Today, Mio announced their newest product, the dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart optical heart rate wrist band: Mio Link. This new product is about half the size of their previous product (the Alpha), and transmits across both protocols. This is notable as prior to Link the Alpha was Bluetooth Smart only (they did a special ANT+ production run for Kickstarter, but not for full production). Finally, Mio Link, costs $99US – half the cost of their previous unit which was $199US.
I’ve been playing with the product now for a few days, and thus can give you a bit of an overview of how it works – though, I can kinda just start off with the simple version: It rocks.
Why’s that? Well, it’s exactly what folks have been asking for since Mio’s first generation Alpha: Make it smaller, have it transmit both ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart, and oh, reduce the price.
Understanding Optical HR Monitoring
But first let’s start back at the beginning though and explain what exactly an optical heart rate (HR) monitor is. These are heart rate monitors that use optical light sensors to view down into your capillaries and then read your heart rate, which is typically transmitted to you in beats per minute (BPM). While the end metric is the same, the measurement technology is different from heart rate straps of the last 30 years, which have been worn around your chest and pickup your heart rate electromagnetically. In the photo below you can see this green light emitting from inside the band of the watch:
Mio initially introduced this technology about 18 months ago with their Kickstarted funded Mio Alpha unit, which I subsequently reviewed once they produced final units. During the Kickstarter deal, they offered both an ANT+ version as well as a Bluetooth Smart version. However, after launch and public availability, they were only able to offer a Bluetooth Smart version to non-Kickstarter folks (Kickstarter people got what they ordered). As you saw in my review, the unit did exceedingly well for sport use – producing accurate data.
Following Mio’s launch, another company – Basis, launched an optical HR device, the Basis B1 watch. However, that device wasn’t aimed at the sports crowd, but rather more at the activity monitor/tracker crowd. For example, it worked well for the 23 hours of the day you weren’t exercising, but didn’t measure HR during exercise. Ultimately, it uses slightly different technology and algorithms on the optical side.
Finally, fast forward to a few months ago, and Adidas launched their Smart Run GPS with the optical HR sensor built in. That sensor was provided by Mio. And just like the Alpha, it worked spot-on for me as well in measuring heart rate optically.
Now, we find ourselves looking at Mio’s second generation product, the Link. As you can see below more clearly, they reduced the size by nearly half, where it’s about the width of a stick of gum. The Mio Link is on the left/right, and the older Mio Alpha in the middle:
This is an impressive technical feat, because the ‘enemy’ of accurate optical HR measurement is actually light. You need to reduce/eliminate ambient daylight from clouding the sensor’s view of things from the (green) light it emits. Thus far, from what I’ve seen in extremely limited testing over the past few days, they’ve done that well.
Dual ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart:
Next, and probably the most important change is the addition of both ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart to the unit. No more choosing between one or the other (or rather, only having one choice). The unit will concurrently broadcast on both ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart your heart rate. For example, this means you could pair it to a Garmin cycling computer (via ANT+) at the same time as an iPhone app (via Bluetooth Smart):
Using ANT+, you can pair it to as many devices as you’d like concurrently. For example, I did a test run where I paired it to two ANT+ devices (an Edge 810 and a Garmin FR220). The unit acts just like any other ANT+ heart rate strap. Which means that basically every ANT+ device ever made on the planet can talk to it (any Garmin/Timex/Magellan/etc… watch/device). I often hear from cyclists, especially woman, who have been extremely interested in Mio offering the ANT+ variant. This now solves that problem, and does it in a smaller package than the Alpha.
On the Bluetooth Smart front, it can be connected to any device that supports Bluetooth 4.0 and apps that support Bluetooth Smart heart rate profiles. On iOS, that’s the iPhone 4s and higher, as well as the iPad Gen 3 and higher. On Android, that’s any Android 4.3 device and higher, along with an app that supports it. On Windows Phone, that’s WP8 and higher, with an app that supports it (Handy tip: Adidas app on WP8 supports it).
Note that in the case of Bluetooth Smart, like most all Bluetooth Smart devices on the market, you can only connect the Link to a single display device at at time (i.e. a phone, watch, etc…).
Data Accuracy Samples:
I’ve done a few test runs, along with a number of hours of generic HR monitoring with the device. First, we’ll start with a nice 40 minute run I did. In this run it was paired concurrently to an Edge 810, Garmin FR220, and an iPhone 4s with the Wahoo Fitness app – all at the same time. Below, is the HR file from that run:
Of course, a HR file by itself isn’t terribly useful. Instead, you need to compare it to a HR strap to see how things performed. Below, is a HR strap worn at the same time:
(Note: I’ve slightly cropped the above, since the battery on my FR220 ran out three minutes early. This makes it easier to compare the two graphs.)
Now, you know what’s funny above? It just happened that this shows exactly why optical HR can be so handy. In my case, on this run, my legacy chest HR strap was funky for the first portion of it. It was reading low – about 20bpm low. I know it was reading low merely because I know my paces and perceived efforts pretty well. Plus, later when I adjusted the chest strap a little bit, it then immediately matched the Mio Link optical HR:
In the above cases, the extreme dryness of the air, and 17*F (-8C) weather contributed to the legacy fabric chest HR strap being wrong. I had waited too long after wetting it (since I was taking photos), and on top of that, I wasn’t really wearing enough clothes for that weather, so it quickly dried things below my shirt.
Next, we look at a longer run I did the next day. In this case, I ran for 90 minutes. I made an effort to quickly get out the door to keep the chest strap on-target to see a better comparison. However, the @#*$&#@ battery gods struck again, but this time on the Mio Link, dying about 8 minutes into the workout. Sigh.
For fun, I also wore the HR strap on my wrist for a few hours the previous evening – just sitting around, going to the movies, dinner and other miscellaneous activities (all, non-fitness). Since I hadn’t fully charged it, it didn’t last the full duration of the activity file. In this case, I paired it via Bluetooth Smart to the Wahoo Fitness app. Here’s the results from that:
As you can see, almost all of it looks fairly normal, and within 80-120bpm. There’s an initial ‘flat-line’ section there that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but otherwise, being up and moving around you’ll get pretty normal variation. The 145bpm or so spike also seems out of line. But then again, I don’t see unexplained spikes while doing sporting activities – so I’m not terribly concerned yet with it for non-sports activities that the unit doesn’t really target. And of course, we’re still 1-2 months away from the unit being on the market.
I’ll be doing a ton more running over the next 24-48 hours, so I’ll keep updating this section with new comparisons as I do it. And as I head back home next weekend I’ll layer in cycling too.
Other Functionality:
Unlike the original Mio Alpha, this doesn’t have a display on it. Instead, it just has a single status light. Honestly, I think this is just fine. The overwhelming feedback I got from folks is that because the original unit, Mio Alpha, didn’t actually record anything (only display of current HR), it always was being streamed somewhere else. Thus, there was more interest in that ‘somewhere else’ device and using that as the primary display (or audio feedback from a cell phone app).
The unit does however allow you to set zones on it. You can set zones in two different schemes. The first is a 3-zone scheme, and the second is a 5-zone scheme. Each scheme will use the LED on the front of the unit to indicate your exact placement within the zone. The unit does not include any audio or vibration functionality.
Sizing and Fit:
The unit comes in two sizes, a smaller one for wrists 145-187mm in size, and a longer one for wrists 162-216mm in size. The internal pod can be popped out of the rubber casing, thus allowing you to change the band color if you’d like (from white to black, or black to white). Mio says down the road they may make additional color bands if there’s interest there. The unit is waterproofed to 3ATM, which equates to roughly 30m (90ft).
You can see these two straps on my wife’s (small) wrists (she’s tiny, 5’2” tall). In her case, both straps actually did fit her. Though, the larger strap required it be placed on the absolute very last connection knob, so the smaller/shorter strap was a better fit. This is notable because the previous Mio Alpha strap was too large for her to use. Like her, I was able to wear both strap lengths without issue however.
Charging and Battery Life
To charge the unit, you’ll use the included USB adapter. The battery is currently lasting 7 hours in active-on mode (measuring HR), though, can last weeks in a standby mode (hanging out looking pretty) (Update: They’ve increased it to 10hrs). You can use any USB port on the planet to charge the device. The USB adapter in the beta version is about the only area I have complaints on (not quite secure enough), but I’m told that it’ll be fixed in the next beta iteration.
Mio Go Mobile App:
Lastly, Mio will also be releasing an App – Mio Go, to complement the Link. The app connects to the Link and has various fitness gamification scenarios designed around having you hit your target heart rate to progress through the app:
Since I just got to the app moments ago, I’ll be diving into the app more as part of the final in-depth review:
Availability wise, the Link should be available starting March, for $99US. In Europe, it’ll be 99€. Price-wise, this is fairly impressive, as most other chest-based Bluetooth Smart heart rate straps on the market aren’t too much cheaper. There’s only one other strap that does dual transmission at the exact hour I’ve published this, the 4iiii’s Viiiiva.
As usual, once the final unit is available later in February/March I’ll be doing a typical full in-depth review then on the final hardware (and any applicable software). Thus, like any other beta/pre-release product, things could change for better or worse between what I’ve written now and when the final device is released.
As always, thanks for reading – and feel free to drop any questions below!
Found this review useful? Or just want a good deal? Here’s how:
Hopefully you found this review useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.
I’ve partnered with Clever Training to offer all DC Rainmaker readers exclusive benefits on all products purchased. You can read more about the benefits of this partnership here. You can pickup the Mio Link through Clever Training using the link below. By doing so, you not only support the site (and all the work I do here) – but you also get a 10% discount on your cart – just for DC Rainmaker readers with coupon code DCR10BTF . And, since this item is more than $75, you get free US shipping as well.
Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I’ll be happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible.
I was all sold on the item until the following sentence: “The battery is currently lasting 7 hours in active-on mode (measuring HR)”. Sorry but that’s far from sufficient for long cycling tours.
Even for my day to day activity, I hardly imagine myself with yet another device, which requires charging every other day instead of changing a coin cell one or two times a year.
I too was totally ready to buy it today (if it were available) until the 7hour battery limit was mentioned. :( Still, for $99 and a whole lot less chafing, it’d be worth it for that 95% of training.
Thanks for your feedback. The battery life has been updated since this article was published to 8-10 hours with continuous HR mode on. We hope that helps.
I’d really like to wear one of these in an IronMan event but I need 10-13 hours battery life. Probably 14 because I need to check it and then wear to start line. When can you have that level of battery life?
George, you should probably look at the new Tom Tom Multisport watch with built-in optical HRM using Mio’s technology. According to Ray’s review, it has a battery life of more than 24 hours.
We’re continually working on extending the battery life of our products. Stay tuned on our Twitter (link to twitter.com) and Facebook (link to facebook.com) for regular product and community updates.
Scrolling through the comments and the review wearing the mio while swimming was alluded to, but I couldn’t find any specific reference to whether the mio was waterproof. So, let me ask: Is the mio waterproof? Can you wear the mio while swimming, particularly the swim leg of a triathlon? Will it transmit to a Garmin910XT while swimming? If you wear it during the swim leg will it begin transmitting to a 910XT as you exit the water?
Thanks.
I’ve never had any problems switching mine on after swimming. The larger challenge is to Garmin, to be honest. They advise that the Garmin does not pick up HR info when swimming rather than HR monitors not transmitting it.
My understanding is that the signal might have problems passing through water anyway, but I’m not sure.
Many folks have used the Mio without issues swimming, and transmitting to a Garmin device.
The challenge is that the Garmin devices won’t enable the HR profile within swim mode, so you have to use it in one of the other modes (i.e. running), so you won’t get stroke/lap type data if you have something like a FR910XT or similar.
The reason it (the Link) works is simply a matter of distance. You have to wear it next to the Garmin on the same wrist, as ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart only transmit about 1-2″ underwater. Hence why a chest strap is too far away.
I just bought a vivofit2 only to discover it wouldn’t measure my water aerobics exercise. I’m disabled so this is my main source of exercise. Would this heart rate monitor work for me?
MIO Global, I’m wondering if I got a lemon MIO link…my lasts only for 6 hours of continuous HR mode and sometimes even less. I check the battery life before starting in the app and it looks to be 100% charged.
Hi Kimberly.
Sorry to hear that.
Please email us with your receipt, shipping address and phone number so we can look into an exchange for you.
Thanks,
Mio Support Team support@mioglobal.com
1 877 770 1116
I was about to buy an Alpha until I realised that they weren’t doing ANT+ any more, this looks ace. However as Havelarr has pointed out above, the 7 hour battery life isn’t exactly ideal. Even strapping it on in T1 of an IM most mortals would struggle to finish before the battery died!
Any thoughts on whether the battery life may be similar to the MOTOACTV and there might be potential for extending it with firmwear updates?
As we mentioned in our response to Changren, we’re continually working on extending the battery life of our products. To date, the Mio LINK and ALPHA battery will last between 8-10 hours with the continuous heart rate feature on. Stay tuned on our Twitter profile (link to twitter.com) and Facebook (link to facebook.com) for regular updates.
The unit is waterproofed to 30m. I’ve taken a shower with it, but haven’t yet gone swimming with it (since my attempt today was thwarted by a swim meet). It will work just fine via ANT+ to the Ambit 2s (or any other ANT+ device). I’m travelling at the moment, so I didn’t bring my 2s with me.
Ant+ and BLE are both 2.4GHz which gets blocked by water so don’t see how it could work under water. Sure it won’t get damaged same as the garmin strap, but there won’t be any data.
This really makes me wonder if you, say, wore this thing on the same wrist as a 910, would it be close enough to receive HR while swimming? Would love to know if it works. :)
Still testing a MIO Alpha (ANT+) – second device as I returned the first one: not really accurate… I compare std. HR belt charts w/ MIO charts (Sporttracks & Trails plugin) — I can share the doc…
=> Do you really think this is reliable?
I mean: 100% ok on a spinning bike. Not always ok on running (often some HR drops, lasting from some seconds to several minutes or more…). ALWAYS KO for activities using sticks (ski mountaineering, ultra trail running…). Did you test trail running, or even using sticks?
I’ve done some pretty extensive testing of the original device and comparison of HR data across running and cycling, indoors and outdoors. Trail running and regular running. The same for the Mio variant inside the Adidas GPS unit as well, I haven’t seen any issues.
In the original (Mio Alpha) device, the only issues I saw were with my wife, because she couldn’t get the strap tight enough, so it giggled, thus producing spikes/drops/etc, and was generally not useful. With this device, she’s able to get it tight enough, but she didn’t have a chance to run with it yet.
If you’re getting HR drops on your Alpha unit, I’d really suggest contacting Mio support so they can help troubleshoot it. I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone ever getting multi-minute drops.
The french support team I’m in contact with is not really of any help, except sending a second device…
I think I can get it tight enough (in some case test my hand became red :-D)…
Did you test any activity with stick? I suppose you are not a ski mountaineerer, but maybe nordic walk?
I have smallish wrists, though larger than your wife’s and got long dropouts hillwalking, running and – less surprising – when doing any exercise involving wrist flexion (press-ups and weightlifting etc.)
I loved the Alpha but it simply wasn’t reliable for me, so I had to return it and continue with the Polar chest straps that very rarely have any drop-outs and recover immediately.
I’ll be very interested to hear how threw your wife gets on with the Link.
Awesome! cant wait to get one. I assume though it only streams the hr data. Was just thinking if it did have the ability to save hr data then after a swim you could at least download that info.
Great first review! I was actually wondering if wahoo was working on a dual band strap HRM, but this seems even better!
Has other above, I am particularly keen on it for swimming (more convenient than strap) could it stream consistently in Bluetooth Smart ?
By the way, I guess that the lack of battery life is somehow linked to it broadcasting on both bands at the same time, do they plan to allow switching of either of the broadcast (using it only on Bluetooth would significantly improve battery life)
wouldn’t this make it feasible though? If they can transmit about 1″ can’t you just put the mio right next to the watch and have it work underwater? it’s not like a strap that would be way too far, since both would be on the wrist might it not work?
I also find this an almost perfect HR-strap replacement option, but the 7 hour battery life is indeed not enough for those long bike rides :S If it had at least twice this battery life, I would definitely buy one.
I’m curious about the actual reason for the limited battery life of the Mio Link, and related, the reason for it needing to be charged by USB instead of using a coin cell battery. By contrast, the Viiiiva, which also does ANT+ and Bluetooth simultaneously, uses a coin cell battery and has a claimed battery life of “over a year”.
They key difference is the optical HR sensor. It’s battery wise “cheap” to measure HR on a chest, whereas measuring optically requires that nifty green light be illuminated continuously as well as then measuring what’s being illuminated.
That said, I had over 30hrs on the previous generation Mio Alpha units. So the significantly reduced size is likely the main contributor.
Note that Mio has told me that they are targeting 7hrs as a minimum/floor, but it remains possible it could go higher.
Ray – thanks for the clarification on 7 hours being a floor for them. This is pretty major and I think would be a useful change to the original review text. Lets hope its a good chunk more than 7 hours. Do you know if its set to auto turn off after a certain length of time with no HR detected ?
They wanted to stick with 7 hours. The reason being that it could end up getting 7.5 hours or 9 hours. But they don’t want to overcommit at this point.
I already have mine for nearly 2 weeks now. I do not have problems with the battery life, but the drop outs of constant heart rates to my garmin 310xt.
There every few minutes, the heart rate is not available to my Garmin for 10, sometimes more seconds. It is very irritating.
Another suggestions: Is it possible to invert the LED ?
If the LED just lids up every 30 seconds, you are getting crazy starring at the Link to see which zone I am while running. It would be nice if it would be constantly on and goes off when it measured the next beat.
Try wearing your Garmin o the same arm as your Mio LINK. ANT+ doesn’t transmit through the body, so if you’re swinging your arms while running or doing another activity, you’ll likely see HR drops. Let us know how it goes. :)
With regard to your suggestion, that’s a great one! We’ll pass it along to our Product Development Team.
A) The battery lifetime is really working as announced. I had my first ultra-run last saturday and was running for 9 hours. After that I forgot to stop the Mio link and saw at aproximately after 30 minutes it was still running. So battery lifetime of 9:30h is a real life experience on my side.
B) whereas I had no blisters on my feet (Thanks Altra btw.), I had 2 blisters were the Mio link was tight to my arm. One huge at the position of the “locker mechanics” and the other at the lower end of the Mio Link device.
Never hand such issues with a watch, but they are not as tight as the Mio Link ofcourse.
Out of curiosity, the Link is used with a wrist band as I understand that the light must detect changes in capillary flow. I take it that in that case, the actual unit is not limited to just the wrist? Could the detection module be popped out of the wrist strap and placed within an arm band/ankle bracelet etc as long as it is in immediate contact with the skin, and preferably in an area with low adipose fat?
Just a thought for those who may want to use a Forerunner watch without having a band in each wrist or two band on one wrist.
I’ve ordered a non-HRM FR220 (due to CT stock levels) and am looking for a HR strap to go with it. This could be perfect, but I do worry about the 7 hour battery life. In the real world, I can only assume that this equates to about 5 hours. I’m bad enough at remembering to charge my GPS…. and I just know that I will run out of HR juice far too often with such a short battery life. Its a real shame.
Does it do real HRV? Some of the firstbeat algorithms in the 610/620/910 need that data to work along with apps like ithlete on the phone. (By real I mean its easy to fake by dividing the HR by 1024 to give a value may be much more smoothed then the real values which would mean it would give useless HRV data)
Oh… I see… Thanks Richard!
So I embarrassingly have to admit that I 1. didn’t scroll back enough after I discovered your great blog and 2. obviously don’t read your reviews attentively enough – I know her just as “The Girl”… :-)
Mio just needs to have an “endurance” version with a bigger battery i.e. longer battery life to match for example the 20 hr battery life of a 910xt. I would definitely take the trade-off of a larger/heavier unit in order to be able to use it for races like an Ironman. They have already proven they can do the battery life with the first gen…
My Garmin HR monitor sucks. Would totally get one so I can have some more tan marks on my arm in addition to my 910. Although, a longer lasting battery would great.
No, the FR10 doesn’t have any sort of capability to connect to a HR strap. And the Nike+ unit is unfortunately the only one out there that doesn’t connect to any open-platform sensors (ANT+, Bluetooth Smart, anything). If, you had picked any other two watches out there…you’d be in business. ;)
Ok, thanks for taking the time to reply. I am looking at the Garmin 220 to take over for my Nike+ one. I just don’t like the idea of a chest strap. I think I will keep an eye on this one and I also agree with the comments about battery life. If they can improve that to say 14 hours I am likely in. Will look silly with 3 things on my wrists in the summer though lol.
But… wouldn’t it be great if they made it work with the Nike+! I think Nike needs to expand, just one HR strap option is just being silly. And this is a great opportunity.
(I’ve recently bought the Nike+, I was between that and the Garming 210, but I managed to get the Nike+ for $100 so I compromised)
I agree Greg. I’d be willing to compromise on size (a little…of course) if it meant battery life was ~ 20 hrs. I definitely love the overall concept and where this is heading. I just purchased the Viiiva this weekend as I really want the Ant+/Bluetooth Smart capabilities.
Add me to the pile of users who think that the battery life is a deal breaker. I have an original Mio Alpha, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve forgotten to turn off the HR functionality after a workout. Without a display to remind me, I, sure it would happen even more frequently, and with the Link’s short battery life, it would almost certainly spend more time dead than charged. I hope they can find a happy medium between the suggested battery life and that which would work for endurance athletes.
Interesting niche. It negates the need for a HR strap, but now you have to wear TWO gadgets on your wrist. Not sure I see the point. On the bike straps don’t get in the way, but running and such they would, but you wear a gadget on your wrist for those activities. I wonder if there’s an ANt+ pod or some such?
ANT+: To other non-wrist devices such as cycling computers (and the slim number of folks that want to wear two devices)
Bluetooth Smart: To both non-wrist devices, as well as phones. So anyone running/riding/etc with a phone to record their activity (which, is a huge segment of the “non-hardcore enough to buy a GPS watch” population).
Can the Ant+ or BT protocols store the heart rate data during swimming and do a batch (burst) transfer when it connects as your run out during T1? It’d be nice to log heart rate underwater without needing yet another device…
The protocols can (in the ANT+ world, it’s called ANTfs). And, the scenario you’ve outlined is the one most commonly used as a great use case of ANTfs. However, the key thing is it takes a device (such as a Garmin watch) to be told how to read that data stream. To date, Garmin hasn’t done that.
Ant+ doesn’t have that but could be faked as a file transfer but no standardized way to do it. BT 4.1 seems to have added that based on the PR they released but not sure how its supposed to work as I didn’t read the actual spec (not that bored, yet :-p) Don’t think anything implements 4.1 yet
Can you clarify this? Does the device store data and allow syncing / upload to a device (eg phone) later? Or do you always need an additional device with you? Thanks!
Message to Mio seems simple, get the battery life up to ~12 hours and you have a highly attractive offering!
Would actually be fantastic if it could transmit accurately enough while pool swimming. Could never justify wearing the HR strap while swimming (uncomfortable and looks naff) but this would be very inconspicuous!
I did some of that testing within the Mio Alpha review. While it technically transmitted, I saw too much interference/variability in the HR stability while my actively swimming. While standing still at the wall underwater, it was fine.
The simple solution would be to integrate the HR sensor with the logger. While it can be implemented as a memory belt on your chest (see Suunto’s Memory Belt), on your wrist it could be a simple watch with an optical or other sensor.
To be honest I dunno why the manufacturers keep on launching separated wrist-based HR sensors if they already have watches in their palette. I bet people would agree on getting a bit thicker watch as a price for its operability underwater too,
Are you planning on taking this to the pool to test out “water-worthiness”? It is an intriguing use case for me being a swimmer to finally be able to put a number on the effort in the pool during workouts.
Taking this to the pool would be awesome, but it would mean premature death for my Garmin swim, unless we got a firmware update enabling ANT+connectivity… Is this right? Do you see it possible/likely?
Ray…. having used the HRM/Run on your 620 for a while (with running dynamics etc.) do you think (aside from testing of course) that you would choose to run with this Mio band on one wrist and the Garmin 620 on the other and therefore lose running dynamics vs. the issues/less-comfort of just running with the old-fashion HRM/Run chest strap but still having the running dynamics?
For me personally, I don’t mind the HR strap, so since I enjoy the (rare) days where I don’t have to wear two devices on my wrist already – I’m unlikely to add it in. Now, I could be tempted while cycling however.
There is also the important aspect of if this will report proper HRV data. If it doesn’t then VO2 max, recovery advisor, and training effect may not work correctly.
? I don’t understand. Wouldn’t this device replace a HRM strap and all it’s functionality? What does wearing the mio on the other wrist have to do with anything?
I think this sounds like a winning combination until Garmin incorporates the technology into a single watch like the Adidas one.
Well, just simply having to wear two devices – regardless of which wrist. As for the technical side, yes, there are some items that both David and Eli have correctly noted, that are likely of interest to FR620 users (and some other units that use HRV as well).
I wouldnt like to see this in the watch itself. I tend to wear my watch on top of a long sleeve top/jacket and use it to hold the sleeve in place. It’s therefore not against my skin. Having a separate device on my wrist that would need to wear below clothing would be perfect.
Another potentially interesting device in context of optical HRM – ScoscheRhythm Smart+. Not sure regarding water resistance, but it has its own memory for “offline” data logging. Hey Ray, could you try to get that and pilot these two for us? ;)
Have you tried the Mio with the Sweetbeat HR Variability app? The biggest drawback I’ve found is having to use the HR strap to test HRV when I first wake up, it would be nice to use the Mio instead.
I use the free Cardiio app for morning heart rate tracking. It works incredibly well just using the camera on your smartphone. No straps or devices needed. http://www.cardiio.com
Using a garmin 910xt, heart rate strap is always a pain as I use gel on it and it’s fiddly when I’m cold as it can slip until a sweat builds up. Was thinking of getting the next generation garmin if it has optical hrm, now with this mio I can save some bucks on having to upgrade and just use the optical strap on opposite hand. Battery life of 12 hours would be highly desirable though.
I love how it is engraved “RAY’S SAMPLE 01”. I’ve worked with prototype/sample hardware before but never have seen it customized!
I too, would consider pairing this with the FR620 Santa delivered. The HRM Run strap is better than any other I’ve used, but still requires about 10 minutes of sweat buildup to work properly. I would have bought the Mio Alpha and used it with my old 610 months ago if it had supported ANT+.
I am thinking the same thing, I’ve been debating swapping my 610 for a 620, but hesitated since the 620 eliminated the small bit of cycling support the 610 had. Seems to me a 610 + this Mio is a really nice combo.
Similar to other posters and even using Ray’s recommendations to fix the problem, I returned a 910XT in total disgust as I wasn’t able to get consistent HR readings. Now, I use a combination of an Edge 810 and Polar RCX5 (with GPS unit) but have to contend with both units on the bike – royal pain in the arse.
This seems like a great solution assuming Mio could improve the battery life. A 910XT with an optical HR integrated would be ideal.
What kind of range does it have? Since I do not see the Mio and a watch on the same arm in the photos, I assume it can be on the other arm in the case of a watch or you can have a phone in an arm band or waist pack and still stay in range?
