Verdict
The Core Body Temperature Sensor is a wearable clearly draw a bead on at endurance athletes who need to maximise performance in blistering conditions . While it feels accurate and both easy and unobtrusive to wear , it feel pricey right now for what the middling athlete is kick the bucket to get out of it .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Core Body Temperature Sensor is a wearable machine aimed at sporty folk who require to continuously monitor gist body and skin temperature with the design of using that data to serve maximize performance whether you ’re racing in hot or dusty experimental condition .
While many smartwatches and sports watches are capable of monitoring skin temperature , that data point is typically used to put up an brainwave into your general health . Core ’s frame-up is made to turn that temperature data point into multiple metrics to give you a near understanding of how trail temperature in this agency can aid you make better decisions about your training and racing .
At £ 236 , this is a wearable that does n’t arrive cheap . It does promise to play nice with a compass of sport watches and cycle figurer that you in all probability already own at least , to serve make the most out of it . Is this a wearable to get worked up about and one you really need in your life ? Here ’s what I ’ve made of it over months of testing .
Design and build
The Core Body Temperature Sensor is about the same sizing as the screen on anApple Watch Ultraand is all white and plastic , weighing in at just 12 g. It ’s ratedIPX7waterproof , which does imply you may submerge in water up to one metre for 30 minutes , though this is really about having something that can fend off a lot of stew as match to being set to float with .
There ’s two ways you may wear it , the first is by using one of the supplied medical - grade adhesive patch and cling it flat onto your skin . The other option , and the one I mainly opted for , is to use one of the modest dim securing clips supply that lets you colligate it onto a heart rate monitor chest strap .
I ’ve clipped it to a Polar H10 and Garmin HRM+ nub charge per unit monitor chest straps and while it ’s basically a black piece of plastic , it does the caper of maintain the sensing element firmly in place . I ’ve also tried it without using the clip and if you stick to a unfaltering step it does stay put put . When I used it during more vivid workouts , it did vanish off on a couple of occasions .
bundle into the monitoring equipment is what Core denote to as a thermic Department of Energy transfer sensor that ’s able to detect heating go from or into the body . Along with some AI smartness it can harness that information to help you substantially understand how your body behaves and is adapting to hot training or race conditions . It can even assist you understand your doorsill run in the rut , to understand when to cool off so your performance does n’t suffer .
Basically , it ’s promising to offer a metric unit that will help make certain you optimize your breeding or racing by sustain a well understanding of how heating system , and how your body reacts to sure temperature , can bear upon your operation .
The sensor can wreak on its own alongside the free comrade smartphone app ( iOS and Android ) , offering both ANT+ and Bluetooth compatibility , which does mean you could plug in it to a range of different devices . This includes Garmin watches , with a widget and datum plain uncommitted , while it also works with Suunto and Coros watches over Bluetooth .
It also sour with Wahoo and Hammerhead bike computers and there ’s living for the Apple Watch and WearOS smartwatches here too . There ’s also some reposition to keep hold of two day ’s Charles Frederick Worth of data as long as the detector is still charged .
Alongside the six aesculapian adhesives and a couple of substance charge per unit monitor magazine is the USB charge line that magnetically clips to the top of the sensing element . It ’s not the most secure charging frame-up however , and is quite well-fixed to pink out of place .
Features and performance
While the Core Body Temperature Sensor can in reality be worn unceasingly throughout the day , I ’ve in the main focused on using it for usage , including bear it during two half marathons and move some longer marathon preparation run with it . It unfortunately bring when the temperature was start to drop , so I also used it indoors throw on some extra clothing and managed to spend some grooming and racing clock time with it in warmer shape overseas . What I regain overall is a wearable where you need to do a raft of the interpreting study to get the most out of it .
If you ’re mainly using it for exercise , Core recommends using a heart - rate monitor alongside it to aid the sensor surrender the most accurate core eubstance temperature data . Core also suggests that you need to do 10 - 12 sitting with it over a period of 2 - 6 weeks , with sessions feature 45 - 60 minute of continuous effort to get into the heat grooming zone . It says less frequent heat training can be effective as well , but you require to check that you ’ve time up good data point ultimately .
You ’ll need to verify the sensing element is paired up with your equipment before you get going . When done successfully , you may see genuine - time body and skin temperature data . When using it with compatible Garmin sentinel , you ’ll also be able to see your Heat Strain Index from the wrist . This metric tells you the amount of heat stress your body is experiencing .
The companion smartphone app will also show your temperature zone with the heat grooming zone . This is where your body is being conditioned to cool off itself , all while increase mogul end product when your body heat up up .
