When is the last time you can recall someone saying that they love their heart rate strap and they cannot wait to put it back on? While it is a fact of life in modern training, most of us really would prefer other solutions. Which is why optical arm-based options have become increasingly popular the last couple of years. Wahoo is a company that listens to their athletes. So, while they already have a number of chest-based heart rate options on the market, the announcement yesterday of their first optical-based arm solution, the TICKR FIT, is not a huge surprise. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t still looking forward to getting one to try.

The FIT features dual Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity allowing it to work with nearly every computer, watch, smartphone and other recording device out there. It uses a USB rechargeable battery with what WAHOO claims is a battery life of up to 30 hours.

It ships with two bands – small (260mm x 25.4mm) and large (375mm x 25.4mm). Something that we are looking forward to testing is its water resistance. The FIT is IPX7 rated to a depth of 1M. Speaking with Wahoo’s media team, they tell us it should have no problem getting soaked in the water and then starting to grab HR data as you transition to the bike.

The Wahoo TICKR FIT is priced at $79  / £64.99 / AU$109.95 and is available directly from Wahoo.

Our Thoughts

We fall into the crowd of not loving chest-based HR. In fact, at least one of our editors has a permanent scar from HR chafing. We have tested a few optical HR monitors in the past, and found them to be a much more pleasant experience. We are curious to see how the FIT stacks up both in accuracy (DCRainmaker took a good look at that yesterday in fact), as well as comfort and multisport use.

The good news is that ours should be in the mail by the time you read this. So, you should know all the details before you pool starts to thaw out! Stay tuned!