Amazfit’s Screenless Wearable Tracks Fitness with an Additional Waist Motion Sensor
People want to spend less time looking at screensand health technology companies are taking note of screenless wearables, incl Whoop, Polar, Luna and, more recently, Google too Fitbit Airall of which use wrist-based sensors to monitor your health.
We haven’t seen a health tracking device that includes a second sensor area yet Helio Strap Pro from Amazfit brand wearables.
The $200 Helio Strap Pro was released on Monday and builds on Amazfit Helio belt a wrist-based fitness tracker, launched last June.
Designed for hybrid athletes and those participating in Hyrox competitions, the Helio Strap Pro includes both a clip-on waist motion sensor to track stability and movement and an upper arm heart rate sensor. Hyrox is a global fitness race where participants run 1 kilometer, then complete one of eight exercise stations, repeating the cycle until all stations have been visited.
How the Helio Strap Pro system works
The company says in its press release that the upper arm sensor can capture more reliable heart rate data than a wrist sensor because it is closer to the heart and less likely to be affected by wrist movements or contact with fitness equipment.
The system is designed to work with Amazfit Balance 3 ($370) or Balance Ultra ($600) smartwatches, launched last month as part of the company’s Hybrid Training System, which combines data performance tracking with guidance via the Zepp app. Amazfit is owned by Zepp Health, a health and wearable company. Both smartwatches provide wrist-based data as well Hyrox Race and Hyrox Simulation modes.
Along with recovery, nutrition, daily habits and performance trends, those training for a Hyrox competition can view their performance in each of Hyrox’s eight stations, including deadlifts and pushups, farmer’s carries, burpee broad jumps and rowing. The waist sensor can only be used for these eight movements, while the arm sensor also works with more than 50 sports modes available in the Zepp app.
Overall, the entire system of the Helio Strap Pro monitors your cardio effort, muscle load, quality of movement and stability.
Hyrox athletes can view their performance in each of the eight competition moves using the Helio Strap Pro and Zepp app.
Possible price drop
While the Helio Strap Pro’s tracking will continue without a balance smartwatch, giving you a hands-free experience, a smartwatch is required to take full advantage of the Helio Strap Pro’s waist, wrist and hand sensors. However, smart watches are sold separately. This brings the total cost of the system to $570 for the Balance 3 or $800 for the Balance Ultra. As a result, the Helio Strap Pro may appeal more to those who already own smartwatches.
In the future, Amazfit plans to add support to its other smartwatches, the company said in a statement.
From a cost perspective, what makes the Helio Strap Pro attractive is that, unlike other wearables, there is no monthly subscription required to use it. By comparison, the Whoop screen wearable requires a membership that costs between $199 and $359 per year.
Between arm, waist and wrist sensors, you can monitor your movement, cardio effort, stability and muscle load.
Sensor details
The Helio Core Motion HR sensor for your upper arm offers up to 11 days of battery life, while the Helio Core Motion Waist sensor offers up to 40 days. Charging time for both can be up to 2 hours.
All systems are compatible with iOS 17 and later and Android 8.0 and later.
Along with sensors on the upper arm and waist, your purchase comes with a waist clip, an arm strap, a wrist strap and a magnetic charging head. A wristband is included if you would like to wear the heart rate sensor in everyday life without training and would not like it to be on your upper arm.
The Helio Strap Pro is HSA- and FSA-eligible.