Very interesting device. I would probably use this to replace my Polar BT smart strap I use for HRV monitoring with ithlete and then use this with my Ambit 2 instead of the Suunto strap that tends to be difficult to nail down a solid HR during the first couple miles of a run. I’ll be curious to see how reliable this is after further testing! I get the feeling at CES next year Mio will be out with this device + activity tracker function like FitBit etc built in…
I understand the above comments about battery life from the triathletes and cyclists – but as a runner this device sounds like a dream come true! I love monitoring heart rate and pouring over the data post race, but the never-ending inconstancies I’d get with the Garmin straps led me to abandon heart rate altogether in my training. An above comment lamented having to strap another device to your wrist – As one that has wrestled with the chafing, ill-fitting Garmin straps for years, I CANT WAIT to strap a small unobtrusive reader to my wrist!
Agree. I hated having to lick the chest strap like a locker room cat. I also have a problem with acid reflux, and the chest strap can aggravate it. Looking forward to the wrist strap. In fact, I can’t wait!
Hi Ed
Sorry everyone else for the off topic and sorry for the late post. Everyone might have already gone home :-) I used to suffer re-flux, indigestion and heart burn all the time. Took medication every day. Then I read somewhere about apple cider vinegar being good for these problems. I had a particularly bad heartburn one day so took a gulp of the apple cider vinegar. The symptoms disappeared within seconds. I kept the $3 bottle of apple cider vinegar close by for a few months, sipping every time I had symptoms. It has probably been 12 months now and I think my stomach has gotten better. I average about one sip a week now. I look at all those medications in the pharmacy and think “what a scam”. Hope this help with your issue. I have suggested to a few friends now and I can report 100% success.
DC Rainmaker, have you seen the Epson Pulsense yet? It appears it will have constant wrist-based HRM with battery life measured in days. If it works during exercise, it will be a game changer.
Angel also promises wrist based HR with multi day battery life (think they were claiming 7 days) and memory on the unit so doesn’t always have to be paired. BLE only so no Ant+ :( link to indiegogo.com
I saw on Twitter that the Vivofit band will allow the Road ID tag to slide right on. This would be a nice addition to the Mio Link as well and would eliminate another band on the wrist! I’m with everyone else though, it’s a no-go for me if the battery life can’t be improved (minimum of 13 hours).
Ok, this is going to sound like an odd question – but if ones ankle is thin enough, would this work wearing it around the ankle? Perhaps Ray could ask the Girl/Wife nicely if she’d try the large size on the ankle and see if it gets proper data?
I wear my Road ID wrist ID around my ankle and never take it off. I’m not one for “stuff” around my wrist and probably wouldn’t mind a Garmin and this, but if I can put it on my ankle….hey why not!?!
Just curious. :-)
Thanks!
I’m not a cyclist or a marathon runner, so I basically don’t fit in to the same categories as the other posters. Right now, I have a desk job and my main concern in my health is making sure that I’m not consuming more calories than I am using and losing some excess fat I have, and monitoring heart-rate is the most accurate way of knowing what my body actually needs.
Ideally, I would want the battery to last a lot longer than 7 hours, but considering that it is transmitting Bluetooth CONSTANTLY, I’m neither surprised or concerned with the battery life, although it seems to be the most common complaint in others comments.
I would buy it today if it was available, does anyone know about pre-order options?
I apologize if I missed this in the review or in comments but if I don’t have a device to pair it with does it store data and then allow you to upload that data later? I currently run with the Nike GPS Sport Watch and am starting to sour on the heart rate chest strap. Looking for a better option but it seems the Nike watch will only accept the Polar heart rate monitor for Nike+.
Ray, is there any information or rumors, when Garmin will come out with the successor to the 910XT ?
With new competition (Polar) out there, I wonder what new features it will come out with. Would’t it be awsome if it included optical HR (like the Mio) in the watch
The Link won’t do true HRV. In talking with them this week, they plan to institute a form of HRV estimation, but at present the optical technology lacks the capability to get truly accurate HRV readings.
So you still have to run with a Garmin or phone or another device in addition?
That was my biggest problem with the MIO Alpha. That it was a great heart rate monitor, but it sucked as a basic watch. I don’t want to have to carry another device; I’d like it to do all the key watch functions and ideally GPS. And, really, I’d like it to not beep continuously while using the watch function if you’re ‘out of your heart rate zone.’
Hi, I am interested in the Mio Alpha but wanted to know if you had been told if the app will be on android or just Ios and also will the Alpha be able to pair with the app successfully?
Thanks for your efforts in your reviews, great help.
That app, I think they’re just looking at iOS right now, but I’ll check.
That said, the Link (and Alpha) can pair to any capable Bluetooth Smart app on a capable Bluetooth Smart Android phone. Thus 4.3 and above, with a compatible app (Polar Beat, Wahoo Fitness, are two that come to mind).
Ray – did you get a chance to speak to CT about the mini? Any further release date info on either product, or your ability to get a mini unit for review?
Hi ray.
So it should work with an ant footpod and iphone for treadmill use?
Ideally if apple would let the new nano’s have apps and bluetooth we could have music too and a smaller form factor!!!
The Mio Link will send heart rate (HR) data to an iPhone and any ANT+ capable device (i.e. a Garmin). It won’t send cadence data though to the iPhone (or Garmin device).
If you have an ANT+ footpod, that won’t send data to an iPhone without an adapter (such as the Wahoo ANT+ adapter).
Yes, it does/can. I’ve used it that way on a few runs – most recently last week when I left my regular HR strap in the back of a rental car after returning to the airport. :-/
Do you prefer it to a normal HR strap for running ? I like the idea of not having somethign strapped around my chest when I’m struggled to bang out an interval session!
(on the lost strap – I’m sure you’ll have a spare or 100 ! :) )
Remember it obviously won’t give ground contact time and vertical oscillation as it lacks the sensor and doesn’t broadcast it but also won’t give correct rr interval data so the data fields like VO2max and recovery time won’t work correctly
For me, I’ve long-since gotten used to the HR strap, so that’s not so much a factor. And honestly, HRV isn’t too much a factor on the other side.
With the FR620, i do however use the cadence within the HRM-Run, so that’s the piece I find most valuable, plus the Running Dynamics (even if I’m not yet 100% certain what to do with said data). While cadence on the FR620 can come from the wrist, that gets dorked up when I take photos/etc…
Oh, one thing I was thinking about during my ride today and your question – is that on the FR910XT in swimming mode, you don’t have the option to connect to a HR strap. Thus, it’d be a choice between the HR data in the ‘Other’ mode, or swimming metric (stroke/distance).
Damn – yes that is a showstopper. I was hoping for it to my solution to tracking pulse while swimming.
I have never gotten the Finis AquaPulse to stay put while turning in the pool even trough i’ve tried a handfull times with different googles. (Slightly used unit for sale :-)
I wonder if there will be a generic strap with hrm – kind of like one of these previewed units but with a mount for a gps unit? May be too big and bulky though, but would integrate the two devices.
I’m getting impatient waiting for launch… My Garmin strap worked loose today, and my marathon is at the start of April. I hope q1 launch doesn’t mean the last day of March! I may end up just getting whichever hits the market first, and living with poor battery vs the Viiiva
If they could give the capability to switch to only Bluetooth or only ANT+, they could probably extend the battery life by using only one transmission medium at a time.
How far does the unit broadcast via bluetooth? If I’m in a taekwondo practice and leave my iPhone 40 feet or so away in the dressing room, will my Cyclemeter pick up my heart rate? (It currently works at that distance with the Polar H7, but I always feel like a doofus or an invalid wearing a chest strap in the dojang.)
Generally not. Technically speaking the BLE spec calls for a min of 10m (so about 30ft), so the fact that you manage it with the H7 is pretty solid. Generally I see about 1/3rd to 1/2 that with most BLE devices unfortunately.
I haven’t tested the distance here, and I’d be hesitant to do so until final hardware (simply because things could change for better or worse).
My brain has a weird way of working sometimes ….. I was just pondering the ‘low’ battery life (7hrs? I think I’d be lucky to be able to go continuously for half of that, but I’ll accept that it’s ‘low’ for some of you super human types :) ).
I note that it charges from a USB port, will it continue to work (stay switched on, carry on reading HR info, transmit to paired devices) whilst it’s charging? If so ….. would it be possible to use one of those little portable battery charging units (the ones people get to keep their mobile / cell charged while out and about) to keep this topped up while still running / cycling along?
From MIO support:
“Currently, the only way to configure the LINK’s heart rate zones is through the MIO GO app, which will release initially for iOS along with the retail launch. We are unable to comment further on Android development for the GO app currently.”
No great shocks there. We’ve seen Garmin struggle with the Android bluetooth implementation – I assume Mio will face the same challenges.
On a different note Ray – how does the device show charge level? I get so frustrated with poor implementations of leds for this – good example is my ipod shuffle. I get a red to indicate it needs charge, but then dies in 10 mins – not much use at the start of a 60min run!
In general, doing point in time transactions over Bluetooth Smart to an Android device isn’t horrid (it’s not fun either). What’s really challenging everyone is the continual streaming of sensor data, or non-sensor data (i.e. live tracking). The stack is just really flaky.
As for charging level, that’s my singular annoyance with the unit. It’s somewhat similar to your shuffle, an LED indicator just before it dies.
Hopefully they can tweek the thresholds with an update. I would much rather have a battery warning at 30% (assuming = 3 hours left) than 10%. If you get less time after a warning than your average run length, then I can see myself having to charge it after every run just in case.
Hello Ray,
do you have any plans to review (even out of the box would be great) the scosche pulse monitor?
this one is ahead it seems and already available when it seems the MIO LINK wont be for another few weeks.
Interestingly, this company seems to be doing lots of products very similar to wahoo when they started up with their BLE HR straps or speed/cadence sensors, phone cases etc…
thanks
6co
I’ve been meaning to poke into it. Which exact model are you referring to? I only ask because their site has a bunch, some are more ECG style on the arm band, versus optical that this is. I understood there was an optical one, but finding it on the site is messy.
Well I was really thinking about the so called RHYTHM smart + that had received some innovation award at CES.
But it is true they do have others. I believe they are more like pulse measuring devices with arm band rather than optical HR.
To be honest, whichever way this goes, optical or not, what I find interesting is that we could get rid of the chest strap and still get an HR monitor that lasts a long time.
Mio presented above is pretty cool, but the battery is too short. We need something that lasts a year! And I understood that the scosche has no such issues with batteries.
For me, any wrist band, or optical HR, or else, that does the trick and with a battery that lasts forever and I am in!
By the way, it obviously needs to connect to BLE, to ANT+, to iphone and any other sportwatch out there. THe schosche does that so it seems.
These looks great – shame they appear to be out of stock. I cant find any reviews online, only press released with no real detail. I prefer the Mio approach of wearing the device on your wrist – the Rhythm looks like it needs to go on your forearm – wont it just slip down ??
Would be great to get a review Ray. I’m on the hunt for a device like this – my HR strap is starting to get more and more annoying. I spent the last 2 miles of my 20 miler trying to keep it in place – not what I was wanting to be doing at that stage!
I checked out the Scosche models. Their monitors seem all to be about communicating with phones and work via Bluetooth. I didn’t see any mention of Ant+.
Quote from their website:
With it’s dual-mode processor you can simultaneously transmit your heart rate to multiple ANT+ displays and your favorite Bluetooth Smart enabled app.
end of Quote
One of them is only ANT+ and the other one is dual Bluetooth Smart and ANT+
Looks like a good device but the reviews of their rhythm on amazon suggest problems with accuracy. I too think it might not be easy to keep it secure, especially under winter clothing or when sweating in summer heat. I think I’ll hold out for the mio link.
I’ve been keeping an eye on it. But, like all Kickstarter type projects, they kinda have to prove themselves a bit – generally in the form of providing a device (I backed Amiiigo as well), or hands-on time with it.
Thanks Ray. A bit of a shame that they will not get it out a little sooner. Has the $99 price been confirmed? Any news on the release date of the Viiiiva?
Hmm, hadn’t tried it on her ankle. I’d be concerned that getting good clean contact there would be tough (because of bones/gaps/etc…), versus the wrist. I’d also be concerned about impact to readings (versus insulated impact on wrist).
Thanks Ray – I agree on the bone issue but am still curious if it would even fit. I’d prefer to try it in the ankle instead of having to deal with a 910, a Mio, an event wristband, etc.
It would be cool to make a band that was even timing chip compatible!
Denise
Thanks for the article. Any idea if this (or the Alpha or any other optical heart rate monitor) interferes with a pacemaker or an implanted cardioverter defibrillator (ICD)? Thanks.
But if this product will work fine underwater during swimming I can use it with ambit2 or fenix2 for to send them the heartrate instead of a chest strap??
Hi ! Thx for your answer ! But also with fenix2 I will have the same problem of 910xt and I must choice between the HR data in the ‘Other’ mode, or swimming metric (stroke/distance)?
Garmin is certainly aware of how it works. Keep in mind, I suspect the reason they don’t enable it is because 99.999999% of users connect via HR straps. By allowing a user to connect a HR strap for swimming, they effectively imply that HR straps would transmit underwater (which they won’t). Of course, that won’t stop those 99.9999999% of people from trying and then being upset when people try and find no data, thus driving support calls and upset customers.
However, while the V800 works underwater, keep in mind, it’s not clear what metrics will be available on the unit, both at launch, and down the road. At present, it’s trending towards no swim metrics at launch.
No reason to test it, I can state for certain you can’t pair to ANT+ sensors in the swimming profile (for reasons I noted above).
As for Mio with the Fenix, I actually tested the Alpha with the Fenix already, and that’s included in the Alpha review. I’ll test the Mio at some point with a final production unit in the water.
I am definitely looking forward to the release of this. This on one wrist and the 910 on the other would be great. Heck, I could toss the Iphone in the backpack for live tracking w/HRM too!
LOL. I was just thinking that a lay person seeing you wear this may think you are on parole / probation with a monitor. Maybe they should add some flair to the case and strap.
Thank you for contacting us! We have performed some tests, and have had mixed results in terms of our optical sensors working with tattoos. Generally speaking, if you are extremely heavily tattooed–specifically designs where there is a great deal of black ink or scarring–this can cause problems with the transmission of the light underneath the surface of the skin. With that said, we did find several users who had tattoos who were able to get an accurate heart rate. However, we must note that these were tattoos that did not have very much scarring, and had some lighter-colored areas in the designs near where the sensor was placed. We would suggest stopping by a local retailer who sells the Alpha (or the Link, once we have released it to retailers), and test the device for yourself so you can ensure it will read properly through your tattoos. You can find our Store Locator here.
Please let us know if you have any further questions. We’re happy to help!
“According to Mio, its tracking is extremely accurate as well and uses a built-in accelerometer to determine your heart rate even while you’re moving.”
I wondered about this, but my reading of it is that it’s there to assist with accurate hr measures when the wearer is moving. It’s not something that will be used and available as a sensor in its own right.
Hi Rainmaker Just a quick question…do you know what the brodcast distance is for the link? From the alpha QandA page I see that the Alpha needs to be within the 1 to 3 meter range of your Iphone for example. Just wondering if the ANT+ on the link is the same or more flexible. I would like to have my phone off to the side in my gym bag recording the link data as I work out in the gym. Thanks in advance Rick
ps From what you know of the mio app…does the “roadtrip” aspect of it seem kind of cheasy or might it be of interest to an introductory cyclist lke myself.
Thanks …. just as a side note. Is the link like the alpha in that the data has to be captured as the activity is ongoing? or can the link transmit data say for example when you get home from a workout and come within range of your fitmness tracking device or pc ? Thanks again
Yes, same as Alpha in that respect. Except, with the Link it’s over both ANT+ and BLE at once, so you can pick pretty much any device on the planet (except a Polar watch, though, the V800/V650 would work).
Will the Bluetooth/Ant+ on Mio Link work as a bridge like the 4iiii’s viiiva or upcoming optical HR pod? With both being released within the next couple months do you have an initial recommendation?
Given March 17th production complete date, plus a few days to sort international air delivery, plus a few days to your local shops/etc… that’s a nice ‘safe’ buffer estimate.
I’m seeing this now on the page – but there’s no link to actual reserve. I’ve signed up for the newsletter, but never had anything through that route (not even to say ‘welcome to the newsletter’).
“Be one of the first to have a Mio LINK – Reserve today! Shipping in April 2014” link to mioglobal.com
FWIW: You can get the Mio ALPHA for 40% off with the code NEWMIO on the mioglobal website. I found this on the retailmenot.com site. (Don’t include the space in the code that retailmenot shows)
Hi Ray, have you tested the LINK in heavy repeats or competitions. When you really go to your max and your body stops supplying arms and other things (like brain ;-)) with blood ?
I could imagine there an issue with a unit sitting on your arm.
Yup, lots of short and hard sprints – I just haven’t seen any issues there (nor on the Alpha either). In general, it’s not arm-swing that impacts accuracy of these units. It tends instead to be cadence (looseness of the band), or light.
Ray…
Any further updates on availability of the Link? Mio suggested I joined the mailing list when I tweeted them, I have done but have never received a single email ! (junk checked..). I’m hoping they are still working to the previous schedule you posted – production delivery around this weekend. Have you heard any more, or even got a production version to review yet ?
Have you tested the Mio-Link with the Suunto Ambit 2 family and/or with the TomTom Runner. I need a new watch and want to buy one of these watches with the Mio-Link.
Thanks
Walter (Belgium)
Ray, I have been tempted to upgrade my FR310XT for a while now, but have been holding out for the next multisport version to replace the 910XT. Lately I’ve had lots of problems with both of my Garmin HRM straps. So, 2 questions:
1. Any indication that the next gen Garmin multisport will integrate a similar optical HRM tech into the watch?
2. Any chance Mio is going to release an HRM with longer battery life for the IM/ultra athlete?
I’m trying to decide whether I should keep my 310XT and buy the latest Garmin chest strap or Mio optical, or just hold out for the next multisport watch/HRM bundle.
Thanks! I saw your “Dash” review after my post. These are exciting times for wearable tech devices. I was at a pub in Boston on Saturday and the guy next to me said he works for a bio-tech company in the area. Neat stuff. I’d love to work in the industry!
Hi Ray! Have been expecting the link for quite a while but they keep pushing the release date forward. The latest was the 17th March but that’s been and gone and nothing happened. Any news on this Ray or should I go and buy miCoach for a lot more? Cheers! Zak
I check every day (sometimes twice!). They responded to a facebook question about it only being a ‘couple of weeks until preorders’ – that was on the 14th March. :(
Here’s hoping – but looks like I’ll be sporting a strap for my marathon on the 6th. Shame – but not unexpected as they do seem to have been a little too quiet of the last fortnight. To be fair they’ve never nailed a date to the mast so we cant complain that this has slipped – but they do need to update the website to make things a little clear. Currently states ‘reserve now’ – but I cant! :(
They seem to be REALLY plugging their other product at the moment, maybe that’s an indicator that they have huge stocks they want to shift and don’t expect to be able to once the Link is released?
I’ve tested the Mio Alpha, it works well while swimming if placed firm enough onto the wrist.
The problem is to find a watch that will record the HRM data while IN swimming mode. I get that the Tomtom Multisport and the 910xt do not while the Fenix does it.
Thus, do you know of any other watch that’ll record HR data while in swimming mode ?
Bonus : Has anyone tested what’s the best between ANT+ / BT4 to record HR with a Mio Alpha/Link close to a watch in the water ?
As with the tattoo’s, I haven’t heard of anyone mentioning problems to date here. Which doesn’t mean those problems don’t exist, just that nobody has brought them up. It may be worth a quick e-mail to them to see what they say. Given they seemed fairly honest in the tattoo case response, I suspect they’d be the same here as well.
MIO Support Team (MIO Customer Support)
Mar 27 01:54 PM
Hello Sowmi,
Thank you for contacting us! We have performed tests with darker/black skinned people. While the Alpha and Link both work in many instances, there are some cases where very dark pigmentation can cause issues with the optical sensors being unable to properly read the blood flow directly beneath the surface of the skin. What we would recommend, if possible, is to check out the Alpha at a local retailer near you. We have a Store Map on our site that lists many retailers around the world.
If this is not an option, you can also order directly from our site, and if you have any issues, return the device within 30 days for a full refund.
Please let us know if you need any further assistance.
Just as a heads up that as of a couple hours ago you can now pre-order the unit from Clever Training. As usual, doing so supports the site and gets you 10% off your cart and free US shipping.
Details for all of that are now at the bottom of this post. Thanks for the support!
I’m not seeing the Mio Go app on the app store, is it just not available yet? I’m interested in using the Mio Link for workouts to determine calories burned, any suggestions on apps which will work with the Link for this purpose?
Mio website says shipping starts april 10th. I had signed up with them to be notified as to when I can pre-order but heard nothing and just thought I’d check the website anyway to find I could now pre-order and pay. I’m in Ireland and shipping worked out free which is nice as I would usually have had to pay for shipping by amazon etc. Clever Training not an option for me due to import taxes.
Should we expect to see any lag in shipping time from Clever Training versus Mio’s site? CT says mid-late April, while Mio says April 10th. I prefer to give Ray the referral and buy via CT, but if Mio can get it to me quicker I may just go with them.
The units ship the same day from the same place in Asia, to separate distribution locales in the US (one to Mio, one to Clever). Mio’s date assumes nothing goes wrong (they have basically a 1-day buffer). CT’s date assumes something goes wrong. If nothing goes wrong, then the two should be equal. As is the case for all product coming into the CT warehouse, it usually always gets turned around the same day from the manufacture back out to customers. Especially for new devices or back-ordered devices.
Clever Training has always been historically fairly conservative in published dates, mostly because historically speaking most manufactures don’t allow for any slippage, which invariably occurs (as already seen here). Thus, this minimizes upset customers when they over-achieve.
31g for the shorter strap, 34g for the longer strap. These were pre-prod units, so obviously the final units might be tweaked slightly, but that’s the ballpark.
Shame to see they have hiked the price up to 150 per unit; thought it was meant to be 100
I’m out; just trying to make money
Will stick with a normal strap monitor until they get serious and realise they are just selling a wrist heart rate monitor not a gps or anything else
Showing as 118USD or 86GBP for me – with free delivery. 99USD on CT – but I dont get free shipping to the UK.
So for anyone in the US, usign Ray’s referal 10% off, its 90USD delivered.
Interestingly there is nothing on there about battery time…
Ray – do you know if you will get a new retail unit to test soon, or just a firmware upgrade to the hardware you have ? The release date has come too late for my marathon next week, so I’ll await your full review/testing before purchase.
When manually checking a pulse you usually rely on feeling the pulse of pressure going through a vein or artery, this type of technology can be used at fingertips as well so I’m guessing it optically sees the change in the density of the blood in the capplaries which are the smaller blood vessels. These capillaries are all over your body as they are the last link in supplying blood to an area, as such I think that if you can strap this device to any area of your body you should be good for a reading so any side of the wrist should work.
Looks like the sizing between the small-med and large may be different than your original review. Can you confirm? Just trying to figure out which size to order, Thanks!!!
It looks like I can order from CT for the same headline price as Mio – including postage. However, Mio will send from a UK distributor and so there will be no further tax charges for importing into the UK. Has anyone any experience of shipping from CT to the UK, and the charges that were added for VAT etc ? I have emailed CT and asked what they will declare the package as, but first hand experience would be great as there appears to be no consistency in import duties etc!
I’d rather order from CT and give Ray the kick-back, but only if I dont get hammered by big extras.
I’ve heard mixed in the past from UK folks. Sometimes they get charged, sometimes not. Obviously, from a CT standpoint their processing is the same, so it seems to be on the UK side that it varies. Perhaps, based on value. No worries, I appreciate the support attempt!
Its the least I can do….
The problem is that if you do get charged, there is then a fee on top. So you either pay nothing, or the charges + about 15USD in fees for collecting the charges! So it can quickly go from being a 100USD purchase to 130USD.
I’ll see how CT respond with regards to the customs declaration… and if I get it delivered to my work address it may help!
Note on REI: They are allowing pre-order as stated above. It’s the S/M size slate color model. Also, if you are a member your 20% off one full price item coupon works. I just pre-ordered mine.
Have pre-ordered via Mio (sorry Ray – ordering on CT would kill me with duty).
Used the code SAVE10 to get 10% off – code posted on their facebook page by another user and seems to have worked fine for me.
Just had a phone call this afternoon from mio, confirming my order and checking address details and to make sure id ordered the right size. Amazed at this first class customer service, really looking forward to getting it.
TomTom Compatability: I looked for a list of compatible devices on Mio’s site and only found a link to ANT+ devices, nothing for Bluetooth Smart devices. I have been trying to find out if the Link is compatible with my watch, a TomTom Runner. For some reason I have only been able to find information stating that the Link is compatible via BlueTooth Smart to apps, but not to devices. I just saw Ray’s comment above that it is compatible with TomTom via Bluetooth Smart but when I checked with the folks at Mio earlier today, I received this response: “Thank you for contacting us! Unfortunately at this time we are unable to confirm Link compatibility with the TomTom Runner GPS watch.”
Hi,
I have been mailing back and forth between the MIO global customer service and finally got them to include Sweden and I think all of the Scandinavian countries to their list of countries that they ship the Mio Link to.
So, to all fellow Scandinavians, the shop is open for business and it is time for MIO to take your money.
Ray
I read through the comments and didn’t see any mention of a swim metric watch that this will work with. I use a Harmon swim and I know that ant+ doesn’t work under water. What’s funny is I have an old polar coach that I have been measuring hr under water for many years.
Ray, with the Link going to market now, do you expect a revision of the Alpha next? Would make sense to add onboard memory, dual link, and more device based features?
With the Link going to market now, I’d like to see a revision of the Alpha next? Would make sense to add onboard memory and dual link. More device based features as well.
Awesome! I just wanted to say thanks for providing such a great website. I’ve been interested in an activity tracker and heart rate monitor but could never find a good comparison between the available models. I went into a sports store to ask questions, which they couldn’t provide answers to, but one of the employees (who is a runner) gave me your website and said that you would be able to provide in-depth information about the different models and he knew that I’d find answers to all of my questions. He was right! Your website provides invaluable information to those of us trying to get in better shape and trying to figure out the best tools to help us do that. On top of that, I ordered from Clever Training and saved 10%… it doesn’t get better than that. I’ll be sure to share it with my friends. Keep up the great work!
Really impressed with the review and the product. At $99 I think it’s a fair price. However, once again we Brits will be ripped off and asked to pay £89 ($140)……Same old same old.
Shipping is free, and you can use save10 at the checkout for 10% off. Even with vat, we’re paying about £20 too much. The code helps, but not that much!
Your recent review of the optical HR on the TomTom gives me trust to go ahead with that one. – same same right?
I am still interested in knowing more about the upcoming 4iiii mini HR pod.
Have you got a pre-release version? You know anything about it?
Are you aware that US prices do NOT include sales tax whereas European prices do? So that’s most of the difference.
$99 = 72.xx€ –> 72*1.19 (sales tax in Germany) = 86€ so the difference isn’t really that much.
