FINIS Aquapulse heart Rate Monitor

I really like it, I barely felt it there, the clip does not bother me and it stayed in place for 10 laps. One question I had was about streamlining, it looks like the device might get in the way. Did you have any problems with that?

Hi Yedswim; Thank you and all others members for feedback. Is it tooo hard to hear the numbers ?? Is the USB port complete waterproof ?? Do you have the chance to compare in real time with Polar Heart Rate monitor ?

Hi Yedswim; Thank you and all others members for feedback. Is it tooo hard to hear the numbers ?? Is the USB port complete waterproof ?? Do you have the chance to compare in real time with Polar Heart Rate monitor ? I own a Polar HR, I love it. HOWEVER, it is not designed for swimming and is ridiculously hard to get a reading on while in the pool. The watch needs to be right up to the monitor when they are wet and neither can be submerged. This is impossible when in the deep end of the pool, trying to hold your lower chest out of the water, hold your wrist up to your chest and look at the watch with foggy goggles on. I have some heart problems that require me to keep tabs on my HR when exercising. The aquapulse fixes all of the complaints I have with the Polar for swimming. Since it audibly plays the HR it's very effective for doing HR intensive things like short rest sets and underwaters. We did a lot of 30 off max, 20 off max, etc sets in college and I never actually knew what my max was because by the time there was a chance to take my HR it was no longer my max. Now I can tell what my HR is actually doing at all times. The better you know your body, the better you will be able to train effectively. I didn't have any issues with it getting in the way. If you've ever worn a Swimp3 it sits in the same place as that. I'd actually like to see the two integrated so I can throw them on for warmups at meets. It was definitely loud enough for me as long as it was in the right position. It's completely waterproof. As far as accuracy goes, it works out of the pool as well so I tested it with my polar and it was consistently within 2 bpm of those readings. Hope this helps :)

Another update about the Aquapulse Hearing With use, hearing the numbers gets easier. I think the brain learns to isolate the voice from the noise. Now I don’t have any problems hearing the number and the loudest setting may be a bit too loud (especially when resting it can be loud enough for others to hear your numbers) Fit The unit seems to fit better in my right side than left…more hydrodynamic/less noise Accuracy issues I am starting to believe I have a defective unit. Is very hard for the AP to measure my resting HB. I tested it with my wife and it was incapable of detecting hers. When swimming, the measurements do not always correlate with my activity level (e.g. when doing 100yd I got this numbers: 160, 162, 97, and after the 97 number started to increase again) Another possibility but I am not 100% sure but I suspect that the Sun may be interfering with the results, I swim when the Sun is low and may be getting in the way of the sensor. Rolling Average I understand that the number the AP gives is a rolling average of the last 3 instant measurements this may be problematic with shorter distance sets. Like 50yds or 75yds. The actual maximum Heart Beat is going to be higher since the rolling average will include measurements when resting. USB Port The USB port is only for charging, this also means that there is no way to update the firmware…for example to adjust the rolling average or to have instant heart beat measurements. After I removed the rubber cap from the USB connector I notice some sulfatation in the contacts, this may be problematic…I recommend to make sure the contacts are dry after swimming. This weekend I plan on trying during OWS also I need to do more tests about the accuracy and probably call Finis..

Hi Daniel, I tried the vaseline trick today and it was amazing. Before using it I guesstimate 20% of accurate measurements, but now is around 95%. Clearly that USB port was not properly designed, they should redesign it and hopefully recall/replace current units. The Swimsense Watch with the docking station does not have any problems, maybe try something similar with the Aquapulse.

Hi yedswim: I read in Finis web a review of AP. One person wrote that he had problems with USB port while swimming, because is not 100% waterproof, and it causes faults in accuracy. He put vaseline in the contacts to isolate complete and don't have problems. After swim clean vaseline and conect to USB port to charge. You can read here: www.finisinc.com/.../aquapulse-heart-rate-monitor.html Maybe it can help you

Well, after 1 week of using Finis Aquapulse here is my review: I like it.... I am happy with it, it is more confortable than using chest strap. I love to swim without the chest strap and t-shirt... The accuracy in the pool is the same than Polar HR. The volume is good but NOT excelent. I would like to have more volume.... because I can hear 80% of the time, I use 10second interval so I have good feedback of my HR. One tip: I use 2 cap. I put gogles and attach AP, then I put a soft lycra cap and cover the AP with it, and then put the second cap (latex one). It helps me to reduce the water noise and keep AP in fixed position. Hope my tip helps

seems interesting... anyone has comparate the HR with a professional Polar?

seems interesting... anyone has comparate the HR with a professional Polar? Hi Everyone! Thought this might be of interest since you all track your heart rate during your swim. Instabeat is a heads-up display that tracks heart rate, calories, laps, flip turns and breathing frequency. We are currently taking pre-orders: www.indiegogo.com/projects/instabeat And we need the help of the swimming community otherwise we cannot make it! Would love to get your feedback about the product! Cheers! Hind

Hind, The visual display looks good, maybe better than the sound on the FINIS ( I wish the FINIS sound would say "one, three, five" instead of "one hundred thirty five" - way too many syllables to hear on one breath). But, I would prefer the actual HR number. I want to know when I'm swimming an aerobic set when my HR creeps past 140. Because if I want to keep the set aerobic, I would then slow down. If I am doing an AFAP swim, I want to know what my max HR number is, not the range. I also am not interested in calories, laps, flip turns or breathing frequency. But that's me. Others may find it useful.