Difference betw. ladies' & "unisex" HRM?

LauraMax

LauraMax

Cathlete
Is there a difference in accuracy? I'm curious b/c I had a very expensive unisex Polar F12. It crapped out on me & I just got a cheaper ladies' Polar F4. The cheaper HRM is reading my cals burned much higher than the expensive one.

I'm wondering if the unisex HRM, which is really for men, is inaccurate because it's for me, or if the cheaper one doesn't read as accurately b/c the quality isn't as good, & it's giving me a false sense of security LOL.

Anyway, if anyone knows the answer I'd love to figure this out.
 
I always assumed it was just the style of the watch and had nothing to do with how the watch took measurements. But I'm just guessing.
 
It's just the style. In the settings you have to specify male or female. I have a couple of Polar HRMs myself.
 
Interesting. I googled & got pretty much the same answers. But the difference is almost 100 cals. Could it be the heat? I do seem to have to work harder when it's this hot out, but I also seem to recall a recent article in one of Cathe's newsletters that said you burned less cals in the heat?

So confused! Maybe I should just put it out of my mind. Does it really matter as long as I reach my goals? Is everyone else as OCD about this as I am? :p
 
LauraMax said:
Interesting. I googled & got pretty much the same answers. But the difference is almost 100 cals. Could it be the heat? I do seem to have to work harder when it's this hot out, but I also seem to recall a recent article in one of Cathe's newsletters that said you burned less cals in the heat?

So confused! Maybe I should just put it out of my mind. Does it really matter as long as I reach my goals? Is everyone else as OCD about this as I am? :p
Click to expand...

Yes, the goal is all that matters! I don't look at the calorie count much; I use the monitor just for my heart rate. I find that sometimes I feel like I'm working too hard, but my heart rate says otherwise, so I can push a bit more. When the weather is so hot I use it to make sure I don't push as hard as I normally would. I always end up with a migraine when I get too hot with my heart rate at the high end.
 
Just so you know, heart rate monitors are notorious for inaccurate calorie counts; heck mine told me I burned over 800 calories while sleeping 4 hours!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top