Really, if you’re looking for a fitness tracker as an exercise companion, the Alta HR isn’t for you. Of course, this is all made more difficult without the ability to use connected GPS from your phone. You don’t get any extra running information, not even estimated distance covered. I say this in the sense that you’re only getting a breakdown that shows the impact on your day in terms of steps contributed, calories burned and active minutes added. Being able to see historical data of resting heart rate can also be useful for keeping an eye on your general health and fitness over time.Īs for the automatic exercise tracking, the post workout information you can interrogate from a Fitbit Alta HR is basic, and essentially at the level of the Fitbit Flex 2 but with added heart rate information. The five-second refresh rate is fine for all-day heart rate tracking, however, and I found its readings were typically within 3-5BPM compared to other heart rate monitors I wore at the time. When up against a Jabra Elite Sport, which takes heart rate readings from my ear, the Alta HR often lagged behind. This is one second on the Charge 2 and Blaze, meaning better real-time updates, which is especially important for interval training. However, where the Alta HR differs again from more exercise-orientated Fitbit trackers, such as the Charge 2 or Blaze, is that the sample rate for heart rate readings is only every five seconds. This info is available from the Alta HR’s display during exercise or in the dashboard breakdown in the app afterwards. This is useful if you’re training with a specific purpose in mind, such as fat burning or improving your aerobic performance. Then there’s continuous heart rate reading during exercise – when running, for example – that will tell you not only how hard you’re working, but also which heart rate zone you’re training in. The fitter you get, the lower this will become as your cardiovascular system becomes more efficient. The heart rate monitor will also deliver your resting heart rate, which is a good indicator of your overall cardiovascular health. Of course, all this is augmented with data from the heart rate monitor, which Fitbit can now use to deliver more accurate calorie-burn estimates. You can also receive the usual move reminders if the tracker detects you’ve been sedentary for too long. So this means the Alta HR is geared towards the basics: keeping tabs on the steps you take during the day, distance covered and calories burned. So while I often wore the Alta HR in the gym, none of the exercise I did was tracked as such. It also can’t be used for multi-sport tracking as can the Charge 2. Since this isn’t an option on the Alta HR, it’s immediately ruled out for those looking for a fitness tracker to accompany them during runs.
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