Just noticed that Clever Training is stating that the short strap slate color is in stock and shipping within one day, with the long strap and white color still in pre-order status. Getting my hopes up for a delivery next week (since I’ve had the “in stock” model ordered since the day it went on their site). Looking forward to seeing the Mio Go app, hopefully available Monday.
No, it was definitely the Link, not the Alpha, and only the short strapped gray model–I still had the page up after seeing your reply, but when I refreshed, it’s back to the same pre-order status for all three models.
Just saw that the Mio GO iOS is available–I installed it but haven’t had time to poke around, other than to notice that there will be in-app purchases available, presumably to add on to the built in scenarios Ray mentions above where you try to target certain heart rates while riding/running along recorded courses.
As a disgruntled chest strap wearer, I’m just looking for a more comfortable/convenient device to pair with my watch. I don’t anticipate using the app much, especially if it ends up costing $ to keep it interesting, but who knows?
Would this work in very (very) bright sun light conditions (desert sun)? Have you tested it anywhere south and sunny? A large % of your reviews seem to be in overcast/rainy weather :-(
I’ve been lucky in having a fair number of sunny days over the last few months. Actually, way more sunny days than normal. I haven’t seen any issues there, nor in any of the other random cities I’ve tested it out in thus far (including Vegas).
The link gives nothing but hr. It’s a slave device that needs a partner to send it to for processing, storage, display, calculation of calories etc. There is no display on the link.
The Link does not directly, no, however, various apps that you pair with it (via Bluetooth Smart), could. Or, various other watches that you pair with it (via ANT+), such as a Garmin watch, could.
I was a bit upset at the high price in the UK so I used DC’s link to partner store in the US and paid with my UK Credit card but ship to my brother in CT (why didn’t I think of that sooner?) who will forward to me as “Gift” to avoid importation taxes
So I’ll have the Mio for just under £54 ($89) instead of £89($150)…..Happy days!!!
Their website says that ” Mio LINK consistently performed with 99% EKG accuracy, even while running and cycling at speeds of up to 14.4 mph.” I called and the person confirmed this. She asked if I was a professional cyclist, implying that most recreational cyclists are slower than 14 mph. Seems weird, did you test above this speed? Not really fast for cycling. I have pre-ordered and will need to cancel if this is true.
I generally don’t cycle at 14.4MPH. So, not quite sure where that specific claim is coming from. I suspect it may actually mean running at 14.4MPH. There are some edge cases in running that 99.99% of the population won’t see when your cadence is so high (usually at much higher speeds) that it can influence the readings on the unit from an impact standpoint. I saw some demo’s of it on a Texas Instruments chipset last fall, but I haven’t seen the issue on the Mio up to about 13MPH on treadmill’s that I’ve tested with.
As for cycling speeds, I’m generally at about 19-23MPH for most steady-state riding. Slightly slower on cobbles and rougher roads (15-20MPH), and obviously faster with a nice tailwind or a big hill.
Thanks for the very prompt reply. The speed listed is quite slow for cycling, but the comment is on their website and confirmed by phone. It’s about halfway down the page.
I think that’s just poor wording. I can’t see why speed when cycling would matter? If your arms are fairly static whilst you’re riding, surely the mio wouldn’t be effected? I can only see an impact on the optical reading when your arm is going nuts running at 14mph.
That’s what I thought as well. Agree, poor wording, also poor telephone support to not clarify this when asked directly. I’ll leave my order in place and confirm that it works at my blistering 18 on the flats (old and slow) ;)
I will be glad if shipping starts within april@all. In germany actually exists no merchant who has the mio link listed. So…I suppose they know why…may be the new “Tom Tom”-Models will arrive earlier.
My understanding is that shipping is being done concurrently to the distribution locales, and then shipping from there is done via when you placed your order (first in/first out).
As a general FYI, I received the production version a couple of days ago and have been using it. They did change the magnets in it, which was one of my complaints, to stronger magnets. It stays on the charger nicely now (before, I had to basically very carefully align it and hope nothing moved).
Any estimate of when your full review will be published? You probably don’t have anything else going on, work wise, workout wise, or other products you’re evaluating. Ha!
Like so many, I eagerly anticipate every review you post, and I’m amazed at how you do it all. Thanks!
Hi Ray,
Open water swimming suggestion:
You take, for example, a FR 220 under the swimcap for GPS tracking on open water, you can also pop de Link sensor out of the band and stick it to your forehead, under the swim cap, linked to the FR 220.
You would get accurate GPS and heart rate for open water swim!
Do you still have the Link units with you?
Can you try popping the sensor out and sticking it to your forehead under the cap to see if it reads your HR correctly?
So sitting at my desk I was actually able to very easily get pulse on my forehead from popping the unit out of the band. I haven’t gone swimming or running or anything else, but, in theory if you could secure it well enough (it has a slight curve, which actually works well on my slightly curved forehead) it might just work in transmission to a unit on your head.
I would be concerned however about loss of the pod, since it’s so small that it might easily slip out of the cap, but, that’s more a personal call.
I just got email from Mio Global. My Mio Link Grey L was shipped on my address today and I have even track number. I preordered on March 31st directly from Mio.
Got my confirmation too – shipped in the UK via Royal Mail First Class – so I expect to have it tomorrow. Yeh! :)
(although bummer I’m not running after tearing my calf!)
:)
Mio landed today – up and working very very quickly. Grabbed my HR in about 5 seconds, and my FR220 paired with trivial ease. Very happy!
The device itself feels very premium – the strap is soft and stretchy meaning you can get a tight, but very comfortable fit. My only very minor issue is that the packaging is very plastic – using a card insert rather than plastic would be nice, but that being stupidly picky!
Ray – there are load of complex featured Android apps out there for tracking heart rate and GPS. Do you have any recommendations for tracking just heart rate and nothing else ? In the past I have used my FR220 in the gym but as the internal sensor cant be turned off I end up having to delete the cadence track so I dont mess up my running stats, or leave it on the floor recording HR when I’m on the x-trainer.
It woudl be good to use an app on my phone to capture the HR track to upload to SportTracks, but I dont need anything else tracking. Will the Mio app do this ? At the moment the android version can only be used to config the Link.
Cheers Ray – gave this a go on the x-trainer and it worked a treat. Logged my hour with no problems at all using Wahoo, uploaded to GC and then across to ST with Tapiriik. Perfect and stupidly simple! Top marks to the Mio.
I debated about ordering from CT vs Mio directly. Same price for both ($89). Decided to go with CT because they’ve been great in the past. Just hoping it gets here next week before the marathon…
I emailed CT to ask and here’s what they wrote, “Based on the information that Mio has provided us we are still planning on shipping late April. It is very possible that the manufacturer is shipping before retailer however we will continue to keep up to date information on our product website in the availability section.”
Oh well. Of course now I wish I’d ordered directly from Mio, but I suppose I can survive another couple of weeks without it.
I checked with CT. They expect it to arrive from Mio any day now, as soon as they arrive, they’ll ship back out the same day. It could be today, tomorrow, early next week. All they have is the departure date from Mio (the 7th).
Mine arrived here today in ireland. Shipped from Hong Kong but no import duties payable, wish I could guarantee that for future Hong Kong purchases. Can’t want to try it out over the weekend.
I wonder if it’s possible to fit the “Road ID” metal tag on to the plastic bracelet of the Mio with a couple of rubber bands laterally across the top of the bracelet where it joins the head?
It would be great to only where one thing. If you’re reading this Mr Ed Wimmer, you saw it here first!
I’m afraid I beat you to this about 3 months ago. I’m sure there’s someone out there who was probably about that far ahead of me too!
Roger
January 7, 2014 at 1:50 pm #94
I saw on Twitter that the Vivofit band will allow the Road ID tag to slide right on. This would be a nice addition to the Mio Link as well and would eliminate another band on the wrist! I’m with everyone else though, it’s a no-go for me if the battery life can’t be improved (minimum of 13 hours).
Reply
I think I just use MS. Word, type a few line of my information, decorate with a nice font, print, cut and stick to it with clear Gorilla waterproof tape. Simple as that.
Still breaking in my new Fenix 2. But also breaking in an Ultimate Direction SJ vest for some long unsupported trail run. Had some less than pleasant friction and pressure today, on my 14miles. Had it been a 50 miler, parts of my chest might be rubbed raw. Love the idea of this type of device. I’ve had numerous problems (like many) with the Garmin HRM. Wish the Mio battery life was closer to 20 hours for two ultra’s I have coming up. that said. What are people doing. Wearing the Mio on one arm and the GPS on the other? or wearing both on the same arm? Can we get some photo shot of what a mio looks like on a wrist next to a Fenix 2 (or a 910xt) ?
Solved my friction issues with the Garmin HRM by simply sliding the chest strap up an inch… 18 miles with no issue.
Those chest straps just slide up and down! On the spot adjustments!
Last saturday was a rough “chaffing” day. The F2 HRM run, shredded the center of my chest. It was like a sunburn, you dont know how bad it really was until later in the day. I will need to skip using HRM for 1 to 2 weeks easy. I was wearing a Mountain Hard Wear shirts, claiming to be soft, seemless, less chaff. But I had two nasty chaff marks on underarms. Since I’ve worn the SJ vest alot, I doubt it was from that, so much have been the shirt. Lastly the sj vest must have bounced to much. as both collar bones were rubbed. So I had no less 5 “chaff/burn” marks. I am rethinking about the Mio.
Just put in my order at Clever Training. I will be using this without pairing to a watch (presently own a Garmin FR10) over the spring-summer-fall so that I can start doing HR training. The lights should do the trick for me.
In the Winter, I plan to upgrade my watch (Ant +) so that I can monitor my HR training through the watch that will be worn over my winter run clothes. The Mio Link will be worn under my clothes then.
I will have to borrow my wife’s iPhone to set it up though. Wish they had a Windows App for basic setup. Looking forward to the full review – hope it is just as positive.
I like what this device has to offer:
1. It can be upgraded with firmware updates.
2. It has LED heart range indicator lights
3. Seems to track well for long slow runs where lag is not an issue.
4. Has a nifty UI for treadmill workouts. (wish I had access to one)
What I don’t like:
1. Reports of lag or drop-outs from other users.
2. Mfg. states it should be worn on the same arm as the gps watch. (This was not my plan)
I thought I was buying something that would just plain work without needing to have a HR receiver on my GPS watch (I have a Garmin FR10). I was planning on just using the lights to tell me when I was over or under my target zone.
I did use it and I think it was working correctly but, alas, there is no way for me to really know if I have a dud or not. Thus, unfortunately, I will return it.
Mine arrived today, not used it cycling yet though.
Paired up quickly, and seemed to react to my movement much quicker than the Garmin HR strap.
Does anyone know how these monitors work? Do the chest straps & this Mio interpret the data received do a calculation and just send the current HR number to the connected unit, or does the unit itself process the raw data?
This morning was the last straw. fully wetted my Garmin chest strap, added contact gel to my chest, sprayed cycling jersey with Static Guard… and still, as soon as I went into aero position on my bike, my HR started recording erratically (unless my new Max HR is 248). I’ve been battling bad HR data for years but it’s so dry where I live in the desert, that there’s just too much static. So- I’ve gotta’ get one of these. Will order from CT as soon as I can find the $50 gift cert that they sent me for my last purchase!
Question: Has anyone tried to position it right next to their watch in the water- to see if ANT+ can transmit 2 inches? That would be cool to get swim HR. Unlike some watches, my Ambit2 DOES allow you to record HR while in swim mode… if you can get it the ANT+.
Got my Link direct from Mio to home address in NZ last night. Worked fine with iphone and 910 in testing in the house. Ran this morning with Link on left arm and 910 of right. Kept losing signal. If I held both hands in front of me no issues. So moved link to my right arm with the 910 and no issues after that.
Can anyone speak to what hold the “excess strap” to the band?
I near the edge of the short strap length and thus considering the long strap, but I’m concerned about the excess hanging off the edge if I have to cinch down the long strap.
At the end of the strap are two centrally pointing bumps that fit in the holes of the other side of the strap. This keeps any excess attached to the strap. The holes extend all the way to the body so you’d have have a lot of excess to exceed the range.
In addition, for cycling they recommend wearing it further up the forearm so it can’t be effected by wrist movement.
As regards the signal problems and the 910 XT I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the 910. Mine kept losing power data and to prove it was the watch I went cycling with my laptop and the ANT USB stick. I joined the ANT network and had installed the software to read the raw data.
That combined with data collected on my iPhone/Wahoo and the .Fit file proved it was just the watch.
In the end they said it was because I had it on my wrist and sent a quick mount kit.
I took the risk if using a laptop with a (cheap) non-SSD HD, which was probably a mistake as it died a few days later. Potentially quite useful though as each USB stick can do eight devices and you can use two USB sticks, although I don’t have two to test if you really get 16 lots of data. Not that I have 16 ANT devices anyway.
I got my Link today and am impressed with it. I have a MIO Cyclo 195 and to be frank it sucks, so I wasn’t expecting much. It seems well built. Disappointed the App requires a subscription charge as well, although I doubt I’d use it much. No obvious update firmware function.
Being red-green colour blind I’m not so keen on the colour coded HR zone feedback although if you cut it down to three colours only it is quite obvious.
I’m not sure I get the more than 12 hour recording problem. In an Ironman the device would be off for the swim so that would mean a 13 hour race. I doubt if you were going that slow you’d care about HR and even if you did I’d question the amount of evidence in how to interpret HR after such a long duration of exercise. And you’d likely be dehydrated which would put it up anyway. I find HR most helpful after transition anyway – to prevent me pushing too hard at the start of each section.
Maybe for Ultra-marathons more time would be needed but don’t imagine they use HR.
Been having some spiking issues with mine. I’ve tried it on various points on both wrists. Despite sitting still, I’m seeing spikes up and down around my rest rate of about 50bpm. Anyone else seeing this?
I have the same problem that canuk218 but with my 310 XT
I tried the link two times.
Yesterday with my smartphone moto G. No problem to pair (bluetooth) i used runtastic.
Mio Go is useless. It’s a beta version, You can pair with Mio link, adjust your heart rate zone and… that’s all you can’t use it to run.
But the morning, i paired the mio link with my 310 XT
I wear the mio link on the right arm and the 310XT on the left.
No problem to pair.
Before to start my training, i’m in the street looking at my watch and waiting satellites detection. My right arm wearing the mio link pointing to the ground.
When satellites are ok, il switch to start screen (with time, cadence and HR) and… NO heart rate detection…
I’ m looking at my right arm, I bring closer watch and mio link and Heart rate is detected by the watch.
I decide to wear the mio link on tha left arm with 310XT and no problem for 2 hours.
I tested again at home with 310XT (ant+) and MOTO G (bluetooth LE) at the same time.
when I put the right arm down my leg, i lose the ANT+ HR signal and keep Bluetooth signal .
If i swapped Mio Link and 310XT no problem
Interesting issue here. I am still awaiting the shipment of my Link so haven’t tried using the unit yet, but now I’m wondering about the Bluettoth vs ANT + issue.
I have the Forerunner 220 so I’m wondering will I be able to pair the Link with the 220 using Bluetooth or will it only pair with ANT+? Or can I decide to go either way with it depending on my preference?
You can’t pair to the Garmin using BT – only ant+. The issues with mine spiking seem to have been with the Wahoo app – I’m not getting the same via ant+ to the 220. Odd….
Mio Go application is visible on Google play store only for devices with Android 4.3 and higher. So I can’t find Mio Go on my Galaxy S4 Active (still 4.2.2) but on Nexus 7 2013 (4.4.2) is application visible for download.
Ah, I see. My Xperia s has only got 4.1.2 not sure if that can be upgraded? Loaded it up on the iPad now so will see if that connects via Bluetooth. Would like to use it at night sometime to see what my heart does when asleep.
I ran the London Marathon wearing my new Alpha Mio Link, hoping it would solve all my chafing issues.
I had worn it on a short jog the day before, and around the office, so had experimented a bit with it. I read that it works better slightly higher up the wrist, so I tried it higher as well as lower.
In yesterday’s marathon, the unit only worked when I actually pushed it down with my other hand – then it would read my heart rate. Otherwise it showed heart rate as blank the entire time. When I uploaded to Garmin Connect (running with the Alpha Mio Link connected to my 910X), it showed that it only read my HR those times that I pressed it down.
I had the unit strapped so tightly on my arm that it left an imprint on my arm for 2 hours afterwards – I could not have worn it any tighter.
DC Rainmaker, I would love your thoughts! I would love to get the Link working properly.
It’s hard to say. I’d honestly try experimenting a bit more to see where it works best. I remember that from the Mio Alpha in the first generation devices that there were certain spots on me that it worked spot-on instantly, and certain spots where it was finicky.
With the Link, it’s been pretty much happy no matter where I put it. But I’d still try a bit here and there. Obviously, you were time-limited at the last minute, but I suspect with a bit of toying you can find the right spot.
I had the same problem when pairing with the 910xt. Halfway through my run today I moved the Link to the same arm as the 910 and it was solid. I suspect that the ANT+ transmit distance from the Link is pretty short.
I don’t believe the vascularization in my left arm is significantly better than my right arm.
Took it for a 5k run today, my first time using it. I noticed that it showed no reading on a few occasions and that the reading was restored when I made sure there was nothing to interfere with signal between left and right arm. So it looks to me as though all is well except for the range of the ant+ signal and it’s ability to transmit through my torso. I see my graph look a bit more jagged than those from my chest strap on previous runs, something I guess caused by the signal being lost here and there during the run. Either I modify my arm swings to keep them more in front of me and less to the sides, or I wear link on same arm as the 910xt or else mio does a software change if possible to boost the signal strength. The device is very light, I’d have happily accepted a bigger device if it meant longer battery life and/or greater signal strength.
Tried to pair with iPad, no joy, my iPad (2) can’t see the mio link. iPad can see my Xperia s phone. My phone can see the iPad and the mio link. Ain’t technology great. I’ll see if I can communicate with the link on PC with USB connection.
The Mio Link won’t show up as a generic Bluetooth device in the iOS control panel. Instead, you need to pair it directly from a supported application. To start, try either the Mio Go app, or the Wahoo Fitness app. Both support Bluetooth Smart sensors and are easy to validate pairing.
And no, it won’t work over PC via USB connection – that’s only for charging.
Indeed I didn’t get any connectivity using USB to PC , ran the wahoo fitness and mio go apps on iPad 2 using iOS 7.1 and neither app could see the mio link? Maybe iPad 2 doesn’t support BLE? My iPads Bluetooth does work as it can see other Bluetooth device but they are probably not BLE devices. I ran the link last night during my sleep with fully charged battery and using ant+ connection recorded the output on my smartphone in an app. I got 8.5 hours of battery life before it powered down. I also tested to see if it could transmit the ant+ through my body to the phone and it seemed to have no difficulty doing so, leading me to think that my previous issue with occasional loss of signal to the 910xt means the 910xt needs a stronger signal.
Read the review again and spotted the iPad Gen 3 bit, so that explains it, the ipad 2 doesn’t do BLE. Neither does my Xperia S so the whole BLE is academic for me and its just ant+ useful for me, which is still great even though I can’t configure it. Hopefully will figure something out when they come to do firmware upgrades re battery life and signal strength. Always ran with a chest strap, feels liberating and almost as if I am missing an item of clothing running without it.
Got My Link delivered to Stockholm this morning and took it for a test run paired with my Garmin 620. I also wore a hr strap and my Polar watch for comparison.
With a normal pace for distance running, 4.30/km, I should have got around 130 in pulse. This was also what the Polar showed.
The pulse from Mio link instead showed 180-200 all the time. I tried to move it on the arm, and also set it tighter, but nothing helped. Sad if it it isn’n useful since I get allergic problems by the HR strap if I wear it too often….
Comment on My coment above:
Maybe its because I’m so slim. I have very, very little fat under my skin so on my arm where I wear a watch it’s literally only skin and bone – maybe allowing light to interfere. I try to wear it 10 cm higher up on the arm next run.
For folks troubleshooting use – definitely try moving it around until you find a good spot. In general, you can place it just about anywhere on the body that has easy access to capillaries. Obviously, the strap will only go certain places – mostly around the arms. But the key is minimizing light getting in, and ensuring that it doesn’t ‘roam’ around.
Charger should be revised. A lot of folk will have the main USB connection in some sort of a wall socket, perhaps tucked away beside bedside cabinet with lead about a meter long trailing to wherever they might rest their mobile phone while charging it at night. How about just putting a mini USB port on the charging bit so you just plug in the mini USB that you use to charge mobile phones with, no need for the novelty folding regular USB connector and so probably requiring a smaller piece of plastic. What’s more, how about ditching whatever iron is needed inside the link to give it something to draw the magnetic connection of the charger, use a croc clip charger connection like garmin 910xt and use the space weight saved from the iron to house a higher capacity battery.
I’ve been using one of these to enable me to plug into a ‘standard’ micro USB charging cable. I have loads of these for various other devices – so they are all around my house. A little messy linking the cables together, but it works fine and means the Mio charging ‘cradle’ doesnt dangle from the plug.
Agree that a USB micro connector on the charging cradle would be the better approach.
Also agree with the magnets vs a clip – but I dont think the change would enable an increase in the battery.
I used the LINK during 2 runs now and I also notice blank readings. It goes from a reading say 145 to blank and back to 145 again so no strange readings in between. I don’t really mind as long as the average is still OK.
DCrainmaker: do you have any idea about the used algorithm for the average? What is – in your opinion – the effect of the blank readings? Will it lower the average for the whole lap? In that case the blank readings are a problem
I also found that the blank readings occured most at the beginning of an interval lap. I tried other places but without luck.
BTW pairing was easy both with the 610 and 910 and with the phone for setting up the device.
Most times, the averaging is only a few seconds worth from the optical sensor. For HR readings though on a Garmin, I don’t know if null is treated as zero.
That said, I am having some issues with both the production devices sent to me. I’ve gotta try some different positions. I’m not quite sure why the pre-prod devices were spot-on perfect, but these ones are producing less than optimal. Trying to do some troubleshooting as to why since I’m wearing them in the same spot as previous.
I’ve got my Link on Monday and did run 2 times since then. I’ve paired it with my FR305.
The unit does fit well and it’s great to wear. And I didn’t notice any dropout.
BUT I have two other issues:
– the heart rate goes sometimes up and down – e.g. from 138 to 184 (and stays at 184 for a couple of minutes), but I’m running only easy pace. The chest belt for comparison showed me a normal and steady 145.
Then I tightened the Link and it got better – and for some minutes it seemed to work. But then it started to go up over 180 another time – just like a heart rate belt could behave in the first minutes of a workout, if it’s to dry.
– second issue is with slow updates on changing paces. I did some strides (sprints) for 30 seconds. The unit needed roughly 25-30 seconds to go up, so I was then in recovery and got the highest peak. After staying in recovery the heart rate got down after another 30 seconds.
@Ray: I know you mentioned, that with the pre-production unit you didn’t notice such slow updates.
In total I’m very disapointed. It’s just not usable for me for the mentioned two reasons.
I’m curious if anybody else noticed such kind of behaviour.
I tried to rearrange the Link – but it didn’t help. So again, I didn’t notice any dropout, so I’m sure, that I wore it correctly.
Thanks for your comment. I will check the reading again tomorrow. Just had the device on the same wrist today during garden work (haha) and it seemed better so I will try that tomorrow. I will let you know.
I had similar issue on the second day when i was testing it. I configured Mio Link with my Edge 800 and the Garmin HRM with another Edge 500. During my bike ride, heart rate reading from the Link was around 80 BPM while the Garmin chest strap was reporting a more normal 120 BPM. This happened during the first two miles while i was averaging at least 16 MPH on a relatively flat road. This was toward the end of the day, after the Link had been on for more than 7 hours.
Does anyone know what’s the significance of the double-blink LED? Occasionally, the LED would do double blinks. I have seen it in blue and in green.
I used the LINK on the same wrist as the Garmin 610 today during my run and everything went well. Not a single blank reading and I did look at the watch since I was training solely on HF. Excellent and it all looked very accurate.
Ray, what issues are you encountering with the production devices? I have been testing the Mio Link (comparing it with the old Garmin HRM – not the soft strap kind) for the past few days and these are my observations:
– Quite often, the HR from Mio Link appears to lag behind the Garmin HR. This is especially when i was doing interval training. The lag could be from a few seconds to about 20 seconds.
– Sudden drop offs. The Mio Link HR would be significantly less than the Garmin HR for an activity that i know that should be in my Zone 2. Eventually, the Mio Link HR would crawl back up to match up with the Garmin HR.
– Spikes. The Mio Link HR would spike to 180 BPM even though the Garmin HRM was accurately reporting my resting HR around 60 BPM.
– Battery life ranges from less than 8 hours to 9 hours and 20 minutes. I seem to get better battery life by moving it higher up on my forearm (away from my hand).
A multi device rainmaker in the making!! :)
I ask as I had issues with apps over BT.
Have you raised a support ticket with Mio? It’s early days, and I suspect they’ll be looking for as much feedback as possible.
Haha! I had to borrow my wife’s Edge 500 to make this comparison. I had a ticket opened regarding the double LED flash question. According to the Mio support personnel, the “double-blink of any light on the LINK indicates that you are outside of the target rate for that particular color’s zone by 10 or more heartbeats per minute”. Based on what i understood from the full user guide (not the quick start guide), i should only see the double LED flashes if the Mio Link is in Zone Alert Mode. My Mio Link has been in the Training Zone Mode and i still see the double LED flash. Basically, the LED would do double flash for any activity beyond the REST zone.
The issues I’m seeing are spikes/drops that don’t match reality. I’m working with the Mio engineers to see if I can pinpoint what’s causing the issues. Will be spending more time on it this weekend, but was consumed today with attempting to get across the Atlantic.
There’s so much comments about HR measuring failure :-/ It’s a shame for the second MIO’s product like this …
I have not received min yet, but I think I will try to put some single side foam tape around the sensor in order make a ‘gate’ for external light. Someone could try if it helps ? :)
A few people have had issues, but I think many many more who don’t will not post. I had initial issues with the Wahoo app, but they have a know that’s it’s on their side. The Link had been flawless for me.
I got my Mio on Saturday and took it on a long run on Sunday. Now, I didn’t wear an HR monitor before and have no idea what my HR max etc is, I just wanted to see how well it works. Data was all over the place, ranging from 38 (at 8 min/mi) up to 205. In the end of the run I did one kilometer at 3:50 min/k to see what my max would be, and it ended up being for below that 205 spike.
ANYWAY, two days later I tried rearranging the unit as Ray suggested. I now wear it about one third of the way further up my forearm. I didn’t have ANY spikes or dropouts so far. It really depends on how well contact is with your skin. Also, tightening it down a little further helped a lot as well!
ANT+ as well as Bluetooth connectivity is not an issue at all.
All in all, I am VERY pleased with the unit. After a few seconds of running I don’t even feel it sitting on my arm, it stays firmly where I put it. Totally awesome.
Hi!
