We are scientists wo want to write papers, which heart rate monitors should we choose?

Last Updated on August 22, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org

1. If you are a scientist like Rob ter Horst who uses his Polar H10 and his Apple watch for systematic and scientific studies and if you want to write papers with these devices, go for it:

• You will be able to write papers and publish those for instance in the following journals which we listed in our review:

090. Review of Accuracy Studies of Consumer Grade Heart Rate Monitors: Methods, Testing Protocols, Reference Devices

• You can for instance write new papers about the accuracy of the latest Apple watches and update this table:

19.19 Table of Accuracy Values for Polar OH1, Apple Watches, Polar H7 & Polar H10

• And use standard protocol for all papers.
• But we do not know if you will write a second paper after you wrote a first paper with these devices. Only the cardiologists from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio wrote two papers, from the other autors we found only one paper. But we did not find a continuity of papers for instance about the accuracy of the lastest Apple watches.
• We did not scientifically and systematically study the topic “papers who study consumer grade heart rate monitor accuracy”, to study more papers than we did did not make any sense four our needs.

2. iWorx IX-214R

Refurbished IX-214R

• The journals in which researchers wrote papers with this device are listed at iWorx. But the iWorx IX-214R is not a gold standard device which requires 3 ECG channels, it has only 2 ECG channels. If a high accuracy does not matter for your application, go for it. But if we are doing science with this device, will we not be asked, why did we not choose a 3 ECG channel device which are the most accurate onces for your scientific studies?

3. iWorx TA 220

https://iworx.com/products/data-recorders/ix-ta-220-recorder-with-integrated-sensors/?v=1ee0bf89c5d1

• We have discussed this device previously in our journal, it is a 3 channel gold standard device.
• It is the most affordable device we know which has been used for clinical applications such as for instance respiration rate estimation, as in this example shown here:

The Department of Engineering at the King’s College London & the Faculté de Médecine, Université de Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo Uses an iWorx TA220 for Respiratory Rate Estimation

4. Cyton with 3 ECG cannels

• It is the most affordable device we found which meets the requirements to be a 3 channel gold standard ECG device:

Comparison table of low-cost high-quality devices which can be used for 3 channel ECG

• It’s high accuracy has been demonstrated in a validation paper:

Researchers from the University of Calgary found that a 3-lead ECG device based on the OpenBCI Cyton board can be used for HRV measurements instead of an industry-standard 3 lead ECG device from Adinstruments and costs only about 4%

• We do not know of other papers in which this device has been used to this date. But we suppose we will be able to publish on YouTube as well in scientific papers and we will not be critisized for not having choosen a device which is more accurate. And we suppose we can write as many papers as we want with this device, and we will be completely happy with it.