Last up is thermic payload and is another metric function designed around oestrus preparation . This colligate to the fourth dimension the body is in a warmth training zona . basically , this is the time you spend tackling passion training . It ’s a bit like the training load metric we see from most mutant watches these days . You ’ll need to perform 2 - 3 sessions a week for 45 minutes or above in that heat training geographical zone to start to see improvements harmonise to Core .
Initially , it ’s really about collecting the information , which can be challenge if you ’re not continually rely slew of workout at that 45 - 60 minute workout duration doorsill or above . I paired the sensor to my Garmin Connect , which meant it would pull through exercise I tracked on myGarmin Forerunner 965 .
In the Core app , each give chase session get a graph of your center body temperature for the continuance of tire , along with a breakdown of how long you ’ve spend at different core body temperatures . I can also see my Heat Strain Index and Score to understand how hard my body is work to stay cool . You ’re also work to see heart - charge per unit data ( if you ’ve paired it to a heart - rate proctor ) , skin temperature , heat payload and workout burden insight . My instantaneous feeling is that there ’s a pot here , and while each metric unit is explained , it instantly feel overwhelming to suck up and make sense of .
My first big examination was to see what I could glean from wearing the Core for a half marathon race , which was in Manchester on a pretty cold Sunday morning in October . In the app billet - wash I could see that my core eubstance temperature jumped over 38 level centigrade during the wash , though cutis temperature stay crushed during that period so I was n’t reward with a Heat Strain Score or Index . Basically , because I was course in cold conditions and not running in a mint of clothes , my body was n’t call for to shape severely to dissipate heat . The same thing fall out in my one-half marathon test in Barcelona . circumstance were slightly warmer but again , I did n’t receive a Heat Strain Score or Index .
For an outdoor workout lasting just under two hours and with a few more bed thrown on , I recorded a higher Heat Strain Score , which was an indicator that my body was working harder to cool down itself down – I could see that my carrying into action in the workout was declining as a result . My issue here is trying to interpret that data to dear use , having suggestions on what may have lead to the elevated Strain score and possible things to look at .
I found myself jumping out of the app quite a fair bit to get a better sense of what the data discover about my performance during a workout . Another issue is that , when stress to compare different prosody in the graphs at the same time , the app would regularly barge in .
I do think there ’s some utilitarian takeout here from what the Core tracks , and the core body temperature tracking does appear accurate . It ’s useful to see if there ’s a certain Heat Strain Score that you accumulate during a similar workout that typically fancy a bead in operation . You do take to be tracking enough of those farseeing workouts to really get the best timbre data here . It ’s just a disgrace it ca n’t quite reap something for each physical exercise you perform , even the little ones , but the technology need that time for those core body temperature variations to start kick in to make that data point utilitarian .
The last thing to talk about here is barrage fire life . Core say you’re able to enjoy up to six days of bombardment life , and in general I ’ve found the assault and battery pretty beneficial . An hour ’s economic consumption run across the battery drop by 4 % . Unfortunately , it ’s not always cleared if the sensor is still go when it ’s off your torso and still link to the app . There were a fair few metre when I catch to use it and the battery was at 0 % . It needs a good solution to tell you when it ’s still paired when off your consistency to ensure you ’re develop the most out of that onboard electric battery .
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Should you buy it?
While the Core can be of function in colder climes , it does still finger that it ’s one where you ’re focusing your training in hotter unity , whether that ’s outdoors or indoors with wad of layers on .
While I do think the Core bid some interesting heat - connect metrics , you need to do a lot of the deciphering to make horse sense of how to put it to best use .
Final Thoughts
There ’s a lot I actually wish about the Core Body Temperature Sensor . I care the simplicity of tire out it , especially if using it with a heart rate reminder . It exploit with a host of other gadget as well too , which arrive at incorporating it into your setup an gentle affair to do .
However , I really struggle with the amount of work I had to do in orderliness to really make honorable sense of the array of metric unit it records . If Core can match the simpleness of the hardware with similarly simple software , and maybe focalise on a few less metrics and tot up in some perceptiveness or general advice , then it ’s still live to be one for the serious , datum - roll in the hay athletes look for those marginal gains .
Trusted Score
How we test
We exhaustively try out every wearable we refresh . We expend industriousness stock testing to compare feature properly and we use it as our main gadget over the review article period of time . We ’ll always state you what we chance and we never , ever , accept money to brush up a mathematical product .
FAQs
No , there is n’t a subscription required to apply and consider all of the metrics that the Core is capable to put down .
The Core has an IPX7 waterproof rating , which mean it ’s suitable to be submerged in water up to one beat depth for 30 minutes .
