Last Updated on December 8, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org
According to Rob ter Horsts data on YouTube which are from a single subject next to the Polar H10 chest stap Apple watches are among the most accurate optical heart rate monitors. Unfortunately, Rob ter Horst did not study the accuracy of 3 channel ECG devices which are gold standard for HR measurements.
We have 3 scientific papers which compare the accuracy of 3 channel ECG devices to consumer grade heart rate monitors:
- We have one paper of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio which confirms a high accuracy of the Apple watch I compared to a 3 channel gold standard ECG device:
- We have another paper which confirms the high accuracy of the Apple watch 1 compared to a 3 channel gold standard ECG device:
https://pubs.sciepub.com/jpar/2/2/8/index.html
- We have another paper of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio which confirms a high accuracy of the Apple watch 3 compared to a 3 channel gold standard ECG device:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6732081/
- We have a paper which compares the Apple watch 6:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17461391.2021.2023656
to a Polar H10 chest strap which is according to a paper of the Swiss Federal Institute of Sports in Magglingen «gold standard for RR interval assessments if intense activities with strong body movements are investigated».
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31004219/
DC Rainmaker and 5kRunner wrote on their blog that the Polar OH1 «is very accurate if not the most accurate optical heart rate monitor». You can find the link to these statements in our journal.
But if we look at the data of Rob ter Horst and the data published in scientific papers we have evidence that Apple watches are the most accurate optical heart rate monitors but not Polar optical heart rate monitors.
Polar increased the running time of the Polar OH1 successor Verity Sense by a fimware update. Which company which has the goal to have the most accurate optical heart rate monitor on the market does this?
According to Rob ter Horsts data from one subject Apple watches are more accurate than the Polar OH1 and the Polar Verity Sense. Our hypothesis is therefore that Apple has optimized their sensors for accuracy but not Polar.
We have data published in four scientific papers that Apple watches have a high accuracy. But there is only one paper which is according to our own little experience worth mentioning about the accuracy of Polar OH1:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217288
And we do not know of a paper which is according to our own little experience worth mentioning about the accuracy of the Polar Verity Sense.
What can we conclude from all of this?
From the data of our review:
We suppose that
- 3 channel ECG devices are the most accurate heart rate monitors on a treadmill for speeds up to 15 km/h.
- If intense activities with strong body movements are investigated a Polar H10 chest strap is the most accurate device.
- If someone is looking for the most accurate optical heart rate monitor it is not the Polar OH1 or the Polar Verity Sense but one of the latest Apple watches.
- Polars optical heart rate monitors can broadcast their heart to other devices, but Apple watches can do this as well. If someone is looking for the most accurate optical heart rate monitor to broadcast the HR to another device we suggest to choose one of the latest Apple watches.
- Many of these statements are speculations and we do not know if someone has to goal to do further scientific studies about these topics.
- 3 channel ECG devices are gold standard for HR measurements if intense activities with strong body movements are not investigated. If somone is looking for the most accurate heart rate monitors for these activities we suggest to choose 3 channel ECG devices.
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