The new PowerBeats 2 Pro earbuds have a slate of new features for audio-related purposes. However, for sports-specific usage, they have one big new feature: Built-in heart rate sensing. This would not only be the first time Apple has created a non-watch heart rate sensor, but even more notably, the first time the company has enabled heart rate broadcasting over existing Bluetooth heart rate standards.
The question then becomes: Is it accurate?
Unfortunately, it turns out, that was not the question I should have started with.
The real question to start with is: Is the heart rate function (accuracy aside), even usable?
A lot of hours later, I have answers to both of those questions. And trust me, it’s a very mixed bag.
I’ve actually been a long-time fan of PowerBeats. There were the first Beats product I owned years ago, before eventually switching to the Beats Studio buds, then the AirPods Pro 2. But hey, I’m a fan of orange (as is every other company apparently), so a quick $249USD (299EUR in my case) purchase on Apple.com, and they arrived two days later.
Note that this review will focus exclusively on the heart rate features. This is not a review of the audio pieces (good or bad), the other new features, or the color orange. Cool? Good, let’s begin.
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The Tech Specs:
Just very quickly, let’s run through the tech specs here for completeness.
Multi-microphone: 6 microphones in total, 3 mics per side
Modes: Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), Transparency, Regular/Off
Sensors: Optical for heart rate, optical for in-ear detection, accelerometer, gyroscope
Buttons on earbuds: To change settings/configuration (for playback controls, mode controls)
Battery: 10 hours (+ 35 hours in the charging case)
Fast Chart: 5 minutes charge is 1.5 hours playback
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.3 (single device connection though)
Weight: 8.7g per earbud, case is 69g
Eartips: Includes 5 sets of removable silicon earbuds (XS, S, M, L, XL)
App Compatibility: Android & iPhone (but can pair as Bluetooth audio playback to any Bluetooth-compatible device)
Heart Rate Compatibility: Broadcasts as Bluetooth HR profile, though, see details below.
Apple FindMy Support: Built-in
When it comes to how it compares to the PowerBeats Pro (original, here’s the key differences:
- Uses Apple H2 instead of Apple H1 chipset
- Contains 5 eartip options instead of 4 eartip options
- Adds Active Noise Cancellation audio options
- Adds Transparency Mode
- Adds Adaptive EQ
- Adds Personalized Spatial Audio
- Adds Heart Rate Monitoring
- Increases battery life (24hrs to 45hrs for case+buds total), 9hrs to 10hrs for buds in ANC off mode
- Adds wireless charging for case (Qi)
- Price remains same at $249USD/299EUR
Got all that? Good, let’s get cooking.
Heart Rate Pairing & Enablement:
Never have I ever spent so much time trying to get an Apple product to work. And the actual solution? Use Android.
I’m not kidding. After over 90 minutes of troubleshooting trying to get heart rate sensor pairing working within the Apple ecosystem, I gave up and turned to Android to capture my heart rate data for accuracy testing. It was the only way I could make it work. Still, I’ll cover how this all works, both in theory, and in practice.
First up, the PowerBeats 2 Pro are fully compatible with both Apple and Android. In the case of Apple, all of the various PowerBeats extra features are handled at the OS level, so you can toggle things on/off as needed (like noise cancellation, heart rate, etc…). Whereas on Android, you’d use the Beats app to do the same thing.
Now, before we dive down that rabbit hole, let’s look at the tech. You’ll see a small black sensor pod on the inside, just below the eartips. This has both a green light (technically 3 green lights) and a photodiode to measure said lights:
It shines this light into your ear and then reads that optically, determining your heart rate. The green light is very visible to all of those around you:
In daylight, you don’t notice it very much. Though, in darker conditions it’s very visible:
This is a separate space from where the music comes out, so there isn’t (theoretically) any interference between these two sensors. For some tests I had music playing, and other tests not. Music playback didn’t appear to make any difference in terms of accuracy.
