Summary of physiological sensors we have reviewed and tested

Last Updated on December 26, 2022 by pg@petergamma.org

Since several years, we are testing and reviewing physiological sensors in the low-cost high-quality domain.

We started with a Polar chest strap and a Polar watch, tested the Forerunner 235 and the Polar OH1, the Muse headband and the Stryd foot pod.

We now use the Polar OH1, the Apple watch 6, the Muse Headband and eventually the Polar H10 and OpenBCI Cython with Android apps, Raspberri Pi, LattePanda, SQLite and Python.

We could have 1 or 3 lead ECG, DF Robot optical sensors, HeartPy, InfluxDB with an infinite number of EEG channels in InfluxDB, and many more of the sensors we tested in Home Assistant.

Bitalino was specialised for ECG with many features, OpenBCI specialized for EEG with many features, but we see hardly any new development for Bitalino and OpenBCI in the low-cost high quality domain.

What is new are components like InfluxDB and Python toolboxes like HeartPy, and to join such sensors in a single InfluxDB. But this still needs to be tested.

We tested and reviewed many consumer grade sports sensors. They have developed dramatically in the recent years. But only little tests where performed about those with research and medical grade reference devices.

We have devices with hardware and software which is completely open like the PinePhone. We can have this also for physiological sensors.

We have tested and reviewed so many devices. The community for these devices is small. But what helps are WordPress sites and journals in the web, GITUB pages and YouTube video reviews, to get the community for these sensors growing.