the speed thanks to my in ear Moov coach.

The running workout can also be set up and customised for high intensity intervals which is great for burning extra calories and making the most of heart rate training.

Moov HR Heart Rate Accuracy

The heart rate on the Moov is great for those who struggle wearing a chest strap, it’s easy to put on and take off in public and has far superior accuracy to a wrist based watch, you can read our reviews on heart rate watches here.

To test the heart rate accuracy I compared the headband with the Tickr X and whilst it did remain accurate most of the time, I did experience a few technical difficulties.

1.As you move throughout the workout naturally the headband slips which can cause you to lose connection.

2.The headband makes you really hot, but if you mop your brow, you risk interfering with your heart rate. At one point I even became to sweaty to get a reading.

This aside, it is a great monitor, simple to set up with accurate readings.

Moov HR: Overall verdict

Overall I love the idea of a heart rate headband, and the personal coach, though odd at first, you will grow to love.

I struggled with the material of the band and size and do feel it needs to be made in varying sizes and a better sweat wicking material - this may well come in future developments of the band.

I would recommend this to those who are running outdoors or training alone and need extra motivation to stay on track.

Take almost any workout and any metric and this heart rate strap will find it. Wahoo!

As a Personal trainer with a good few years of training under my belt, it’s safe to say I’ve used many a heart rate monitor, from chest straps to arm bands, wrist watches to pulse checks via your finger and your mobile phone. I’ve tried the lot.

This is the best heart rate monitor, I have ever used.

Is it perfect?

Let me tell you, it comes pretty darn close.

Wahoo Tickr X Features

At a glance the Wahoo Tickr X features:

Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor

Dual band Technology - Thanks to its Bluetooth hrm, the heart rate strap can signal to two devices at once, ie. your watch and your mobile phone.

Heart Rate Monitor App

Real time heart rate and calorie tracking - I prop my phone up and have the Wahoo app on display throughout my training, where you can clearly see all your top metrics including speed, calories and heart beat meter. Plus, an added bonus for fellow four eyes...it’s clear enough that you can see your scores whilst training without glasses!

Device Free Heart Rate Tracking

Internal Memory - As soon as you snap the strap to the monitor and it finds a heart rate, the tracker will start recording, meaning you can leave you phone at home, head out for a run and then download your data to your phone later.

Heart Rate Strap with Running Analytics

This is so unique for a heart rate strap, usually you would need a foot pod but this strap does it all. Monitor your cadence, smoothness, left-right, up-down, forward-backward, ground contact and oscillation, along with classic speed, distance and pace.

Cycling Data 

Indoor cycling Wahoo cadence - With separate workout screens for indoor cycle and even spinning; RPM, speed and heart rate on one screen.

Third Party App Compatibility

Wahoo itself has multiple fitness apps (more details later) plus the strap is compatible with all the main fitness apps, from Strava to MyFitnessPal.

Visible Heart Rate Connection and Alerts

The moment you strap the Tickr X strap together, it flashes to show it has made a heart rate connection. The computer can then be set to alert you with small vibrations for milestones such as distance traveled or laps completed. The main computer can also be used as a remote to control your other devices with its tap feature, allowing you to skip tracks or other features such as begin a lap or pause a workout (the action this command creates is set up in the app and can be different for each workout setting). Alerts play via headphones or speaker as you hit milestones and will tell you your average heart rate, pace and distance.

Heart Rate Tracking in Treadmill Mode

The Wahoo Tickr heart rate monitor has a designated workout setting for training indoors on the treadmill - so your hard work still counts. You can track your speed and distance just as accurately as if you were outdoors.

Running Smoothness

This heart rate monitor takes in far more than just your heartbeat, using a combined measure of body motion and impact shock in 3 directions.

GPS

Take the heart rate monitor out for a run or ride and review your route on the app with GPS for precise location and distance feedback.

Wahoo Tickr X Setup

Setting up the device is simple either partner the strap with your regular fitness watch for heart rate readings direct to your watch or for the full user experience download the Wahoo Fitness App. The Tickr X is also compatible with Wahoo apps Runfit and 7 minute workout, but the Fitness app is the Wahoo hub. Here after entering details such as age, weight and height your user is set up and you’re ready to go.

