Interesting idea. I feel like my HR results on my wrist are just fine, but moving it to my arm during weightlifting or any HIIT activity could prove beneficial. I'd be curious to see how it works on your arm while you sleep.
This is a great alternative to wearing a heart rate monitor. I’ve been thinking about getting one (like the Polar Verity sense), but this has given me food for thought!
Pick up the spare bands for the the Wahoo Tickr Fit. It’s compatible with my 955. Just keep the spring bars on the watch and use it the same way as the Tickr Fit.
hey Dave, I do something similar when I do my emails while walking on a treadmill. I put my apple watch on my ankle so that I can properly record the activity. The distance I get is quite spot on. I guess my HR is more or less as accurate as when I have the watch on my wrist.
Seems like using a chest strap or separate arm band sensor, when needed, it more useful/convenient. I mean it is not a bad idea but having the watch on my bicep seems way too cumbersome to use unless you are just going to start and stop an activity. Personally I glance at the watch to check on things like pace, time, and distance often enough where the bicep would be too inconvenient
Great hack - I always wondered why my tiny version series 3 Apple Watch was so much more accurate than the larger newer models I have - it must be the small size with the tight nylon strap. I just wish my eyes were good enough for the tiny screen
And you can do that with almost every fitness watch. I used to have one with a very bad heart rate sensor, often giving me half of BPM that I should have had. I realised by comparing it with an oximeter and knowing all the facts you mentioned in the video, I decided to by band and put it up on my bicep. The accuracy improved dramatically! Displaying BPM with +-5 in comparison with the oximeter. Since then, there is not turning back 😂
Dont you just love it when doing a threshold interval and it reads 81 bon, then you are in your recovery interval and the heartrate catches up to correct. Then the next interval it malfunctions again 🙄
I’ve had some nerve damage to my watch wrist so I’ve been wearing my watch on the inside of my wrist on my opposite hand now I’m wondering where I can get a bicep strap for the garmin fenix 6 pro I really like this idea.
@ChaseTheSummit, do the straps slide out of the Apple Watch clips, so that if you just put spring bars in a Garmin or similar watch, they could attach in a similar way?
Hoping to find something like this for the Fenix 7, on multi week long hikes my wrist gets a rash sometimes and this would give me an option to give my wrist a break.
I use my band from my broken wahoo tickr fit and attach it to my garmin. I wear it on my bicep and my apple watch on my wrist. Garmin tracks everything and apple watch is my smartwatch. When I wore two watches people kept asking why.. My answer: I’m addicted to sport/smartwatches… Now they only see Apple Watch while I still am wearing FR on my bicep.
I wear both a Garmin and Apple Watch too! I was gifted an old one and find it useful for the office and replying to notifications. So I say one is for business and one is for pleasure. It’s fun to see who is observant and notice I wear two watches. The CEO of my last company also wore two watches (he is a multi-ironman).
Interesting idea but I’m curious if having it on the bicep impacts running dynamics or other stats that rely on the accelerometer which may be calibrated to the movement of the wrist. The force that would be felt at the wrist is higher than that near the center of rotation, where the bicep would be. Any thoughts or real world experience?
I wondered about this. Oddly it doesn't seem to have a huge impact on running dynamics like Running Power and steps reported after the activity are similar across all of the devices.
I’ve been looking for a solution to ware my Apple Watch to work for heart rate and steps, miles walked ect ect, I looked on Utube but found nothing then luckily saw your video pop up as I’m subscribed, I can not ware a watch for work as would risk damaging the watch so going to order an arm strap and give it a go, Garmin do a heart strap that records lots of metrics without waring the Garmin watch then pair it to watch when your done which works great, so I’m excited to see how this works out 😎😎😎😎
This is also very good for people who work in environments where wearing a watch on your wrist is a safety hazard like those who operate machines in factories.
2 months later are you still wearing it? I was wearing Apple and Garmin for stats but I felt so silly wearing both so I have been wearing a band on my arm for a week now. I just came across this video today. Second, I wonder if it would still pick up afib being in the arm?
I still use this band occasionally but I don't wear it 24/7. Afib would likely still work but would only be valuable if you wore it 24/7 thanks for watching.
@@ChaseTheSummit thank you so much for the reply and for getting the data!! I figure most activity data is pedometer and GPS, but I just wasn’t sure. Last curiosity is how it may work on sleep data. Probably the same, but time will tell.
