What was once a niche market is now becoming a global phenomenon that has caught the eyes of giants like Fitbit and Apple. The market size is $35 billion in sales and is expected to grow 300% by 2028. While big tech has the resources and funds to enter the heart rate variability (HRV) market, the attention to detail is not great. The companies’ whose main focus is HRV will undoubtably create the best hrv tracker. 

Heart rate variability is slowly becoming the gold standard of health wearable monitoring. Google (who now owns Fitbit) and Apple know that very well, which is why they have entered the market. It’s easy for them to slap a label on something and market it because people will believe it, unfortunately. But both Apple and Fitbit have very misleading “features” that go un checked but we’ll help clear that up.

Komodo Technologies is a pioneer in the field of HRV tracking. Not only is it one of the original companies focusing on heart rate variability, it also does it in a way no other product does. So before you buy a Fitbit or Apple for the HRV function, here are the reasons why the AIO Smart Sleeve is the best HRV tracker.

But FIRST, Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Trust Fitbit Anymore ⚠️

1. ECG-Based HRV Monitoring

Every single fitness tracker on the planet uses an optical sensor. It’s the sensor that shines lights through your skin and measures heart rate (BPM). The other way of extracting heart rate is using an electrocardiogram (ECG / EKG). This is done by strategically placed electrodes that measure the electrical signal from your heart. So what does this have to do with HRV?

HRV uses heart beat data to measure the time difference between each successive heart beat (in depth review of HRV here). The only way to find out this time difference is either using an optical sensor or an ECG. There’s only one consumer product that uses ECG to extract heart rate variability data: The AIO Smart Sleeve. ECG and optical sensors are not built the same, so to speak.

An ECG / EKG has a sample rate of 350 per second, whereas an optical sensor has only 50 per second. The higher the sample rate, the more the sensor communicates with the app and the clearer and more accurate the picture. More on that here. The AIO Sleeve provides a significantly more accurate picture of your heart rate variability. We’ve seen horrendous reports of inaccuracy of HRV measurements among some of the tech giants.

2. Health Score – Your Body’s Check Engine Light

Most HRV shows you a score out of 100 or simply a number in milliseconds (which most people don’t even know how to interpret). The AIO Health App takes the complex science of heart rate variability and generates a score out of 5 stars. The goal is to make HRV easy to understand and also fun to record and keep track. It’s an attempt to humanize complex information. Komodo calls it Health Score.

At any point in time during the day, you have access to a quick snapshot of your internal health. All it takes is two minutes (see how here). The information you get is so invaluable. It’s like having a doctor in your pocket at all times. The AIO Health App is so easy to use (IOS and Android), and saves your HRV data. It even shows you your HRV trends daily and tracks your progress throughout the week and month.

3. HRV ‘Events’

HRV can be quite ambiguous at times. One of the questions we see a lot is “how do I know what’s causing my HRV to increase or decrease?” That’s why HRV ‘events’ are so important. The AIO Health app has two categories of events, physical (stress) and mental (stress). From the image below, physical stress would mean activities that would cause ‘physical’ stress to the body. That would be eating, exercising, drinking alcohol, etc. Mental would be morning readiness, before and after work, and before bed.

If your monitoring constantly and properly, it’s very easy to see where exactly your HRV begins to decrease. You can see at which time of day, or which days of the week you have better or worse Health Scores. And also, for what reason is your HRV changing.

4. Stress Level Monitoring

The AIO Health App has an algorithm in place that will separate physical and mental stressors. The activities deemed ‘mental stressors’ will be the ones used in the Stress Level breakdown on the home page of the app. It will take an average of all the non-physical stressors and show you the result.

It’s very important to separate the things that affect heart rate variability into categories. Everything that falls on the physical side will always cause HRV to decrease, no matter the person. For example, eating will activate your body’s digestion cycle. Although you might not feel it, your body is under stress from digesting food. It’s nothing critical but it will reduce HRV in the short term and depending on your diet it could have long-term effects.

Fight or Flight

Exercising will likely bring your HRV down to close to 0. Your body is being worked, heart is beating fast, deep breaths in attempt to supply oxygen to your muscles. When we talk about ‘fight or flight’, exercise puts you in flight mode. For these reasons it’s important to separate different types of events when recording heart rate variability. You don’t want to get false positive reading and you want to make sure you’re making the right changes to your daily routine. The AIO Sleeve is definitely the best HRV tracker in this particular category.

5. Doesn’t Break the Bank!

The increased demand for HRV wearables has caused prices to go up especially among new companies entering the market. The Oura ring has seen lots of publicity for their HRV ring, but starting price is an astonishing $400 US. Other (most) companies have a subscription model which will end up costing you thousands.

Komodo Technologies’ goal was to make a health monitor with real benefits and make it accessible to everyone. Many people will hear about HRV but when they see the price they jump ship. The AIO Sleeve starts at $99, with no monthly fees for the best features.

6. Best Fitness Wearable

There are plenty of reasons that makes the AIO Sleeve the best HRV fitness tracker also. Among them is the improved accuracy over standard fitness bracelets. The ergonomic design of the AIO device and the optimal compression keeps the sensors stable and close to the skin.

Compression clothing has also become so popular in the fitness world which only made sense when creating the AIO Sleeve. The Smart Sleeve is a proprietary blend that is breathable, stretchy, antimicrobial and has the optimal compression level. The AIO Health App has an ‘activity mode.’ You can easily track your workouts and it saves each activity in the history section.

The AIO Smart Sleeve is an incredibly versatile fitness and health monitor. It can do everything but make you a cup of coffee. That’s why it’s called the All.In.One Sleeve.