Bicep Band Not accurate

WHOOP 5.0
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1

So I have recently switched over to the bicep band. I must say I love wearing there as it’s super comfortable and I don’t even notice it’s there. The issue is I am finding that my step count has almost dropped in half. Crazy enough I wear a Garmin Forerunner and an Apple Watch (I know crazy). Comparing the data between the three the Garmin and AW are very close but the whoop lags way behind.

Secondly I have the Whoop app to pull data from my Apple Health which is obviously fed from my Apple Watch and my Garmin but the step count does not sync.

Thoughts?

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2

Hi @Heavywaite85,

Thank you for flagging this. The step-counting algorithm is currently optimized for wrist placement only, so it is expected to report a lower step count when worn on the bicep. This is an area we’re continuing to improve.

3

May I make a suggestion? Simply allow whoop to pull steps data from Apple. It may not solve the issue but is a stop gap for us using bicep band.

plus for those of us with under desk walking pads we REALLY need a way for those steps to count. Literally impossible at present. Frustrating.

The list of features unavailable in bicep mode keeps growing:

  • Can’t track steps accurately
  • Can’t use during strength trainer
  • Can’t take ECG or BP
4

That sounds crazy. You should use biceps for HRV and cannot use for any else. Is it serious?

5

I also recently switched to a bicep band to get better HR accuracy during exercise and get rid of ghost HR spikes. I really like the bicep band. I checked my steps per mile on my walking and running activities between the wrist band and bicep band, and they are pretty close!

6

For me the bicep band is not accurate

7

Any movement on this in-house? My steps are also anywhere from ~20-50% underreported with bicep placement compared to my other wearable. It’s a bit mind-blowing that whoop actually sells a $50 bicep band (and other sportswear/Whoop Body™ with alternative wear locations) while knowing that wearing its product in a different location skews results and limits functionality.

There needs to be an option to choose the wear location of the items actively endorsed by the company.

8

As a bicep band user (I actually purchased the entire off-the-wrist pack), I recently got a survey asking about the bicep band.

That’s my preferred way to wear the Whoop; however, the low step count punishes me in Healtspan.

I don’t know how to get around this. Any improvements for us, bicep band users?

9

BUT, the most frustrating thing is that the bicep band doesn’t work for Strength Training. You have to move the Whoop to your wrist. I wish Whoop would get this fixed.

I’ve been wearing the MG since it came out, what about 1.5 years. I really hadn’t noticed, because when I run, I’m just more concerned about getting my HR to Zone 3 or 4 several times a week and I wear and Apple Watch that shows me that in real time. AW is one of the best HR monitors (second to a chest strap).

I ran about 2 miles this week, and noticed my strain, which was set to be about 15, was exceeded in that short run. On my AW, I only was in Zone 1 and 2, nothing more. It was an easy run and short.

When I finished, I looked at my strain, which I expected to be about 4 or 5 and it was 16.9! I thought what?

I looked at my HR for the run, and it said I hit over 180, the entire run was in Zone 4 and even Zone 5. I’m 63, I’ve hit Zone 4 every once in a while but never Zone 5.

I immediately thought, on no, something’s wrong with my heart! I checked Oura and AW, and they were both what I expected, mainly Zone 1, a little bit Zone 2.

I emailed support and they told me to send a pictures of where I’m wearing my Whoop and said my data looked like wrist placement issues. I thought, mmm, I’ve been wearing my Whoop MG 5 in the same place since I got it. Has it been wrong all that time?

I looked at several runs, including when I was in Denver recently, and sure enough, most of my Whoop runs had some very different HR data. Then I thought, have I been led astray for the 1.5 on fitness, strain, etc.

We’ll I told support all of this and they said you need to make sure your Whoop on your wrist is in the right place.

This morning’s run, I did use the bicep band, and it was better, about 1 or 2 beats per minute off from both AW and my Garmin HRM 600. As a note, it’s amazing the Garmin and AW agreed almost 100%, maybe like 99.98%. And Whoop was still wrong.

I hate to say it, but this is making me question Whoop and is it just a toy? I started wearing my Garmin again today, and will continue to test it and see if Whoop is still something for me to continue recommending. I have to have AW for notification and integration, and hate wearing two watches, but getting accurate data is critical.

I hope Whoop fixes this and makes sure Whoop Medical Grade 5 is really truly MG like many of the other competition out there.

10

to me it kind of makes sense that you have to wear it on your wrist for strength because in many lifts your biceps doesn’t do as nearly as much acceleration as your wrist. tbh i don’t mind putting it on for strength trainings, and I wish that would be the only issue.

they told me the same about wrist placement, i moved it a bit higher and the hr readings imnproved but it’s not nearly as accurate as my AWU.