Heart Rate Monitor
Name of Product
Digifit Ecosystem universal iOS ( iPhone, iPOd touch and iPAd ) apps
Where you bought it
Apple's App Store in iTunes
How much did you pay?
$79.99 for Digifit Connect &
$29.99 iRunner App &
$9.99 iBiker upgrade
What activities do you use it for?
General cardio at the gym, Spinning, running and cycling outdoors
My Review
I had a Garmin running watch with GPS and heard about the Adidas miCoach Pacer that worked with the same ANT+ heart belt and foot pod or stride sensor. The problem was you actually can't buy the Pacer without a heart strap and stride sensor and that seemed unfair. While I was researching it I a came across Digifit.
I have always wanted to track my fitness and health on my iPhone or iPod touch but the GPS based tracking apps only with on the iPhone and they really drain the battery. Without a backup battery you can't do long runs or rides and in the gym they don't work because you aren't moving.
Digifit recently came out with Digifit Connect, an iOS accessory that allows the iPhone, iPod touch and even iPad to pick up any ANT+ interoperable sensors including those made by Garmin, Adidas, Spinning and Trek.
So you need the Digiift Connect accessory and the sensors you want to track. I already had a Garmin foot pod and heart rate strap so I just had to buy a Speed & Cadence sensor for cycling outdoors.
I bought iRunner initially because it comes with iCardio for any kind of cardio anywhere and iRunner which is the only iPhone ( and other iOS ) app that integrated heart rate monitoring with running foot pod. Note: Nike+ and Polar just came out with a heart rate monitor, Wearlink+ that works with Nike+, but it only works with the iPod nano or the Nike+ Sportband or the Polar watches and computers - not iOS devices.
So now I can track all of my exercises indoors or out on my iPod touch, iPhone or iPad! And when I am done I can send my data to a growing list of Digifit's upload partners. Currently they send data to TrainingPeaks and eNewLeaf but their customer support promises more will be coming soon.
Last but not least, I want to mention what the apps do with New Leaf's metabolic assessment and training program. If you get a metabolic assessment from New Leaf the Digifit Apps will sync with New Leaf's servers and in about five seconds you have customized your Digifit apps to be calibrated with your metabolic data. So you can now track the fat calories you burn and the carbohydrate calories separately. It's kind of like in a hybrid car seeing when your using the battery and when you are using the gas.
Digifit's customer support is very professional and helpful and they say they love to get feedback from customers so they can continuously improve the products.
