Scosche IPTM myTREK - Wireless Pulse Monitor

by Scosche

Product Features

• Work out from up to 33 ft away from your device.
• Control music from the armband while you work out.
• No bulky chest straps or wires.
• Wirelessly connects to iPod or iPhone.
• Audio prompts for real-time feedback while you work out.

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Product Description

The Scosche myTREK Wireless Pulse Monitor is a comfortable new workout tool for managing pulse, training type, calories burned, music and more with your iPhone or iPod touch.ComfortableThe Scosche myTREK has no bulky chest straps or wires and easily attaches to your forearm for full wireless communication with your device. Integrated dual LED/optical sensors produce real time pulse monitoring.Set Your GoalsBased on personal health information, each workout zone is represented in a different color. Customize your training sessions by adjusting the type of activity, target training zone and type of workout all within the App.Track Your Previous WorkoutsTrack your previous workout stats and overall progress with the integrated calendar feature.Control Your Music and Stay MotivatedMotivational voice prompts guide you through your workout and help keep you in your target training zone. Control your music while you workout with the integrated buttons on the Scosche myTREK Wireless Pulse Monitor: volume up/down, play/pause and previous/next track.Works With the Scosche myTREK AppWith the Scosche myTREK App, you can manage your current and past training sessions to get the most out of your workouts.- PULSEAccurate pulse monitoring lets you assess the intensity of your workout- TRAINING ZONE5 color coded training zones allow you to quickly indentify when you are in the desired intensity level- CALORIES BURNEDObserve the amount of calories burned to maintain a healthy body composition and work toward your goals- DISTANCE/SPEED*Track your actual distance and speed using the iPhone’s GPS and accelerometer technology- WORKOUT TIMEIdentify your overall workout time to help you stay motivated throughout your workout

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 87 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Love the device--but the accompanying app sucks January 3, 2012

By cardiacrehabber

Amazon Verified Purchase

My needs are fairly simple....I have tried (and liked) several of the Polar and Timex monitors that require chest straps. But this device is slick....especially becuase it links with an iphone app--and I was using the iphone for music on my workouts and/or for gps on outdoor walking, etc.

However, the Scosche Mytrek app is horrible....inconsistent, doesn't work, requires my iphone to be rebooted, etc. But there is an app, Digifit, that recogizes the device and works great. I use it every day. Haven't fully compared every feature of the two apps, but it's kind of a moot point as my needs are pretty basic, and the Digifit works great, and works and plays well with other apps (especially when multitasking). Without the Digitfit app, I probably would rate the device a 1 rather than a 4.

Only downsides are that the device needs to be chaged between uses, and overall the iphone battery life is an issue when using this (and iphone criticism, not a Scosche criticism!) If you're using the app, GPS, listening to music, occassionally surfing the net while working out, etc. it really runs the battery down quickly,

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good product if you don't use the myTREK App January 3, 2012

By hegaman

The hardware is good and measuring heart rate seems accurate; unfortunately, the MyTrek software is horrible.

There is an alternative compatible software, Digifit, mentioned on the Scosche website and mentioned in another review, which is excellent. Even though I had to pay a couple of bucks for Digifit, the combination makes it solid heart rate monitor solution for me.

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good hardware, terrible software December 17, 2011

By Ellick C

I bought this device to help monitor my heart rate for my daily jogs. While the hardware itself is fairly adequate, the iPhone software is woefully lacking. After loading the Scosche app for the first time, the app promptly failed without warning and spontaneously quit. I rebooted my phone many times and paired/unpaired the device without success. The only workaround I found was to delete the app and reinstall it, which gave the app one more life until it went into a crazy crashing cycle all over again.

I'm giving the hardware 4 stars, and the overall package a 3 star rating because there's a perfectly good workaround to these problems: Digifit. Digifit is a nice dashboard that aggregates workout data from a variety of sensors including pedometers and heart rate monitors. So far, I've been pretty happy with using the MyTrek band as a sensor and Digifit as the accompanying software solution.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is totally worth it! September 19, 2011

By Justin Bell

I have been getting back into running for a while now and using the app Nike+ GPS. I got the Scosche myTREK because I liked the idea of getting more info than Nike+ GPS provides like my heart rate and calories burned. I must say this product is amazing. Scosche does a great job of providing everything you need in the box and then some, including 3 different size straps. The unit is small and you can barely feel it. The set up is very easy and the app is very easy to use. I found I was actually burning way more calories on my runs than Nike+ GPS was estimating. I highly recommend this great product!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars *shrug* July 22, 2012

By Michael Nahas

Amazon Verified Purchase

Background:
I'm a technology guy who runs long distances. I wanted a heart-rate monitor to tell when I'm overheating in the summer. (It's hard to monitor body temperature, but when you get too hot, your heartrate spikes). I had a Polar chest band system, which worked well but I really hated running with the tight chest band.