Selecting and creating a workout

Once you’re ready to go the Wahoo Fitness app already has pre-programmed workout modes:

• Running
• Treadmill
• Cycling
• Indoor Bike
• Spin Class
• Gym

You can then add your own workouts - for example, I’ve added Metafit and Workout DVD.

Starting a Workout with The Tickr X Heart Rate Strap

Once you’re ready to start a workout with the accompanying app, you simply strap together the monitor across your chest and press go, a woman with a bizarre accent - let's call her Miss Wahoo, will count you in 3,2,1 (always embarrassing when you’re at the gym and this comes out on speaker making it look like you count yourself in) and then you’re away.

Whilst training with the app you can scroll through numerous pages of statistics, I like to have the heart rate screen up throughout training (if I’m not running) to ensure I stay in the right zones throughout my workout. You can’t lie to your heart rate. You can also scroll through the app to skip through music, meaning you don't have to multitask through multiple apps. Simple.

Heart Rate Monitoring during Running

9 times out of 10, this heart rate strap was spot on, however setting up the strap correctly is essential. I’ve had two blips with the watch thus far: 1) Taking too deep a breath and pinging the strap off (which I clearly hadn’t fitted correctly anyway) and then flashing half the local neighbourhood mid run as I tried to lift my top up to do it back up - not wanting to miss tracking any valuable data of course! 2) Leaving the tap setting as skip track, meaning when I’m running and there’s a bit of bounce with the old bust, I’m skipping tracks every other footstep and my playlist sounds more like a stuck old record than my motivational playlist that gets me bouncing off the walls.

When the watch does work, it’s great, super effective and every mile or kilometre depending on your preference your overall time, pace and average heart rate are stated by Miss Wahoo, like your very own robotic PT. This is really useful as it means when running with a phone, you don’t need to keep unlocking the device to view your stats, just wait for Miss Wahoo to keep you updated.

Stand Alone Heart Rate Monitoring

Forgot your phone? Hate running with a device? No problem. This monitor works all by itself. Once the heart rate strap is clipped together, flashing lights signal it is recording and that’s all you need to do. When your workout is finished you can unclip the device and download the workout to the app the next time you have your phone and heart rate monitor strap together to view detailed feedback.

Wahoo Tickr X Heart Rate Accuracy

I’ve now worn this strap for multiple types of workout, from HIIT to kettlebells, battle ropes to running, spinning to boxing. Throughout all these workouts the strap has kept up well 95% of the time. When compared with the Mio Fuse, the heart rate picks up and drops far more in line with real-time, allowing more accurate data. It is also paired with my Wahoo Balance scales meaning that I can get the most precise data feedback, as my profile updates every time I weigh myself. The only difficulties I have with this strap and in fact, all heart rate straps, is when it comes to chest exercises, as the strap often inevitably loses connectivity, this is the nature of where you wear the device, so I don’t feel it’s a deal breaker.

Wahoo Tickr X Speed

The Wahoo X also has the ability to monitor your speed during indoor workouts such as spin, indoor cycle and on a treadmill. Whilst during spin, I found the strap and bike corresponded exactly on my speed, the treadmill would often think I wasn’t even moving - even i’m not that slow! It was an odd anomaly for the heart rate monitor, as with all other speed monitoring and outdoor running, it has been spot on.

Additional Wahoo Tickr X Features:

Double Tap Feature

The double tap feature allows you to control multiple aspects of your workout, from starting a new lap, to adding a bolt into your workout, or my personal favourite - skipping a track. A simple double tap to the chest and the strap skips you to the next track on your playlist, meaning you can have all your best tunes, without having to stop training to skip through them.

Resting Heart Rate

For those who want the most accurate readings, the watch can do a test on your resting heart rate. From this it can then deliver your specific workout intensity targets for each heart rate zone - rather than using your age as a guideline. I found this feature useful - although the app does not explain that the best time of day to do this is when you wake up - prior to any caffeine, so you get the most fair and accurate reading.

Wahoo Running Smoothness

The Wahoo running smoothness feature is a revolution in heart rate straps, as normally you would need to wear a foot pod or additional device to monitor stride and technique. After a running session the smoothness graph details your minimum, maximum and average smoothness, your left-right, right-left and up-down smoothness, ground contact and oscillation. This wide array of feedback is great for those training towards running goals such as a marathon or even triathlon and ironman. Whilst this detail and level of feedback is fantastic, I do feel Wahoo has missed a trick in not detailing how you can fix area’s of issue to improve your score, rather than adjust your technique and see how you go, I’d like to be told what a poor left-right score means and how this can be developed.

