Connecting your Zephyr HxM heart rate monitor to your Sportlyzer Android app
Heart rate tracking is important during your workout because it indicates the intensity of your activity. Knowing the intensity is important to because different intensities lead to different adaptation processes in your body. For example, higher intensities must be compensated with lower intensities or they may lead to overtraining and stagnation of performance. This guide will help you connect Zephyr HxM™ BT Heart Rate Monitor to Sportlyzer Android app.
Should you already have a Zephyr’s HxM consider yourself lucky, if not, you can get one from Zephyr’s store. To connect your Zephy HR strap to your Android phone, follow these steps and you’re set.
How to connect your Zephyr HR strap to your Android phone?
This step is necessary only in the beginning when you pair up your phone with your Zephyr’s HxM. If you prefer detailed instructions with illustrations then click here. Otherwise follow our brief summary:
1. Connect your Zephyr HxM to your phone
a) Take your phone and open Settings -> Wireless & Networks -> Bluetooth Settings -> turn on Bluetooth.
b) Take your Zephyr’s transmitter, connect it to the strap and put it around your chest. If your skin is very dry, you may need to wet the sensor pads and/or your breast area to activate the device.
c) Click „Scan for devices“ on your phone. A device starting with „HXM“ and followed by numbers should appear on the list. (If not, try to turn Bluetooth off/on again or add more moisture to the strap.) Click on the device found. You will be asked for a PIN code, enter „1234“. The HXM device should now be in „paired but not connected“ state. This is exactly what you want.
NB! Should you want to rename the device, make sure it still starts with „HXM“.
2. Open Sportlyzer App Settings
Open up Sportlyzer App, and go to Settings.
3. Select Zephyr’s HxM.
Find „Connect Heart Rate Monitor“ and click to open up a dialog of available heart rate monitors (currently only Zephyr). (For this step you won’t need the HxM.)
NB! If you don’t want Sportlyzer app to search for heart rate monitor during each workout, select „none“.
How to track a workout with heart rate?
1) Turn on Bluetooth in your device, open Sportlyzer app and put on your Zephyr’s HxM. Now tap ‘Tracking’ and you will see a „Searching for heart rate monitor“ message next to the start button (approximately 5 seconds).
2) If heart rate is successfully received from Zephyr’s HxM the message will turn to a heart. This is the time you would want to hit the START button.
3) Congratulations! You are now tracking very valuable heart rate information.
Advanced troubleshooting
Here are some additional tips you can try if you can’t get the heart rate monitor working.
– If your workout mate also has Android phone and Zephyr’s HxM. – Make sure that only your phone is connected to one HxM via Bluetooth as it is a dedicated one-to-one connection. You may need to turn off Bluetooth and move at least 30m away from the other HxM to make sure you connect to yours. This problem can be avoided if you pair only your HxM and not others’.
– If Sportlyzer App crashes during a workout, the connection between your phone and Zephyr HxM most likely does not end. However, if you open the workout again and cannot get heart rate connection, close Sportlyzer App with “Back”-button. Then go to your phone Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> find Sportlyzer -> click Stop. This will end any hanging connections.
After tracking
You can find your heart rate data in your mobile app’s workout History. After updating you can see a graphically visualized version at sportlyzer.com