I got my Link last Monday (shipped from GB to CH). I tried it twice yet with Runtastic (Iphone) and it works well. I sold my Mio Alpha 2 weeks ago. Actually I can’t see any diffenrences concerning the HR-values.
One question about “Mio Go”: there isn’t any possibility to edit the runs or look at them on a website, is it? MioGlobal has now such website, right?
hi
I’m a cyclist. I use edge 800, sometimes IPhone 5 or Vivofit and i will buy the new Polar V800 in a few weeks.
Sorru, my English is not perfect and i’m not sure to understand anything.
Will the Mio give me the reading of heartbeat for the 3 units ? Otherwise, can i use my Edge 800, Polar V800 and vivofit together, with the Mio at the wrist without any chest strap ?
Got mine yesterday. Works well. Connectivity is a little strange. The mio signal seems
to be weaker than other ant+ devices. My fr220 loses contact if I wear the link on my right arm.
My fenix has no problems receiving the signal from the other arm.
Hello all,
I have been waiting for a product like the Mio Link for ages. Chest straps are so uncomfortable, and to have something that might actually record heart rate accurately while I swim would be about one step short of a miracle at this point. Given that last point, I have a question: If bluetooth is being used as the connection, will the link transmit to an iphone/ipod touch being worn in a waterproof case (H2Audio)? What about to a device in a bag on the pool deck? I guess what I am asking is does anyone know the range of the Link when it is paired with a Bluetooth device? Any and all information is greatly appreciated!
sounds like it barely works at all! Shame. I was ready to buy one, but now I’m reading all these negative reviews. I’m so sick of battling static electricity interference. (it’s really dry where I live)
Has anyone yet tried placing it right next to their 910, Fenix, Ambit or TomTom in the pool- to see if ANT+ (or BT in the case of the TomTom) can transmit 2 inches under water?
USING YOUR MIO LINK IN WATER
• Mio LINK is water-resistant and can be worn while swimming.
• Important: Do not press the Button under water.
• The accuracy of the heart rate monitor might be reduced in cold water or if you are using large arm movements.
• Do not wear your LINK while diving.
• RF transmission does not work under water.
• After swimming, remove the LINK strap from the main unit. Rinse both with tap water and dry with a soft cloth.
I worked for Seiko Watches for ten years and the minimum water resistant capability required for swimming was 5 Bar or 50 metres, preferably with a screw watch back.
3 Bar is not enough, you can replicate 3 Bars of pressure simply by pouring water from a height of 1 metre over the face of the unit.
If you use it whilst swimming you’ll not have it very long!
Just to off-set some of the negative comments, I have found the Mio Link to be fantastic. I wear it slightly above the wrist bone and pair it with an FR910XT on the other arm – no connection issues at all… and I’ve done my best to put it through its paces. Running, cycling, rowing and the odd cardio circuit at the gym – no drop-outs, no random spikes. It just works well. I’m wrapped with the purchase and have already converted a few long term chest strap using colleagues. Two thumbs up.
I just got mine and are having big problems with the connection. It keeps loosing connection with my FR610 if I use it on the other arm but if it’s worn on the same arm it works flawlessly. Really annoying to be honest. I’ll try it with my Fenix 2 later today and see if I can get a better result.
Well a 90 miles of riding, I have discovered for me it works better on my right arm than my left, it works better for me cycling nearer the wrist bone than it does higher, this is contrary to advice given by Mio but on a road bike on the hoods I do not think there is much wrist movement anyway!
My only gripe is the update lag, during heavy efforts my heart rate is stable then after 30-45 seconds or more in to the effort (hills etc.) it leaps up to where I would expect it to be. And on short time efforts it seems to pick up the drop in HR much quicker than it picks up the increase. This must have a negative impact on HR average.
I can only think the lag is either how often it sends data to a device or the algorithm struggles with a rapid change in HR
Does a standard ANT+ monitor behave any better for you in the same workout ? Could it be smoothing on the master device that causes the delay in change ?
I noticed a small delay on mine yesterday when the ‘handle grip’ heart rate measure on the x-trainer I was using would raise quicker than the iCardio measure coming from the Mio. I’ve not tested it alongside a chest strap – and cant be sure which method if the most accurate.
I generally do intervals by pace or time, and not heart rate – so a short delay from the Mio isnt the end of the world for me.
Does anyone else find that the module itself pops out of the strap a little too easily ? It obviously wont fall out when in use, but its almost fallen out a few times when I’ve been taking it in/out of my bag or just generally fiddling with it. These types of things are often hard to get out – but this feels little too easy.
The Mio seems to lag then suddenly play catch up by adding 5-12 beats every second or so.
Not seen that on a chest strap, but as you say maybe smoothing algorithm on Chest straps which kind of answers an earlier question the device picking up the heart rate is doing all the work and sending the head unit a plain figure
Have you raised a support request with Mio ? It would be good to get clarification on any smoothing that they apply to the Mio’s output to the master unit.
just got mine. seems great. not yet tested accuracy properly but superficially looks OK. not tested BLE & ANT+ simultaneously either (and maybe never will!!)
Seems to be a problem with RANGE. only works on same arm as receiving device. having on different arm to a watch (910XT) gives lots of wrong readings
It does transmit a signal underwater as well but only for a few cms and the signal/HR received is WAY wrong. So it’s not for swimming. But TBH I like it.
I’m going to talk to myself here and contradict myself. I just tried this swimming with 910XT and Link on same wrist and this image shows there’s definitely a reasonable signal picked up for the entire hour session: link to the5krunner.files.wordpress.com
“Only works on [the] same arm as [the] receiving device.” Shame, I was thinking getting one as an alternative to the chest strap on my e.g. Garmin. My thinking was that if you could wear one device on each wrist that would kind of balance out? I’m hoping the MiCoach comes along farther in the next year though…
Went for another run today, second one with link. Previous issue was drop of signal. Today seemed oK, signal drop only noticed at end of run when walking and arms moreso at sides when walking. Sure enough when I copped that it had lost signal I moved my arms to a position where they (link and 910XT) could see each other and signal was restored. Did think of moving link to same arm as watch but looking at graphs reading is pretty smooth. A great little device, which while not perfect will transform the way I run or more transform my attire too as I used to wear a compression top partly in order to stop the chest strap sliding down.
diffierents test and same conclusion. I can’t wear the mio link on my right arm and connect my 310XT on left arm. I loose connection. It’s amazing !!
I asked Mio and they answered :
__________________________
Thank you for contacting us! We are sorry to hear you are having these issues. We recognize it is an inconvenience and do hope to release a firmware update to resolve the matter in the future.
____________________________
PS : i hope they will quick release a good version of ” Mio Go” because the beta android App is uselless.
What a bummer using the Link. I’ve taken it for a couple of runs now and wasn’t happy at all with the result. I wore it on the same arm as my Fenix 2 and moved positions a few times. The data was good off and on but not consistent at all. I contacted tech support and got the same reply as the previous comment. I told them it was a bit nebulous of a response for me and asked for an RMA and a refund.
Can’t help but notice that people are judging how the apps work and not the unit. The band reports accurate hr Ones from the multi colored light. The apps seem to report differences. Never been confirmed to be caused by the band.
I think your observation is off. Most of those who are having issues with the Mio Link are having problems with the device itself not providing consistent HR. They are not having problem with the apps.
Hi, I was wondering if the Mio can be used with app or softwares that monitor the “heart rate variability’.
I have a “First Beat” app that work great on iPad with a Whaoo Ant+ adapter and a Garmin strap.
Can I subistitute them with this Mio?
Thanks!
Got mine in today. From a quick test in the office it seems to lag behind my chest strap by as much as 10 seconds. I’ll give it a shot on the bike later and compare files from the mio and a garmin chest strap.
My two cents after having the Link for a couple of hours. I tried programming the unit with my iPhone and got very frustrated After two calls to tech support I resolved my own issue. That is when you enter HR zones start from the top zone and go down.I tried from the bottom up as I was reading from a printed sheet and the software kept freezing at zone 4. FWIW: I connected the Link to my Android tablet and found the interface much easier and less buggy. I’ll hit the treadmill later and see how it works. Endomondo seems to have no issue with it.
I paired it with my vivofit and my mapmywalk (iphone) simultaneously without a problem.
Here are my thoughts and impressions (and issues)
First the mio
the bands run small to keep that in mind i can fit in the small band or 4/5 hole on the large band and i just fit in the sm/med mio band
it pairs with both smart bluetooth and ant+ simultaneously (major bonus)
it’s very comfortable – i did move it because i thought it was slipping but way better then something on my chest!
now the vivofit
i thought it had to stay on heart rate .. i didn’t know if the heart was flashing it was still working (apparently reading the manual is a good thing LOL)
it tracked perfectly from what i can tell (except when i thought they disconnected because the heart screen was blank or back on steps) … i have to double check this tomorrow
the beats it traced aligned perfectly with mapmywalk
mapmywalk
does not sync to garmin (it should link like fitbit) it’s a good thing those fitbits were recalled! HINT GARMIN…
tracked the mio heart monitor perfectly
i upgraded for free for one month to vip .. and it broke out how long in each heart zone.
overall ..
i like the mio, but wish i got the large
Couldn’t agree more about the sizing. The Small/Medium tricked me… should have just called it Small and the other Large. I contacted them cause I’m on the 2nd to last set of holes. They are sending me a large band! I took your suggestion and used it with MapMyRun… Awesome! Seems to be so much more accurate than my treadmill heart rate monitor. Really happy so far and very comfortable! Can’t wait to pair it to my pre-ordered Polar V800! Thanks DC for your wonderful informative reviews!
okay now me ;] tested it for last 4 days in running, tennis and football. I paired it with my Fenix 2. Tried on same hand as watch and on other hand. I noticed it is little bit laggy (about 5-7 seconds lag when slowing down or accelerating) and wearing on same hand as watch seems to be more stable…but even wearing at other hand it was fine. just see that its better detailed (and maybe smaller delay ? not sure yet). assuming i am happy with it. hope the ll fix it all with next update (if updating is possible :-) )
@Ray: Do you see regular dropouts when you wear the link on the other arm?
There were a couple of comments that Mio is working on a software update. Can you confirm this?
Thanks. A shame that the production units are worse than your pre production one.
I’ve been using two Link’s, one worn on each arm. Data inconsistent on both. Usually on one arm is a watch, and one arm is ’empty’. Another nearly 3hr run in the morning, so we’ll see how it goes again.
Since then I’ve done a treadmill run, trainer ride, outdoor run and ride with the device as well as some wearing ‘just around’. The device and concept sure seems cool, but so far I’m wildly disappointed.
The data on my first use seemed so random and likely off that I started wearing a Garmin strap at the same time (and recording both). During each activity with both recording I noted vast differences.
For my trainer ride I saw decent data roughly 50% of the time! otherwise it was off…
During my runs it was fairly consistent, but high by 25-30 bpm. (Not just spikes, just seemed offset).
During warmup for both riding and running I noted it initially dropped from 70s to 50s before climbing above my actual rate. If it were 2-3 bpm I may deal with it, but so far it is so wrong and so often that I can’t see how I could rely on it at all.
I’ve tried a few tightness settings and also different spots on each arm, really nothing has been an obvious help. Plus if I’m constantly worried about wrist flexion, grip on bars, and general device placement, that’s kind of a bummer!
So far I’ve emailed support. I haven’t heard back yet but it appears that mine is likely headed back given my experiences so far.
I am having the same experience that you are. Sometimes it will read right and then other times it will be all over the place. It seems to read low about 50% of the time. Also when I stop for a couple minutes it takes it a while to get back to reading right even if I am going really hard. The other problem I have seen is it does not read high intensity efforts well at all. I know HR has a lag but if I am working super hard for 1-2 minutes it should not be reading in the low 100s the entire time.
Tonight I tried the inside of my arm, ~1/2 way up my forearm. Maybe not quite halfway, but it was up there! I think I could have put 2 watches between it and my wrist. My 610 was on the same arm — at the wrist.
This time the readings were much closer to my HR strap. Generally within 1-2 bpm, although on a short hard effort there was a ~10 second lag. I also noted almost 50 seconds of “startup” delay when I initially started running.
Unfortunately I don’t think I can keep running with it in this position! At mile ~2.6 I could feel the mio wiggling and starting to move. I looked down and could see marks from where it was initially (I guess it was tight enough to leave that), but it had moved 1/2″ down my arm. I pushed it up, but by 3 miles it was moving down again — very annoying.
I plan to give it another shot in a few more locations, and have hopes they will release some form of update to improve things.
Had my Link for a week or so and have used it both with my Garmin Edge 800 and Forerunner 610. It is has been simple to pair. I have used it in a Criterium and a time trial, as well as a spin class. The only issue seems to be a lag in starting up in a race. The heart rate seems to be about 40 bpm under, then bumps up to a correct level. I might need to wear it tighter. The other thing I am keen to test it against is the Kessler Exercise bikes in the gym, which use Bluetooth. The Link is so much more comfortable to use, compared to a heart rate strap. So much so, my girlfriend has just placed her order!!!
For those who don’t want to give up on it yet, try putting the sensor on the other side of the wrist, the side where you would take your pulse. I did this because it follows the contour of the sensor better. I found that this made a huge difference, even at really high intensities.
I used my Mio LInk with Wahoo Fitness app on Android 4.4.2 – Nexus 5. During the 11.1 miles run the Mio Link loss connect to Wahoo Fitness at least 10 times. I had to push the button on/off to restart it. At the end of the run, after I stopped it, the summary page of Wahoo Fitness app show average 0 heart beat, basically there was no heart beat recorded the whole time. It works fine with my Suunto Ambit at the same time. This morning I tried it with Garmin 810 , and worked great. In term of Wahoo Fitness, I am not sure what was wrong, but I will try it with Run Keeper or Mapmyrun next .
The strap is very comfortable. I am happy overall.
A 63 km race today, sitting on about 35 kmh and the Mio did not hit its straps for 15 minutes, but then was completely “on song” for the rest of the 1 hour 58 min duration. I get my power from the Vector, so it is not too big a deal. Apart from that, the gain from not wearing a chest strap makes the Mio well worth the cost.
Jason Silvers replied
April 20, 2014 at 5:50 pm #471
Tim,
“The other problem I have seen is it does not read high intensity efforts well at all. I know HR has a lag but if I am working super hard for 1-2 minutes it should not be reading in the low 100s the entire time.”
+1
its very annoying when doing workouts with short max sprints. its just not getting my HR even if i run on my max speed. (i do short 20s sprints and link never got destiny HR because of this lag/bug) :(
Joe
April 20, 2014 at 2:20 pm #473
For those who don’t want to give up on it yet, try putting the sensor on the other side of the wrist, the side where you would take your pulse. I did this because it follows the contour of the sensor better. I found that this made a huge difference, even at really high intensities.
-wow. it might be nice idea. thanks Joe. I ll try it today for sure and say if really works here.
Thanks for the in depth review, got my Mio Link last week. after all the research and reading your blog got it to pair with my Samsung active 4s with Endomondo for a spin class and a run outside. worked great! I did have to shift the band up my wrist high up abit to get the proper HR (I’m 5’2″ with a small wrist like The Girl). so happy since i can never wear any chest strap they give me bad skin rash. FINALLY i have heart rate info for my workout! Thanks :)
I’ve had good luck with the Link. Paired quickly and easily with the fr220. No connectivity issues at all wearing the Link on the right arm and fr220 on the left.
I did have an issue with wildly erratic readings at first. Had to tighten the Link one notch beyond snug to get it seal properly. Once I did that the readings have been right where they should be and very consistent.
A good test is to wear the Link in a dark room and check if any green light is leaking out when you move your arm around. I could only see a tiny bit leaking out before I tightened it, but it was enough to teally mess up the readings.
Got the Link in the mail today from Clever Training. Went on a short run with it. Very well designed and very comfortable. Most definitely a step in the right direction from a chest strap. However, some possibly erratic readings from the run. I don’t want to judge too much just yet without using it more. Sitting in the office with an fr305 mated to a Garmin heart rate strap and the Link mated to a Fenix it shows erratic readings for a little after startup but seems to settle down. Having the Link snug does appear to help. Don’t let any light shine from under the strap. The Fenix poses a problem as well. With the 305 you can just sit for hours and watch your heart rate. Then Fenix, without turning on the gps, wants to go back to the home (time) screen after a couple minutes. On one occasion, as I am writing this, the Link and Fenix showed heart rate at 95 while the 305 and age old heart rate strap churns steadily along at 47-49 bpm. I’m not too upset as I hate chest straps but beginning to appear that, for the absolute best data, you must go with the tried and true strap.
P.S. My run was with the Link mated to the fr305. The 305 on my left arm and the Link on my right with the sensor under my wrist. At least while sitting in the office, it doesn’t appear to matter whether the sensor is located on the top or on the bottom of the wrist. More erratic readings as I write this P.S. Concerning that just sitting here doing no activity at all results in some erratic readings. Again, of course, no such problem with the tried and true heart rate strap.
“Those with problems speak loudest”.
I just wanted to put a positive comment on here. I’ve had my Mio for 10 days and completed many runs & rides. I’ve had no problems whatsoever and the data matches my chest strap every time. Chest strap now retired for good. I have used the Strava app on iphone for all activities so cannot comment on Ant+ performance.
Best fitness product I’ve bought for many years (and I’ve bought a lot!!).
Mio has pushed back the shipping date for EU (or at least the Netherlands) once again… Expected date of shipping is now set for April 29th. About two weeks later than the original shipping date. What worries me most however are the reported problems with the final units!
Wasn’t so bad after all, the delivery guy just handed me the MioLink. Paired really quickly to my iPhone and picked heart rate almost instantly. Gonna take for a run (with FR305) tomorrow afternoon.
Ran in mine the first time today, up higher on the same wrist as my Garmin 620. Flawless!
How far off is the HRV guesses it supplies to the 620? If I hadn’t read here that it didn’t do HRV, I wouldn’t have thought twice about the VO2 Max and Recovery Advisor settings it gave me.
Got mine in the mail today, and just playing with it a bit. I am able to easily pair with my Garmin Fenix. My Droid Maxx (Android 4.4.2) detects the Link, but quietly fails to pair after repeatedly rebooting both devices.
I take back my comment about failing to pair. It does NOT pair using the BT settings, but it does pair and is detected by the MIO Go app, as well as Wahoo and other 3rd party HRM-capable apps. It’s doing it in a different layer without any effort by the user. Good to go.
Yeah, unfortunately I was sort of ignorant of that before I posted. Mine is Android, and it seems to roll the same way. It pairs without me doing anything, in the application layer.
I’ve only done one run with it, but I’ve been wearing it around. For me, I really don’t have to cinch it very tight, and “rightside up” works fine for me. This is a vastly improved experience over a chest strap for me.
I swim, bike and run. Then, I come here and write about my adventures. It’s as simple as that. Most of the time. If you’re new around these parts, here’s the long version of my story.
You'll support the site, and get ad-free DCR! Plus, you'll be more awesome. Click above for all the details. Oh, and you can sign-up for the newsletter here!
Here’s how to save!
Wanna save some cash and support the site? These companies help support the site! With Backcountry.com or Competitive Cyclist with either the coupon code DCRAINMAKER for first time users saving 15% on applicable products.
You can also pick-up tons of gear at REI via these links, which is a long-time supporter as well:
Alternatively, for everything else on the planet, simply buy your goods from Amazon via the link below and I get a tiny bit back as an Amazon Associate. No cost to you, easy as pie!
You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.
Want to compare the features of each product, down to the nitty-gritty? No problem, the product comparison data is constantly updated with new products and new features added to old products!
Wanna create comparison chart graphs just like I do for GPS, heart rate, power meters and more? No problem, here's the platform I use - you can too!
Think my written reviews are deep? You should check out my videos. I take things to a whole new level of interactive depth!
Smart Trainers Buyers Guide: Looking at a smart trainer this winter? I cover all the units to buy (and avoid) for indoor training. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
Check out
my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
Get all your awesome DC Rainmaker gear here!
FAQ’s
I have built an extensive list of my most frequently asked questions. Below are the most popular.
You probably stumbled upon here looking for a review of a sports gadget. If you’re trying to decide which unit to buy – check out my in-depth reviews section. Some reviews are over 60 pages long when printed out, with hundreds of photos! I aim to leave no stone unturned.
I travel a fair bit, both for work and for fun. Here’s a bunch of random trip reports and daily trip-logs that I’ve put together and posted. I’ve sorted it all by world geography, in an attempt to make it easy to figure out where I’ve been.
The most common question I receive outside of the “what’s the best GPS watch for me” variant, are photography-esq based. So in efforts to combat the amount of emails I need to sort through on a daily basis, I’ve complied this “My Photography Gear” post for your curious minds (including drones & action cams!)! It’s a nice break from the day-to-day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
Many readers stumble into my website in search of information on the latest and greatest sports tech products. But at the end of the day, you might just be wondering “What does Ray use when not testing new products?”. So here is the most up to date list of products I like and fit the bill for me and my training needs best! DC Rainmaker 2023 swim, bike, run, and general gear list. But wait, are you a female and feel like these things might not apply to you? If that’s the case (but certainly not saying my choices aren’t good for women), and you just want to see a different gear junkies “picks”, check out The Girl’s Gear Guide too.
I was all sold on the item until the following sentence: “The battery is currently lasting 7 hours in active-on mode (measuring HR)”. Sorry but that’s far from sufficient for long cycling tours.
Even for my day to day activity, I hardly imagine myself with yet another device, which requires charging every other day instead of changing a coin cell one or two times a year.
Ditto.
As an aside question, do you know if it transmits R-R intervals? Could be good HRV device when waking up at least. Eli asked similar question below.
I too was totally ready to buy it today (if it were available) until the 7hour battery limit was mentioned. :( Still, for $99 and a whole lot less chafing, it’d be worth it for that 95% of training.
Hi Havelaar,
Thanks for your feedback. The battery life has been updated since this article was published to 8-10 hours with continuous HR mode on. We hope that helps.
It’s true. From my 3 straight days of testing the Mio Link, the battery life ranged from about 8 hours to almost 9.5 hours.
I’d really like to wear one of these in an IronMan event but I need 10-13 hours battery life. Probably 14 because I need to check it and then wear to start line. When can you have that level of battery life?
George, you should probably look at the new Tom Tom Multisport watch with built-in optical HRM using Mio’s technology. According to Ray’s review, it has a battery life of more than 24 hours.
Hi Changren,
We’re continually working on extending the battery life of our products. Stay tuned on our Twitter (link to twitter.com) and Facebook (link to facebook.com) for regular product and community updates.
Scrolling through the comments and the review wearing the mio while swimming was alluded to, but I couldn’t find any specific reference to whether the mio was waterproof. So, let me ask: Is the mio waterproof? Can you wear the mio while swimming, particularly the swim leg of a triathlon? Will it transmit to a Garmin910XT while swimming? If you wear it during the swim leg will it begin transmitting to a 910XT as you exit the water?
Thanks.
Edwin,
I’ve never had any problems switching mine on after swimming. The larger challenge is to Garmin, to be honest. They advise that the Garmin does not pick up HR info when swimming rather than HR monitors not transmitting it.
My understanding is that the signal might have problems passing through water anyway, but I’m not sure.
Many folks have used the Mio without issues swimming, and transmitting to a Garmin device.
The challenge is that the Garmin devices won’t enable the HR profile within swim mode, so you have to use it in one of the other modes (i.e. running), so you won’t get stroke/lap type data if you have something like a FR910XT or similar.
The reason it (the Link) works is simply a matter of distance. You have to wear it next to the Garmin on the same wrist, as ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart only transmit about 1-2″ underwater. Hence why a chest strap is too far away.
I just bought a vivofit2 only to discover it wouldn’t measure my water aerobics exercise. I’m disabled so this is my main source of exercise. Would this heart rate monitor work for me?
@KenZ
No it does not. Excerpt form manual.
Heart rate calculation of Mio LINK is not based on instant R-R interval, and will not
work for apps that require heart rate variability (HRV) data.
MIO Global, I’m wondering if I got a lemon MIO link…my lasts only for 6 hours of continuous HR mode and sometimes even less. I check the battery life before starting in the app and it looks to be 100% charged.
Hi Kimberly.
Sorry to hear that.
Please email us with your receipt, shipping address and phone number so we can look into an exchange for you.
Thanks,
Mio Support Team
support@mioglobal.com
1 877 770 1116
I was about to buy an Alpha until I realised that they weren’t doing ANT+ any more, this looks ace. However as Havelarr has pointed out above, the 7 hour battery life isn’t exactly ideal. Even strapping it on in T1 of an IM most mortals would struggle to finish before the battery died!
Any thoughts on whether the battery life may be similar to the MOTOACTV and there might be potential for extending it with firmwear updates?
Cheers, Rich
Hi Richard,
Thanks for your feedback.
As we mentioned in our response to Changren, we’re continually working on extending the battery life of our products. To date, the Mio LINK and ALPHA battery will last between 8-10 hours with the continuous heart rate feature on. Stay tuned on our Twitter profile (link to twitter.com) and Facebook (link to facebook.com) for regular updates.
Lovely serial number! ;) If they would add gym-devices compatibility and basic water resistance, the product would be flawless!
Waterproofing is ~30m, so you should be good there. :)
Thanks for pre-release review.
Great improvement from the first version.
Have you tested it under water / swimming?
I believe the Alpha worked under water.
I assume the ANT+ would work with a Suunto Ambit S2 – have you tested this?
I have never been able to get used to HR chest straps so this product is of great interest to people like me.
I can see why 7 hours might be a limiting factor for some people but at €/$99 and the small size I would suggest getting two.
The unit is waterproofed to 30m. I’ve taken a shower with it, but haven’t yet gone swimming with it (since my attempt today was thwarted by a swim meet). It will work just fine via ANT+ to the Ambit 2s (or any other ANT+ device). I’m travelling at the moment, so I didn’t bring my 2s with me.
Ant+ and BLE are both 2.4GHz which gets blocked by water so don’t see how it could work under water. Sure it won’t get damaged same as the garmin strap, but there won’t be any data.
Polar uses a 5 kHz HR strap for measuring HR under water
Oh, is that correct? That it won’t be able
to transmit data to a Suunto Ambit 2S while swimming?
If you put the S2 and the MIO next to each other on your wrist you might be OK.. 2.4GHz can travel a little bit.
This really makes me wonder if you, say, wore this thing on the same wrist as a 910, would it be close enough to receive HR while swimming? Would love to know if it works. :)
Still testing a MIO Alpha (ANT+) – second device as I returned the first one: not really accurate… I compare std. HR belt charts w/ MIO charts (Sporttracks & Trails plugin) — I can share the doc…
=> Do you really think this is reliable?
I mean: 100% ok on a spinning bike. Not always ok on running (often some HR drops, lasting from some seconds to several minutes or more…). ALWAYS KO for activities using sticks (ski mountaineering, ultra trail running…). Did you test trail running, or even using sticks?
I’ve done some pretty extensive testing of the original device and comparison of HR data across running and cycling, indoors and outdoors. Trail running and regular running. The same for the Mio variant inside the Adidas GPS unit as well, I haven’t seen any issues.
