Review–Mio Alpha Strapless Heart Rate Monitor

So, I am getting this review out late enough that there is now a Mio Alpha 2, as well as a Mio Fuse, which are all more recent that what I am currently using.  However, I am going to review my Mk 1 Mio Alpha anyway.  Obviously, I cannot say how well it translates to the more recent versions, but take from it what you will.

I have been using the Mio Alpha for more than a year now.  For those that have not read my primer on heart rate monitor watch, the Mio Alpha uses an optical sensor to measure and track heart rate.  This is the same technology that is used in the pulse oximeter, aka, the little pincher contraption that nurses put on your finger to make sure you have enough oxygen in your blood. In addition to your blood oxygenation, however, it can also indicate your heart rate.

The Mio Alpha will not track your oxygen level, however. It is strictly heart rate.  It can track your heart rate in two modes.  First, a “passive” tracking where it displays your heart rate but notifications are off.  The second, “active” mode, you can set a high and low boundary for your “target zone”  and it will alert you if you go above or below these limits.

I find I more often just leave it in passive monitoring, mostly because the beeping when out of zone can get pretty annoying.  I have been at this long enough to recognize the feeling of when I need to check what my HR is doing.  You can also press a button to toggle between the time, heart rate, and a stopwatch if you prefer not to leave your HR visible for all to see.

In terms of HR accuracy, I have found that the Mio Alpha is usually accurate . . . eventually.  But sometimes it takes a while to get there.  Too much wrist motion seems to throw it off; not so much the swinging of the arms motion (like jogging) but more the wrist motion of folding clothes, typing, washing dishes, etc.  It is usually temporary, and rights itself once I stop, but it is pretty common.  I have caught some heart rates on it that I can physically count and know that the watch is off; I usually attribute these to too much wrist motion.

Also, unlike chest strap based HR watches, it is unlikely to catch the rapid spikes in Heart Rate (HR).   I know I can get rapid and dramatic rises in HR when I change positions, move my arms around too much, or sometimes even breathe deeply.  They generally don’t last long (generally under 30 seconds, many times under 10).  These, however, have proven to be beyond what the watch can catch.  If you are trying to catch every little (or big) up and down of your HR, the Mio Alpha is not going to do for you.  The watch takes several seconds to adjust to ups and downs in HR, and sometimes the spike is over before it can adjust.

Cold seems to affect the performance as well, though this is likely more me than the watch.  I know many people with dysautonomia also have Reynauds, or at the very least have some extreme blood vessel constriction/dilation in the hands.  But when outside in the snow, it did have more trouble keeping track of my HR.

Finally, I noticed one last issue with the watch, and it would probably not be a problem for most people.  However, I have the flavor of dysautonomia that results in wild swings in blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic.  This can result in pretty crazy pulse pressures, ranging from 60+ to 11.  While, in my experience, these odd pulse pressures are pretty transient, they really screw with the watch.  Not really surprising, considering how the watch works.  Typically, I find when my pulse pressure is low (indicated by a weakly detectable pulse) the watch thinks I have a really low heart rate (like 40-50’s) when I can clearly feel that it is higher than that.  While I know that the HR is inaccurate at times like this, it is helpful in that it indicates (albeit indirectly) that my blood pressure is struggling to maintain balance, and it might be time to find a seat.

Now that I have expounded of the flaws of the watch.  Let me tell you what i like.  I LOVE not having to wear a chest strap. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.  I can wear the watch all day.  It can still go all day on one charge, even on active monitoring, after a year of use.  No annoying rashes from chest straps, or having to take the chest strap on and off as needed (since it kept giving me a rash with all day use).  When it comes down to it, it is just plain easier for me to use.  The trade-off is that I know it misses some HR spikes and drops.  In the beginning, I wanted to know what my HR was doing each and every beat.  However, 4 years later, that is not so important to me anymore.  I mainly need to know if my HR is going high or low, and if it is staying there.  I now know that a 10 second spike up to 160 bpm is not really going to cause a problem.  However, if I spend a couple of minutes up in the 160 range, I know I am at risk of syncope or pre-syncope.  Thus, having the watch alert me to prolonged high HR is my early warning, so to speak.  Secondly, it offers a certain piece of mind, especially when out and about.  If I feel that familiar wave of light-headedness, I can check the watch and see the my HR is not in a danger zone, yet, and I just need to stop for a moment and recover.  Could it be a bit of a crutch for me, . . . probably.  But I figure if it helps me out the door, there are worse bad habits to have.

I am not going to lie, the Mio Alpha is not the prettiest watch around–though most HR watches tend not to be.  Even with the new purple color, it is still a pretty masculine looking watch.  Just comes with the territory, unfortunately.  Not exactly dainty, either.  It also lacks a backlight for checking the watch in low-light situations, a pretty annoying feature actually.  But I believe the Mio Alpha 2 has remedied that problem, as well as added step tracking, calories, etc. that many of the activity trackers on the market now have.

It also has the ability to sync up to your smart phone to track heart rate via bluetooth+.  I do not have a phone capable of doing this, so I am not able to keep and record my HR patterns.  To me, this was not a big deal as I was mainly only interested in real-time heart rates.  However, if this is important to you, make sure you have a compatible device.

Finally, the customer service I received from Mio was pretty good as well.  The charger for first watch I  bought had an issue and frequently refused to actually charge the watch.  After contacting them, they asked me to send the charger and watch back, after which they would send out a new one.  I had to pay return shipping (which was annoying) but nothing for the new watch.  Later, just before the one year anniversary of me getting the watch, I had a side button break.  Once again, Mio completely replaced the watch with the only requirement that I send back the defective one (at my expense).  Do I think they should have paid the return shipping . . . yes.  But in this day and age, customer service has become a rare commodity, so I will take it.

One final note.  As far as I know, the Mio Alpha can only be charged via a computer USB port.  I am on the computer all the time, so it is very easy to plug it in and charge.  However, if you rarely use or don’t have a computer, this could present a challenge.

Mio Alpha $149, available at Mioglobal.com and various other retailers