I think there is yet another pro you of wearing the watch on your bicep that you didn't mention and it was the reason why I bought a similar band for my Garmin Fenix 7S. Sometimes I just want to wear a normal mechanical watch while still being able to track my health, movement, calories and so on. I can wear my Garmin on my bicep, hidden, while I wear a normal, more dressy watch on my wrist. For runs and rides, I definitely prefer to have it on my wrist, as I like checking the data during the activity, but when I'm out and about, doing errands, work... I probably want my smartwatch on me but not visible. I know, I know. Whoop. That would be a great solution, and I agree, but I just can't stomach the subscription cost. That, and I love Garmin...
Just wanted to say, yes! Exact same POV. I like my mechanical watches and this use case allows me to wear them while tracking my health metrics via the Apple watch. I’ve thought about this for a while and am going to buy one now..
For my amateur running I happily take the "innacurate" or "bad data" from HR sensor from my Apple Watch Ultra :). Thanks to HR info from this watch I started taking pure pleasure from running because I can be in a HR spot where I want to be during my easy runs :). Having watch on the biceps will not give me any benefit from wearing a watch during the run as I would be silly looking at it during this activity. Also I dont like that feeling where you have a strap near biceps - sorry for football captains!
my problem with apple watch is if you have tattoos' the heart rate monitor and activity tracker won't work. I've tried every possible way around this and have also reached out to others with tattoos to see if they have encountered the same problem. Turns out the majority of runners with tattoos in the area where you have to wear the watch all report similar issues with the activity tracking and heart rate. I wear Garmin and never have a issue with this.
Tattoos also are an issue with Garmin. Tattoos are an issue with ANY optical heart rate sensor - so it’s safe to say Apple and Garmin (and ANY optical heart rate sensor) both suffer from this. Garmin may be giving a wildly inaccurate reading, because there’s no way that it can read your heart rate with a tattoo and the most accurate heart rate sensor on the market (Apple Watch) can’t read it. I guarantee the Garmin lost the reading but is giving a guess.
Tattoos are an issue for all optical sensors unfortunately. Some designs tolerate it a bit better (like Polar who uses various colored LED's instead of just green) but none are perfect.
One can kill it if you can use AW as a external HR sensor for your Garmin. Imagine having both, AW for everyday use, Garmin for outdoor sport, but you combine it with better reading from AW on your bicep.
It’s pretty accurate but as mentioned for certain people or specific activities there can still be some issues. For the majority though it’s pretty good on the wrist!
I found this when trying to search if it’s possible to wear a watch on your ankle. Great video.
Interesting idea. I feel like my HR results on my wrist are just fine, but moving it to my arm during weightlifting or any HIIT activity could prove beneficial. I'd be curious to see how it works on your arm while you sleep.
Thank you, this was so in depth! I’ve been looking for something to wear while boxing and love my Apple Watch but obviously couldn’t wear it lol
Great hack for anyone seeing issues with HR accuracy. 👌🏻
This is a great alternative to wearing a heart rate monitor. I’ve been thinking about getting one (like the Polar Verity sense), but this has given me food for thought!
Pick up the spare bands for the the Wahoo Tickr Fit. It’s compatible with my 955. Just keep the spring bars on the watch and use it the same way as the Tickr Fit.
I firmly believe that the whole purpose of the video was Chase to flex his guns around 4:20 mark 😂
😂
🤣🤣🤣
IKR, wanted to ask if he had a license for those. 😂
hey Dave, I do something similar when I do my emails while walking on a treadmill. I put my apple watch on my ankle so that I can properly record the activity. The distance I get is quite spot on. I guess my HR is more or less as accurate as when I have the watch on my wrist.
Do you think wearing it on the wrist but the under side of the wrist where we actually taped in to check our heart rate would make any better?
Seems like using a chest strap or separate arm band sensor, when needed, it more useful/convenient. I mean it is not a bad idea but having the watch on my bicep seems way too cumbersome to use unless you are just going to start and stop an activity. Personally I glance at the watch to check on things like pace, time, and distance often enough where the bicep would be too inconvenient
Great hack - I always wondered why my tiny version series 3 Apple Watch was so much more accurate than the larger newer models I have - it must be the small size with the tight nylon strap. I just wish my eyes were good enough for the tiny screen
I just want you to know that I spent 20$ on Amazon because of you 😂 Can’t wait to get it tomorrow and try this week lol
Thank you!
And you can do that with almost every fitness watch. I used to have one with a very bad heart rate sensor, often giving me half of BPM that I should have had. I realised by comparing it with an oximeter and knowing all the facts you mentioned in the video, I decided to by band and put it up on my bicep. The accuracy improved dramatically! Displaying BPM with +-5 in comparison with the oximeter. Since then, there is not turning back 😂
Dont you just love it when doing a threshold interval and it reads 81 bon, then you are in your recovery interval and the heartrate catches up to correct. Then the next interval it malfunctions again 🙄
I would love to see how it compares to using it on the wrist.
