Reviewer: Microsoft Band Heart Rate Monitor Is Rather Accurate

The Microsoft Band is definitely a piece of wearable technology that is worth your while in checking out – since it does more than just offer you the time, but will also be able to keep track of your heart rate too, now how about that? Fitness buffs would definitely love such an idea, but just how accurate is such a device? MIT Technology Review claimed that testing out the Microsoft Band alongside the Apple Watch, reviewer Rachel Metz claimed that the Band had “average heart-rate measurements (that) were consistently closer to the results of the Polar chest strap – sometimes within a beat or two per minute”.

The control was a Polar H7 Bluetooth chest strap that has been touted to be one of the “most accurate consumer devices for measuring heart rate”, and as for going off tangent, the Microsoft Band might have a bad day at the proverbial office by being off by “as many as 13 beats” per minute.

As for the Apple Watch, how did it fare? It apparently did not hold a candle to the Microsoft Band, so you can more or less forget about it being in tandem with results from the Polar chest strap. Metz claims that the Apple Watch “gave readings as many as 77 beats per minute different from the Polar device.” All in all, both devices should not be substitutes for a medical checkup or the proper, dedicated equipment, but they do give you a general reading.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: Microsoft, microsoft band