Now, transitioning to the heart rate software side, the PowerBeats 2 Pro supports two core standards-based protocols:
A) Bluetooth Audio device
B) Bluetooth Heart Rate profile
It does this on two distinct channels, theoretically allowing you to pair individually the heart rate side to one device (gym equipment), while the audio side stays connected to another device (like your phone, for music). Spoiler: This doesn’t actually work.
To pair the music side on an iPhone, you’ll open the case up with an Apple device nearby, and it’ll magically pop up and start the pairing process. Clean and simple:
In the case of Apple, it’ll sync this pairing across all your Apple devices (e.g. Mac, iPhone, etc…).
Meanwhile, on an Android device, you’ll open the case lid and hold down the single button within it, to enable pairing mode. A moment or two later, it’ll show up in your Bluetooth devices and you can confirm the pairing. Again, also straightforward and simple.
Now on both Android and iOS, you can entirely disable heart rate monitoring (which is only enabled during workouts, not 24×7/during music). So if you don’t want it to ever enable, you can toggle that easily.
Meanwhile, assuming you do care about that, then it’s enabled by default. However, it’s not measuring/broadcasting yet. To do that, you need to quickly short press followed by a long press on either of the two Beats buttons (left or ride side). You’ll hear a chime, which then enables the heart rate sensor for pairing. At which point, you should be able to pair it to various apps/devices as a standard Bluetooth audio device.
In reality, this is a hot mess.
I tried numerous apps on iPhone and Mac: Peloton, Zwift, Strava, and Wahoo Fitness. Plus, Garmin watches and bike computers. About half the time it’d see the heart rate sensor, but then the subsequent pairing would fail. It’d make a disconnecting sound in the headphones, and a short bit later the app/device would show a failed attempt:
I’ll save you a crapton of rebooting/updating/troubleshooting/powering on/off/etc… The solution, was to remove the Beats PowerBeats 2 Pro from my Apple account (since it syncs across multiple Apple devices), and try directly with Android. Oddly enough, this worked flawlessly. I was immediately able to get heart rate data on Android across numerous apps, without issue. Below, pairing within Strava (left), Wahoo Fitness app (middle), and mid-workout on Wahoo app (right):
You can see the pairing here on the Google Pixel (Android) phone, showing a heart rate of 171bpm from the PowerBeats 2 Pro (Zwift on the Mac, is paired to a Polar H10 chest strap):
Interestingly, in my troubleshooting, if I left the pairing with my iPhone, the moment I unlocked my iPhone, it’d steal both connections and break the heart rate connection to Android. Thus again, the only solution being to fully remove from Apple.
Less you think this was just me, some 5,000 miles away, Des of DesFit (another YouTube fitness channel, and my co-host in the Fit File Podcast), was concurrently troubleshooting the exact same process for equally as long. Likewise for Shervin Shares (YouTube Fitness reviewer), as noted on Instagram, he was unable to get HR to work and also had to fail back to Android. Said differently: If we can’t get this to work, y’all are hosed.
In discussions with Apple, it appears a substantial limitation is that the Beats cannot actually work with gym equipment for heart rate, and your phone playing music at the same time. A Beats PR/media representative has confirmed this, saying: “You cannot listen to music with your iPhone while also paired with the gym equipment for heart rate.”
Note, Apple & Beats emphasize the gym equipment heart rate monitoring in their marketing of the PowerBeats 2 Pro, as well as the first few screens when you set up the PowerBeats 2 Pro on your iPhone:
In any event, with it working on Android, off I went to record some data and start accuracy testing.
Heart Rate Accuracy:
For these accuracy tests, I’m comparing heart rate data to multiple other trusted heart rate sensors. This includes a heart rate chest strap, two other watches, and optical heart rate bands. In the case of the Apple Watch Ultra 2, this was on a separate Apple account, and more importantly, the PowerBeats 2 Pro were fully removed from my Apple account. Else, Apple will automatically leverage Apple Watch data over PowerBeats 2 Pro data (a silly automatic configuration btw).
