Last Updated on May 24, 2022 by pg@petergamma.org
Officially, Fenix 6 can measure respiration rate, when paired to a for instance Garmin Dual chest strap. First tests we made showed, that the respiration rate measured is very inaccurate:
with an inaccuracy of up to 100 %. We only reached accurate levels around 12 breath per minute, which is the lowest physiological value which is normal.
We then paired a Fenix 6 to a Polar OH1 sensor. This setup is very comfortable, and can be helpful for practicing breath meditation to reach a breath rate of 12 breath per minute.
Fortunately, it is possible to extract sensor raw data from a Fenix 6 .fit files and further process those files with Max Candocias (data scientist) .fit to .csv tool, so that the data file can be used for data analysis:
The respiration rate values of the Fenix 6 where not very accurate, but it should be possible to calibrate the Fenix 6 with calibration data sets as described before:
– program an (old) Garmin watch (for instance a Garmin Forerunner 230) to vibrate once a minute
– count the number of breath you take between two vibrations
– you get a set of datapoints with a datapoint each minute for breath per minute
With these data it is possible to calibrate the respiration data obtained by a Fenix 6.
According to a paper, the accuracy of the Polar OH1 is so high, that it can be used instead of an ECG device:
ECG devices are very accurate and can be used for Respiratory Rate Estimation. We suppose that also the accuracy of the breathing rate calculated from a Polar OH1 is very high.
According to another paper, the inaccuracy of the Polar H10 chest strap is 5.5.% for running acitivies:
For other activies like practicing breath meditation, the inaccuracy of the respiration rate is expected to be smaller, eventually with values near to a Polar H10 chest strap or an ECG device.