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Saturday, November 28, 2015

Gear Review: Wahoo TICKR

I few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be given the Wahoo TICKR dual band heart rate monitor strap.  Having used it now for training and two races I thought I would share my thoughts with you.  I am a big fan of the Wahoo KICKR trainer and the TICKR is living up to my expectations.


Until the TICKR I used the Garmin Premium Heart Rate Monitor strap paired with a Garmin 810 head unit.   I have been using the Garmin for over two years and in that time I have received two replacement straps due to failures.  Both times Garmin's support was excellent however the experiences left me with the feeling of "When is it going to go bad again".  In addition the Garmin strap is ANT+ only and does not work with my phone apps so until now I have just put up without heart rate data when I run, which was no big deal as I did not run much until I started training for Cyclo-Cross.

This is where the Wahoo TICKR comes in, it is a dual band device (Blue Tooth and ANT+).  In other words it will work with the Garmin and a Bluetooth device such as your phone.  I use it with my Garmin 810 when riding and iPhone apps "Wahoo Fitness" & "Runmeter" when running.  Wahoo's "Wahoo Fitness" is the App I am now defaulting to when I run as it will automatically update my Garmin Connect account which in turn automatically updates my TrainingPeaks account.  It is a small thing but having things automatically update is one less thing I have to think about and I love that.  At the end of the day a Heart Rate Strap should just work and so far the TICKR has not disappointed. 

What I like about the TICKR
  1. The flashing lights that let me know it is working.
  2. The easy snap fastening.
  3. The ability to use the same strap with my Garmin and Phone
  4. The Wahoo Fitness App which syncs directly to Garmin Connect
  5. It just works
Would I recommend it:  YES
Find out more here:  http://www.wahoofitness.com/devices/hr.html

The one thing I did notice about the strap was the need to have it tighter than my Garmin around the chest especially for running.  Whilst trail running the first few times I found it slipping down but as I eluded to I am not much of a runner so this might be normal.  Still wanted to mention it as it was a little irritating for a while until I got it dialed in.