Wahoo History

When you open the app you are presented with a four week summary of your training history, but the app also stores all your workouts in it’s history, so it is easy to review your progress as the weeks go by.

Wahoo 7 minute Workout

This little app sets you 7 minute challenges and tracks your reps as well. It’s a great tool for upping your daily burn without having to take a chunk out of your day, or even worry about counting reps!

Wahoo Tickr Heart Rate Monitor Review

Overall, this is so much more than a heart rate monitor, it’s a fitness monitor and delivers so much feedback which can be used to adjust and improve your workouts, whatever they may be. It’s simple, easy to get along with and provides accurate feedback.

This brand is aptly named, because you’ll be shouting WAHOO I’m so happy I found this heart rate monitor …

Brilliant.

It’s no secret that I love heart rate training. In fact, I'm pretty sure my heart rate rocketed when I read Garmin’s press release revealing their two new activity trackers with wrist based heart rate. I’ve been itching to get my hands on one since.

The Vivosmart HR is the latest upgrade to the Garmin fitness tracker family, taking all the features of previous models and adding heart rate, floors climbed and minutes of intensity. Of the three, heart rate takes first place in the race to review, so let’s see how it held up.

How accurate is the Heart rate on Vivosmart HR?

At Rest (Heart Rate Accuracy)

The heart rate on the Vivosmart HR is 24/7, meaning you can scroll through your notifications to view your heartbeat live, at any time of day, or night…If you’re crazy enough to be awake. The heart rate screen displays your current heart rate, followed by your average resting heart rate. When it comes to accuracy here, I’ve found this to be fairly spot on, when I'm sat typing away at my desk (like now) my heart rates reading at 67 BPM, higher than resting but it’s pretty obvious I'm sat down. At rest, the vivosmart does well at tracking my heart rate and updates regularly, however whilst this is intriguing, it’s my active heart rate that I'm really interested in.

During Exercise (Heart Rate Accuracy)

The first workout I decided to test the Vivosmart HR with was legs. This is one tough routine, combining heavy lifts with plyometrics, keeping the heart rate high throughout with short rest intervals. The workout was set to be a challenge for both me and the watch, to see if it could respond quickly to the varying intensity and challenge my legs not to buckle beneath me! Before we look at the results, I compared with the Mio Fuse (see review here), I’ve been wearing this watch for some time now and have found it has the most accurate wrist-based heart rate of any of the watches I’ve reviewed.

Below is the feedback from the Vivosmart HR:

Heart rate view Vivosmart HR

Firstly, I started my warm up with a heart rate of 119 according to the Vivoactive, this was high. Worryingly high when I'm only walking. Fortunately the Fuse was there to keep me sane and show a more accurate 90bpm. As I continued to dive into my warm up, rather oddly the Vivosmart seemed to jump back down, quite the opposite as to what was happening.

Looking through the rest of the routine, the heart rate seems to remain, as a whole, fairly accurate. You can clearly see the peak where I’ve finished with a Tabata before coming into my cool down, and my heart rate remains fairly high throughout the bulk of the session. The Vivosmart and I shared a few odd moments throughout the workout, with me giving it the “WHAT?!” look after feeling like my heart's in my throat only for the Vivosmart to be telling my it’s around 130bpm, but then it would rocket up to 160 bpm again and our friendship would be restored.

When you compare the overall results with the Fuse, the average and the max aren't that far off, however throughout the workout, the Fuse kept up where the Vivosmart lagged behind. Sometimes, the Vivosmart had a mind of its own.

Heart rate view Mio Fuse

Last 4 Hours:

Along with the live feedback on the watch and graphs on the app, at any point throughout the day you can scroll to a graph of your heart rates last four hours of activity, which details a graph and your lowest and highest heart rate score in that timeframe. This is a cool tool, however it’s not very specific as there are no numerical details to the graph, just it’s shape.

Garmin Vivosmart HR Pro’s +

• The continuous and resting heart rate is accurate (for the most part).
• The 4 hour window is an easy to view feature to see if you’ve been varying your heart rate enough (and something I’ve only found on Garmin watches).
• Having heart rate at your wrist makes it easy to press go at any given opportunity without needing to wear any extra equipment.
• The Vivosmart HR broadcast heart rate via ANT+ but will NOT connect to other ANT+ sensors to read data.

Garmin Vivosmart HR Con’s -

• During training, the heart rate on the Vivosmart can be sporadic.
• The HR it sends via ANT+ seems to be fairly accurate for light sports’ usage. (Which really means it's inaccurate for anything more).

The Garmin Forerunner 235 is designed with a purpose, to bring out the best runner in you.

Appearance

The watch itself looks more mainstream than most fitness watches, although its plastic strap is a bit of a giveaway. The digital watch face is large and clear measuring 4 cm, with plenty of room for lots of readings to be detailed on the main watch face. The watch's five buttons are streamlined to the watch face but easy to select when needed. Despite its fairly large size, the watch weighs in at just 42g, making it one of Garmin’s lightest watches yet. The watch strap features multiple holes to provide a close fit and despite its large screen does not look as bulky as some of its competitors.

The USB charger features a small bulldog clip, which attaches to the side of the watch face, particularly useful to ensure the watch and charger remain attached even if they get knocked during charging.

Heart Rate Training

Starting a training session is easy: you simply select the start button and can then opt for which type of training you will be doing, from running outdoors or running indoors to cycling. The watch finds your heart rate almost immediately without the need to set up so this is a great feature. It was the same with the GPS, in fact, I found that 9/10 times my watch had already vibrated an alert to tell me GPS was ready before I headed outside. Once in training, there were 5 data fields to scroll through, the main being your heart rate screen, which colour codes your reading to your level of intensity. Your heart rate is presented clearly throughout your workout and I found it to be (for the most part) very effective when worn above the wrist bone. Scroll through for distance, time, pace, heart rate zone and lap readings. These are the automatic fields which the watch sets users up with, however as with almost every feature of this watch, these are customisable so the user can view other data such as cadence or temperature. It’s worth experimenting with the features until you find the ones best suited to your training style, with so many there’s bound to be some you find useful.  

Recovery Time

Once your workout's complete the watch works it’s magic to estimate the amount of recovery time needed for your body to recuperate from the activity. This is a really useful tool for anyone developing their training routine or even to test the effectiveness of their current habits. By knowing what recovery is required the user can manage their workload accordingly and plan the intensity of their next session to achieve the most benefits from their performance.

Advanced Training

When running, users can opt for training intervals or finish time. Training interval workouts are based on distance or time. Wearers can then set their work to rest intervals and for how many repetitions or with an open-ending. This feature is great as it eliminates the need for using a separate app to count your intervals.

By connecting with Garmin Connect, advanced users can enter a training programme into their workout calendar or even download and follow workouts from the Garmin Connect IQ (which has plenty of choices) via the ‘my workouts’ key on the watch itself.

Garmin Connect and Garmin Connect IQ

The Garmin Connect app is simple and easy to use with lots of features to play with. You can check your personal best times, check your health stats, and see how many steps you've done. You can choose which widgets you want displayed on the page and it is fully customisable.

When exploring the many features of the website, you'll notice your options mimic those in the app, but just with more detail, more widgets and more things to customise. The Connect IQ is one of those pages you think you’ll just have a quick look at and could end up losing yourself for hours on end.

Move Alerts

The average adult in the UK spends 7-10 hours of their day seated and research has shown it can lead us to an early grave, with official guidelines concluding it's crucial to supplement long durations of sitting with a short burst of activity. Garmin’s move alerts prompt you with a gentle vibration after long periods of inactivity to get up and get moving. A red bar appears and you must move until the bar disappears, a simple concept that could improve your lifespan. I certainly found the vibrations useful as it’s easy to get engrossed in work and forget to add these bursts of short activity, which ultimately improve your wellbeing.

Sleep Monitoring

During the initial profiling of the Garmin, your regular sleeping patterns are entered and from then on the watch is able to monitor your sleep and also stop move notifications continuing whilst you’re not awake. The watch automatically detects between light and deep sleep, as well as the total amount of time spent asleep. This is a great feature to help monitor and perhaps improve performance, with sleep being vital to aid mental and physical fatigue and recovery.

Verdict

If you’ve got the time to master its vast array of data, this watch is almost faultless, providing precise heart rate and so much more. Whilst it is towards the higher price margin for fitness watches retailing at £269.99 on Garmin's website, with this device you get what you pay for. The Forerunner has the quantity of accurate data and the quality of Garmin, global leaders in their field.

After listening to a Stuff You Should Know podcast, I thought I would try a change in my caffeine habits. 

For sleep tracking, I currently use a Garmin Fenix 3. The Garmin Fenix 3 is a sports watch and activity tracker that does everything you need and more. From dedicated triathlon training to running, step counting, and of course for this test sleep tracking. A recent update from Garmin means you do not need to tell the watch when you go to sleep. It knows! 

What's required for this test?

Garmin Fenix 3

And a lot less coffee

Caffeine Before Sleep

It takes a regular coffee or tea drinker to know just how tough it is to cut back on the caffeine intake. I thought it would be hard but it was surprisingly easy for me. So why the test? On the podcast, they reminded me that caffeine has a half-life of 6 hours, which means that after 6 hours you still have 50% of the effect in your system. So if you have a caffeinated drink at 3pm and one at 5pm then this is essentially the same as having a full coffee at around 10pm. You may fall asleep with no problems, but your deep sleep will be affected. 

From Garmin you get a breakdown of deep and light sleep. Plus awake time, so in theory seeing if a 2 week test will make any difference will be fairly easy to measure. 

Is Caffeine Affecting Your Sleep?

From my reading on the NHS and various other reputable sites, caffeine may affect your sleep, but not for everyone as everyone's body treats caffeine differently. My results from Garmin in the two weeks leading up to the test were as follows:

Date	Deep Sleep	Light Sleep	% of Deep Sleep
1/5/2016	2:40:00	5:08:00	34.19%
1/6/2016	3:03:00	4:17:00	41.59%
1/7/2016	2:33:00	4:43:00	35.09%
1/8/2016	3:28:00	4:16:00	44.83%
1/9/2016	3:19:00	3:32:00	48.42%
1/10/2016	4:22:00	6:12:00	41.32%
1/11/2016	2:33:00	5:21:00	32.28%
1/12/2016	2:44:00	5:32:00	33.06%
1/13/2016	2:39:00	5:36:00	32.12%
1/14/2016	2:26:00	5:20:00	31.33%
1/15/2016	2:05:00	5:57:00	25.93%
1/16/2016	3:34:00	5:14:00	40.53%
1/17/2016	2:38:00	5:26:00	32.64%
1/18/2016	2:59:00	4:31:00	39.78%
1/19/2016	2:37:00	4:39:00	36.01%
			36.61%

The test kicked off with the following rules. Going from 10+ cups of tea and coffee per day up until about 5pm to just one in the morning first thing. No other caffeine. Without other people to compare my stats to, I am just looking for a blame why my deep sleep is just a little over half (but very broken up through the night). 

So bring on two weeks of sleep tracking with just one cup in the morning.

Date	Deep Sleep	Light Sleep	% of Deep Sleep
1/20/2016	2:30:00	4:51:00	34.01%
1/21/2016	3:35:00	4:42:00	43.26%
1/22/2016	2:41:00	5:46:00	31.76%
1/23/2016	3:02:00	4:45:00	38.97%
1/24/2016	2:31:00	5:10:00	32.75%
1/25/2016	2:10:00	3:39:00	37.25%
1/26/2016	2:47:00	5:14:00	34.72%
1/27/2016	2:26:00	4:50:00	33.49%
1/28/2016	4:12:00	3:47:00	52.61%
1/29/2016	2:10:00	5:01:00	30.16%
1/30/2016	3:14:00	3:50:00	45.75%
1/31/2016	2:51:00	6:19:00	31.09%
2/1/2016	2:05:00	5:28:00	27.59%
2/2/2016	2:11:00	4:01:00	35.22%
			36.33%

Conclusion.... No change at all! Well at least for me there is no change. 36% of my sleep is deep sleep (according to my trusted Garmin Fenix 3)

Sleep Data from the Garmin Fenix 3

From the Garmin Fenix 3 via your phone or their Garmin Connect online account you let the watch know your typical sleep times (most of us have some sort of routine) and the watch will record your sleep.

The graph above is the movement during sleep. Garmin will interpret this data into deep and light sleep and that looks like the following.

Typically activity trackers that monitor your sleep will flag up just how little sleep you have. Read up on sleep and how much you should get. Then you will realise it is important and the deep sleep is what counts. In the chart above deep sleep is represented by the dark navy bars and the light sleep the light blue. Pink is awake time.