In the original (Mio Alpha) device, the only issues I saw were with my wife, because she couldn’t get the strap tight enough, so it giggled, thus producing spikes/drops/etc, and was generally not useful. With this device, she’s able to get it tight enough, but she didn’t have a chance to run with it yet.
If you’re getting HR drops on your Alpha unit, I’d really suggest contacting Mio support so they can help troubleshoot it. I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone ever getting multi-minute drops.
I Ray,
The french support team I’m in contact with is not really of any help, except sending a second device…
I think I can get it tight enough (in some case test my hand became red :-D)…
Did you test any activity with stick? I suppose you are not a ski mountaineerer, but maybe nordic walk?
No, no activity with poles/sticks/etc…
I have smallish wrists, though larger than your wife’s and got long dropouts hillwalking, running and – less surprising – when doing any exercise involving wrist flexion (press-ups and weightlifting etc.)
I loved the Alpha but it simply wasn’t reliable for me, so I had to return it and continue with the Polar chest straps that very rarely have any drop-outs and recover immediately.
I’ll be very interested to hear how threw your wife gets on with the Link.
Awesome! cant wait to get one. I assume though it only streams the hr data. Was just thinking if it did have the ability to save hr data then after a swim you could at least download that info.
Correct, just streaming data – no recording of the data within the Link itself.
How is this device compared to the WTEK HS-2BT ?
In my testing of the ANT+ variant of the HS-2 (same thing), I didn’t have much luck with it. I found it easily fell off and was sorta a PITA.
Great first review! I was actually wondering if wahoo was working on a dual band strap HRM, but this seems even better!
Has other above, I am particularly keen on it for swimming (more convenient than strap) could it stream consistently in Bluetooth Smart ?
By the way, I guess that the lack of battery life is somehow linked to it broadcasting on both bands at the same time, do they plan to allow switching of either of the broadcast (using it only on Bluetooth would significantly improve battery life)
Neither ANT+ nor Bluetooth Smart will transmit more than about 1″ underwater.
The primary reason the battery is so much less than the Alpha is because the unit is much smaller than the Alpha.
wouldn’t this make it feasible though? If they can transmit about 1″ can’t you just put the mio right next to the watch and have it work underwater? it’s not like a strap that would be way too far, since both would be on the wrist might it not work?
I also find this an almost perfect HR-strap replacement option, but the 7 hour battery life is indeed not enough for those long bike rides :S If it had at least twice this battery life, I would definitely buy one.
I’m curious about the actual reason for the limited battery life of the Mio Link, and related, the reason for it needing to be charged by USB instead of using a coin cell battery. By contrast, the Viiiiva, which also does ANT+ and Bluetooth simultaneously, uses a coin cell battery and has a claimed battery life of “over a year”.
They key difference is the optical HR sensor. It’s battery wise “cheap” to measure HR on a chest, whereas measuring optically requires that nifty green light be illuminated continuously as well as then measuring what’s being illuminated.
That said, I had over 30hrs on the previous generation Mio Alpha units. So the significantly reduced size is likely the main contributor.
Note that Mio has told me that they are targeting 7hrs as a minimum/floor, but it remains possible it could go higher.
Ray – thanks for the clarification on 7 hours being a floor for them. This is pretty major and I think would be a useful change to the original review text. Lets hope its a good chunk more than 7 hours. Do you know if its set to auto turn off after a certain length of time with no HR detected ?
They wanted to stick with 7 hours. The reason being that it could end up getting 7.5 hours or 9 hours. But they don’t want to overcommit at this point.
……green light be illuminated continuously as well as then measuring what’s being illuminated…..
I wonder if MIOs engineers considered using pulsing green light instead of continous. That should save some power and allow for longer use.
7 hours is very disappointing :(
Hi Daniel,
We’ve updated the battery life, which is now 8-10 hours with continuous HR on.
Hope that helps!
You can see full specs here: link to mioglobal.com
Thanks Mio-Team.
I already have mine for nearly 2 weeks now. I do not have problems with the battery life, but the drop outs of constant heart rates to my garmin 310xt.
There every few minutes, the heart rate is not available to my Garmin for 10, sometimes more seconds. It is very irritating.
Another suggestions: Is it possible to invert the LED ?
If the LED just lids up every 30 seconds, you are getting crazy starring at the Link to see which zone I am while running. It would be nice if it would be constantly on and goes off when it measured the next beat.
Hi Daniel,
Try wearing your Garmin o the same arm as your Mio LINK. ANT+ doesn’t transmit through the body, so if you’re swinging your arms while running or doing another activity, you’ll likely see HR drops. Let us know how it goes. :)
With regard to your suggestion, that’s a great one! We’ll pass it along to our Product Development Team.
Thanks, again!
Some updates and experiences:
A) The battery lifetime is really working as announced. I had my first ultra-run last saturday and was running for 9 hours. After that I forgot to stop the Mio link and saw at aproximately after 30 minutes it was still running. So battery lifetime of 9:30h is a real life experience on my side.
B) whereas I had no blisters on my feet (Thanks Altra btw.), I had 2 blisters were the Mio link was tight to my arm. One huge at the position of the “locker mechanics” and the other at the lower end of the Mio Link device.
Never hand such issues with a watch, but they are not as tight as the Mio Link ofcourse.
Out of curiosity, the Link is used with a wrist band as I understand that the light must detect changes in capillary flow. I take it that in that case, the actual unit is not limited to just the wrist? Could the detection module be popped out of the wrist strap and placed within an arm band/ankle bracelet etc as long as it is in immediate contact with the skin, and preferably in an area with low adipose fat?
Just a thought for those who may want to use a Forerunner watch without having a band in each wrist or two band on one wrist.
That’s correct. For example, I took it out and placed it under a swim cap on my forehead. Worked just fine.
Obviously, results will vary person to person.
I’ve ordered a non-HRM FR220 (due to CT stock levels) and am looking for a HR strap to go with it. This could be perfect, but I do worry about the 7 hour battery life. In the real world, I can only assume that this equates to about 5 hours. I’m bad enough at remembering to charge my GPS…. and I just know that I will run out of HR juice far too often with such a short battery life. Its a real shame.
Was expecting Garmin to do an optical HR with the FR610 upgrade. Is it even on Garmin’s radar?
Am wondering if its worth paying £70? and losing Run Dynamics to get rid off the Garmin chest strap?
Definitely seems a close call
I know the technology is on their observational radar, but I don’t know if we’ll see it in any immediate-term products.
Garmin 910xt on the wrist, MIO right next to it.
That could actually give swim tracking!>!
What about under water measurement? Ant+ can trasmitt only a few cm in water, but if MIO is very near to garmin receiver, could it works?
Does it do real HRV? Some of the firstbeat algorithms in the 610/620/910 need that data to work along with apps like ithlete on the phone. (By real I mean its easy to fake by dividing the HR by 1024 to give a value may be much more smoothed then the real values which would mean it would give useless HRV data)
Really interested in that too! It would be great to use an app like ithlete without the hassle of putting on a chest strap under your clothes.
Did I miss something?
Why are you suddenly referring to The Girl as your “wife”? ;-)
I think that this: link to dcrainmaker.com
this: link to dcrainmaker.com
and this: link to dcrainmaker.com
explain how girl became wife, but yes, getting a bit sloppy with the nomenclature!
I generally refer to her as ‘wife in Product Reviews, merely to minimize confusion for new folks who stumble onto the site. Enjoy!
Oh… I see… Thanks Richard!
So I embarrassingly have to admit that I 1. didn’t scroll back enough after I discovered your great blog and 2. obviously don’t read your reviews attentively enough – I know her just as “The Girl”… :-)
Mio just needs to have an “endurance” version with a bigger battery i.e. longer battery life to match for example the 20 hr battery life of a 910xt. I would definitely take the trade-off of a larger/heavier unit in order to be able to use it for races like an Ironman. They have already proven they can do the battery life with the first gen…
My Garmin HR monitor sucks. Would totally get one so I can have some more tan marks on my arm in addition to my 910. Although, a longer lasting battery would great.
Thanks Ray
Best,
Efraim
I am pretty new to devices and how they all interconnect. I am curious if this can connect to watches like Garmin Forerunner 10 and Nike+ Sportswatch?
No, the FR10 doesn’t have any sort of capability to connect to a HR strap. And the Nike+ unit is unfortunately the only one out there that doesn’t connect to any open-platform sensors (ANT+, Bluetooth Smart, anything). If, you had picked any other two watches out there…you’d be in business. ;)
Ok, thanks for taking the time to reply. I am looking at the Garmin 220 to take over for my Nike+ one. I just don’t like the idea of a chest strap. I think I will keep an eye on this one and I also agree with the comments about battery life. If they can improve that to say 14 hours I am likely in. Will look silly with 3 things on my wrists in the summer though lol.
But… wouldn’t it be great if they made it work with the Nike+! I think Nike needs to expand, just one HR strap option is just being silly. And this is a great opportunity.
(I’ve recently bought the Nike+, I was between that and the Garming 210, but I managed to get the Nike+ for $100 so I compromised)
Yeah, the challenge there is really on the Nike side, and retaining their closed Garden. They don’t use any of the open protocols (ANT+, BT or BLE).
I agree Greg. I’d be willing to compromise on size (a little…of course) if it meant battery life was ~ 20 hrs. I definitely love the overall concept and where this is heading. I just purchased the Viiiva this weekend as I really want the Ant+/Bluetooth Smart capabilities.
Add me to the pile of users who think that the battery life is a deal breaker. I have an original Mio Alpha, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve forgotten to turn off the HR functionality after a workout. Without a display to remind me, I, sure it would happen even more frequently, and with the Link’s short battery life, it would almost certainly spend more time dead than charged. I hope they can find a happy medium between the suggested battery life and that which would work for endurance athletes.
Interesting niche. It negates the need for a HR strap, but now you have to wear TWO gadgets on your wrist. Not sure I see the point. On the bike straps don’t get in the way, but running and such they would, but you wear a gadget on your wrist for those activities. I wonder if there’s an ANt+ pod or some such?
The key scenario’s are:
ANT+: To other non-wrist devices such as cycling computers (and the slim number of folks that want to wear two devices)
Bluetooth Smart: To both non-wrist devices, as well as phones. So anyone running/riding/etc with a phone to record their activity (which, is a huge segment of the “non-hardcore enough to buy a GPS watch” population).
Can the Ant+ or BT protocols store the heart rate data during swimming and do a batch (burst) transfer when it connects as your run out during T1? It’d be nice to log heart rate underwater without needing yet another device…
As Ray answered to Tim (currently #13):
“Correct, just streaming data – no recording of the data within the Link itself.”
The protocols can (in the ANT+ world, it’s called ANTfs). And, the scenario you’ve outlined is the one most commonly used as a great use case of ANTfs. However, the key thing is it takes a device (such as a Garmin watch) to be told how to read that data stream. To date, Garmin hasn’t done that.
Ant+ doesn’t have that but could be faked as a file transfer but no standardized way to do it. BT 4.1 seems to have added that based on the PR they released but not sure how its supposed to work as I didn’t read the actual spec (not that bored, yet :-p) Don’t think anything implements 4.1 yet
Wow…
Oops… I seem not to have a (technical) clue about the gadgets I use, so I will stop trying to answer technical questions… ;-)
Can you clarify this? Does the device store data and allow syncing / upload to a device (eg phone) later? Or do you always need an additional device with you? Thanks!
Message to Mio seems simple, get the battery life up to ~12 hours and you have a highly attractive offering!
Would actually be fantastic if it could transmit accurately enough while pool swimming. Could never justify wearing the HR strap while swimming (uncomfortable and looks naff) but this would be very inconspicuous!
So… if you stuck this on your arm *right next to* a Garmin swimming watch (eg.. 910XT) would it be able to track HR through the swim?
I did some of that testing within the Mio Alpha review. While it technically transmitted, I saw too much interference/variability in the HR stability while my actively swimming. While standing still at the wall underwater, it was fine.
The simple solution would be to integrate the HR sensor with the logger. While it can be implemented as a memory belt on your chest (see Suunto’s Memory Belt), on your wrist it could be a simple watch with an optical or other sensor.
To be honest I dunno why the manufacturers keep on launching separated wrist-based HR sensors if they already have watches in their palette. I bet people would agree on getting a bit thicker watch as a price for its operability underwater too,
Are you planning on taking this to the pool to test out “water-worthiness”? It is an intriguing use case for me being a swimmer to finally be able to put a number on the effort in the pool during workouts.
Yup, I plan to.
Taking this to the pool would be awesome, but it would mean premature death for my Garmin swim, unless we got a firmware update enabling ANT+connectivity… Is this right? Do you see it possible/likely?
Ray…. having used the HRM/Run on your 620 for a while (with running dynamics etc.) do you think (aside from testing of course) that you would choose to run with this Mio band on one wrist and the Garmin 620 on the other and therefore lose running dynamics vs. the issues/less-comfort of just running with the old-fashion HRM/Run chest strap but still having the running dynamics?
For me personally, I don’t mind the HR strap, so since I enjoy the (rare) days where I don’t have to wear two devices on my wrist already – I’m unlikely to add it in. Now, I could be tempted while cycling however.
There is also the important aspect of if this will report proper HRV data. If it doesn’t then VO2 max, recovery advisor, and training effect may not work correctly.
? I don’t understand. Wouldn’t this device replace a HRM strap and all it’s functionality? What does wearing the mio on the other wrist have to do with anything?
I think this sounds like a winning combination until Garmin incorporates the technology into a single watch like the Adidas one.
Well, just simply having to wear two devices – regardless of which wrist. As for the technical side, yes, there are some items that both David and Eli have correctly noted, that are likely of interest to FR620 users (and some other units that use HRV as well).
I wouldnt like to see this in the watch itself. I tend to wear my watch on top of a long sleeve top/jacket and use it to hold the sleeve in place. It’s therefore not against my skin. Having a separate device on my wrist that would need to wear below clothing would be perfect.
Another potentially interesting device in context of optical HRM – ScoscheRhythm Smart+. Not sure regarding water resistance, but it has its own memory for “offline” data logging. Hey Ray, could you try to get that and pilot these two for us? ;)
Yeah, I’ve gotta dig up my contacts for those guys and give them a poke to get a unit…
Yeah I would be interested in your take on the Scosche version as it appears that can be worn on your upper arm under your sleeve.
So far, near flawless. Review planned for approx Thursday. Unless I get lazy while on vacation at the beach. We’ll see.
I emailed Scosche about the Rhythm+ unit and received the following:
The RHYTHM + uses a rechargeable lithium ion battery that provides up to 8 hours of workout time.
Sorry, did indeed get lazy on vacation. But, coming up next. So far, zero problems.
Have you tried the Mio with the Sweetbeat HR Variability app? The biggest drawback I’ve found is having to use the HR strap to test HRV when I first wake up, it would be nice to use the Mio instead.
Anyone, I’m still looking for the best way ( device ) to get my morning heart rate?
This works for that. Alternatively, simple finger HR sensors work really well too.
I use the free Cardiio app for morning heart rate tracking. It works incredibly well just using the camera on your smartphone. No straps or devices needed. http://www.cardiio.com
Will it act as a bridge for other ant+ devices like a foot pod to an iPhone?
No. I’ll double-check with them, but I’m 99% sure they have a different chipset in there that wouldn’t enable this scenario.
Using a garmin 910xt, heart rate strap is always a pain as I use gel on it and it’s fiddly when I’m cold as it can slip until a sweat builds up. Was thinking of getting the next generation garmin if it has optical hrm, now with this mio I can save some bucks on having to upgrade and just use the optical strap on opposite hand. Battery life of 12 hours would be highly desirable though.
Try the Garmin HRM with the Polar SoftStrap. It works great!
I love how it is engraved “RAY’S SAMPLE 01”. I’ve worked with prototype/sample hardware before but never have seen it customized!
I too, would consider pairing this with the FR620 Santa delivered. The HRM Run strap is better than any other I’ve used, but still requires about 10 minutes of sweat buildup to work properly. I would have bought the Mio Alpha and used it with my old 610 months ago if it had supported ANT+.
I am thinking the same thing, I’ve been debating swapping my 610 for a 620, but hesitated since the 620 eliminated the small bit of cycling support the 610 had. Seems to me a 610 + this Mio is a really nice combo.
Looks like a great solution.
Similar to other posters and even using Ray’s recommendations to fix the problem, I returned a 910XT in total disgust as I wasn’t able to get consistent HR readings. Now, I use a combination of an Edge 810 and Polar RCX5 (with GPS unit) but have to contend with both units on the bike – royal pain in the arse.
This seems like a great solution assuming Mio could improve the battery life. A 910XT with an optical HR integrated would be ideal.
What kind of range does it have? Since I do not see the Mio and a watch on the same arm in the photos, I assume it can be on the other arm in the case of a watch or you can have a phone in an arm band or waist pack and still stay in range?
Very interesting device. I would probably use this to replace my Polar BT smart strap I use for HRV monitoring with ithlete and then use this with my Ambit 2 instead of the Suunto strap that tends to be difficult to nail down a solid HR during the first couple miles of a run. I’ll be curious to see how reliable this is after further testing! I get the feeling at CES next year Mio will be out with this device + activity tracker function like FitBit etc built in…
I could have sworn someone asked about whether the unit support battery status via Bluetooth Smart. Yes, it does.
I understand the above comments about battery life from the triathletes and cyclists – but as a runner this device sounds like a dream come true! I love monitoring heart rate and pouring over the data post race, but the never-ending inconstancies I’d get with the Garmin straps led me to abandon heart rate altogether in my training. An above comment lamented having to strap another device to your wrist – As one that has wrestled with the chafing, ill-fitting Garmin straps for years, I CANT WAIT to strap a small unobtrusive reader to my wrist!
Thank you so much for the in-depth review!
Agree. I hated having to lick the chest strap like a locker room cat. I also have a problem with acid reflux, and the chest strap can aggravate it. Looking forward to the wrist strap. In fact, I can’t wait!
Hi Ed
Sorry everyone else for the off topic and sorry for the late post. Everyone might have already gone home :-) I used to suffer re-flux, indigestion and heart burn all the time. Took medication every day. Then I read somewhere about apple cider vinegar being good for these problems. I had a particularly bad heartburn one day so took a gulp of the apple cider vinegar. The symptoms disappeared within seconds. I kept the $3 bottle of apple cider vinegar close by for a few months, sipping every time I had symptoms. It has probably been 12 months now and I think my stomach has gotten better. I average about one sip a week now. I look at all those medications in the pharmacy and think “what a scam”. Hope this help with your issue. I have suggested to a few friends now and I can report 100% success.
DC Rainmaker, have you seen the Epson Pulsense yet? It appears it will have constant wrist-based HRM with battery life measured in days. If it works during exercise, it will be a game changer.
No, I’ve got it on my docket for tomorrow.
Angel also promises wrist based HR with multi day battery life (think they were claiming 7 days) and memory on the unit so doesn’t always have to be paired. BLE only so no Ant+ :(
link to indiegogo.com
I hope it works swimming. I guess wearing in the same hand as the watch could work, at least when in the hand is outside the watter as the GPS
I saw on Twitter that the Vivofit band will allow the Road ID tag to slide right on. This would be a nice addition to the Mio Link as well and would eliminate another band on the wrist! I’m with everyone else though, it’s a no-go for me if the battery life can’t be improved (minimum of 13 hours).
Ok, this is going to sound like an odd question – but if ones ankle is thin enough, would this work wearing it around the ankle? Perhaps Ray could ask the Girl/Wife nicely if she’d try the large size on the ankle and see if it gets proper data?
I wear my Road ID wrist ID around my ankle and never take it off. I’m not one for “stuff” around my wrist and probably wouldn’t mind a Garmin and this, but if I can put it on my ankle….hey why not!?!
Just curious. :-)
Thanks!
I’m not a cyclist or a marathon runner, so I basically don’t fit in to the same categories as the other posters. Right now, I have a desk job and my main concern in my health is making sure that I’m not consuming more calories than I am using and losing some excess fat I have, and monitoring heart-rate is the most accurate way of knowing what my body actually needs.
Ideally, I would want the battery to last a lot longer than 7 hours, but considering that it is transmitting Bluetooth CONSTANTLY, I’m neither surprised or concerned with the battery life, although it seems to be the most common complaint in others comments.
I would buy it today if it was available, does anyone know about pre-order options?
Unless you are in a rush, there will be better options for what you want.
BTW its not the BLE that drains the battery, its the LED and data processing. Notice how the chest straps have much better battery lives.
Diana, I’m not sure how much the price-point is influencing you, but the Basis is probably a better fit for what you’re describing.
link to mybasis.com
They still haven’t updated the website. Either guerilla marketing tactics or its some ways away from being ready to shipped.
It was on full display CES here, so I’m thinking it’s merely a case of just not having their site updated.
Then they are lame not to be catching the preorder excitement from DCRM!
Found a link – not available from the main site but from FB. Maybe they want to sell out the current devices?? link to mioglobal.com
I apologize if I missed this in the review or in comments but if I don’t have a device to pair it with does it store data and then allow you to upload that data later? I currently run with the Nike GPS Sport Watch and am starting to sour on the heart rate chest strap. Looking for a better option but it seems the Nike watch will only accept the Polar heart rate monitor for Nike+.
Ray, is there any information or rumors, when Garmin will come out with the successor to the 910XT ?
With new competition (Polar) out there, I wonder what new features it will come out with. Would’t it be awsome if it included optical HR (like the Mio) in the watch
I would expect sometime this year. Whether that’s April or October remains more the question.
Morning HR is fine and good but Heart Rate variability gives you much more information. The simple finger over the lense apps will not do HRV.
The original Mio did not do HRV so I bet this one does not do it either.
Correct.
The Link won’t do true HRV. In talking with them this week, they plan to institute a form of HRV estimation, but at present the optical technology lacks the capability to get truly accurate HRV readings.
So you still have to run with a Garmin or phone or another device in addition?
That was my biggest problem with the MIO Alpha. That it was a great heart rate monitor, but it sucked as a basic watch. I don’t want to have to carry another device; I’d like it to do all the key watch functions and ideally GPS. And, really, I’d like it to not beep continuously while using the watch function if you’re ‘out of your heart rate zone.’
Correct.
Though, this one lacks beeping…so no worries there. ;)
Hi, I am interested in the Mio Alpha but wanted to know if you had been told if the app will be on android or just Ios and also will the Alpha be able to pair with the app successfully?
Thanks for your efforts in your reviews, great help.
That app, I think they’re just looking at iOS right now, but I’ll check.
That said, the Link (and Alpha) can pair to any capable Bluetooth Smart app on a capable Bluetooth Smart Android phone. Thus 4.3 and above, with a compatible app (Polar Beat, Wahoo Fitness, are two that come to mind).
Any word if your friends at Clever Training are going to stock? Preorder?
Yup, hang tight, they’re pending listing information from Mio. Just talked to them a few minutes about it.
Fantastic. Any similar news on the Viiiva mini?
Hmm, I haven’t heard, but I’ll ask.
Ray – did you get a chance to speak to CT about the mini? Any further release date info on either product, or your ability to get a mini unit for review?
They’re still pending listing information from 4iiii’s.
Hello dear Ray, this sensor is compatible with Polar V800?
Yes, though, you won’t get accurate HRV/RR information from it.
If Mio could think of tuning the design to allow for coin cell like battery space. I would buy it otherwise 7h. Nope.
Hi ray.
So it should work with an ant footpod and iphone for treadmill use?
Ideally if apple would let the new nano’s have apps and bluetooth we could have music too and a smaller form factor!!!
The Mio Link will send heart rate (HR) data to an iPhone and any ANT+ capable device (i.e. a Garmin). It won’t send cadence data though to the iPhone (or Garmin device).
If you have an ANT+ footpod, that won’t send data to an iPhone without an adapter (such as the Wahoo ANT+ adapter).
Would you know of this can connect to the Garmin 620?
Yes, it does/can. I’ve used it that way on a few runs – most recently last week when I left my regular HR strap in the back of a rental car after returning to the airport. :-/
Do you prefer it to a normal HR strap for running ? I like the idea of not having somethign strapped around my chest when I’m struggled to bang out an interval session!
(on the lost strap – I’m sure you’ll have a spare or 100 ! :) )
Remember it obviously won’t give ground contact time and vertical oscillation as it lacks the sensor and doesn’t broadcast it but also won’t give correct rr interval data so the data fields like VO2max and recovery time won’t work correctly
For me, I’ve long-since gotten used to the HR strap, so that’s not so much a factor. And honestly, HRV isn’t too much a factor on the other side.
With the FR620, i do however use the cadence within the HRM-Run, so that’s the piece I find most valuable, plus the Running Dynamics (even if I’m not yet 100% certain what to do with said data). While cadence on the FR620 can come from the wrist, that gets dorked up when I take photos/etc…
Hi, nothing yet regarding putting it next to a 910xt while swimming?? We’re eager to know if that combo is reliable!! Thanks Ray!
I plan to look at that in my final review. Keep in mind that I have a prototype unit, so things are planned to vary slightly by final devices.
OK Ray, thanks. I’ll be patient then. :-) )
Oh, one thing I was thinking about during my ride today and your question – is that on the FR910XT in swimming mode, you don’t have the option to connect to a HR strap. Thus, it’d be a choice between the HR data in the ‘Other’ mode, or swimming metric (stroke/distance).
Damn – yes that is a showstopper. I was hoping for it to my solution to tracking pulse while swimming.
I have never gotten the Finis AquaPulse to stay put while turning in the pool even trough i’ve tried a handfull times with different googles. (Slightly used unit for sale :-)
I wonder if anyone’s thought of making an ant+/bt optical HRM that could sit inside, or actually replace the standard watch strap…?
Yup, see the Adidas Smart Run GPS – does exactly that. Also, the new Soleus unit does it as well. I’m sure we’ll see more this year.
I wonder if there will be a generic strap with hrm – kind of like one of these previewed units but with a mount for a gps unit? May be too big and bulky though, but would integrate the two devices.
I’m getting impatient waiting for launch… My Garmin strap worked loose today, and my marathon is at the start of April. I hope q1 launch doesn’t mean the last day of March! I may end up just getting whichever hits the market first, and living with poor battery vs the Viiiva
If they could give the capability to switch to only Bluetooth or only ANT+, they could probably extend the battery life by using only one transmission medium at a time.
Nah, it’s negligible, I asked.
It will be interesting to see if the Finnish startup named PulseOn produces an even better device.
As in :- Bluetooth and ANT+ with at least a 12 hour battery life.
Anyone know how the PulseOn device works.?
Dick
How far does the unit broadcast via bluetooth? If I’m in a taekwondo practice and leave my iPhone 40 feet or so away in the dressing room, will my Cyclemeter pick up my heart rate? (It currently works at that distance with the Polar H7, but I always feel like a doofus or an invalid wearing a chest strap in the dojang.)
Generally not. Technically speaking the BLE spec calls for a min of 10m (so about 30ft), so the fact that you manage it with the H7 is pretty solid. Generally I see about 1/3rd to 1/2 that with most BLE devices unfortunately.
I haven’t tested the distance here, and I’d be hesitant to do so until final hardware (simply because things could change for better or worse).
My brain has a weird way of working sometimes ….. I was just pondering the ‘low’ battery life (7hrs? I think I’d be lucky to be able to go continuously for half of that, but I’ll accept that it’s ‘low’ for some of you super human types :) ).
I note that it charges from a USB port, will it continue to work (stay switched on, carry on reading HR info, transmit to paired devices) whilst it’s charging? If so ….. would it be possible to use one of those little portable battery charging units (the ones people get to keep their mobile / cell charged while out and about) to keep this topped up while still running / cycling along?
Like I say ….. I have an odd mind :-/
Unfortunately, the charging contacts are on the bottom of the unit, directly next to light sensor.
Ah …..
Of course they are :-/
Morning Ray, great website, read it everyday!
In the text above you state that there are 3 or 5 zones.
I presume you configure these with the Mio Go app is that correct?
Where does that leave you if you are an Android user?
Yes, with the app. Android is on the radar, but I don’t remember them saying a timeframe for it. I’ll swing back and check.
From MIO support:
“Currently, the only way to configure the LINK’s heart rate zones is through the MIO GO app, which will release initially for iOS along with the retail launch. We are unable to comment further on Android development for the GO app currently.”
No great shocks there. We’ve seen Garmin struggle with the Android bluetooth implementation – I assume Mio will face the same challenges.
On a different note Ray – how does the device show charge level? I get so frustrated with poor implementations of leds for this – good example is my ipod shuffle. I get a red to indicate it needs charge, but then dies in 10 mins – not much use at the start of a 60min run!
In general, doing point in time transactions over Bluetooth Smart to an Android device isn’t horrid (it’s not fun either). What’s really challenging everyone is the continual streaming of sensor data, or non-sensor data (i.e. live tracking). The stack is just really flaky.
As for charging level, that’s my singular annoyance with the unit. It’s somewhat similar to your shuffle, an LED indicator just before it dies.
Hopefully they can tweek the thresholds with an update. I would much rather have a battery warning at 30% (assuming = 3 hours left) than 10%. If you get less time after a warning than your average run length, then I can see myself having to charge it after every run just in case.
Good Morning Ray,
I was just wondering if you have heard any additional information about the link? Release date? improved battery life?
Thanks,
Jason
Hello Ray,
do you have any plans to review (even out of the box would be great) the scosche pulse monitor?
this one is ahead it seems and already available when it seems the MIO LINK wont be for another few weeks.
Interestingly, this company seems to be doing lots of products very similar to wahoo when they started up with their BLE HR straps or speed/cadence sensors, phone cases etc…
thanks
6co
I’ve been meaning to poke into it. Which exact model are you referring to? I only ask because their site has a bunch, some are more ECG style on the arm band, versus optical that this is. I understood there was an optical one, but finding it on the site is messy.
If so, I’ll order one and try it out.
Well I was really thinking about the so called RHYTHM smart + that had received some innovation award at CES.
But it is true they do have others. I believe they are more like pulse measuring devices with arm band rather than optical HR.
To be honest, whichever way this goes, optical or not, what I find interesting is that we could get rid of the chest strap and still get an HR monitor that lasts a long time.
Mio presented above is pretty cool, but the battery is too short. We need something that lasts a year! And I understood that the scosche has no such issues with batteries.
For me, any wrist band, or optical HR, or else, that does the trick and with a battery that lasts forever and I am in!
By the way, it obviously needs to connect to BLE, to ANT+, to iphone and any other sportwatch out there. THe schosche does that so it seems.
Thanks! I love your blog!
6co
These looks great – shame they appear to be out of stock. I cant find any reviews online, only press released with no real detail. I prefer the Mio approach of wearing the device on your wrist – the Rhythm looks like it needs to go on your forearm – wont it just slip down ??
Would be great to get a review Ray. I’m on the hunt for a device like this – my HR strap is starting to get more and more annoying. I spent the last 2 miles of my 20 miler trying to keep it in place – not what I was wanting to be doing at that stage!
PS – website quotes 8 hours for the Smart+ :( :(
It’s out of stock, so I went ahead and set them to notify me when it’s available.
I checked out the Scosche models. Their monitors seem all to be about communicating with phones and work via Bluetooth. I didn’t see any mention of Ant+.
Too bad.
Quote from their website:
With it’s dual-mode processor you can simultaneously transmit your heart rate to multiple ANT+ displays and your favorite Bluetooth Smart enabled app.
end of Quote
One of them is only ANT+ and the other one is dual Bluetooth Smart and ANT+
6co
That’s good news! Thanks 6co2000, somehow I missed that info.
Looks like a good device but the reviews of their rhythm on amazon suggest problems with accuracy. I too think it might not be easy to keep it secure, especially under winter clothing or when sweating in summer heat. I think I’ll hold out for the mio link.
have you seen the new Amiigo, have look here https://amiigo.com what do you think about that?
I’ve been keeping an eye on it. But, like all Kickstarter type projects, they kinda have to prove themselves a bit – generally in the form of providing a device (I backed Amiiigo as well), or hands-on time with it.
Has anybody heard / read anything from Mio that hints at a release date for this in the UK (or anywhere for that matter) yet?
The product info page just says preorders from February.
Any update on US availability date for this?
Confirmed today it’ll leave manufacturing starting mid-March, with air shipments to the US. Thus, expect to see it in about 4 weeks.
Thanks Ray. A bit of a shame that they will not get it out a little sooner. Has the $99 price been confirmed? Any news on the release date of the Viiiiva?
Price is still good, no change at all there.
Nothing new on Viiiiva, I’ll poke and see if they are going to MWC.
Aloha Ray – not sure if you had The Girl try it on her ankle? I’m really curious if it would work? Mahalo! Denise
Hmm, hadn’t tried it on her ankle. I’d be concerned that getting good clean contact there would be tough (because of bones/gaps/etc…), versus the wrist. I’d also be concerned about impact to readings (versus insulated impact on wrist).
Thanks Ray – I agree on the bone issue but am still curious if it would even fit. I’d prefer to try it in the ankle instead of having to deal with a 910, a Mio, an event wristband, etc.
It would be cool to make a band that was even timing chip compatible!
Denise
Thanks for the article. Any idea if this (or the Alpha or any other optical heart rate monitor) interferes with a pacemaker or an implanted cardioverter defibrillator (ICD)? Thanks.
I’ve never heard of any concerns there.
But if this product will work fine underwater during swimming I can use it with ambit2 or fenix2 for to send them the heartrate instead of a chest strap??
Correct, if they are placed next to each other.
Hi ! Thx for your answer ! But also with fenix2 I will have the same problem of 910xt and I must choice between the HR data in the ‘Other’ mode, or swimming metric (stroke/distance)?
Hey All-
Just a super-quick note that I included some brief updates on the Link in my most recent MWC post, here: link to dcrainmaker.com
In short though, the most key item I hadn’t yet posted here is that battery life is up to 10 hours now.
But 10 hours with optical HR sensor always on or it is indifferent…
Always on. There’s only one choice: Off, or on. :)
Ok..I don’t think that the optical cardio must be always on but only when I stard a activity :-)
Can you tell me if I use this band with felix2 for swimming if I can look also swimming metrics or not ? Thank you
There is no ability to connect to ANT+ sensors while in either openwater or indoor swim mode on the Fenix2.
But this is an hardware limit or software?
Software.
garmin to know this problem? He can to modify the software….has Ambit2 the same problem?
Garmin is certainly aware of how it works. Keep in mind, I suspect the reason they don’t enable it is because 99.999999% of users connect via HR straps. By allowing a user to connect a HR strap for swimming, they effectively imply that HR straps would transmit underwater (which they won’t). Of course, that won’t stop those 99.9999999% of people from trying and then being upset when people try and find no data, thus driving support calls and upset customers.
Just putting it into perspective a bit…
Ok but now with this fitband Garmin should understand that it is time to change… (There us an email where I can write for ask Garmin new functions?)
And Suunto Ambit2 have the same problem ?
Suunto Ambit2 works the same way.
So I suppose that only Polar V800 not have this problem because Polar have an HR straps for water….
They use an analog frequency.
However, while the V800 works underwater, keep in mind, it’s not clear what metrics will be available on the unit, both at launch, and down the road. At present, it’s trending towards no swim metrics at launch.
Yes, I had read for the swim problem into your very beautiful V800 review ;-)
Are you plannet to try if on the same wrist the Mio link pass fine the HR data to Fenix2 while swimming? If yes….when ? :-)
Hello Ray,
Same as asked before but for the Tomtom Multisport : would the watch record HR metrics sent by the Mio Link when swimming ?
By the way has anyone tried the HR precision of the Mio Link when swimming ?
No, the unit doesn’t connect to HR sensors while in swimming mode.
Therefore, at this time, there isn’t any device that allow you to connect an Ant+ o BT device…
ops…in swimming profile….
That would be interest to test Ray :)
No reason to test it, I can state for certain you can’t pair to ANT+ sensors in the swimming profile (for reasons I noted above).
As for Mio with the Fenix, I actually tested the Alpha with the Fenix already, and that’s included in the Alpha review. I’ll test the Mio at some point with a final production unit in the water.
Whee is Mio Alpha and Fenix review into water ???
I thought I had posted it with photos, but, almost posted it. In any case, the specific results are here: link to dcrainmaker.com
The actual file is here: link to connect.garmin.com
At the end, you can see that it started working again…that’s when I stopped swimming.
So you think that even though Mio link and fenix2 were on the same wrist while swimming the result would be inaccurate?
In my test, they were next to each other on the same wrist. I don’t expect any differences in the Fenix2.
I am definitely looking forward to the release of this. This on one wrist and the 910 on the other would be great. Heck, I could toss the Iphone in the backpack for live tracking w/HRM too!
LOL. I was just thinking that a lay person seeing you wear this may think you are on parole / probation with a monitor. Maybe they should add some flair to the case and strap.
Have Mio done any tests with tattooed folk?
I previously trialled a Scosche monitor but it seldom worked on my inked arms (worked just fine on my un-inked colleague)
I haven’t seen any complaints to date from anyone on the Alpha (current product), but it may be worth pinging the Mio folks.
Response from Mio
Hello Richard,
Thank you for contacting us! We have performed some tests, and have had mixed results in terms of our optical sensors working with tattoos. Generally speaking, if you are extremely heavily tattooed–specifically designs where there is a great deal of black ink or scarring–this can cause problems with the transmission of the light underneath the surface of the skin. With that said, we did find several users who had tattoos who were able to get an accurate heart rate. However, we must note that these were tattoos that did not have very much scarring, and had some lighter-colored areas in the designs near where the sensor was placed. We would suggest stopping by a local retailer who sells the Alpha (or the Link, once we have released it to retailers), and test the device for yourself so you can ensure it will read properly through your tattoos. You can find our Store Locator here.
Please let us know if you have any further questions. We’re happy to help!
Warmest regards,
MIO Support Team
Question: I’m assuming you would have to use an app to set the zones on this monitor?
Also, I’m 99% sure true HRV monitoring would require sampling electrical activity of the body.
Chris
Correct, you have to us the app to set the zones. And correct, the unit doesn’t submit true HRV, just an estimation.
I’ve read on a site that mio link has a builtin accelerometer,
Do you think it would it be possible via firmware update that the data would be sent via ant+ to act as a footpod as well as an heart rate monitor?
Any idea of what chip they use for Ant+/Bluetooth communication ?
That would be in my opinion THE BEST companion device to own along a Ant+ compatible sport watch!
Which site states that it has an accelerometer?
As for ANT+/BLE, it’s the Nordic 422.
Not sure how reliable is the info.
“According to Mio, its tracking is extremely accurate as well and uses a built-in accelerometer to determine your heart rate even while you’re moving.”
link to reviews.cnet.com
I wondered about this, but my reading of it is that it’s there to assist with accurate hr measures when the wearer is moving. It’s not something that will be used and available as a sensor in its own right.
Ok. I’m totally stoked on this thing now. Can’t wait for it to ship.
Hi Rainmaker Just a quick question…do you know what the brodcast distance is for the link? From the alpha QandA page I see that the Alpha needs to be within the 1 to 3 meter range of your Iphone for example. Just wondering if the ANT+ on the link is the same or more flexible. I would like to have my phone off to the side in my gym bag recording the link data as I work out in the gym. Thanks in advance Rick
ps From what you know of the mio app…does the “roadtrip” aspect of it seem kind of cheasy or might it be of interest to an introductory cyclist lke myself.
BLE is rated at 10m, but sometimes devices don’t quite make it. ANT+ tends to go a fair bit further.
In general though, it won’t likely reach from the sidelines.
Thanks …. just as a side note. Is the link like the alpha in that the data has to be captured as the activity is ongoing? or can the link transmit data say for example when you get home from a workout and come within range of your fitmness tracking device or pc ? Thanks again
Thanks
Yes, same as Alpha in that respect. Except, with the Link it’s over both ANT+ and BLE at once, so you can pick pretty much any device on the planet (except a Polar watch, though, the V800/V650 would work).
Hi Ray!
You will test the Mio with the polar v800/v650?
Both devices are BLE,right?
Yes, I’ll test it again on production units. But, it did work when I initially played with both back in early January.
Tks:)!
I will read your review :)
Will the Bluetooth/Ant+ on Mio Link work as a bridge like the 4iiii’s viiiva or upcoming optical HR pod? With both being released within the next couple months do you have an initial recommendation?
The Mio doesn’t do bridging. It’s simply too early to say on the 4iiii’s pods. Accuracy will be king.
Did the Mio Global page always say the Link was shipping in April? Getting nervous now.
I don’t remember seeing that, but can’t be sure!! Hopefully production hasn’t slipped… :(
Given March 17th production complete date, plus a few days to sort international air delivery, plus a few days to your local shops/etc… that’s a nice ‘safe’ buffer estimate.
I’m seeing this now on the page – but there’s no link to actual reserve. I’ve signed up for the newsletter, but never had anything through that route (not even to say ‘welcome to the newsletter’).
“Be one of the first to have a Mio LINK – Reserve today! Shipping in April 2014”
link to mioglobal.com
FWIW: You can get the Mio ALPHA for 40% off with the code NEWMIO on the mioglobal website. I found this on the retailmenot.com site. (Don’t include the space in the code that retailmenot shows)
FWIW, just tried that code and got £20 discount (that’s 13%, not 40%)
Definitely waiting for the new Mio – any word on international pricing? Half price too (£75) ?
Hi Ray, have you tested the LINK in heavy repeats or competitions. When you really go to your max and your body stops supplying arms and other things (like brain ;-)) with blood ?
I could imagine there an issue with a unit sitting on your arm.
Yup, lots of short and hard sprints – I just haven’t seen any issues there (nor on the Alpha either). In general, it’s not arm-swing that impacts accuracy of these units. It tends instead to be cadence (looseness of the band), or light.
Ray…
Any further updates on availability of the Link? Mio suggested I joined the mailing list when I tweeted them, I have done but have never received a single email ! (junk checked..). I’m hoping they are still working to the previous schedule you posted – production delivery around this weekend. Have you heard any more, or even got a production version to review yet ?
I’m in the same boat. I would think the Mioglobal site would have more info by now.
Have you tested the Mio-Link with the Suunto Ambit 2 family and/or with the TomTom Runner. I need a new watch and want to buy one of these watches with the Mio-Link.
Thanks
Walter (Belgium)
It’s on my list of items to test. Haven’t done those two units yet though however.
Ray, I have been tempted to upgrade my FR310XT for a while now, but have been holding out for the next multisport version to replace the 910XT. Lately I’ve had lots of problems with both of my Garmin HRM straps. So, 2 questions:
1. Any indication that the next gen Garmin multisport will integrate a similar optical HRM tech into the watch?
2. Any chance Mio is going to release an HRM with longer battery life for the IM/ultra athlete?
I’m trying to decide whether I should keep my 310XT and buy the latest Garmin chest strap or Mio optical, or just hold out for the next multisport watch/HRM bundle.
Thanks for the help!
I should’ve added that, with things like this on the horizon, it’s tough to retro-fit old tech! link to kickstarter.com
I don’t expect to see Garmin get into optical this year.
I also don’t expect to see Mio release a bigger battery version in the near term. Sorry!
As for The Dash, something to keep in mind: link to dcrainmaker.com
Thanks! I saw your “Dash” review after my post. These are exciting times for wearable tech devices. I was at a pub in Boston on Saturday and the guy next to me said he works for a bio-tech company in the area. Neat stuff. I’d love to work in the industry!
Hi Ray! Have been expecting the link for quite a while but they keep pushing the release date forward. The latest was the 17th March but that’s been and gone and nothing happened. Any news on this Ray or should I go and buy miCoach for a lot more? Cheers! Zak
I check every day (sometimes twice!). They responded to a facebook question about it only being a ‘couple of weeks until preorders’ – that was on the 14th March. :(
The latest I’m hearing is pre-orders for next week, with deliveries into early-mid April. Trying to get clarification, but it’s been tough.
Here’s hoping – but looks like I’ll be sporting a strap for my marathon on the 6th. Shame – but not unexpected as they do seem to have been a little too quiet of the last fortnight. To be fair they’ve never nailed a date to the mast so we cant complain that this has slipped – but they do need to update the website to make things a little clear. Currently states ‘reserve now’ – but I cant! :(
They seem to be REALLY plugging their other product at the moment, maybe that’s an indicator that they have huge stocks they want to shift and don’t expect to be able to once the Link is released?
Hi Ray, will this pair with the tomtom multi-sport?
Yes, via Bluetooth Smart. Both are certified Bluetooth Smart devices for the heart rate profile.
Hi Ray,
I’ve tested the Mio Alpha, it works well while swimming if placed firm enough onto the wrist.
The problem is to find a watch that will record the HRM data while IN swimming mode. I get that the Tomtom Multisport and the 910xt do not while the Fenix does it.
Thus, do you know of any other watch that’ll record HR data while in swimming mode ?
Bonus : Has anyone tested what’s the best between ANT+ / BT4 to record HR with a Mio Alpha/Link close to a watch in the water ?
The Fenix does not connect to any ANT+ sensors in swim mode (Fenix1/2).
Hi Ray,
The comment about tattoos has me concerned. Does this only work for light skinned people? Does it work for us black/dark skinned folk?
Hi Sowmi-
As with the tattoo’s, I haven’t heard of anyone mentioning problems to date here. Which doesn’t mean those problems don’t exist, just that nobody has brought them up. It may be worth a quick e-mail to them to see what they say. Given they seemed fairly honest in the tattoo case response, I suspect they’d be the same here as well.
Cheers.
See comment #199.
I think the problem is more with the scars caused by tattoos than the color of the skin.
Thanks Ray, Tony. I’ve just sent an email to Mio. I’ll let you know when I hear back from them.
Here’s the response from Mio:
MIO Support Team (MIO Customer Support)
Mar 27 01:54 PM
Hello Sowmi,
Thank you for contacting us! We have performed tests with darker/black skinned people. While the Alpha and Link both work in many instances, there are some cases where very dark pigmentation can cause issues with the optical sensors being unable to properly read the blood flow directly beneath the surface of the skin. What we would recommend, if possible, is to check out the Alpha at a local retailer near you. We have a Store Map on our site that lists many retailers around the world.
If this is not an option, you can also order directly from our site, and if you have any issues, return the device within 30 days for a full refund.
Please let us know if you need any further assistance.
Warmest regards,
MIO Support Team
Hi All-
Just as a heads up that as of a couple hours ago you can now pre-order the unit from Clever Training. As usual, doing so supports the site and gets you 10% off your cart and free US shipping.
Details for all of that are now at the bottom of this post. Thanks for the support!
Cheers!
-Ray
I’m not seeing the Mio Go app on the app store, is it just not available yet? I’m interested in using the Mio Link for workouts to determine calories burned, any suggestions on apps which will work with the Link for this purpose?
It’s supposed to be available at launch (product availability).
Mio website says shipping starts april 10th. I had signed up with them to be notified as to when I can pre-order but heard nothing and just thought I’d check the website anyway to find I could now pre-order and pay. I’m in Ireland and shipping worked out free which is nice as I would usually have had to pay for shipping by amazon etc. Clever Training not an option for me due to import taxes.
Mio link is available for backorder on REI. Just got my REI dividend today as well!!
Should we expect to see any lag in shipping time from Clever Training versus Mio’s site? CT says mid-late April, while Mio says April 10th. I prefer to give Ray the referral and buy via CT, but if Mio can get it to me quicker I may just go with them.
The units ship the same day from the same place in Asia, to separate distribution locales in the US (one to Mio, one to Clever). Mio’s date assumes nothing goes wrong (they have basically a 1-day buffer). CT’s date assumes something goes wrong. If nothing goes wrong, then the two should be equal. As is the case for all product coming into the CT warehouse, it usually always gets turned around the same day from the manufacture back out to customers. Especially for new devices or back-ordered devices.
Clever Training has always been historically fairly conservative in published dates, mostly because historically speaking most manufactures don’t allow for any slippage, which invariably occurs (as already seen here). Thus, this minimizes upset customers when they over-achieve.
I appreciate the support!
Done! CT pre-order complete. Thanks for the quick reply, Ray!
Hi Ray,
do you know anything about the weight of the Mio Link?
I had an additional look to several sites (including the offical one at Mio), but couldn’t find anything about it.
31g for the shorter strap, 34g for the longer strap. These were pre-prod units, so obviously the final units might be tweaked slightly, but that’s the ballpark.
Now available for pre order! Shipping 10 April.
I come along a day late, having been checking the site every day! Typical!! Ignore me! :)
Shame to see they have hiked the price up to 150 per unit; thought it was meant to be 100
I’m out; just trying to make money
Will stick with a normal strap monitor until they get serious and realise they are just selling a wrist heart rate monitor not a gps or anything else
Showing as 118USD or 86GBP for me – with free delivery. 99USD on CT – but I dont get free shipping to the UK.
So for anyone in the US, usign Ray’s referal 10% off, its 90USD delivered.
I agree, it’s showing as retail for $99. Where are you seeing $150? Are you sure you’re not looking at the Alpha (not the Link)?
Interestingly there is nothing on there about battery time…
Ray – do you know if you will get a new retail unit to test soon, or just a firmware upgrade to the hardware you have ? The release date has come too late for my marathon next week, so I’ll await your full review/testing before purchase.
I’m getting some clarity there (on when I’ll get a prod unit), and will post back. Battery life is 10hrs.
I just did the pre-order from CT.
Interesting issue about the tattoo – I was more worried about having darker arm hair being an issue.
Just out of curiosity, could you get proper readings if you rotated the unit around so the optical sensor is on the underside of your wrist?
When manually checking a pulse you usually rely on feeling the pulse of pressure going through a vein or artery, this type of technology can be used at fingertips as well so I’m guessing it optically sees the change in the density of the blood in the capplaries which are the smaller blood vessels. These capillaries are all over your body as they are the last link in supplying blood to an area, as such I think that if you can strap this device to any area of your body you should be good for a reading so any side of the wrist should work.
Looks like the sizing between the small-med and large may be different than your original review. Can you confirm? Just trying to figure out which size to order, Thanks!!!
I’ll try and get some clarification.
From their Website (the german one):
S/M: 121-175mm / 4,8 “-6,9″
L: 149-208mm / 5.9”-8.2”
I was always tempted to incorparate HR into my training but never liked those straps. So… Just pre-ordered :)
It looks like I can order from CT for the same headline price as Mio – including postage. However, Mio will send from a UK distributor and so there will be no further tax charges for importing into the UK. Has anyone any experience of shipping from CT to the UK, and the charges that were added for VAT etc ? I have emailed CT and asked what they will declare the package as, but first hand experience would be great as there appears to be no consistency in import duties etc!
I’d rather order from CT and give Ray the kick-back, but only if I dont get hammered by big extras.
I’ve heard mixed in the past from UK folks. Sometimes they get charged, sometimes not. Obviously, from a CT standpoint their processing is the same, so it seems to be on the UK side that it varies. Perhaps, based on value. No worries, I appreciate the support attempt!
Its the least I can do….
The problem is that if you do get charged, there is then a fee on top. So you either pay nothing, or the charges + about 15USD in fees for collecting the charges! So it can quickly go from being a 100USD purchase to 130USD.
I’ll see how CT respond with regards to the customs declaration… and if I get it delivered to my work address it may help!
Note on REI: They are allowing pre-order as stated above. It’s the S/M size slate color model. Also, if you are a member your 20% off one full price item coupon works. I just pre-ordered mine.
I’m worried about the size being to small. Wonder why REI is not showing both models.
Have pre-ordered via Mio (sorry Ray – ordering on CT would kill me with duty).
Used the code SAVE10 to get 10% off – code posted on their facebook page by another user and seems to have worked fine for me.
Thanks gingerneil for sharing the discount code. I’ve just pre-ordered!
Just had a phone call this afternoon from mio, confirming my order and checking address details and to make sure id ordered the right size. Amazed at this first class customer service, really looking forward to getting it.
TomTom Compatability: I looked for a list of compatible devices on Mio’s site and only found a link to ANT+ devices, nothing for Bluetooth Smart devices. I have been trying to find out if the Link is compatible with my watch, a TomTom Runner. For some reason I have only been able to find information stating that the Link is compatible via BlueTooth Smart to apps, but not to devices. I just saw Ray’s comment above that it is compatible with TomTom via Bluetooth Smart but when I checked with the folks at Mio earlier today, I received this response: “Thank you for contacting us! Unfortunately at this time we are unable to confirm Link compatibility with the TomTom Runner GPS watch.”
I can double-check again sometimes this weekend. But I’m pretty sure I checked previously with Alpha.
Thank you!!
Has Ray said it works with the alpha. It’s my daily setup. Tomtom plus mio alpha. I’ve pre-ordered a Mio link.
Hi,
I have been mailing back and forth between the MIO global customer service and finally got them to include Sweden and I think all of the Scandinavian countries to their list of countries that they ship the Mio Link to.
So, to all fellow Scandinavians, the shop is open for business and it is time for MIO to take your money.
//Peter
Ray
I read through the comments and didn’t see any mention of a swim metric watch that this will work with. I use a Harmon swim and I know that ant+ doesn’t work under water. What’s funny is I have an old polar coach that I have been measuring hr under water for many years.
No, there’s no watches today on the market that will pair to another ANT+/BLE device while also recording swim metrics (distance/etc…).
Thanks for the save10 code. Same here with clever, shipping and duty would kill me.
what can I use please to record hr in water. Is a polar chest strap the only option?
Ray, with the Link going to market now, do you expect a revision of the Alpha next? Would make sense to add onboard memory, dual link, and more device based features?
With the Link going to market now, I’d like to see a revision of the Alpha next? Would make sense to add onboard memory and dual link. More device based features as well.
With the Link roll out now underway, I’d like to see a revision of the Alpha to include dual link, onboard memory and more device-based features.
Will this work with the Garmin Vívofit activity tracker.? I assume that the answer is yes because it is ANT+, but I just wanted to be sure.
Yup, it will.
