Did the Amazfit Helio Strap Special Edition Get Better?

TL;DR

The Amazfit Helio Strap Special Edition performs better in some areas, delivering strong heart-rate tracking for indoor cycling and running while its new sleep algorithm improves stage detection but still struggles with REM sleep. Indoor cycling achieved a 0.99 correlation with the Polar H10 reference, and wearing the strap on the biceps may improve results further. Read on for activity-by-activity findings, fit considerations, and remaining limitations.

Transcript

Yes, they did it. The Amazefitit Helio strap just got better, at least in some regards. I've been testing the special edition of the Amaze Helio Strap and today I want to share with you my initial findings. One of the most important things is that Amazefit just released a new sleep stage tracking algorithm and in addition to that, I also tested thi... Read More

Key Insights

• Amazfit Helio Strap's heart rate tracking is highly accurate during indoor cycling with a correlation of 0.99.
• The strap struggles with accuracy during outdoor cycling, showing lower correlation and frequent heart rate detection issues.
• Running performance is good, with some deviations during low heart rate ranges, but generally tracks well with reference devices.
• Weightlifting results show significant inaccuracies, similar to many other devices, due to wrist tension affecting detection.
• Sleep stage tracking sees improvement with new algorithms, but REM detection remains a challenge.
• Wearing the strap on the biceps yields better heart rate tracking results compared to the wrist.
• The strap's new design is more flexible but can be difficult to tighten on the wrist, impacting performance.
• Amazfit Helio Strap offers good value for money at $99, with potential for further improvements in tracking capabilities.

Questions & Answers

Q: Did the Amazfit Helio Strap Special Edition get better?

Yes, the initial results show improvements in some areas, particularly indoor-cycling and running heart-rate tracking. The new sleep-stage algorithm also shows progress, although REM detection remains a weakness and the findings are not yet a complete review.

Q: How accurate is the Amazfit Helio Strap for indoor cycling?

Its wrist-based indoor-cycling results showed very good agreement with the Polar H10 chest-strap reference, reaching a correlation of 0.99. Both spinning sessions had only small deviations, and difficult heart-rate dips were detected well.

Q: How well does the Amazfit Helio Strap track heart rate while running?

The strap followed the reference device almost perfectly during two runs, although its results were slightly weaker than during indoor cycling. Most early low-heart-rate deviation appeared during initial signal calibration, with only a small later segment reading a few BPM too high.

Q: Does wearing the Amazfit Helio Strap on the biceps improve performance?

Previous testing indicated that wearing the Helio Strap on the biceps potentially produced better heart-rate results than wearing it on the wrist. The special-edition strap was also easier to tighten on the biceps, while achieving a secure wrist fit was more difficult.

Q: How does the special-edition strap design affect fit?

The new strap is flexible enough for wrist or biceps use, but the tested version was harder to tighten securely on the wrist. Because it was still somewhat of a prototype, the reviewer hoped the final production version would make wrist tightening easier.

Q: How effective is the new sleep-stage tracking algorithm?

The new algorithm improves sleep-stage tracking, especially for light and deep sleep. However, REM sleep detection still struggles, reaching only 50% accuracy against the reference device in the reported results.

Q: Where does the Amazfit Helio Strap still need improvement?

Outdoor cycling and weightlifting remain its weaker activities, with frequent heart-rate detection issues outdoors and inaccurate peaks during lifting. Wrist tension and fit can affect signal quality, so these results still need improvement.

Q: Is the Amazfit Helio Strap good value at $99?

At $99, it offers good value based on its strong indoor-cycling and running results and its improving sleep-stage algorithm. Its remaining weaknesses in outdoor cycling, weightlifting, REM detection, and wrist fit prevent it from being uniformly strong across every test.

Q: How accurate is the Amazfit Helio Strap for outdoor cycling?

The Amazfit Helio Strap Special Edition was not very accurate for outdoor cycling when worn on the wrist. It sometimes reported heart rates that were too low, missed some peaks, and had a dropout, resulting in a correlation of 0.78 with the reference.

Q: What reference device was used to test the Amazfit Helio Strap heart rate accuracy?

The tests used a Polar H10 chest strap as the heart rate reference. The reviewer said it can generally record his heart rate very accurately.

Q: Which devices tracked indoor cycling heart rate better than the Amazfit Helio Strap?

Different Apple Watches performed significantly better than the Amazfit Helio Strap in the indoor cycling comparison. Some Huawei devices were also good, while the Pixel Watch 3 and 4 were identified as strong heart rate trackers.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The Amazfit Helio Strap special edition provides improved heart rate tracking, especially for indoor cycling and running. However, outdoor cycling and weightlifting performance show room for improvement. The strap's new sleep tracking algorithm is better but still struggles with REM sleep detection.

• Testing reveals that the strap's performance is enhanced when worn on the biceps, offering closer accuracy to top devices. The strap design is flexible but challenging to tighten on the wrist, affecting its performance in some activities.

• Overall, the Amazfit Helio Strap offers good value at $99, with promising advancements in tracking capabilities. Continued improvements could make it a top recommendation among wearable fitness devices.