PulseOn Hear Rate Monitor Review

PulseOn is a mobile wellness technology company founded by five individuals in November 2012 as a spin-off from Nokia. With a work force of 20 employees, PulseOn specializes in the design and manufacture of reliable and accurate optical heart rate monitoring devices. Under their flagship, this Finnish company has invented a state of the art optical heart rate sensor; a new way of heart rate monitoring which is set to transform how workout and heart rate blend.

Why working out with a Heart Rate Monitor matters

A good healthy day usually starts with a nice morning workout. For most people, running is the most preferred form of morning or even evening workout since it effectively gets your blood pumping thus keeping you active all day long. Running like any other form of exercise should be effective in terms of giving the desired results. Now, this is where heart rate monitoring comes in.

The heart is the core of our body’s energy system. The heart pumps blood to the brain and muscles thus ensuring sufficient oxygen and fuel is taken to the active cells for optimal energy production. Usually, energy demands vary in the body; take the case of during vigorous exercise and when you are just lying down under a tree. Consequently, heart rate varies depending on the energy demand. When you go for a workout with a heart rate monitor, more than just the beating of the heart is observed; your training technique and efficiency is also analyzed.

Heart rate analysis leads you to optimal training. It’s a common thought that the harder you push, the more fit you get. However, just like everything else, workout has a limit. When you push the heart to the limit and give it less time to recover, training efficiency drops thus your fitness is affected. However, if you balance the training load and recovery time, your training efficiency will improve thus you will be more fit than before. Heart rate analysis enables you to monitor your workout thus achieve the balance between training load and recovery time. This ensures you get the most out of your training; be it an early morning run.

With PulseOn COAL Heart Rate Monitor, this is exactly what you get. PulseOn will analyze your fitness level (how fit you are), training effect (the impact of your training on your fitness), your current training intensity, recommended recovery time, calories burnt and recommend future actions according to your workout progress. All this analysis is done to ensure your early morning or late evening runs are not in vain.

Inside the PulseOn COAL Heart Rate Monitor

The first thing that will strike you when you unpack the PulseOn Heart Rate Monitor is its body design. This heart rate monitor is as plain simple as a watch in terms of body design. The face is graced with an OLED screen with a resolution of 96 x 39. This screen basically displays the heart rate, time and previous readings. Stainless steel metal hinges at the sides house two control buttons and protect the technical components of the watch. From these metal hinges, stretchable fabric straps are connected. These straps are interchangeable according to the favorite color of the user. Furthermore they keep the watch fixed at the user’s hands thus the watch won’t move about under intensive workout. Surprisingly, despite the use of fabric for the straps, the watch does not get sweaty. You might struggle a bit getting it to stand upright and in position when wearing it but once it locks into place, it does not move.

Two control buttons are used to operate this wristband HRM; one on the right and another on the left. The right button goes over your current heart rate, your previous readings and time. The left button initiates the “sport” mode for you to start a fresh workout. PulseOn’s weight is nicely low; it weighs a mere 29 grams. If you want to go swimming, make sure you dive into the water with PulseOn strapped on your wrist since it is IPX7 certified water-proof.

The battery in PulseOn is decent. In sport mode, (where basically the heart rate monitor is in use) the battery lasts the watch for 10 hours before more juice is needed. When used as a watch, it can last up to three days. Full charging happens in one hour.

At the back of PulseOn is where you will get the charging pins and the patented optical heart rate sensor. The charging pin is designed similar to a clothes peg. It clamps to the back from where it is connected to a microUSB charging cable which connects it to a USB wall adapter or computer.

The PulseOn Band & App

A technological shift from the chest strap HRMs

Traditionally, a HRM will have a chest strap which will be used for monitoring the heart rate. For PulseOn, this method is a thing of the past. PulseOn uses optical heart rate sensors coupled with intelligent algorithms to accurately determine the heart rate. Am pretty sure you are dying to have a sneak peek on how this groundbreaking technology works, so here is a slight preview.

The optical sensor in PulseOn works by illuminating your skin and the capillary vessels over your skin using infrared light. The varying blood volumes during heart pumping back-scatter this infrared light differently. A photodetector detects this back-scattered light thus determining your heart rate according to the frequency of the heart’s pumping.

This technology is the talking point of PulseOn. It is much more accurate and reliable than the chest strap HRMs. Furthermore, it is less bulky, less technical and you do not need to take it off to make the readings.

Integrated PulseOn app

PulseOn is used together with the PulseOn app for full functionality. With the PulseOn app, (which is compatible with android versions 4.0 or iPhone 4s and higher) the data accrued from the wristband is analyzed. The analysis is pegged on improving the effectiveness of your training. Through the app, you will get data such as training intensity, fitness level, calories burnt, speed, distance and recovery time. The heart rate readings and training intensity are displayed graphically by the app, in landscape mode. The app also features exercise coaching where the app gives you advice on whether to train or not and how much you should train depending on the data accrued from the wristband. With their new app update, the wristband can sync with more than one app. This feature, known as third party app connectivity, allows PulseOn to send heart rate data to any app that supports Bluetooth smart data reception and transmission. The data from the wristband is synced between the device and the app through Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. The device itself, PulseOn, can store up to two weeks of training data in its internal memory. This means that when you are going out for a run, you do not necessarily need to carry your phone.

Most people also like to have data concerning the distance they have covered and their speed. PulseOn on its own cannot get this data. To have this functionality, you have to connect the wristband to the PulseOn app. Similarly, to have data on your fitness level based on your heart rate, you will need to walk or run with the app and GPS on for twenty minutes.

Conclusion

PulseOn is revolutionary and a HRM device with a promise. Breaking the barriers of traditional chest strap HRMs, this heart rate monitor is very accurate, simple to use, easy to carry along and the fitness data accrued by the wristband and the app is very instrumental in coming up with effective fitness plans.