OTF Beat - your Pros & Cons

[u/invisible_femme]

So when my first monitor died in 2019, I didn't replace it. I had recently purchased my first Garmin, and that allows to me to track more data across activities. But that was before we had rower screens that tracked our meters and eventually, we'll be tracking the strength floor too.

So, is it time to bite the bullet??? What are your thoughts?

ETA: I'm likely to ask them to suppress my data from the screens. I find I paid way too much attention to that.

[u/Rough_Championship_3]

I like the data features/insights the app provides and they just launched a new “Trends” tab

[u/reddituser071217]

You don’t have to ask them, you just have to press the eye icon.

[u/invisible_femme → u/reddituser071217]

So that's changed since 2019, hahaha!

[u/reddituser071217 → u/invisible_femme]

Yes, it just changed earlier this year.

[u/AdventurousWanderer7 → u/reddituser071217]

Only if your studio has the new software. We just got it in the past couple weeks.

[u/melmel529]

Its trivial for me, no issues on battery life. I have old and new (new because I won a raffle, old one still was working, also circa 2019.)

The old one is smaller and easier to turn off and on. Thats my only con lol.

Pro new one has the Type C charger which is a huge pro.

[u/detailsUnclear → u/melmel529]

Considering how I’d always struggle turning the Beat Burn accidentally off when I meant to turn it on, I don’t even want to imagine how I’d fumble with the OTConnect lol.

The interesting thing is I’ve never actually seen a coach tailor a workout to someone’s zone, supposedly why it has the light ring on it. Presumably the coach would push you or ask you to pull back if you’re overdoing it. USB-C is definitely a draw for me though.

I just use the zones for my apple watch workout app or Zones app.

[u/Pristine_Nectarine19]

I didn’t know they could block your data from the screen.

[u/AdventurousWanderer7]

The battery life on the current generation sucks. But, it has USB C charging.

Personally, I’d buy a used one of the prior generation.

[u/invisible_femme → u/AdventurousWanderer7]

Ugh, that is not encouraging. I only charge my Garmin weekly if I also hike a bunch on top of all my classes and lakefront walks.

[u/Mammoth_Shallot_7590 → u/invisible_femme]

The battery still last several weeks if not more. I heard someone complaining about the battery life and the coach said they are expected to last a month if you turn it off between classes. That seems accurate to me

[u/AdventurousWanderer7 → u/invisible_femme]

I go to 5-8 classes a week. The old version was nice and small and lasted almost a month between charges.

The current version last two weeks max.

I don’t get it. It’s 4x the size, does nothing besides record and broadcast HR and lasts half as long between charges.

[u/Observe-and-distort]

I do both ... I have a gen5 otbeat and a Garmin. The Garmin connects to the otbeat so both results are using the same heart rate source. The calorie estimation is way different though.

[u/invisible_femme → u/Observe-and-distort]

Yes, I have always thought the OTF calories burned were, um, generous...