Mio Fuse Heart Rate Monitor

To start off, I will clarify what sort of activity I do. I run an average of about 30 miles/week, swim 5k/week and cycle for cross training. My main device I use for tracking most of those activity is my trusty Forerunner 910xt.Pro :1. Accurate HR data. Mio creates one of the best optic HR on the market right now. They kick start everything 21 months ago with mio link that is capable of capturing HR data especially during rigorous activity, ie running.2. ANT+ and Bluetooth boardcasting. This allows you to use with existing garmin running watches or strava on your mobile phone.3. Battery life. It claims to have about 7 days of battery life (with 1 hour of HR a day). As a fitness tracker, the less you charge it the better. That's why garmin's vivofit is quite popular since you don't need to charge it at all (uses watch battery). So I say Mio did a good job in that department.4. Clear display. The display is clear and visible regardless of the time of day.5. Comfortable strap. Strap is quite comfortable. I now use it as my everyday watch replacing my long used casio.6. Extremely versatile in terms of apps you can use (ie strava)7. 3 ATM waterproof (translate to it being waterproof enough to survive 30m underwater) and yes, that means capturing HR when swimming.Con1. Battery life. Battery life for HR is only limited to 7-8 hours continuous monitoring during activity (20 hour if display is turned off, mio claims). It is understandable that they kept it lighter.2. No sleep monitoring. Mio Fuse is one of the most basic fitness tracker on the market in terms of functionality when compared to other fitness tracker such as jawbone or fitbit.3. Lack of 'fitness analysis'. One of the things people look forward to especially if you aren't as serious is your progress. There is no point in obtaining all these data if you don't understand it. Jawbone up 3 will monitor your HR in the background and tell how you have progress throughout the week.4. Inaccurate speed/pace when running/cycling/swimming. This is expected and there isn't much that can be done to improve this aspect but I thought its worth mentioning.5. One colour, one size. I really like the red/black combo but unfortunately, my wrist isn't as big so I had to op for the smaller indigo.Heart rate monitorI link my mio fuse to my 910xt and use it for runs. It does take a while to get adjusted correctly and ensure accurate results. So far, most of the data correlated quite well with what my HR would be. I do notice initially there are spikes/inaccuracy in the first minute or two but then it springs back to normal HR zones. So far, I am impressed and enjoy using it. For the longest amount of time, I have used a chest strap to get heart rate data. It feels great not needing one. I do notice that sometimes when I do my intervals, mio fuse doesn't maintain my high heart rate even though I know i'm near my max. It does register at 194bpm but not for long. I however think this is mainly due to my skin being exposed to the cold (optic heart rate measures blood flow under your skin so logic stands that the cold might affect some results) however, I have only done one session with it so it is a little hard to judge everything based on one.I have used it for my swim. I am impressed that this little gadget is capable of capturing HR data while swimming. As you know, there is a long debate on how one would capture HR data underwater. Most chest straps ( even if they are waterproof) are unable to capture heart rate due to the limitation of the hardware (ANT+ wavelength doesn't travel far. You have to put your watch right next to your strap just to get HR data) with the exception of suunto's chest strap (uses a different technology than ANT+). Be warn that sometimes, the data field shifts about when you swim due to the water.One of the biggest advantage of this is it allows for accurate calorie burn (for those who uses that function) and HR data when cross training (or any activity really) without the annoying chest strap.ConclusionOverall, this isn't one of the best fitness tracker out in the market. You are however getting one of the best optic HRM in the market as of yet. It is capable of giving you an accurate picture of steps, calorie burn and HR data. With the plus of broadcasting ANT+ and Bluetooth, it makes a great complement to existing GPS watches or mobile phone users. As of date, there is no other fitness tracker that is capable of this.If you are someone who train by heart rate zones and would like an accurate data of HR throughout your activity, this is the fitness device for you. If you are someone who are casual gym goers who doesn't do that, there are better suited devices out there (cheaper too!). If you are only interested in getting optic heart rate without the fitness monitor, look up Mio link. It is essentially the same unit except no display and doesn't record HR but broadcast in ANT+ and bluetooth.Update 9th February 2016:It took a while but i finally gotten Mio Fuse 1.20 update which includes sleep update. I can say it works out well and it does measure your resting heart rate and 'sleep efficiency'. The only annoying bit of sleep tracking is the need to manually activate it. There are some night where i do forget to do it. I have added screenshots of what the data will look like.I'm quite happy with the device but the sleep update just made it so much better. The software update does include calories burn with steps. I never really notice it before but now my daily 5k walk to and from university add another hundred calories.

DESIGN AND CONTENTSThere's a quick start guide and the full manual is via the website as with most products these days.Fuse has a strap that uses pins you have to push into holes to secure. I think I prefer if it was designed to let you slide the loose part of the strap into a ring like regular watches.USETo test how accurate the heart monitor is, I followed the instructions and tested various positions along my wrist but haven't been able to get fairly accurate results. Best case scenario is around 20 beats off at rest. Running wise, it is still the same error ratio - 20 beats off.It seems to work best when the Fuse is in the dark which, makes sense since it's shining a big green light onto your skin. Would be nice if there was a way to calibrate the Fuse but, you can always just subtract the difference yourself.Downsides.It comes with a short proprietary, magnetic charger - have fun replacing it. Wire is very short so you might need an extension USB cable but, you might get away leaving it dangling from your computer because the magnet is strong enough to hold the Fuse.Maybe I've got a faulty product but the touch sensitive controls for changing the display or activating workout mode isn't very responsive. Sometimes they work great, sometimes it's just frustrating getting it to work!APP SUPPORTIt's come a looong way since the Mio Go App first started. At first it was practically useless because it only recorded steps, total distance (very in-accurate) and max heart rate - no graph. However, the Mio team seems to have been listening on the Google Play store. Now it does have a graph of your heart-rate along with route tracking (GPS optional) and even colour codes it so that you can see the changes in zones during runs.There's still room for improvement but I'm sure they'll come along soon with the on-going development.If you don't like the native app, you can try Endomondo Pro which offers a basic graph but requires a subscription for zones. MayMyRun also works but again, require subscriptions to view heart rate zones. Wahoo Fitness is subscription free shows current workout zones but not as a graph.Overall a pretty good fitness tracker and great on-going support from the Mio staff.