Mio started its activity in 1999 with the release of a specialized heart rate monitor for runners. Having finalized her idea later, she began to release Mio Alpha. Now it’s the turn of the device for cyclists.

Who needs it?

Mio Velo able to become the center of your cycling ecosystem. Interfacing with bike sensors, GPS watches, and bike computers is where it’s strong besides heart rate measurement. For regular heart rate monitoring, there are more suitable gadgets in the Mio range. However, if you track your speed or cadence during your workout, the Mio Velo can definitely come in handy.

It so happened that the cycling theme is close to me. A few years ago I was given a bicycle in the hope that I would pick up a new hobby and improve my fitness. At least half of it worked. At first I rode not far from home, occasionally stopping by the nearby forest park. Over time, distances grew, trips began to arouse interest and bring pleasure. Thanks to the bike, I learned that Moscow is not as big as I thought, and the city center is even small. Now in winter I am waiting for the start of the cycling season, and in autumn I refuse to put the bike on the balcony until the last.

When it fell into my hands Mio VeloI was quite intrigued by what he would offer me as a cyclist.

The heart rate monitor already on the box says that it is not some ordinary heart monitor, but designed specifically for cyclists.

The Velo bracelet is made of silicone and weighs 35 grams together with the sensor. Light weight combined with the elasticity of the strap ensures comfortable wearing of the device. After a while, you just forget that you have a heart rate monitor on your arm.

The battery should provide up to 10 hours of continuous operation of the device. When checking the advertised operating time, the monitor gave a low residual charge signal after 9.5 hours of use in continuous heart rate measurement mode. Therefore, even with a fairly active training regimen, one charge should be enough for a week.

Mio Velo as a whole repeats the design of the younger Mio Link heart rate monitor in the line. The differences are only in color design. The appearance of both devices is not flashy and elegant. In my opinion, this is how sports gadgets should be — their goal is to work, and not attract prying eyes.

The Velo is designed to draw as little attention as possible while in use. It has only a multi-color status LED and one button responsible for turning the device on and off.

Once turned on, the heart rate monitor enters pairing mode and starts measuring your heart rate. The LED color and different blinking modes provide information about the current heart rate zone, smartphone connection status, or problems with heart rate measurement.

However, minimalist design alone is not enough to position the device as designed specifically for cyclists. The main feature of the device lies in the support of the ANT + protocol.

On the one hand, ANT+ support provides heart rate data to a wide range of cycling computers and GPS watches. On the other hand, Mio Velo itself can act as a bridge between bike sensors and your smartphone. This eliminates the need to use separate bike computers during workouts. The smartphone will cope with this task.

You can connect sensors that measure speed and cadence to a heart rate monitor in the proprietary Mio Go app [Скачать в App Store]. Moreover, it allows you to set up pairing for up to four different bikes.

The heart rate monitor left only positive emotions from use. However, it is worth focusing on one of its features.

The Mio Velo bracelet is somewhat softer than the Mio Alpha. Theoretically, the cyclist spends more time in the process of training than the average runner — the loads are still somewhat different. Therefore, the manufacturer could take such a step to increase the comfort of wearing the heart rate monitor during prolonged exercise.

However, the padded strap does not adhere well to the skin during aggressive riding. Jumping off curbs or riding on uneven ground causes the heart rate monitor to vibrate and lose contact with the skin. For a while, the sensor may lose your pulse.

Most likely, the problem will not manifest itself in owners of a wide wrist. The rest will have to spend some time finding the perfect place to mount the heart rate monitor.

In general, Mio Velo turned out to be an interesting device. However, before purchasing a gadget, please note that it is a rather narrowly focused device. It makes sense to buy it only for seriously enthusiastic cyclists.

For example, Mio Link can take the pulse just as well, and functionally differs only in the absence of a bridge mode for bicycle sensors. If you have a need to take into account other activity parameters, then I advise you to take a closer look at Mio Fuse.

The promo code is valid from 03 June to 03 July 2015.