Saturday, October 25, 2014

Trying the Mio LINK - a wrist-based optical heart rate monitor

Over the next few weeks, I'll be reviewing the Mio LINK.

The Mio LINK is a heart rate (HR) monitor that transmits your HR data to your Bluetooth Smart or ANT+ device (fitness watch, smartphone, etc.) but you wear this device on your wrist (which means you can leave that HR chest strap at home!). It's water resistant to 30 m, has a built-in rechargeable battery that lasts approximately 7 hrs of continuous use, and the device feels very comfortable on my wrist. 

Mio also sells the Mio ALPHA which is a HR monitor + watch display (and also transmits via Bluetooth Smart but not ANT+).

Mio has also announced 2 new products: 
  1. the Mio FUSE (which combines a HR monitor + wearable activity tracker and transmits via Bluetooth Smart and ANT+) and 
  2. the Mio VELO (which looks just like the Mio LINK but bridges ANT+ to Bluetooth Smart so that your ANT+ peripherals can communicate with your Bluetooth Smart device). 
My initial impression of the Mio LINK so far: the wrist band is very soft, it's very comfortable to wear on either wrist, and I really love the fact that I don't have to wear a chest strap anymore! 

Stay tuned as I give this wrist-based HR monitor a test drive and write about my experience. I'm a big proponent of measuring and tracking HR during exercise. For many people, it's a healthier (and can be a much more effective) way to exercise. For me, I find that I can measure my progress, train more effectively, and have objective data on my level of exertion.

1 comment:

  1. Were you able to review this. I'm considering the purchase of an hr monitor for running and this is on the list.

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