Let’s start with the first workout, an indoor trainer ride. This ride had some nasty-hard intervals in it, but was a great test to see how things worked. Here it is versus a Polar H10 chest strap, an Apple Watch Ultra 2 optical HR sensor, and a Garmin Forerunner 965 optical HR sensor (Gen 4):
(Note: The purple FR965 track, I simply forgot to hit the start button, hence the delayed start there)
As you can see, at first glance it’s actually pretty darn good. And indeed, on the whole it was. However, there are two parts that are somewhat hidden in here where the heart rate dropped out entirely as I hit harder intervals. Because of the fact that the graphing software connects the dots, it appears to follow the rising slope of the other units, when in reality, it just connected two dots after upwards of a minute of no heart rate value displayed. You can see this here on the phone displaying the PowerBeats data, showing no value for Heart Rate (BPM):
Here’s how I’d rank the ride overall (reds are mostly dropouts):
Again, on the whole, if we set aside the higher-intensity dropouts, it’s not too bad actually.
Next, we’ve got an interval run with hill repeats. I start off with a nice warm-up, though, getting the PowerBeats 2 Pro to the start line was a struggle bus of waiting for it to find HR lock, then it would lose it, and then find it, and over and over for minutes. Once I finally found it…well…it lost it immediately. In any case, here’s that data set:
In fact, what we quickly realize is that Beats is very clearly prioritizing accurate data over inaccurate data. Which is to say, when it appears their confidence level is low, they cut-off all heart rate data entirely. Literally, transmitting nothing (no value). I could see the logic in that if it happened rarely, but in reality, it happens constantly.
Where we can see that. I tried various tweaks to fit during the first 10-12 minutes, and it didn’t seem to matter any. In fact, the only thing that seemed to matter was actually running harder. Perhaps it was sweat, perhaps warming up, either way, this is by any definition a hot mess.
So, then we look at the actual accuracy, and here’s how that handles (compared to the other HR sensors, which were all near identical, though, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 did struggle briefly on two intervals).
As you can see, it was not good.
Still, I gave things another whirl for one last run the next morning. Perhaps it just needed to sleep on it. I also ensured the firmware was fully up to date, and that…well…that’s it.
So, off I went, music inclusive this time (again on Android):
During the run, I could already tell things were gonna be bad. Dropouts were frequent, and when it made sense, I would stop and let the heart rate try and fix itself, aligning to the other straps (something I’d never really do). Note the double-dash on the middle row, indicating no HR values. Music continued to play without issue.
Otherwise, I just kept running. As you can see, things aren’t good:
Just to make this a bit more clear, here are all the points the heart rate had dropped out:
And, even when it wasn’t dropped out, it was still bad-bad. While the year is still young, this is definitely in the running for the worst optical HR sensor in a long while.
The thing is, doing more tests is kinda pointless. It’s clear that any movement (even on a stationary bike) quickly leads to either dropouts or inaccurate heart rate. And outdoors running, it’s even worse. Ultimately, I don’t see any value in the heart rate sensor in this product, because it’s simply not good enough to be useful, even for casual use.
(Note: All of the charts in these accuracy sections were created using the DCR Analyzer tool. Though, I manually overlaid the color blocks on some of the images above. It allows you to compare power meters/trainers, heart rate, cadence, speed/pace, GPS tracks, and plenty more. You can use it as well, more details here.)
Wrap-Up:
I had high hopes for the PowerBeats 2 Pro, mainly because Apple has traditionally done very well with optical heart rate sensing technologies. My assumption was that Apple wouldn’t have released a product with inaccurate data. And indeed, the company frequently touts how many hours of testing with athletes it’s done (stated at 1,500 hours of testing on 1,000 athletes):
However, I’d actually argue the biggest issue with the PowerBeats 2 Pro isn’t (somehow) the heart rate accuracy. It’s simple getting the heart rate sensor data into Apple devices or 3rd party devices. It’s darn-near impossible to do consistently (or even inconsistently), unless I use Android. I fail to understand how this got shipped, or how this passed any quality bar/tests. When it seems none of the fitness reviewers can make this work (and none of the mainstream tech reviewers covered it), that’s a very legit problem. The limitation of being unable to use the heart rate data on gym equipment and play music is downright bizarre.
