@HLaB Something else regarding the TICKR method is that it placed the battery compartment directly against the skin, so I’m sure that didn’t help with sweat and ingress.
1 Like
I’ve had a TRACKR for a bit, so if there’s any specific questions I can see if I can answer them. My thoughts on it follow though…
While it is early days and long term usage is really what we all need to see about I’d say this is what the TICKR should have been from the beginning. My HR recording hasn’t shown any abnormalities, and the thing is damn responsive on HR changes. Scarily so. It sips battery so the 100 hours is probably achievable, I certainly haven’t gotten there yet. It’s light and it wakes up quickly (I tried a Coospo H9Z before and that thing would take ages to wake up for me). Over Bluetooth it provides battery level like you’d expect so it shows up on the bike computer, indieVelo, and the Wahoo app. From a physical perspective since it is sealed I really don’t think it’s going to suffer the internal physical issues that I, and others, experienced. We’ll probably be back to eventual failure of the strap which since you can use other straps - we can replace easily.
It’s honestly kind of boring because so far it just… works and you forget about it.
Is it worth it if you have a working solution now? Not really unless you want a rechargeable chest strap from one of the major companies, or are curious about comparing the responsiveness between your current solution and the TRACKR. 
Should you consider if it you’re buying new or replacing a broken one? If I were in that position I would.
Can you not let go of the TICKR fiasco? Give it 6-12 months and check back in.
6 Likes
Is this 100% confirmed?
I like the idea of a rechargeable strap, but would avoid yet another cable. If it uses the shokz cable, I’m in. My cheap Garmin one is still perfect after 3 years but the strap is starting to show its age.
2 Likes
So the included Wahoo charger cable is USB-C to whatever this connector is:
The Shokz one is USB-A to the connector:
Here is the pod charging using the Shokz one:
And for good measure with the Shokz logo on the cable:
Does Wahoo recommend it? I’m gonna go with a no, but it works.
6 Likes
What? I think your confusing HRV (the data) with calculations based on HRV data. HRV from a HR strap is just r-r timings that are broadcast with the heart rate. That data can be used for things like sleep HRV calculations like what is done by garmin watches (sleep tracking and health snapshot), Elite HRV, whoop, ithlete, etc. But its important to remember that’s not all HRV data can be used for. For example, Alpha1 DFA like how AI Running, Cycling, and Triathlon Coach | AI Endurance works.
Also important to remember sleep and at rest HRV don’t need as much accuracy as your HR at rest is much lower and the strap isn’t moving around. The polling rate to get the data can be slower (why optical can’t give Alpha1 but can do sleeping HRV calculation)
What is there to confuse? the Polar H10 unit records raw HRV data on a one off basis when you instruct it via an app and you need an app to analyse it in conjunction with previous data points. I’d prefer a fit and forget system that you didn’t need to remember to tell it to collect HRV data (it was collected in the back ground) and it was just there on demand. Hopefully the TRACKR/ Wahoo app does that but I’ve not got them to check.
1 Like
The Wahoo app has no support for HRV, it doesn’t record it at any time. I used the TRACKR with an Edge 1040 yesterday and that did record HRV data within the activity itself.
1 Like
What you mean by HRV.
The H10 just broadcasts RR timing data, thats it. It broadcasts the same exact data streams as Garmin and other Wahoo straps. The difference is the data that it broadcasts is more accurate in the H10 than at least previous wahoo straps. Sure the H10 has a ECG mode, but thats not used by sports devices so not really important.
If you talk about power data are you just talking about TSS coming from the power meter? That wouldn’t make much sense, the pwer meter should just give the raw power data
1 Like
Only if you set the 1040 to record it. But just cause it has the data doesn’t make it accurate data. The tickr also had rr data to record but wasn’t very useful as it wasn’t very accurate. If I got one of these that gives me power data do I really have a useful power meter:
PowerTap PowerCal In-Depth Review | DC Rainmaker
set power match in TR and complain if it goes poorly?
Ehh, the TICKR was pretty low quality on many fronts, and none ever lasted me 10 months. Strap contacts came off, pod contacts corroded, stopped turning on, stopped sending signals. They need to show reliability before I’d buy another of their products
1 Like
@enki42 Aye, I didn’t say anything about accuracy and don’t use HRV so can’t really comment in that regard beyond stating that it does broadcast it as they state in the specs.
Tickr also broadcast it. So this isn’t new. Is it usable? who knows
I’m separating HRV into the raw data needed for HRV capture and thats what the polar H10 collects and the HRV analysis which takes place in an App. I gave up on Elite HRV which I had to instruct to for it in turn to instruct the Polar H10 to capture that raw data off the bike. No power meter was involved.
Heart Variability Monitors and Elite HRV Compatible Monitors
If you have a Garmin bike computer, it records the HRV and stores it in the fit file. Garmin’s Firstbeat analytics uses the HRV data for various things and outputs some metrics.
as does Garmin straps. Polar did a study years ago, and the Garmin dual HRM is close to the same accuracy. I bought the Garmin Dual HRM because it cost less than Polar.
1 Like
The first Tickr I bought lasted 4 years. Then I bought two more… neither one lasted a year. Switched to the Polar H9 two years ago and have had zero issues. I don’t think I’m going back to Wahoo.
Out of 4-5 TICKR units I’ve bought, I’ve had zero issues. Most I lost, one I crushed by accident, and one is still with me… at least three years old. I wonder how bad the reliability is, and how much is simply that only dissatisfied customers post about their issues with a product. 
2 Likes
No, thee was certainly a durability issue at play….although i do wonder how many of the issues we ultimately strap related and not the actual TICKR.
I thought i had two TICKRs go bad on me, but in both cases it was the strap. Once i swapped to other straps, both continued working just fine.
But there were widespread reports of quality issues with these units….now, similar to the Shimano crank issue, it may have been a very small percentage of bad units, but with a sufficiently large installed base, the raw number can make it seem like a bigger issue.
1 Like
I suspect that much of the problem may be due to the fact that people have different concentrations of salt in their sweat. A salty sweater (and someone that does a lot of heat/indoor training) may have a lot of corrosive sweat pooling around their HRM, and if there is any moisture ingress, can kill the internals.
Someone with less salty sweat, or who trains in the cool of the morning or with powerful fans may have significanty less corrosion, and finds their HRM’s last a lot longer, despite otherwise training the same.
I think the idea of a rechargeable HRM (and therefore a sealed unit) shows significant promise. A similar thing happenned with power meter pedals - Powertap and Garmin both had significant problems with battery doors, while the fully sealed Assioma’s had very few problems.
3 Likes
I’m a long time tickr user and have experienced maybe a half dozen failures
Basically I bought one a long time ago and have had it warranty replaced every 12-18 months ever since
To my eye the failures were related to water/sweat permeating the battery area so I’ve long theorized that a rechargeable unit would address these issues
Theory based on the timing of failures. Units would be consistently solid until initial battery died, then once the case was opened to replace the battery the unit was short lived.
Sometimes it failed immediately, sometimes I’d get another one to three months
Yes I tried multiple straps, different brands of batteries, different procedures to attempt to preserve the seal quality on the battery case
I’ll likely get one of these after there’s battery reliability and lifespan data in 6-9 months
4 Likes
I figured what the hell, my TICKR units have been great, so I ordered a TRACKR today. I needed a second HRM anyway. We’ll see how it compares.
2 Likes