Awesome! I just wanted to say thanks for providing such a great website. I’ve been interested in an activity tracker and heart rate monitor but could never find a good comparison between the available models. I went into a sports store to ask questions, which they couldn’t provide answers to, but one of the employees (who is a runner) gave me your website and said that you would be able to provide in-depth information about the different models and he knew that I’d find answers to all of my questions. He was right! Your website provides invaluable information to those of us trying to get in better shape and trying to figure out the best tools to help us do that. On top of that, I ordered from Clever Training and saved 10%… it doesn’t get better than that. I’ll be sure to share it with my friends. Keep up the great work!
swimming HR wrist band anyone?
Really impressed with the review and the product. At $99 I think it’s a fair price. However, once again we Brits will be ripped off and asked to pay £89 ($140)……Same old same old.
P.s I bet we get to pay shipping on top too! :-(
Shipping is free, and you can use save10 at the checkout for 10% off. Even with vat, we’re paying about £20 too much. The code helps, but not that much!
Your recent review of the optical HR on the TomTom gives me trust to go ahead with that one. – same same right?
I am still interested in knowing more about the upcoming 4iiii mini HR pod.
Have you got a pre-release version? You know anything about it?
Thanks!
Getting rid of the HR strap! What a ball!
Mostly same-same, but yeah, same-same.
I don’t have any 4iiii’s hardware at this point, pre-prod or otherwise. Beyond the posts I’ve done over the last few months at MWC or CES, that’s it.
MIO makes it to a new exchange rate. 99 $ = 99 €
Fascination!
Are you aware that US prices do NOT include sales tax whereas European prices do? So that’s most of the difference.
$99 = 72.xx€ –> 72*1.19 (sales tax in Germany) = 86€ so the difference isn’t really that much.
In the UK the price equates to $140 inc vat and shipping. How many US states will be paying an extra $41 in tax over the $99 advertised price?
Agreed – we often get screwed here in the UK. Maybe the UK distributor takes a bigger cut and Mio are selling more directly in the US ?
Or maybe we are subsidising the US price?……just a thought ;-)
I’m not *that* cynical! :)
Just noticed that Clever Training is stating that the short strap slate color is in stock and shipping within one day, with the long strap and white color still in pre-order status. Getting my hopes up for a delivery next week (since I’ve had the “in stock” model ordered since the day it went on their site). Looking forward to seeing the Mio Go app, hopefully available Monday.
Hi Chris-
Where do you see the Link as ‘in-stock’? Are you sure it’s not the Mio Alpha? I just looked at both show as ‘Mid April’.
In any event – thanks for the support!
Cheers.
No, it was definitely the Link, not the Alpha, and only the short strapped gray model–I still had the page up after seeing your reply, but when I refreshed, it’s back to the same pre-order status for all three models.
That’s ok–I think I can last a few days more!
I have a 7inch wrist. Should I go with the medium or large black mio link? also, will the mio link still give good HR readings during racquet sports?
does excessive sweating effect readings as well?
If on the edge, I’d generally go larger. I don’t know on racquet sports, however, no problems with excessive sweating.
Just saw that the Mio GO iOS is available–I installed it but haven’t had time to poke around, other than to notice that there will be in-app purchases available, presumably to add on to the built in scenarios Ray mentions above where you try to target certain heart rates while riding/running along recorded courses.
As a disgruntled chest strap wearer, I’m just looking for a more comfortable/convenient device to pair with my watch. I don’t anticipate using the app much, especially if it ends up costing $ to keep it interesting, but who knows?
Would this work in very (very) bright sun light conditions (desert sun)? Have you tested it anywhere south and sunny? A large % of your reviews seem to be in overcast/rainy weather :-(
I’ve been lucky in having a fair number of sunny days over the last few months. Actually, way more sunny days than normal. I haven’t seen any issues there, nor in any of the other random cities I’ve tested it out in thus far (including Vegas).
Does the LINK give Calories burned?
I know the ALPHA doesn’t. If it doesn’t do you know of a STRAPLESS HRM that does?
The link gives nothing but hr. It’s a slave device that needs a partner to send it to for processing, storage, display, calculation of calories etc. There is no display on the link.
Does the LINK provide calories burned?
The Link does not directly, no, however, various apps that you pair with it (via Bluetooth Smart), could. Or, various other watches that you pair with it (via ANT+), such as a Garmin watch, could.
It seems that friends of mine and myself will be buying this product and using it on our group rides.
Should we expect any problems regarding bleed over (multi readings)from other users units?
No, both Bluetooth Smart and ANT+ utilize pairing, which means there’s no interference from other athletes sensors (nor cross-talk).
I thank you sir.
use Save10 code to have it for 10 euro / $ less on MIO site. Just did that and works fine.
I was a bit upset at the high price in the UK so I used DC’s link to partner store in the US and paid with my UK Credit card but ship to my brother in CT (why didn’t I think of that sooner?) who will forward to me as “Gift” to avoid importation taxes
So I’ll have the Mio for just under £54 ($89) instead of £89($150)…..Happy days!!!
I did similar for my forerunner 220… But a colleague brought it back after a business trip to Vegas.
Their website says that ” Mio LINK consistently performed with 99% EKG accuracy, even while running and cycling at speeds of up to 14.4 mph.” I called and the person confirmed this. She asked if I was a professional cyclist, implying that most recreational cyclists are slower than 14 mph. Seems weird, did you test above this speed? Not really fast for cycling. I have pre-ordered and will need to cancel if this is true.
I took this as a running speed – not cycling. 14mph in cycling terms is fairly pedestrian, not so when running!
I generally don’t cycle at 14.4MPH. So, not quite sure where that specific claim is coming from. I suspect it may actually mean running at 14.4MPH. There are some edge cases in running that 99.99% of the population won’t see when your cadence is so high (usually at much higher speeds) that it can influence the readings on the unit from an impact standpoint. I saw some demo’s of it on a Texas Instruments chipset last fall, but I haven’t seen the issue on the Mio up to about 13MPH on treadmill’s that I’ve tested with.
As for cycling speeds, I’m generally at about 19-23MPH for most steady-state riding. Slightly slower on cobbles and rougher roads (15-20MPH), and obviously faster with a nice tailwind or a big hill.
Thanks for the very prompt reply. The speed listed is quite slow for cycling, but the comment is on their website and confirmed by phone. It’s about halfway down the page.
see: link to mioglobal.com
I’ll leave my order in place if it will work for cycling at the speeds you list. You’re faster than I am :)
I think that’s just poor wording. I can’t see why speed when cycling would matter? If your arms are fairly static whilst you’re riding, surely the mio wouldn’t be effected? I can only see an impact on the optical reading when your arm is going nuts running at 14mph.
Maybe raise it on the Facebook page? They have come to the rescue of their phone support recently on there….
That’s what I thought as well. Agree, poor wording, also poor telephone support to not clarify this when asked directly. I’ll leave my order in place and confirm that it works at my blistering 18 on the flats (old and slow) ;)
Also, I’m assuming that it will connect to “cyclemeter” via bluetooth on an iPhone 5. Any reason it wouldn’t?
heh it was shipping start 10th april . today they say 20th april … wtf
They were insistent last might on their Facebook page that shipping would be today. Maybe they are referring to new orders and have stock limitations?
Generally speaking most companies will shift the date on the website for new orders, based on backlog. I suspect that’s the case here.
I will be glad if shipping starts within april@all. In germany actually exists no merchant who has the mio link listed. So…I suppose they know why…may be the new “Tom Tom”-Models will arrive earlier.
Shipped…. Cool !!
The precious is Shipped… Cool
I’m not expecting to take delivery until at least early May. I’m sure demand is already strong, just look at this site!
I bet they’ve way underestimated demand. Who will get prioritized shipping ?
My understanding is that shipping is being done concurrently to the distribution locales, and then shipping from there is done via when you placed your order (first in/first out).
As a general FYI, I received the production version a couple of days ago and have been using it. They did change the magnets in it, which was one of my complaints, to stronger magnets. It stays on the charger nicely now (before, I had to basically very carefully align it and hope nothing moved).
Any estimate of when your full review will be published? You probably don’t have anything else going on, work wise, workout wise, or other products you’re evaluating. Ha!
Like so many, I eagerly anticipate every review you post, and I’m amazed at how you do it all. Thanks!
Hi Ray,
Open water swimming suggestion:
You take, for example, a FR 220 under the swimcap for GPS tracking on open water, you can also pop de Link sensor out of the band and stick it to your forehead, under the swim cap, linked to the FR 220.
You would get accurate GPS and heart rate for open water swim!
Do you still have the Link units with you?
Can you try popping the sensor out and sticking it to your forehead under the cap to see if it reads your HR correctly?
Thanks!
Rodrigo
Hmm…interesting.
So sitting at my desk I was actually able to very easily get pulse on my forehead from popping the unit out of the band. I haven’t gone swimming or running or anything else, but, in theory if you could secure it well enough (it has a slight curve, which actually works well on my slightly curved forehead) it might just work in transmission to a unit on your head.
I would be concerned however about loss of the pod, since it’s so small that it might easily slip out of the cap, but, that’s more a personal call.
Now we just need Google Goggle Glass
Awsome!
Thanks Ray!
Rodrigo
I just got email from Mio Global. My Mio Link Grey L was shipped on my address today and I have even track number. I preordered on March 31st directly from Mio.
Got my confirmation too – shipped in the UK via Royal Mail First Class – so I expect to have it tomorrow. Yeh! :)
(although bummer I’m not running after tearing my calf!)
Got an idea Mate!. As you won’t be needing yours any time soon, why don’t you let me have it and you can have mine when it arrives from the US ;-)
You’d have to take it off my cold, dead wrist! :)
How rude! :-(
Please don’t say you took that comment seriously!? ;)
Of course not, We’re Brits, we do irony right?
:)
Mio landed today – up and working very very quickly. Grabbed my HR in about 5 seconds, and my FR220 paired with trivial ease. Very happy!
The device itself feels very premium – the strap is soft and stretchy meaning you can get a tight, but very comfortable fit. My only very minor issue is that the packaging is very plastic – using a card insert rather than plastic would be nice, but that being stupidly picky!
Ray – there are load of complex featured Android apps out there for tracking heart rate and GPS. Do you have any recommendations for tracking just heart rate and nothing else ? In the past I have used my FR220 in the gym but as the internal sensor cant be turned off I end up having to delete the cadence track so I dont mess up my running stats, or leave it on the floor recording HR when I’m on the x-trainer.
It woudl be good to use an app on my phone to capture the HR track to upload to SportTracks, but I dont need anything else tracking. Will the Mio app do this ? At the moment the android version can only be used to config the Link.
The Wahoo app just got released on Android, and it supports BLE sensors really well in a simple scenario. It’s what I would use.
Cheers Ray – gave this a go on the x-trainer and it worked a treat. Logged my hour with no problems at all using Wahoo, uploaded to GC and then across to ST with Tapiriik. Perfect and stupidly simple! Top marks to the Mio.
@Vit; thanks for that Information. I will post it even my order will be shipped too.
Anyone who ordered through Clever Training get a shipping confirmation yet?
Nada
Their site says mid to late April
Have heard nothing.
I debated about ordering from CT vs Mio directly. Same price for both ($89). Decided to go with CT because they’ve been great in the past. Just hoping it gets here next week before the marathon…
I emailed CT to ask and here’s what they wrote, “Based on the information that Mio has provided us we are still planning on shipping late April. It is very possible that the manufacturer is shipping before retailer however we will continue to keep up to date information on our product website in the availability section.”
Oh well. Of course now I wish I’d ordered directly from Mio, but I suppose I can survive another couple of weeks without it.
Oh well, lesson learned.
I checked with CT. They expect it to arrive from Mio any day now, as soon as they arrive, they’ll ship back out the same day. It could be today, tomorrow, early next week. All they have is the departure date from Mio (the 7th).
Thanks for the support via CT, I appreciate it!
No worries, it’s no big deal. We’re all acting like kids awaiting Santa on Xmas Eve.
We’ve survived long enough without one!
Guilty as charged.
FWIW – REI expects their delivery to arrive on April 14. They will ship 1 or 2 days after that.
Mine arrived here today in ireland. Shipped from Hong Kong but no import duties payable, wish I could guarantee that for future Hong Kong purchases. Can’t want to try it out over the weekend.
I wonder if it’s possible to fit the “Road ID” metal tag on to the plastic bracelet of the Mio with a couple of rubber bands laterally across the top of the bracelet where it joins the head?
It would be great to only where one thing. If you’re reading this Mr Ed Wimmer, you saw it here first!
I’m afraid I beat you to this about 3 months ago. I’m sure there’s someone out there who was probably about that far ahead of me too!
Roger
January 7, 2014 at 1:50 pm #94
I saw on Twitter that the Vivofit band will allow the Road ID tag to slide right on. This would be a nice addition to the Mio Link as well and would eliminate another band on the wrist! I’m with everyone else though, it’s a no-go for me if the battery life can’t be improved (minimum of 13 hours).
Reply
Doh! It would make sense to incorporate the two but I guess that would create a few issues for one or both parties.
I think I just use MS. Word, type a few line of my information, decorate with a nice font, print, cut and stick to it with clear Gorilla waterproof tape. Simple as that.
Still breaking in my new Fenix 2. But also breaking in an Ultimate Direction SJ vest for some long unsupported trail run. Had some less than pleasant friction and pressure today, on my 14miles. Had it been a 50 miler, parts of my chest might be rubbed raw. Love the idea of this type of device. I’ve had numerous problems (like many) with the Garmin HRM. Wish the Mio battery life was closer to 20 hours for two ultra’s I have coming up. that said. What are people doing. Wearing the Mio on one arm and the GPS on the other? or wearing both on the same arm? Can we get some photo shot of what a mio looks like on a wrist next to a Fenix 2 (or a 910xt) ?
Conflict between SJ Ultra Vest and Garmin HRM are exactly what I have driving me towards the MIO Link as well!
Solved my friction issues with the Garmin HRM by simply sliding the chest strap up an inch… 18 miles with no issue.
Those chest straps just slide up and down! On the spot adjustments!
That vest has *everything*
Last saturday was a rough “chaffing” day. The F2 HRM run, shredded the center of my chest. It was like a sunburn, you dont know how bad it really was until later in the day. I will need to skip using HRM for 1 to 2 weeks easy. I was wearing a Mountain Hard Wear shirts, claiming to be soft, seemless, less chaff. But I had two nasty chaff marks on underarms. Since I’ve worn the SJ vest alot, I doubt it was from that, so much have been the shirt. Lastly the sj vest must have bounced to much. as both collar bones were rubbed. So I had no less 5 “chaff/burn” marks. I am rethinking about the Mio.
Just put in my order at Clever Training. I will be using this without pairing to a watch (presently own a Garmin FR10) over the spring-summer-fall so that I can start doing HR training. The lights should do the trick for me.
In the Winter, I plan to upgrade my watch (Ant +) so that I can monitor my HR training through the watch that will be worn over my winter run clothes. The Mio Link will be worn under my clothes then.
I will have to borrow my wife’s iPhone to set it up though. Wish they had a Windows App for basic setup. Looking forward to the full review – hope it is just as positive.
I like what this device has to offer:
1. It can be upgraded with firmware updates.
2. It has LED heart range indicator lights
3. Seems to track well for long slow runs where lag is not an issue.
4. Has a nifty UI for treadmill workouts. (wish I had access to one)
What I don’t like:
1. Reports of lag or drop-outs from other users.
2. Mfg. states it should be worn on the same arm as the gps watch. (This was not my plan)
I thought I was buying something that would just plain work without needing to have a HR receiver on my GPS watch (I have a Garmin FR10). I was planning on just using the lights to tell me when I was over or under my target zone.
I did use it and I think it was working correctly but, alas, there is no way for me to really know if I have a dud or not. Thus, unfortunately, I will return it.
Mine arrived today, not used it cycling yet though.
Paired up quickly, and seemed to react to my movement much quicker than the Garmin HR strap.
Does anyone know how these monitors work? Do the chest straps & this Mio interpret the data received do a calculation and just send the current HR number to the connected unit, or does the unit itself process the raw data?
How often do the actual monitors send the data?
This morning was the last straw. fully wetted my Garmin chest strap, added contact gel to my chest, sprayed cycling jersey with Static Guard… and still, as soon as I went into aero position on my bike, my HR started recording erratically (unless my new Max HR is 248). I’ve been battling bad HR data for years but it’s so dry where I live in the desert, that there’s just too much static. So- I’ve gotta’ get one of these. Will order from CT as soon as I can find the $50 gift cert that they sent me for my last purchase!
Question: Has anyone tried to position it right next to their watch in the water- to see if ANT+ can transmit 2 inches? That would be cool to get swim HR. Unlike some watches, my Ambit2 DOES allow you to record HR while in swim mode… if you can get it the ANT+.
Got my Link direct from Mio to home address in NZ last night. Worked fine with iphone and 910 in testing in the house. Ran this morning with Link on left arm and 910 of right. Kept losing signal. If I held both hands in front of me no issues. So moved link to my right arm with the 910 and no issues after that.
Will the white one fit my wrist size 6.5”?
Can anyone speak to what hold the “excess strap” to the band?
I near the edge of the short strap length and thus considering the long strap, but I’m concerned about the excess hanging off the edge if I have to cinch down the long strap.
Thanks!
Hopefully we get some good test in over the weekend, would love to know the sort of battery life we can expect.
At the end of the strap are two centrally pointing bumps that fit in the holes of the other side of the strap. This keeps any excess attached to the strap. The holes extend all the way to the body so you’d have have a lot of excess to exceed the range.
In addition, for cycling they recommend wearing it further up the forearm so it can’t be effected by wrist movement.
As regards the signal problems and the 910 XT I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the 910. Mine kept losing power data and to prove it was the watch I went cycling with my laptop and the ANT USB stick. I joined the ANT network and had installed the software to read the raw data.
That combined with data collected on my iPhone/Wahoo and the .Fit file proved it was just the watch.
In the end they said it was because I had it on my wrist and sent a quick mount kit.
I took the risk if using a laptop with a (cheap) non-SSD HD, which was probably a mistake as it died a few days later. Potentially quite useful though as each USB stick can do eight devices and you can use two USB sticks, although I don’t have two to test if you really get 16 lots of data. Not that I have 16 ANT devices anyway.
I got my Link today and am impressed with it. I have a MIO Cyclo 195 and to be frank it sucks, so I wasn’t expecting much. It seems well built. Disappointed the App requires a subscription charge as well, although I doubt I’d use it much. No obvious update firmware function.
Being red-green colour blind I’m not so keen on the colour coded HR zone feedback although if you cut it down to three colours only it is quite obvious.
I’m not sure I get the more than 12 hour recording problem. In an Ironman the device would be off for the swim so that would mean a 13 hour race. I doubt if you were going that slow you’d care about HR and even if you did I’d question the amount of evidence in how to interpret HR after such a long duration of exercise. And you’d likely be dehydrated which would put it up anyway. I find HR most helpful after transition anyway – to prevent me pushing too hard at the start of each section.
Maybe for Ultra-marathons more time would be needed but don’t imagine they use HR.
Received from GB to France in 2 days : good job.
Tried on 12km this afternoon.
I had runtastic and Mio Link on my phone and 310XT with HR strap.
How can i compare the 2 HR curves ? any software to do this.
A suggestion for mio to save battery.
It would be interesting to disable BT or ANT+ if you don’t use it
Export the data In a simple file format, extract the HR data and then import into Excel. Then graph it. Imagine it would take less than 15 minutes.
Been having some spiking issues with mine. I’ve tried it on various points on both wrists. Despite sitting still, I’m seeing spikes up and down around my rest rate of about 50bpm. Anyone else seeing this?
I have the same problem that canuk218 but with my 310 XT
I tried the link two times.
Yesterday with my smartphone moto G. No problem to pair (bluetooth) i used runtastic.
Mio Go is useless. It’s a beta version, You can pair with Mio link, adjust your heart rate zone and… that’s all you can’t use it to run.
But the morning, i paired the mio link with my 310 XT
I wear the mio link on the right arm and the 310XT on the left.
No problem to pair.
Before to start my training, i’m in the street looking at my watch and waiting satellites detection. My right arm wearing the mio link pointing to the ground.
When satellites are ok, il switch to start screen (with time, cadence and HR) and… NO heart rate detection…
I’ m looking at my right arm, I bring closer watch and mio link and Heart rate is detected by the watch.
I decide to wear the mio link on tha left arm with 310XT and no problem for 2 hours.
I tested again at home with 310XT (ant+) and MOTO G (bluetooth LE) at the same time.
when I put the right arm down my leg, i lose the ANT+ HR signal and keep Bluetooth signal .
If i swapped Mio Link and 310XT no problem
Interesting issue here. I am still awaiting the shipment of my Link so haven’t tried using the unit yet, but now I’m wondering about the Bluettoth vs ANT + issue.
I have the Forerunner 220 so I’m wondering will I be able to pair the Link with the 220 using Bluetooth or will it only pair with ANT+? Or can I decide to go either way with it depending on my preference?
Anyone know??
You can’t pair to the Garmin using BT – only ant+. The issues with mine spiking seem to have been with the Wahoo app – I’m not getting the same via ant+ to the 220. Odd….
Thanks Gingerneil.
So you’re having no trouble with losing the signal with the Link on one arm and the 220 on the other?
Nope – not at all. Even had the 220 on the other side of the room while wearing the mio. About 5 apart.
I can’t finger the Go app in play store, are people getting it there and is it titled Mio Go?
Yes ‘mio GO’. Is in the UK store. Possibly it is not available in the currently you are currently in.
Mio Go application is visible on Google play store only for devices with Android 4.3 and higher. So I can’t find Mio Go on my Galaxy S4 Active (still 4.2.2) but on Nexus 7 2013 (4.4.2) is application visible for download.
Ah, I see. My Xperia s has only got 4.1.2 not sure if that can be upgraded? Loaded it up on the iPad now so will see if that connects via Bluetooth. Would like to use it at night sometime to see what my heart does when asleep.
Had mine yesterday and ran a 10K race with it today. I had one spike at the beginning of the race but I will have to see what happens during training.
Can I also swim with it and how does it perform in heavy rain?
I really hope the device will be reliable because I want to train on my HF for the next few months. Pairing with the garmin 610 and 910 was easy.
I ran the London Marathon wearing my new Alpha Mio Link, hoping it would solve all my chafing issues.
I had worn it on a short jog the day before, and around the office, so had experimented a bit with it. I read that it works better slightly higher up the wrist, so I tried it higher as well as lower.
In yesterday’s marathon, the unit only worked when I actually pushed it down with my other hand – then it would read my heart rate. Otherwise it showed heart rate as blank the entire time. When I uploaded to Garmin Connect (running with the Alpha Mio Link connected to my 910X), it showed that it only read my HR those times that I pressed it down.
I had the unit strapped so tightly on my arm that it left an imprint on my arm for 2 hours afterwards – I could not have worn it any tighter.
DC Rainmaker, I would love your thoughts! I would love to get the Link working properly.
HI Julia-
It’s hard to say. I’d honestly try experimenting a bit more to see where it works best. I remember that from the Mio Alpha in the first generation devices that there were certain spots on me that it worked spot-on instantly, and certain spots where it was finicky.
With the Link, it’s been pretty much happy no matter where I put it. But I’d still try a bit here and there. Obviously, you were time-limited at the last minute, but I suspect with a bit of toying you can find the right spot.
Congrats on the marathon!
I had the same problem when pairing with the 910xt. Halfway through my run today I moved the Link to the same arm as the 910 and it was solid. I suspect that the ANT+ transmit distance from the Link is pretty short.
I don’t believe the vascularization in my left arm is significantly better than my right arm.
Took it for a 5k run today, my first time using it. I noticed that it showed no reading on a few occasions and that the reading was restored when I made sure there was nothing to interfere with signal between left and right arm. So it looks to me as though all is well except for the range of the ant+ signal and it’s ability to transmit through my torso. I see my graph look a bit more jagged than those from my chest strap on previous runs, something I guess caused by the signal being lost here and there during the run. Either I modify my arm swings to keep them more in front of me and less to the sides, or I wear link on same arm as the 910xt or else mio does a software change if possible to boost the signal strength. The device is very light, I’d have happily accepted a bigger device if it meant longer battery life and/or greater signal strength.
Tried to pair with iPad, no joy, my iPad (2) can’t see the mio link. iPad can see my Xperia s phone. My phone can see the iPad and the mio link. Ain’t technology great. I’ll see if I can communicate with the link on PC with USB connection.
The Mio Link won’t show up as a generic Bluetooth device in the iOS control panel. Instead, you need to pair it directly from a supported application. To start, try either the Mio Go app, or the Wahoo Fitness app. Both support Bluetooth Smart sensors and are easy to validate pairing.
And no, it won’t work over PC via USB connection – that’s only for charging.
Indeed I didn’t get any connectivity using USB to PC , ran the wahoo fitness and mio go apps on iPad 2 using iOS 7.1 and neither app could see the mio link? Maybe iPad 2 doesn’t support BLE? My iPads Bluetooth does work as it can see other Bluetooth device but they are probably not BLE devices. I ran the link last night during my sleep with fully charged battery and using ant+ connection recorded the output on my smartphone in an app. I got 8.5 hours of battery life before it powered down. I also tested to see if it could transmit the ant+ through my body to the phone and it seemed to have no difficulty doing so, leading me to think that my previous issue with occasional loss of signal to the 910xt means the 910xt needs a stronger signal.
Read the review again and spotted the iPad Gen 3 bit, so that explains it, the ipad 2 doesn’t do BLE. Neither does my Xperia S so the whole BLE is academic for me and its just ant+ useful for me, which is still great even though I can’t configure it. Hopefully will figure something out when they come to do firmware upgrades re battery life and signal strength. Always ran with a chest strap, feels liberating and almost as if I am missing an item of clothing running without it.
Are Clever Training shipping yet? I haven’t heard anything from them.
They were expecting to get theirs early this week, and ship out same day.
Great!
Just heard from CT that my Link shipped today. It will arrive in time for me to use in my upcoming marathon.
Got My Link delivered to Stockholm this morning and took it for a test run paired with my Garmin 620. I also wore a hr strap and my Polar watch for comparison.
With a normal pace for distance running, 4.30/km, I should have got around 130 in pulse. This was also what the Polar showed.
The pulse from Mio link instead showed 180-200 all the time. I tried to move it on the arm, and also set it tighter, but nothing helped. Sad if it it isn’n useful since I get allergic problems by the HR strap if I wear it too often….
Comment on My coment above:
Maybe its because I’m so slim. I have very, very little fat under my skin so on my arm where I wear a watch it’s literally only skin and bone – maybe allowing light to interfere. I try to wear it 10 cm higher up on the arm next run.
For folks troubleshooting use – definitely try moving it around until you find a good spot. In general, you can place it just about anywhere on the body that has easy access to capillaries. Obviously, the strap will only go certain places – mostly around the arms. But the key is minimizing light getting in, and ensuring that it doesn’t ‘roam’ around.
Does some led come on when its charging? so far its no lights at all
Yes, a very slow pulsing blue light. But, once charged light goes off.
are we talking once a minute, once every 10min, what kind of frequency?
ah. i had to turn it on to get the battery charging indicator
or was that looking for a signalg
Any good links for HR training? Calculators? Apps?