Nonetheless, if you’re an Android user, and plan to use it wholly within the phone (meaning, playback of music on the same phone as recording heart rate), and if you do activities with minimal movement (not running outside, or Zumba), then, I guess I kinda works. For my indoor ride, accuracy was largely quite good, until I got to the tippy-top pain locker of some hard intervals where I was sprinting a bit (then it lost track of HR). Otherwise, it was fine. Of course, running it was a hot mess.
Looking at comparisons, ultimately, the story here isn’t actually much different than the Sennheiser Momentum Sport earbuds that came out a year ago. Except, I’d actually argue those sounded better, though, that had even worse heart rate performance. Like, it made even the PowerBeats 2 Pro run look picture-perfect. I only managed a single salvageable workout on those. Though to its credit, at least it properly paired without any issues whatsoever (including to an iPhone).
If I look back over the course of the last decade of companies touting ear-based heart rate monitoring/sensors, all of them keep saying that it’s “the best place” to monitor heart rate. Yet, over the last decade, all of them clearly demonstrate that it’s simply not. From tiny startups, to midsized companies, and of course the behemoth that is Apple themselves. Every product I’ve tested simply isn’t that good.2
In some ways, I now understand Apple’s somewhat frustrating decision that forces Apple Watch users data stream to the Apple Watch’s optical HR sensor over the PowerBeats 2 Pro: The Apple Watch HR sensor actually works. And thus, that team has our back and knows better.
With that – thanks for reading!
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Can you pair these things to your watch (Garmin) only and get both music and heart rate? This does seem pointless, given that the watch’s HR sensor is likely going to be more accurate.
Mine doesn’t want to pair with my Fenix 8 at all for HR. Adds as a headphone and plays music fine and I can search and then add it as a HR device but it never connects. Can see it in the list of HR sensors but just won’t connect. Very frustrating. Makes no difference if it is added to my Apple account/iPhone or not.
At the moment, for heart rate, it’s not successfully sustaining a pairing to any Garmin device I’ve tried. For music it’s fine.
As Chris noted, it basically fails out after it initially tries to pair (it sees it, but then won’t establish it).
Re: the Sennheiser’s, post a firmware update last summer, they’re decent at HR as well as pairing and music. It took them a minute, but they got there.
That’s interesting. I’ll have to break them out and try again.
Thanks, for the review, Ray. Deeply informative as always. For myself, The only new feature I care about is: unlike the first version, if I pull an earbud out of the charging case, will it actually be charged? So many times I would reach for the old version only to find that I didn’t sit one of them *just* right and it didn’t charge. Or worse, it not only didn’t charge, but was also connected to my phone the whole time, so it’s dead as a post. Great ear buds flawed by ine very bad failing. I hope the new version fixes this.
I new case has much more powerful magnets and a deeply molded well that the earbud snaps into. It really can’t move at all on the new one and you can actually open the case and shake it violently upside down and nothing moves at all. I suspect all of this is to address the common failure point of the original where the case didn’t align everything and one of the earbuds would fail to charge or lose charge in the case. I think it’s fixed. Too bad there are so many other issues with it now, even besides the HR. I find the fit way worse than the first one and it doesn’t seal to my ear properly with any of the tips… it won’t fall out, but it won’t seal so the sound and ANR gets bad over time as I move and the seal breaks. This just isn’t an issue on the originals which exerted more force into the ear and had a different design of rubber tip.
I came to see/ask exactly that same thing with the case after being driven insane by the current (previous?) version. Ended up moving to Jabra Elite 8s but of course they will be discontinued in next year or so so need something else.
So far they seem good in terms of actually charging (painfully aware of the original PowerBeats having that issue, as a long-timer user).
