For years I used a Polar with the chest strap but began to find the strap uncomfortable. I bought a Garmin Forerunner 35 (about $200) which does not need a strap but it is way too inaccurate to be very useful. Looking for a recommendation for one that does not need a strap. I thought about the Apple Watch but don’t know if I want to spend that much since I dont
need the other functionality and don’t even know if it’s better than the Garmin. Any help would be appreciated.
Business Insider says it's the most accurate out of watches and since you won't be using it for exercise monitoring it should be even better:
Things dropped off for the commercial fitness bands, but it was the Apple Watch that maintained the most accuracy, managing around 91%, beating the Mio Fuse by a nose. The Fitbit Charge HR and Basis Peak had around 84% and 83% accuracy, respectively.
The reduced accuracy of wrist-based tracking isn’t surprising to study co-author Dr Gordon Blackburn, director of cardiac rehabilitation at the Cleveland Clinic. “You need to have good contact between the photosensing cells; as a person is exercising more vigorously, there’s more bounce, so you may lose some of that contact,” he explained.
link - ( New Window )
Link - ( New Window )