Heart Rate Band – Peloton’s heart rate monitoring

Peloton has launched Heart Rate Band, a new heart rate monitoring for its Peloton Bike, Tread treadmill and health home workout app.

The Heart Rate Band is placed on the arm

The Heart Rate Band is available on the Peloton website. It sits on the forearm (rather than the chest or wrist) for more precise tracking. It uses optical sensor technology. Technology similar to heart rate armbands from Polar, Scosche and Wahoo.

Forearm positioning may offer more reliable data than wrist-based HR sensors by reducing the amount of movement; as well as signal noise and skin flexing that can make tracking difficult.

It has a series of indicator lights that show your current heart rate zone; as well as the battery status and if the device is successfully smart health connected to the Peloton Kit via Bluetooth. It also supports Peloton’s Strive Score measurement system. The latter allows you to better determine the time you have spent in the most difficult heart rate zones.

The Peloton Heart Rate monitoring works with third-party apps

Like most heart rate monitors, it works with third-party apps via Bluetooth and ANT+; so you’re not limited to using it with Peloton hardware.

Regarding the battery, it is a rechargeable product. It will allow you to get around 10 hours of battery life from a single charge. To put that number into perspective with other heart rate armbands, Polar’s Verity Sense can last up to 20 hours on a single charge.

The arrival of the Heart Rate Band armband didn’t come as a big surprise. In June 2021, it was reported that Peloton was working on a new heart rate monitoring. A monitoring that would be synchronized with Peloton bikes and treadmills.

This information followed the announcement of Peloton’s acquisition of Atlas Wearables; a startup that we know well and which has developed several generations of a gym tracker type wearable. The latter also offered wrist-based heart rate monitoring.

The Heart Rate Band is a good addition

The armband was also shown in images featuring Peloton’s Guide smart health connected strength training equipment in 2023; which is expected to arrive at some point in 2023.

We know that measuring from the forearm or higher on the arm can generate reliable optics-based heart rate readings. Especially during exercise and high intensity workouts; compared to the measurement from the wrist.

So while the Peloton heart rate wristband isn’t groundbreaking, it will be appealing to users of the company’s gear. The Heart Rate Band is available now on the Peloton website for $90, if you want to pair it with your current Peloton gear.