I was able to get them to charge consistently by wiping the contacts in the case, and (bare with me) licking the contacts on the buds. It’s not a gross as it sounds, but close. And also making sure the buds fit down in the case. Early on I had an Apple ‘engineer’ admit that the prongs in the case needed to be longer, and ‘that would be addressed in a hardware update’ that didn’t address the prongs. *shrug*
So I found the V1 buds, charged them and had one perfect ride. They worked flawlessly. I was very happy. Did the licking, did the cleaning, had them charging, and the second ride: Left bud dead… The same old problems, again… 🙄🤦🏻♂️😞
I really like the loop part of them. They stay in place, stable. If only they actually worked better…
To comply with international maritime and aviation law, lights should be green on the right and red on the left. I wonder if they might work better HR accuracy/dropout wise in somebody with different ears where they might fit differently. IDK. Just a thought.
Maybe 1,500 hours of testing on 1,000 athletes is the problem – average that out to 90 minutes a person – so probably 2 runs per person… did any of their testers actually get enough time with the device to work out it was crap? or was it superficial “huh cool” avg looks about right. Nice.
My hunch here is they looked at the high level (like the basic graph) and didn’t look at the detailed data points. I bet the reviewers said “looks good” at that top line view.
They probably spent 89 minutes just trying to pair the sensors. 90 minutes average is pitiful from any company, never mind one of the richest in the world.
I’m legit surprised they actually referenced only 1,500 hours. Like, to the point I wonder if it was a typo. Was that supposed to be 15,000 hours perhaps?
1,500 hours, even for internal testing, seems oddly low. I’d expected with a high-profile product like this that they repeatedly teased/showed externally they’d have 100-200 internal testers gathering data on a weekly basis for at least 4-8 months.
I’m not so interested in these for the heart rate. However, I hope they can fix this with future firmware updates. I’m interested in an Airpods Pro 2 replacement that can handle outdoor cycling without excessive wind distortion while in transparent mode. Did you test these at all outside on the bike? Are these the holy grail that can give us quality music without tuning out our environment?
I’m so glad you asked this. I’m always hesitant to ask because so many of the responses are, “It’s dangerous to ride with earbuds.”
I’m aware of the risks, but want to ride with them. Now, can I mitigate some of that risk with transparency mode without wind making it impossible.
I don’t think there could be headphones that can eliminate wind noise while in transparency mode. Transparency mode is designed to pass through (and slightly amplify) outside noise as picked by microphones. Wind / air moving over the microphones is that outside noise, it’s in the same frequency as vehicle engine so you can’t simply cut it off as useless.
These https://windfree.se are great at canceling wind noise. Cat ears are OK. Don’t think you can find an in-ear headphone that’ll work OK in transparency mode on a bike.
I went to the Apple store yesterday and purchased a pair. Here are some initial observations regarding wind noise and distortion. Wind noise is air movement, and wind distortion is the peaked battering sound caused by wind beating on your eardrums or mic diaphragm. To counter others’ comments that software can dull wind distortion, it’s already used in these devices to improve call quality. It just takes more processing, which is likely too intensive for a low-power device, to do in real time.
For testing, I grabbed a fancy Dyson Hair dryer, put it on low (no heat), and started unnecessarily subjecting myself to wind noise and distortion without any headphones to make sure I could imitate the sensation with the hairdryer and to have a baseline.
The short story is that the wind noise and wind distortion between the Air Pods Pro 2 and the PowerBeats Pro 2 sound basically the same. They are the same loudness but slightly different sound signatures—what I pessimistically expected but hoped for better.
Since I was already doing this, I decided to play around. I grabbed a couple of small dead kittens designed for lapel mics and was able to get a surprisingly decent decrease in wind distortion. The larger body of the PowerBeats may allow me to create a non-destructive attachment for them. I’m sure it’ll look hilarious (hopefully less so than those helmet strap sideburns). Still, I might give it a try.
Are the PowerBeats Pro 2 the holy grail, a pair of headphones that sound good, protect your hearing, and maintain awareness? No. Still, if you’re going to wear them anyway, they do reduce the overall volume of wind distortion compared to no protection at all, and they sound pretty good for a sport-focused earbud.
For the headphone nay-sayers out there, who obviously drive in their cars with no music and the windows down year round, because of course there are no hypocrites on here. There will be a point at which it’s safer to wear some sort of earbud to protect hearing and maintain street awareness. And that’s coming soon if it’s not already. End the controversy.
