I always question the accuracy of my heart rate as translated by my watch. I often feel it is wrong based on how I’m feeling while excersising and what it is showing. I will be pushing myself and my chest is pounding but when I look at my watch it’s showing 98 on the other side I was riding my bike trainer at a consistent 15 mph when my heart rate spiked from 125 to over 200 and stayed between 165 and 200 the rest of my ride. My max is usually 160.
That sounds like about my exercise heartrate. The reason I wanted a smartwatch for that was because the cross trainer at the fitness centre decided 160 was too high. I have to specify my age on it, so I figured I was prolly in bad shape. I actually thought you can calculate ur max heart rate by subtracting ur age from 220, but that would mean 170 is my max, so I dont understand the machine
I have heard that watch heart rate monitors are inaccurate for many activities including cycling and weight lifting because the tension/flexion in the wrists can interfere with the sensor contacting the skin. Though for us unicyclists I suppose that depends on whether you use handlebars or not!
I used to use Strava on my phone to log all my rides but a couple of months ago I got my first smart watch and now I just use it and sync it to Strava when I get home. I tend to just title all my rides as Unicycle and I add the wheel and tyre size and crank length for each ride in the notes.
That makes sense my unicycling stats usually shows a higher avg and max heart rate compared to bicycling.
Do you use Strava for free?
I use the free version of Strava and have my different cycles set up in the gear area. I prefer Garmin Connect over Strava for looking at data, so I’ve never payed for premium. I also have up using my phone to record rides a long time ago. I like to tuck my phone away and pretend I don’t have it with me.
Tension in the wrist affecting watch accuracy makes sense. My watch arm is also my handle arm so it’s rarely fully relaxed, especially on muni rides.
220-age is a good estimate for max heart rate but everyone’s different. If you have access to a stationary trainer you could do a ramp test or TT effort followed by a sprint. That will surely have you feeling like you’re going to explode.
Do you ever wonder why these smart watches do not have categories for manual labor? After just finishing shoveling snow for the past 2.5 hrs I can assure you I worked my body and my heart at a very high level. Tomorrow I will have sore mussels I didn’t even know I had.
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“Mixed Cardio” on Apple Watch, that’s what I use for stuff like that…. 
Interesting. Well, my watch heart rate monitor at times was inaccurate while not even moving. The results seemed reasonable most of the time - but were far off sometime. I quite using it. There’s no point in using the device, if I can’t trust it, don’t know when measurements are accurate or just wrong. 
Less convenient, but more reliable options:
chest strap heart rate monitor- put a finger on your carotid artery and count beats, e.g. using https://www.beatsperminuteonline.com
I use a cycling computer for quick stats while riding. Phones are handy for maps, but battery life and visibility can be an issue.
I reckon it depends on how long you tend to ride. I generally ride just one hour. That leaves plenty of juice in my phone. It still records the distance I ride while in sleep mode, so to speak. Beside logging where I ride, I don’t use it during the ride. How is visibility an issue? Coz you need to take it out of your pocket and glance at it while focusing on keeping balance?