I'd love to see a similar study done with the series 10 apple watch on bicep. Or would they results be identical because they have similar sensors?
Likely identical since the sensor is the same. There might be a slight variance since the size/weight changed a bit.
I’ve had some nerve damage to my watch wrist so I’ve been wearing my watch on the inside of my wrist on my opposite hand now I’m wondering where I can get a bicep strap for the garmin fenix 6 pro I really like this idea.
Can’t you just use the same band without the AW ”clips” or is it to wide?
Not sure I understand? Without the Apple Watch lugs it won’t attach to the watch.
@@ChaseTheSummit sorry I meant to your Garmin.
@ChaseTheSummit, do the straps slide out of the Apple Watch clips, so that if you just put spring bars in a Garmin or similar watch, they could attach in a similar way?
How does it affect other stats like stride length or vertical oscillation?
Surprisingly not by much. Stats look similar including running power and step count.
Great video, I lost my polar H10 and love my series 7 Apple Watch. So just used your links! Do you still use it?
Hey have you noticed that with bicep arm band that AW cadence lock goes away?
Hoping to find something like this for the Fenix 7, on multi week long hikes my wrist gets a rash sometimes and this would give me an option to give my wrist a break.
Move watch to other wrist at night. That’s what I did problem went away
Can you add a complication to see realtime heart rate on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 watch face ? Thank you for what you do sir.
Yes you can.
Do they make these for Garmin watches?
If i wear on my bicep will its count my step ??
Oddly, it does seem to.
I use my band from my broken wahoo tickr fit and attach it to my garmin. I wear it on my bicep and my apple watch on my wrist. Garmin tracks everything and apple watch is my smartwatch.
When I wore two watches people kept asking why..
My answer: I’m addicted to sport/smartwatches…
Now they only see Apple Watch while I still am wearing FR on my bicep.
I wear both a Garmin and Apple Watch too! I was gifted an old one and find it useful for the office and replying to notifications. So I say one is for business and one is for pleasure. It’s fun to see who is observant and notice I wear two watches. The CEO of my last company also wore two watches (he is a multi-ironman).
Interesting idea but I’m curious if having it on the bicep impacts running dynamics or other stats that rely on the accelerometer which may be calibrated to the movement of the wrist. The force that would be felt at the wrist is higher than that near the center of rotation, where the bicep would be. Any thoughts or real world experience?
I wondered about this. Oddly it doesn't seem to have a huge impact on running dynamics like Running Power and steps reported after the activity are similar across all of the devices.
@@ChaseTheSummit That is ver my interesting. Thanks for the reply!
On Apple website it says aw is designed to be on a wrist otherwise it will mess other data (but if you only want hr it’s ok)
Awesome video!!
Has anyone tried wearing the watch on the inside of your wrist? If so, how was the HRM accuracy.
cool! thanks for this. was wondering how to better perform kettlebell without crashing my ultra. 👍🏻
Would that band affect the way steps are counted when doing an activity? There isn’t much of a swinging motion anymore
Haven’t noticed that being an issue. I’ll have to pay more attention.
I have been using fitness watches like that for over a year already and haven't and the step counting hasn't been affected.
this is interesting, it would allow me to wear my apple watch to track some data why riding a motorcycle on a road race track
Thank you so much🤩
Hey can you put the arm band on the inside of the forearm or bicep and get readings?
Yep!
I’ve been looking for a solution to ware my Apple Watch to work for heart rate and steps, miles walked ect ect, I looked on Utube but found nothing then luckily saw your video pop up as I’m subscribed, I can not ware a watch for work as would risk damaging the watch so going to order an arm strap and give it a go, Garmin do a heart strap that records lots of metrics without waring the Garmin watch then pair it to watch when your done which works great, so I’m excited to see how this works out 😎😎😎😎
This is also very good for people who work in environments where wearing a watch on your wrist is a safety hazard like those who operate machines in factories.
2 months later are you still wearing it? I was wearing Apple and Garmin for stats but I felt so silly wearing both so I have been wearing a band on my arm for a week now. I just came across this video today. Second, I wonder if it would still pick up afib being in the arm?
I still use this band occasionally but I don't wear it 24/7. Afib would likely still work but would only be valuable if you wore it 24/7 thanks for watching.
Could you comment on how this affects running power and other running dynamics (stride length etc.) measurements?
Oddly those metrics don't seem to be negatively affected.
@@ChaseTheSummitThanks! Good to hear, didn't expect that
How does this impact any measurements that may come from measuring your arm swing? Does anyone know how that plays with algorithms?