So, I want to be sure I understand correctly. If you want music AND hr broadcast, the Beats have to be paired to the same device?
I would want HR broadcast to my watch (Garmin) and music received from my iPhone.
And yes, the early disclaimer that the experience with Apple devices was impossible is clear. I don’t have any Android devices, so I’m not even sure there’s an option for me.
What a failure by Apple.
Correct. Except that at the moment it’s not pairing to Garmin devices for HR (tried Fenix, Forerunner, and Edge).
Damn, the orange color is so nice… But it looks like my Beats Fit Pro are still a superior choice, especially given their price.
Ray, I wonder if the issues you mentioned (like inability to send audio and HR to different devices) and drops / poor HR data can be fixed via firmware updates or are those hardware/design-related?
It’s very difficult to know whether they can fix it in firmware. I’d swag that roughly 80% of the time, companies cannot fix major HR issues I see in firmware. Especially big-name companies, because that usually means it’s already gone through the ringer in terms of testing.
The only scenario here where firmware updates for the HR accuracy could be fixed, was if the product was heavily rushed out the door. And to be fair, given all the wonkiness on pairing, that almost seems more likely.
But ultimately, countless companies for more than a decade now have touted trying to do earbud HR successfully, and it just hasn’t happened yet (at least once any movement is introduced).
The door is wide open for Garmin to create the “HRM Pro Music” that plays music out of a tiny speaker in the sensor pod.
I often wonder as well. Garmin has most of those puzzle pieces in place, including some audio related acquisitions. The problem though, is that it has to be accurate. Garmin has zero wiggle room to release an optical earbud situation, without being accurate.
Now, where Garmin could slaughter things is underwater/swimming audio devices. Specifically because they have the Amazon/YouTube/Spotify contract already, enabling them to put offline music on those devices. Whereas nobody else has that (period), so all the underwater audio devices require buying MP3’s/whatever, and putting them on manually. Clumsy.
That is not entirely true. There’s a waterproof version of Mighty player (basically an iPod Shuffle, but capable of storing Spotify/Amazon Music tracks) which works in tandem with their branded swim-ready wired headphones. You can load your tracks onto it and swim, no MP3 juggling required.
I didn’t think they were still selling that though? Every time I’ve looked at the site (including now), it just says out of stock.
I’m a huge fan of UnderWater Audio’s Delphin “tablet.” It allows for offline Spotify, Apple, etc, but I don’t like their earbuds so I’ve stuck with Shokz MP3’s. They released their own bone conducting headphones but I haven’t been able to test them out to see if they’re the holy grail to enable podcast listening for long interval training.
Hi! Since you probably have some experience.. Is swimming with music really a thing? What’s the audio quality like? is it actually enjoyable? I am somewhat torn, whether to actually use music under water or not, since swimming provides the opportunity to stay within your own head without relevant distractions. Thanks for the great content! Cheers
Is it necessary? No. I enjoy it as a distraction from just staring at a black line and counting laps. If you’ve ever used bone conduction headphonesii, that’s how they sound. They work surprisingly well and some say even better with ear plugs, but I enjoy them as is.
I used to have some Finis bone conduction headphones for swimming. It was quite an awkward setup, with a pod that went on the back of your goggle strap and one for each temple, but it worked reasonably well. I probably wouldn’t bother again though.
that is an honest review, thank you!!
back in the day, the Jabra Elite sport were also measuring HR in the hears. Not optical though, not sure how.
I wonder how was the accuracy.
I had the Jabra sports HR headset…for 3 days before I returned them. Totally useless as HRM. Nowadays use Apple Watch and find them as good, or even better than Polar HRM chestbelts. (although the Polar Optical upper arm sensors are better)
I have to say when I saw the announcement my heart sank a bit at the oHR. You just know it’s going to be bad for one reason or another and will always make you hate the headphones a little bit as a result. What I don’t get is – was anyone, anywhere, even asking for earHR?
Thanks for an honest review as always. Glad I bought the Shokz openfit recently (not the 2, Europe aren’t ready for them yet apparently 🤷♀️). Must say I miss noise cancellation but they are incredible and they do work with Fenix (a first for me!)
