MIO ALPHA, read your heart-rate without a chest-strap.

This is nothing new, as this watch and the technology have been out for a few years already, but wanted to inform others that hate wearing a chest strap, there is something you can do about it. Hate wearing a chest-strap?  Here is the perfect answer.  The MIO ALPHA reads your heart-rate off your skin. Under the watch band is a sensor, similar to those devices that read your pulse off your finger. The watch displays your heart-rate. With the Bluetooth or ANT+ connection it sends the information to paired devices. I have both Bluetooth and ANT+ models, two separate watches.  I paired my ANT+ with my Suunto Ambit 2S and then wear a watch on each wrist. The ANT+ model I own I have paired with my Samsung smartphone. 

From what I am finding out, the ANT+ model is no longer available, as it is only being produced in the BLE. 

 

From what I am finding out, the ANT+ model is no longer available, as it is only being produced in the BLE. 

The watch features an LED light, lighting up blue, green or red, letting the user know if their heart rate while working out is too low, too high or right in their zone, all without wearing a chest strap I might add again.  

The watch comes with a charger that can be plugged into a USB port and the LED then too lights up to show you it is charging as well as when it is fully charged. 

Here the MIO Alpha is paired with my Suunto Ambit 2S. 

Set your Zone in which you want to keep your heart rate in. Not only will the LED change color depending upon if you are in the zone you are wanting to be in, but a “beep” will also go off.  These are great because many times if using the watch like this, if you are wearing headphones you can still monitor where your heart rate is with the LED’s or as well as looking at the screen itself. 

There are only two buttons to operate the watch, one on either side of the face. You can use the timer in the exercise mode to track your workout time. I use my Suunto Ambit 2S for gathering exercise time. 

The watch comes with its own USB charging cradle. Simply line up the pins on the back to the charging ports and charge the watch.  

Download the free app for allowing your smartphone to track your exercises and then export the TCX file into your favorite program later on. With the app it will show basic features, unless you play to download the full version of the app.

This is if the watch is paired with BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy)