HRM effecting someone else's machine?

_whatsherface

I have a Polar Ft4. A little bit ago I was at the gym working out on one of their cross fit cardio machines. A lady got on the machine next to me and quickly within 5 minutes made a comment about how the machine was reading her heart rate really high and how out of shape she must be. I didn't think much of it and continued to work out. Well every 5 minutes of so she would make another comment because the HR would just sky rocket on her machine. I glanced over at her numbers and it read 164. I looked at my machine and my HRM watch and they both read 164. I quickly sort of realized what was going on. She is an older lady, thin, good shape. I am younger, bigger, mobidly obese. I made a comment that I think my HRM was affecting her machine. I had her slow down while I sped up and sure enough her machines HR jumped up as high as mine. I was just about done with my work out so I got off the machine and headed home to finish watching the World Series (Go Giants!!) I asked the PT on the way out if he's ever heard of that happening and he said, "No." oh and that, "You should get a T shirt that says Caution, My HRM will mess with your machine. Stay clear." LOL. Has this happened to anyone else?

brianpperkins

It is possible for a HRM set to communicate with a machine to affect the one next to you. It's a short range radio transmitter. Depending on the model you can disable the machine link while retaining the display on the watch.