I think where earHR is useful is wrist-based strength workouts, such as what Des showed in his review doing a bunch of things/sets that were heavily wrist-lifting/shaking/etc, and they did reasonably well there, where the watches (including the Apple Watch Ultra 2), struggled.
However, just like me on running, it all fell apart.
I actually kinda assumed Apple would mostly nail it. I don’t understand (yet) enough of the internal team breakouts to know how much crossover/access/etc… they have within the wearables team. Only because there’s zero chance this level of accuracy/testing/etc would have ever made it past any quality gates on the typical Watch/Fitness realm. Even setting aside HR accuracy, it’s all the other pieces that have me utterly baffled. I’m just glad I’m not the only reviewer to stumble into these problems. From what I can tell, every review that’s tried, seemingly has hit these issues.
Dating myself, but as a former Bose SoundSport Pulse owner I think the allure is not having to wear a chest strap. If you’re already going to wear headphones, why not let them track your heart-rate too? Well, the easy answer is accuracy, but some people have issues wearing chest straps so it seemed like a good idea. However, it seems to be another knock at OHR in general.
Two questions — would Watch Link be a device this can be paired to? Can you use one ear and have HR data, or are both required? If you can use one ear, can you use either or is it locked to one side (left or right)?
You must have both earbuds in for HR, or it instantly zero’s out (null).
Wow… Deal breaker for cycling.
Thanks for this. I was getting concerned when the main tech sites weren’t mentioning the HR component – something was up.
What a shame. We have no end of problems with AirPods connecting to Garmin Fenix7pro/FR955 and were hoping this would be something we could move to. It sounds even worse!
Here’s hoping for some very effective firmware updates.
The more I look carefully at most main tech sites/channels reviews, the more I’m actually reasonably certain they hit all these issues and just gave up.
I saw one semi-big day 0 review on YT that tried to show some ‘accuracy’ graphs, and then when you zoom in, you realize they were sitting down. The data shows about 6-8 minutes of 60-80bpm, then about 1-2 mins of 106bpm, then back to 80bpm for a few more minutes.
For apple users should be good enough.
Not sure I follow. In terms of HR accuracy on watches, Apple (alongside Garmin) are pretty much industry-leading in their latest iterations.
I think an Apple will never become a pure sports watch.
Conversely, hopefully Garmin or Polar, Suunto will not become a universal smartwatch.
Too bad, the Powerbeats arrived at the same time as your test. I was disappointed and sent them back without even unpacking them. Learning: First check your site BEFORE buying.
I delayed purchasing Air Pods Pros for a long time as I was waiting for these but bit bullet on a black friday sale. So glad I bought them. This review is so surprising. I cannot believe apple would flop so bad on a product like this.
Can you share your firmware version with us that you tested on, so we know when things may have improved? While wearing the headset settings – PowerBeats 2 pro – scroll to the bottom, Version?
Also I just tested myself and similar issues, except when I dug deeper it looks like the HR is being captured by apple health, and not being passed to whatever app you are using even though it says connected in the app. In my case I tested with Peloton with a 30 minute run, and it didn’t capture an heart rate in the peloton app, but it does show the heart rate graph in the health app.
So my best guess at this point is, the heart rate sensor talks directly to apple health, and only passes on HR data to approved apps. Where the android version actually allows a bluetooth audio and HR signal to connect separately to any app or device.
I there any way that one could broadcast heartrate to a garmin 1050 while listening to music off an iphone. Based on the review, it looks like this is not possible, which is very disappointing. The garmin 1050 is the one outdoor device I use that does not itself have heartrate and while riding, so f it would work that would be great
oh, at the moment these Powerbeats aren‘t able to paar to any Garmin Edge, even this doesn‘t work. Not a good device, really.
I ride with airpods in so it reads my text messages and phone calls out loud to me.
The Apple watch doesn’t broadcast heart rate so I’m stuck using a watchpod add on that works 80% of the time.
I couldn’t wait for this device to come out hoping to solve these two problems. What a disappointment!