I promised last month that I would do some Garmin forerunner 35 v Polar FT1 (with chest strap) tests and here they are.

I thought through the issues with sprinting on a bike, in winter, on public roads and then stopping to view two watch screens side by side, and realised it wasn't such a good idea. Instead I did a short session this afternoon on my turbo trainer with the Polar watch fastened to the 'bars, so I could hold my Garmin to the side to read both as below. My Garmin was fastened tightly, as was the Polar chest strap which had the chest side liberally covered in water.


Side by side monitoring. Note the celeste strap, Graham


I have formulated the results in a graph form, so it's easier to see what's going on (hopefully). I have also annotated the graph to show what was going on and also to include some peak values.




I was surprised to see how accurate the Garmin was, although the graph clearly shows it wasn't good at dealing with high numbers. I would have liked to go above 171, and that was my aim, but it is very difficult getting the big numbers on a turbo trainer - especially when you are over 55!