Oddly it doesn't seem to have a major negative effect even on running dynamics.
@@ChaseTheSummit thank you so much for the reply and for getting the data!! I figure most activity data is pedometer and GPS, but I just wasn’t sure.
Last curiosity is how it may work on sleep data. Probably the same, but time will tell.
It’s true for all watch brands.
But what about Cadence Stride Length etc… The AW still thinks it is on the wrist so this data must be incorrect
Thanks!! How does the watch run metrics work with the watch up on the shoulder? Is it as accurate?
Haven’t tried on the shoulder but I suspect it would work. Though I wonder how secure it would be in that area.
@@ChaseTheSummit sorry - i meant the upper biceps but if that affects the run metrics because of the lower watch movement
I think there is yet another pro you of wearing the watch on your bicep that you didn't mention and it was the reason why I bought a similar band for my Garmin Fenix 7S. Sometimes I just want to wear a normal mechanical watch while still being able to track my health, movement, calories and so on. I can wear my Garmin on my bicep, hidden, while I wear a normal, more dressy watch on my wrist. For runs and rides, I definitely prefer to have it on my wrist, as I like checking the data during the activity, but when I'm out and about, doing errands, work... I probably want my smartwatch on me but not visible. I know, I know. Whoop. That would be a great solution, and I agree, but I just can't stomach the subscription cost. That, and I love Garmin...
Just wanted to say, yes! Exact same POV. I like my mechanical watches and this use case allows me to wear them while tracking my health metrics via the Apple watch. I’ve thought about this for a while and am going to buy one now..
this is also a great compromise for those watch enthusiasts that want to keep track of their fitness constantly but also wear a dress watch.
With current temperatures around 0-5 Celsius here, it’s not as accurate as normal - often dropping the heart rate
Knowing that the sensors are much better on Apple Watch in comparison of Garmin watch, this trick should be highly recommended for Garmin watches 😁
For my amateur running I happily take the "innacurate" or "bad data" from HR sensor from my Apple Watch Ultra :). Thanks to HR info from this watch I started taking pure pleasure from running because I can be in a HR spot where I want to be during my easy runs :). Having watch on the biceps will not give me any benefit from wearing a watch during the run as I would be silly looking at it during this activity. Also I dont like that feeling where you have a strap near biceps - sorry for football captains!
my problem with apple watch is if you have tattoos' the heart rate monitor and activity tracker won't work. I've tried every possible way around this and have also reached out to others with tattoos to see if they have encountered the same problem. Turns out the majority of runners with tattoos in the area where you have to wear the watch all report similar issues with the activity tracking and heart rate. I wear Garmin and never have a issue with this.
Tattoos also are an issue with Garmin. Tattoos are an issue with ANY optical heart rate sensor - so it’s safe to say Apple and Garmin (and ANY optical heart rate sensor) both suffer from this. Garmin may be giving a wildly inaccurate reading, because there’s no way that it can read your heart rate with a tattoo and the most accurate heart rate sensor on the market (Apple Watch) can’t read it. I guarantee the Garmin lost the reading but is giving a guess.
Tattoos are an issue for all optical sensors unfortunately. Some designs tolerate it a bit better (like Polar who uses various colored LED's instead of just green) but none are perfect.
i guess everything can get better
Any similar bands for Coros out there?
There are nylon velcro or elastic bands for almost any watch out there. And I would say that those are recommended for HR accuracy.
@@michwoz I own nylon straps but only for my wrist, i will give it a search.
why??? they are already best in business on par with ecg chest strap from polar h10
All optical sensors are generally bad in outdoor settings when it’s cold…
Check out those massive guns! 💪👍
I'm using in on my ankle for Kettlebell workouts. Otherwise I'd smash in turkish get ups xD
One can kill it if you can use AW as a external HR sensor for your Garmin. Imagine having both, AW for everyday use, Garmin for outdoor sport, but you combine it with better reading from AW on your bicep.
You didn’t show the graph compared to wearing on wrist…trying to figure out how much of a difference it really makes..
I thought it was already super accurate for most people?
It’s pretty accurate but as mentioned for certain people or specific activities there can still be some issues. For the majority though it’s pretty good on the wrist!
Great idea while using grips - today I’m linking my polar arm band to my ultra
Wrist heartrate works....when you sleep.
I want to use it as a whoop. dont care about the smartwatch facilites.
👏👏👏👏👏
This is so bad 😂😂😂
Woof!
Garmin doesn’t know that our wrist has a lot of bones and record HR with the most accuracy! AW has the worst HR sensor
nah...it's just too stupid