Charger should be revised. A lot of folk will have the main USB connection in some sort of a wall socket, perhaps tucked away beside bedside cabinet with lead about a meter long trailing to wherever they might rest their mobile phone while charging it at night. How about just putting a mini USB port on the charging bit so you just plug in the mini USB that you use to charge mobile phones with, no need for the novelty folding regular USB connector and so probably requiring a smaller piece of plastic. What’s more, how about ditching whatever iron is needed inside the link to give it something to draw the magnetic connection of the charger, use a croc clip charger connection like garmin 910xt and use the space weight saved from the iron to house a higher capacity battery.
I’ve been using one of these to enable me to plug into a ‘standard’ micro USB charging cable. I have loads of these for various other devices – so they are all around my house. A little messy linking the cables together, but it works fine and means the Mio charging ‘cradle’ doesnt dangle from the plug.
Agree that a USB micro connector on the charging cradle would be the better approach.
Also agree with the magnets vs a clip – but I dont think the change would enable an increase in the battery.
link to amazon.co.uk
I used the LINK during 2 runs now and I also notice blank readings. It goes from a reading say 145 to blank and back to 145 again so no strange readings in between. I don’t really mind as long as the average is still OK.
DCrainmaker: do you have any idea about the used algorithm for the average? What is – in your opinion – the effect of the blank readings? Will it lower the average for the whole lap? In that case the blank readings are a problem
I also found that the blank readings occured most at the beginning of an interval lap. I tried other places but without luck.
BTW pairing was easy both with the 610 and 910 and with the phone for setting up the device.
Most times, the averaging is only a few seconds worth from the optical sensor. For HR readings though on a Garmin, I don’t know if null is treated as zero.
That said, I am having some issues with both the production devices sent to me. I’ve gotta try some different positions. I’m not quite sure why the pre-prod devices were spot-on perfect, but these ones are producing less than optimal. Trying to do some troubleshooting as to why since I’m wearing them in the same spot as previous.
I’ve got my Link on Monday and did run 2 times since then. I’ve paired it with my FR305.
The unit does fit well and it’s great to wear. And I didn’t notice any dropout.
BUT I have two other issues:
– the heart rate goes sometimes up and down – e.g. from 138 to 184 (and stays at 184 for a couple of minutes), but I’m running only easy pace. The chest belt for comparison showed me a normal and steady 145.
Then I tightened the Link and it got better – and for some minutes it seemed to work. But then it started to go up over 180 another time – just like a heart rate belt could behave in the first minutes of a workout, if it’s to dry.
– second issue is with slow updates on changing paces. I did some strides (sprints) for 30 seconds. The unit needed roughly 25-30 seconds to go up, so I was then in recovery and got the highest peak. After staying in recovery the heart rate got down after another 30 seconds.
@Ray: I know you mentioned, that with the pre-production unit you didn’t notice such slow updates.
In total I’m very disapointed. It’s just not usable for me for the mentioned two reasons.
I’m curious if anybody else noticed such kind of behaviour.
I tried to rearrange the Link – but it didn’t help. So again, I didn’t notice any dropout, so I’m sure, that I wore it correctly.
Cheers,
Chris
Hi Ray
Thanks for your comment. I will check the reading again tomorrow. Just had the device on the same wrist today during garden work (haha) and it seemed better so I will try that tomorrow. I will let you know.
I had similar issue on the second day when i was testing it. I configured Mio Link with my Edge 800 and the Garmin HRM with another Edge 500. During my bike ride, heart rate reading from the Link was around 80 BPM while the Garmin chest strap was reporting a more normal 120 BPM. This happened during the first two miles while i was averaging at least 16 MPH on a relatively flat road. This was toward the end of the day, after the Link had been on for more than 7 hours.
Does anyone know what’s the significance of the double-blink LED? Occasionally, the LED would do double blinks. I have seen it in blue and in green.
Keep us updated on this. I had planned on waiting for some real world evaluation by the masses but I jumped the gun when the pre-order started… oops.
I used the LINK on the same wrist as the Garmin 610 today during my run and everything went well. Not a single blank reading and I did look at the watch since I was training solely on HF. Excellent and it all looked very accurate.
Ray, what issues are you encountering with the production devices? I have been testing the Mio Link (comparing it with the old Garmin HRM – not the soft strap kind) for the past few days and these are my observations:
– Quite often, the HR from Mio Link appears to lag behind the Garmin HR. This is especially when i was doing interval training. The lag could be from a few seconds to about 20 seconds.
– Sudden drop offs. The Mio Link HR would be significantly less than the Garmin HR for an activity that i know that should be in my Zone 2. Eventually, the Mio Link HR would crawl back up to match up with the Garmin HR.
– Spikes. The Mio Link HR would spike to 180 BPM even though the Garmin HRM was accurately reporting my resting HR around 60 BPM.
– Battery life ranges from less than 8 hours to 9 hours and 20 minutes. I seem to get better battery life by moving it higher up on my forearm (away from my hand).
Can I ask what you are using to capture the mio output? An app via BT, or a watch via ant+?
Gingerneil:
I am using Garmin Edge 800 to capture the Mio Link output. The Garmin HRM output was captured using a Garmin Edge 500. Both ANT+.
A multi device rainmaker in the making!! :)
I ask as I had issues with apps over BT.
Have you raised a support ticket with Mio? It’s early days, and I suspect they’ll be looking for as much feedback as possible.
Haha! I had to borrow my wife’s Edge 500 to make this comparison. I had a ticket opened regarding the double LED flash question. According to the Mio support personnel, the “double-blink of any light on the LINK indicates that you are outside of the target rate for that particular color’s zone by 10 or more heartbeats per minute”. Based on what i understood from the full user guide (not the quick start guide), i should only see the double LED flashes if the Mio Link is in Zone Alert Mode. My Mio Link has been in the Training Zone Mode and i still see the double LED flash. Basically, the LED would do double flash for any activity beyond the REST zone.
Ah – I have this issue to. I need to work out how to get it out of that mode….
Ray – we need that forum software dusted off I think! :)
The Mio Go app is supposed to allow you to set the two modes, at least the version of Mio Go for iOS is able to do that.
Thanks – found it! Must have put it into that mode when fiddling with the app.
Circling up a few posts…
The issues I’m seeing are spikes/drops that don’t match reality. I’m working with the Mio engineers to see if I can pinpoint what’s causing the issues. Will be spending more time on it this weekend, but was consumed today with attempting to get across the Atlantic.
There’s so much comments about HR measuring failure :-/ It’s a shame for the second MIO’s product like this …
I have not received min yet, but I think I will try to put some single side foam tape around the sensor in order make a ‘gate’ for external light. Someone could try if it helps ? :)
A few people have had issues, but I think many many more who don’t will not post. I had initial issues with the Wahoo app, but they have a know that’s it’s on their side. The Link had been flawless for me.
For all those having trouble:
I got my Mio on Saturday and took it on a long run on Sunday. Now, I didn’t wear an HR monitor before and have no idea what my HR max etc is, I just wanted to see how well it works. Data was all over the place, ranging from 38 (at 8 min/mi) up to 205. In the end of the run I did one kilometer at 3:50 min/k to see what my max would be, and it ended up being for below that 205 spike.
ANYWAY, two days later I tried rearranging the unit as Ray suggested. I now wear it about one third of the way further up my forearm. I didn’t have ANY spikes or dropouts so far. It really depends on how well contact is with your skin. Also, tightening it down a little further helped a lot as well!
ANT+ as well as Bluetooth connectivity is not an issue at all.
All in all, I am VERY pleased with the unit. After a few seconds of running I don’t even feel it sitting on my arm, it stays firmly where I put it. Totally awesome.
Hi!
I got my Link last Monday (shipped from GB to CH). I tried it twice yet with Runtastic (Iphone) and it works well. I sold my Mio Alpha 2 weeks ago. Actually I can’t see any diffenrences concerning the HR-values.
One question about “Mio Go”: there isn’t any possibility to edit the runs or look at them on a website, is it? MioGlobal has now such website, right?
hi
I’m a cyclist. I use edge 800, sometimes IPhone 5 or Vivofit and i will buy the new Polar V800 in a few weeks.
Sorru, my English is not perfect and i’m not sure to understand anything.
Will the Mio give me the reading of heartbeat for the 3 units ? Otherwise, can i use my Edge 800, Polar V800 and vivofit together, with the Mio at the wrist without any chest strap ?
If it is true it is a big progress.
Jacquyes,
Polar V800 supports Bluetooth Smart devices so in theory, the Mio Link should work with it. The Mio Link currently works with Edge 800 and iPhone 5.
Got mine yesterday. Works well. Connectivity is a little strange. The mio signal seems
to be weaker than other ant+ devices. My fr220 loses contact if I wear the link on my right arm.
My fenix has no problems receiving the signal from the other arm.
Hello all,
I have been waiting for a product like the Mio Link for ages. Chest straps are so uncomfortable, and to have something that might actually record heart rate accurately while I swim would be about one step short of a miracle at this point. Given that last point, I have a question: If bluetooth is being used as the connection, will the link transmit to an iphone/ipod touch being worn in a waterproof case (H2Audio)? What about to a device in a bag on the pool deck? I guess what I am asking is does anyone know the range of the Link when it is paired with a Bluetooth device? Any and all information is greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Addison
Mio Link does not work under water.
sounds like it barely works at all! Shame. I was ready to buy one, but now I’m reading all these negative reviews. I’m so sick of battling static electricity interference. (it’s really dry where I live)
Has anyone yet tried placing it right next to their 910, Fenix, Ambit or TomTom in the pool- to see if ANT+ (or BT in the case of the TomTom) can transmit 2 inches under water?
From the full user guide for Mio Link:
USING YOUR MIO LINK IN WATER
• Mio LINK is water-resistant and can be worn while swimming.
• Important: Do not press the Button under water.
• The accuracy of the heart rate monitor might be reduced in cold water or if you are using large arm movements.
• Do not wear your LINK while diving.
• RF transmission does not work under water.
• After swimming, remove the LINK strap from the main unit. Rinse both with tap water and dry with a soft cloth.
I worked for Seiko Watches for ten years and the minimum water resistant capability required for swimming was 5 Bar or 50 metres, preferably with a screw watch back.
3 Bar is not enough, you can replicate 3 Bars of pressure simply by pouring water from a height of 1 metre over the face of the unit.
If you use it whilst swimming you’ll not have it very long!
Can you tell me where to find the full User Guide? I’m on seeing the Quick Start Guide for the Link. Thanks!
Just to off-set some of the negative comments, I have found the Mio Link to be fantastic. I wear it slightly above the wrist bone and pair it with an FR910XT on the other arm – no connection issues at all… and I’ve done my best to put it through its paces. Running, cycling, rowing and the odd cardio circuit at the gym – no drop-outs, no random spikes. It just works well. I’m wrapped with the purchase and have already converted a few long term chest strap using colleagues. Two thumbs up.
I just got mine and are having big problems with the connection. It keeps loosing connection with my FR610 if I use it on the other arm but if it’s worn on the same arm it works flawlessly. Really annoying to be honest. I’ll try it with my Fenix 2 later today and see if I can get a better result.
Well a 90 miles of riding, I have discovered for me it works better on my right arm than my left, it works better for me cycling nearer the wrist bone than it does higher, this is contrary to advice given by Mio but on a road bike on the hoods I do not think there is much wrist movement anyway!
My only gripe is the update lag, during heavy efforts my heart rate is stable then after 30-45 seconds or more in to the effort (hills etc.) it leaps up to where I would expect it to be. And on short time efforts it seems to pick up the drop in HR much quicker than it picks up the increase. This must have a negative impact on HR average.
I can only think the lag is either how often it sends data to a device or the algorithm struggles with a rapid change in HR
Does a standard ANT+ monitor behave any better for you in the same workout ? Could it be smoothing on the master device that causes the delay in change ?
I noticed a small delay on mine yesterday when the ‘handle grip’ heart rate measure on the x-trainer I was using would raise quicker than the iCardio measure coming from the Mio. I’ve not tested it alongside a chest strap – and cant be sure which method if the most accurate.
I generally do intervals by pace or time, and not heart rate – so a short delay from the Mio isnt the end of the world for me.
Does anyone else find that the module itself pops out of the strap a little too easily ? It obviously wont fall out when in use, but its almost fallen out a few times when I’ve been taking it in/out of my bag or just generally fiddling with it. These types of things are often hard to get out – but this feels little too easy.
Could the firmware be updated ?
The Mio seems to lag then suddenly play catch up by adding 5-12 beats every second or so.
Not seen that on a chest strap, but as you say maybe smoothing algorithm on Chest straps which kind of answers an earlier question the device picking up the heart rate is doing all the work and sending the head unit a plain figure
Have you raised a support request with Mio ? It would be good to get clarification on any smoothing that they apply to the Mio’s output to the master unit.
just got mine. seems great. not yet tested accuracy properly but superficially looks OK. not tested BLE & ANT+ simultaneously either (and maybe never will!!)
Seems to be a problem with RANGE. only works on same arm as receiving device. having on different arm to a watch (910XT) gives lots of wrong readings
It does transmit a signal underwater as well but only for a few cms and the signal/HR received is WAY wrong. So it’s not for swimming. But TBH I like it.
I’m going to talk to myself here and contradict myself. I just tried this swimming with 910XT and Link on same wrist and this image shows there’s definitely a reasonable signal picked up for the entire hour session: link to the5krunner.files.wordpress.com
“Only works on [the] same arm as [the] receiving device.” Shame, I was thinking getting one as an alternative to the chest strap on my e.g. Garmin. My thinking was that if you could wear one device on each wrist that would kind of balance out? I’m hoping the MiCoach comes along farther in the next year though…
Went for another run today, second one with link. Previous issue was drop of signal. Today seemed oK, signal drop only noticed at end of run when walking and arms moreso at sides when walking. Sure enough when I copped that it had lost signal I moved my arms to a position where they (link and 910XT) could see each other and signal was restored. Did think of moving link to same arm as watch but looking at graphs reading is pretty smooth. A great little device, which while not perfect will transform the way I run or more transform my attire too as I used to wear a compression top partly in order to stop the chest strap sliding down.
diffierents test and same conclusion. I can’t wear the mio link on my right arm and connect my 310XT on left arm. I loose connection. It’s amazing !!
I asked Mio and they answered :
__________________________
Thank you for contacting us! We are sorry to hear you are having these issues. We recognize it is an inconvenience and do hope to release a firmware update to resolve the matter in the future.
____________________________
PS : i hope they will quick release a good version of ” Mio Go” because the beta android App is uselless.
What a bummer using the Link. I’ve taken it for a couple of runs now and wasn’t happy at all with the result. I wore it on the same arm as my Fenix 2 and moved positions a few times. The data was good off and on but not consistent at all. I contacted tech support and got the same reply as the previous comment. I told them it was a bit nebulous of a response for me and asked for an RMA and a refund.
Can’t help but notice that people are judging how the apps work and not the unit. The band reports accurate hr Ones from the multi colored light. The apps seem to report differences. Never been confirmed to be caused by the band.
I think your observation is off. Most of those who are having issues with the Mio Link are having problems with the device itself not providing consistent HR. They are not having problem with the apps.
Hi, I was wondering if the Mio can be used with app or softwares that monitor the “heart rate variability’.
I have a “First Beat” app that work great on iPad with a Whaoo Ant+ adapter and a Garmin strap.
Can I subistitute them with this Mio?
Thanks!
SweetBeat… Sorry
Got mine in today. From a quick test in the office it seems to lag behind my chest strap by as much as 10 seconds. I’ll give it a shot on the bike later and compare files from the mio and a garmin chest strap.
My two cents after having the Link for a couple of hours. I tried programming the unit with my iPhone and got very frustrated After two calls to tech support I resolved my own issue. That is when you enter HR zones start from the top zone and go down.I tried from the bottom up as I was reading from a printed sheet and the software kept freezing at zone 4. FWIW: I connected the Link to my Android tablet and found the interface much easier and less buggy. I’ll hit the treadmill later and see how it works. Endomondo seems to have no issue with it.
I got my mio strapless heart rate monitor today.
I paired it with my vivofit and my mapmywalk (iphone) simultaneously without a problem.
Here are my thoughts and impressions (and issues)
First the mio
the bands run small to keep that in mind i can fit in the small band or 4/5 hole on the large band and i just fit in the sm/med mio band
it pairs with both smart bluetooth and ant+ simultaneously (major bonus)
it’s very comfortable – i did move it because i thought it was slipping but way better then something on my chest!
now the vivofit
i thought it had to stay on heart rate .. i didn’t know if the heart was flashing it was still working (apparently reading the manual is a good thing LOL)
it tracked perfectly from what i can tell (except when i thought they disconnected because the heart screen was blank or back on steps) … i have to double check this tomorrow
the beats it traced aligned perfectly with mapmywalk
mapmywalk
does not sync to garmin (it should link like fitbit) it’s a good thing those fitbits were recalled! HINT GARMIN…
tracked the mio heart monitor perfectly
i upgraded for free for one month to vip .. and it broke out how long in each heart zone.
overall ..
i like the mio, but wish i got the large
Couldn’t agree more about the sizing. The Small/Medium tricked me… should have just called it Small and the other Large. I contacted them cause I’m on the 2nd to last set of holes. They are sending me a large band! I took your suggestion and used it with MapMyRun… Awesome! Seems to be so much more accurate than my treadmill heart rate monitor. Really happy so far and very comfortable! Can’t wait to pair it to my pre-ordered Polar V800! Thanks DC for your wonderful informative reviews!
okay now me ;] tested it for last 4 days in running, tennis and football. I paired it with my Fenix 2. Tried on same hand as watch and on other hand. I noticed it is little bit laggy (about 5-7 seconds lag when slowing down or accelerating) and wearing on same hand as watch seems to be more stable…but even wearing at other hand it was fine. just see that its better detailed (and maybe smaller delay ? not sure yet). assuming i am happy with it. hope the ll fix it all with next update (if updating is possible :-) )
@Ray: Do you see regular dropouts when you wear the link on the other arm?
There were a couple of comments that Mio is working on a software update. Can you confirm this?
Thanks. A shame that the production units are worse than your pre production one.
I’ve been using two Link’s, one worn on each arm. Data inconsistent on both. Usually on one arm is a watch, and one arm is ’empty’. Another nearly 3hr run in the morning, so we’ll see how it goes again.
Received my preordered Link early last week.
Since then I’ve done a treadmill run, trainer ride, outdoor run and ride with the device as well as some wearing ‘just around’. The device and concept sure seems cool, but so far I’m wildly disappointed.
The data on my first use seemed so random and likely off that I started wearing a Garmin strap at the same time (and recording both). During each activity with both recording I noted vast differences.
For my trainer ride I saw decent data roughly 50% of the time! otherwise it was off…
During my runs it was fairly consistent, but high by 25-30 bpm. (Not just spikes, just seemed offset).
During warmup for both riding and running I noted it initially dropped from 70s to 50s before climbing above my actual rate. If it were 2-3 bpm I may deal with it, but so far it is so wrong and so often that I can’t see how I could rely on it at all.
I’ve tried a few tightness settings and also different spots on each arm, really nothing has been an obvious help. Plus if I’m constantly worried about wrist flexion, grip on bars, and general device placement, that’s kind of a bummer!
So far I’ve emailed support. I haven’t heard back yet but it appears that mine is likely headed back given my experiences so far.
Tim,
I am having the same experience that you are. Sometimes it will read right and then other times it will be all over the place. It seems to read low about 50% of the time. Also when I stop for a couple minutes it takes it a while to get back to reading right even if I am going really hard. The other problem I have seen is it does not read high intensity efforts well at all. I know HR has a lag but if I am working super hard for 1-2 minutes it should not be reading in the low 100s the entire time.
A short update…
Tonight I tried the inside of my arm, ~1/2 way up my forearm. Maybe not quite halfway, but it was up there! I think I could have put 2 watches between it and my wrist. My 610 was on the same arm — at the wrist.
This time the readings were much closer to my HR strap. Generally within 1-2 bpm, although on a short hard effort there was a ~10 second lag. I also noted almost 50 seconds of “startup” delay when I initially started running.
Unfortunately I don’t think I can keep running with it in this position! At mile ~2.6 I could feel the mio wiggling and starting to move. I looked down and could see marks from where it was initially (I guess it was tight enough to leave that), but it had moved 1/2″ down my arm. I pushed it up, but by 3 miles it was moving down again — very annoying.
I plan to give it another shot in a few more locations, and have hopes they will release some form of update to improve things.
Had my Link for a week or so and have used it both with my Garmin Edge 800 and Forerunner 610. It is has been simple to pair. I have used it in a Criterium and a time trial, as well as a spin class. The only issue seems to be a lag in starting up in a race. The heart rate seems to be about 40 bpm under, then bumps up to a correct level. I might need to wear it tighter. The other thing I am keen to test it against is the Kessler Exercise bikes in the gym, which use Bluetooth. The Link is so much more comfortable to use, compared to a heart rate strap. So much so, my girlfriend has just placed her order!!!
For those who don’t want to give up on it yet, try putting the sensor on the other side of the wrist, the side where you would take your pulse. I did this because it follows the contour of the sensor better. I found that this made a huge difference, even at really high intensities.
yes indeed – I figured out the same thing – it makes a huge difference – never misses a beat when worn upside down
I used my Mio LInk with Wahoo Fitness app on Android 4.4.2 – Nexus 5. During the 11.1 miles run the Mio Link loss connect to Wahoo Fitness at least 10 times. I had to push the button on/off to restart it. At the end of the run, after I stopped it, the summary page of Wahoo Fitness app show average 0 heart beat, basically there was no heart beat recorded the whole time. It works fine with my Suunto Ambit at the same time. This morning I tried it with Garmin 810 , and worked great. In term of Wahoo Fitness, I am not sure what was wrong, but I will try it with Run Keeper or Mapmyrun next .
The strap is very comfortable. I am happy overall.
A 63 km race today, sitting on about 35 kmh and the Mio did not hit its straps for 15 minutes, but then was completely “on song” for the rest of the 1 hour 58 min duration. I get my power from the Vector, so it is not too big a deal. Apart from that, the gain from not wearing a chest strap makes the Mio well worth the cost.
Jason Silvers replied
April 20, 2014 at 5:50 pm #471
Tim,
“The other problem I have seen is it does not read high intensity efforts well at all. I know HR has a lag but if I am working super hard for 1-2 minutes it should not be reading in the low 100s the entire time.”
+1
its very annoying when doing workouts with short max sprints. its just not getting my HR even if i run on my max speed. (i do short 20s sprints and link never got destiny HR because of this lag/bug) :(
Joe
April 20, 2014 at 2:20 pm #473
For those who don’t want to give up on it yet, try putting the sensor on the other side of the wrist, the side where you would take your pulse. I did this because it follows the contour of the sensor better. I found that this made a huge difference, even at really high intensities.
-wow. it might be nice idea. thanks Joe. I ll try it today for sure and say if really works here.
If you’re having trouble getting the Link to charge as I was, remove it from the band.
Thanks for the in depth review, got my Mio Link last week. after all the research and reading your blog got it to pair with my Samsung active 4s with Endomondo for a spin class and a run outside. worked great! I did have to shift the band up my wrist high up abit to get the proper HR (I’m 5’2″ with a small wrist like The Girl). so happy since i can never wear any chest strap they give me bad skin rash. FINALLY i have heart rate info for my workout! Thanks :)
I’ve had good luck with the Link. Paired quickly and easily with the fr220. No connectivity issues at all wearing the Link on the right arm and fr220 on the left.
I did have an issue with wildly erratic readings at first. Had to tighten the Link one notch beyond snug to get it seal properly. Once I did that the readings have been right where they should be and very consistent.
A good test is to wear the Link in a dark room and check if any green light is leaking out when you move your arm around. I could only see a tiny bit leaking out before I tightened it, but it was enough to teally mess up the readings.
Got the Link in the mail today from Clever Training. Went on a short run with it. Very well designed and very comfortable. Most definitely a step in the right direction from a chest strap. However, some possibly erratic readings from the run. I don’t want to judge too much just yet without using it more. Sitting in the office with an fr305 mated to a Garmin heart rate strap and the Link mated to a Fenix it shows erratic readings for a little after startup but seems to settle down. Having the Link snug does appear to help. Don’t let any light shine from under the strap. The Fenix poses a problem as well. With the 305 you can just sit for hours and watch your heart rate. Then Fenix, without turning on the gps, wants to go back to the home (time) screen after a couple minutes. On one occasion, as I am writing this, the Link and Fenix showed heart rate at 95 while the 305 and age old heart rate strap churns steadily along at 47-49 bpm. I’m not too upset as I hate chest straps but beginning to appear that, for the absolute best data, you must go with the tried and true strap.
P.S. My run was with the Link mated to the fr305. The 305 on my left arm and the Link on my right with the sensor under my wrist. At least while sitting in the office, it doesn’t appear to matter whether the sensor is located on the top or on the bottom of the wrist. More erratic readings as I write this P.S. Concerning that just sitting here doing no activity at all results in some erratic readings. Again, of course, no such problem with the tried and true heart rate strap.
“Those with problems speak loudest”.
I just wanted to put a positive comment on here. I’ve had my Mio for 10 days and completed many runs & rides. I’ve had no problems whatsoever and the data matches my chest strap every time. Chest strap now retired for good. I have used the Strava app on iphone for all activities so cannot comment on Ant+ performance.
Best fitness product I’ve bought for many years (and I’ve bought a lot!!).
Mio has pushed back the shipping date for EU (or at least the Netherlands) once again… Expected date of shipping is now set for April 29th. About two weeks later than the original shipping date. What worries me most however are the reported problems with the final units!
Not sure what that’s about, I’m in Ireland ( EU) and had it delivered a few weeks ago. Probably a second batch/wave of devices.
Thanks for your comment! Good to know.
Wasn’t so bad after all, the delivery guy just handed me the MioLink. Paired really quickly to my iPhone and picked heart rate almost instantly. Gonna take for a run (with FR305) tomorrow afternoon.
Ran in mine the first time today, up higher on the same wrist as my Garmin 620. Flawless!
How far off is the HRV guesses it supplies to the 620? If I hadn’t read here that it didn’t do HRV, I wouldn’t have thought twice about the VO2 Max and Recovery Advisor settings it gave me.
Got mine in the mail today, and just playing with it a bit. I am able to easily pair with my Garmin Fenix. My Droid Maxx (Android 4.4.2) detects the Link, but quietly fails to pair after repeatedly rebooting both devices.
I take back my comment about failing to pair. It does NOT pair using the BT settings, but it does pair and is detected by the MIO Go app, as well as Wahoo and other 3rd party HRM-capable apps. It’s doing it in a different layer without any effort by the user. Good to go.
In general, Bluetooth Smart sensors aren’t paired within the iOS control panel, but rather within individual apps.
Yeah, unfortunately I was sort of ignorant of that before I posted. Mine is Android, and it seems to roll the same way. It pairs without me doing anything, in the application layer.
I’ve only done one run with it, but I’ve been wearing it around. For me, I really don’t have to cinch it very tight, and “rightside up” works fine for me. This is a vastly improved experience over a chest strap for me.