What this is:
It is an armband that goes on the thick part of your forearm - NOT your wrist. It shines green light onto the hairless part of your arm and uses the reflection to determine when your heart beats. The device does NOT have a display. You need an iPhone to view your heartrate. The charger plugs into a USB slot - it does NOT plug into a wall socket. It DOES use bluetooth to talk to your iPhone, so you don't need to plug anything into your iPhone to make it work.

iPhone & App:
I have an old 3GS. I used the Digifit app, based on the recommendations here. The app ("Digifit iCardio Multi-sport Heart Rate...") is free, but it costs $3 to have it connect to the Scorsche myTREK.

Setup:
I had no problem charging the device. It connected easily to Digifit. It took a while to understand the armband - there are two different straps included to fit different size forearms. I use the smaller one and it is almost too large. (And I'm a 200 lb. guy who boxes...) In Digifit, you want to press "Workout" NOT "Quick Start". "Workout" has the good features - "Quick Start" is for people who didn't pay $3. I did have to enable bluetooth on my iPhone. (I had disabled it to save battery.)

Experience:
Overall, it's okay. It seems to take a while for the device to "lock on" to your actual heartrate. It often says 72 at startup, when my non-workout heartrate is less than that.... After a while, it gets it right. I don't think the software handles changing heartrates well, but it does get the steady ones right. The graph of heartrates when I went for a 10 mile run was what I expected.
The Digifit app has some problems. It claimed that my 10 mile run was 13 miles. When ran by the reservoir in Central Park, the app somehow thought I jumped to the opposite side of the water. And then jumped back again. There was another jump somewhere in the run, but I made two rounds of a loop and the app couldn't show those loops on the map separately.
I don't like that I have to get the phone out just to check my heartrate. It also takes 3-4 seconds for the phone to unlock and for the app to wake up. (It's a 2 year old phone, but this is slower than any other app except the camera.) Given this and that the device takes time to "lock on to" a changed heart-rate, I'm not sure how useful for checking for extreme heart rates.
Using Digifit and the device does chew up phone battery. It used up 80% of my battery in 2hrs and 15 minutes.
One thing I did like about the Digifit app is that it recorded my max heartrate and shows all numbers as a percentage of that.
The armband is comfortable and light. I forget it is there when I'm running, which never happens with the Polar chest strap!

Conclusion:
If you want to track your average heartrate through a workout, and have an iPhone with you, and won't go so long as to run out the battery on your iPhone, and don't need to move your arms heavily, this is a comfortable solution. Much more pleasant than a chest strap.
I think it's an okay "version 1.0". It has its faults, but it's much more comfortable than a chest strap for runners, bikers, etc. I wish it had its own heartrate display. I wish it was better at calculating the current heartrate. I wish the Digifit app used less battery and handled distance better. These few things better would make a solid "version 2.0" product. Read more ›

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Why not 5 stars but 4 stars? June 1, 2012

By ATKW

Amazon Verified Purchase

I would have loved to give this product FIVE stars but I can only give it four, because it is not perfect.

You can read what the other guys say about it, but let me explain a little how this actually works. Unlike Polar and the other HRMs (I have two Polar models) this measures heart rate using LIGHT. It shines two bright LEDs into your skin and measures the light level. More blood, less light. Etc. So I guess modern light sensors are so sensitive that they can calculate the difference in blood volume.

Now, logically, you can figure that if blood volume is being measured, then if you MOVE YOUR MUSCLES that should affect the accuracy of the reading, right? Well, all I can say is, MAYBE. You can ask the manufacturer if that is the case, but that is my guess. The instructions even say that it won't work during weight lifting, so maybe that is the reason.

In my experience, NONE of the HRMs are really that accurate. My Polar used to be (both the original strap and the newer WearLink strap) but I decided to get the MyTrek because I hated wearing that chest strap. And besides, I started getting all kinds of interference when I worked out at the gym, so I was hoping a Bluetooth-based technology might be better. Well, none of the HRMs are really that accurate. I see my HR go way up and down, and it seems to occur more often with the MyTrek than with the Polar, actually, but again, you do not need to wear the strap on your chest and the signal seems to be better with Bluetooth....

What I do is I actually wear BOTH the MyTrek and the Polar units, and I find that they vary a little, but now I have two reference points for my instantaneous heart rate, and if they agree then that's probably my heart rate, and if one of them veers off wildly, then I can look at the other one. This sounds a bit redundant but I think for those of you who understand how important it is to know your exact heart rate while working out (e.g., running on the treadmill) will appreciate why I do this, so I can tweak my running speed immediately and not "burn out" by running too quickly. My aim is to increase fitness and endurance, so I try to maximize my time at a certain HR zone, not maximize my running speed, per se. Keeping your HR at the optimum level is important, and you can affect your performance if your HRM gives you false readings and you have to wait 10 seconds for it to recalibrate (10 seconds is too long in my opinion, especially during the last few minutes when you are trying to squeeze more mileage out of your workout and can't afford to push too hard or you tire too quickly).

I am still glad I bought this and love that I can view my heart rate on my iPhone (or iPad) but you can consider doing what I do, and use it with the Polar or other models that use galvanic skin conductivity, because the two technologies (skin conduction, and LED light) do not interfere with each other. Nor do the two radio frequencies/technologies. Read more ›