heart rate monitors
- Thread starter klirosi
- Start date
I know some people on this forum don't believe in them, however, I love mine. I have a Mio Sport. You don't have to wear a chest strap with it. You simply place two fingers on these pads on the watch to get your pulse reading. You can set it at the beginning of your workout so you can see how many calories you burn during a workout. Also, unlike the Polar monitors, it accurately counts calories burned while you're warming up and cooling down. You don't have to be in your target heart rate for it to start calculating. It is also pretty accurate, as you set your weight, gender, resting heart rate and age in it as a baseline. I simply cannot be without mine and highly recommend it. I got it on line. Also, it has a feature that you can enter the total calories you consume in a day, but I don't use that feature. It also shows what percentage you're in while your working out.
momto2bratz
Cathlete
Hi Kerrie,
I just recently purchased a Polar M32 and LOVE it! You can go right to their website to find out information about the different models they have. Here's the link:
www.polarusa.com
HTH
Aila
I just recently purchased a Polar M32 and LOVE it! You can go right to their website to find out information about the different models they have. Here's the link:
www.polarusa.com
HTH
Aila
banslug
Cathlete
I love mine. I bought a Polar A5 about 3 weeks ago and it has changed the way I look at my workouts now. I don't rely 100% on it, but it really has changed my outlook. for instance, I wore it swimming the other day and was really surprised how my heart rate got up there just by using a kickboard.
Mine has a chest strap and a watch (all wireless). It counts calories burned, exercise time, time in heart rate 'zone', average heart rate. It also has a fitness test. You enter your height, weight and age and it calculates your heart rate zone and your BMI for you. I have altered my zone to match the Karvonen (sp?) formula, but that's just an option.
I really like mine.
Gayle
Mine has a chest strap and a watch (all wireless). It counts calories burned, exercise time, time in heart rate 'zone', average heart rate. It also has a fitness test. You enter your height, weight and age and it calculates your heart rate zone and your BMI for you. I have altered my zone to match the Karvonen (sp?) formula, but that's just an option.
I really like mine.
Gayle
materialsgirl
Cathlete
I just purchased the new Polar F11. Someone said that Polar HRMs don't start counting calories until you're in your target zone, but this isn't true with the F11 (although this is true with other Polar models). It starts counting as soon as you start exercising and the calculation is based on your age, weight, sex, VO2(max), and probably some other things I'm forgetting. So it's very accurate. And, since it's monitoring your heart rate constantly, you get a nice readout at the end of your workout that shows how long you were in each zone, as well as your average and max heart rates, calories burned and % fat. You can also upload data to your PC which is kind of handy if you want to see charts and graphs and spreadsheets of your progress. I was almost going to get the Polar M61. Very close indeed. But then I went back on the Polar website to do one last comparison of their different models, and saw this new F11 and knew it was the one for me. It's a lot "cuter" than the M61, so I can actually wear it as a watch when I'm not working out.
I had also considered the Mio Shape Select, because of the fact that you don't have to wear a chest strap. But I really wanted to have continuous monitoring, even at the expense of a little discomfort, so I went with a Polar. BUT - let me tell you, the chest strap on Polar HRM's is extremely comfortable. After you put it on and start working out, you don't even notice it's there. (It's a bit "awakening" at first because you have to get it wet before you put it on, and it can feel cold at first - but it warms up quickly).
Okay, so that was a really long dissertation that probably didn't help you at all. What to look for in a HRM was your main question. Basically, at the most basic level, you want something that is ECG accurate. Consumer Reports tested several HRMs (although many of them have been discontinued since that article was published) and their top performers were Accumen, and Polar - in terms of accuracy. Bottom performers were Mio and Reebok (or was it Nike? Shoot, now I don't remember). Beyond the ability to accurately measure your heart rate, everything else is bells and whistles. What features do YOU want? Calories burned? Ability to store exercise sessions? A fitness test to monitor your progress? Stopwatch capability? Coded chest strap? Altimeter? The list of possible features goes on and on. Decide what features you NEED in order to meet your fitness goals, and how much you're willing to spend, and go from there.
Good luck, and have fun!
I had also considered the Mio Shape Select, because of the fact that you don't have to wear a chest strap. But I really wanted to have continuous monitoring, even at the expense of a little discomfort, so I went with a Polar. BUT - let me tell you, the chest strap on Polar HRM's is extremely comfortable. After you put it on and start working out, you don't even notice it's there. (It's a bit "awakening" at first because you have to get it wet before you put it on, and it can feel cold at first - but it warms up quickly).
Okay, so that was a really long dissertation that probably didn't help you at all. What to look for in a HRM was your main question. Basically, at the most basic level, you want something that is ECG accurate. Consumer Reports tested several HRMs (although many of them have been discontinued since that article was published) and their top performers were Accumen, and Polar - in terms of accuracy. Bottom performers were Mio and Reebok (or was it Nike? Shoot, now I don't remember). Beyond the ability to accurately measure your heart rate, everything else is bells and whistles. What features do YOU want? Calories burned? Ability to store exercise sessions? A fitness test to monitor your progress? Stopwatch capability? Coded chest strap? Altimeter? The list of possible features goes on and on. Decide what features you NEED in order to meet your fitness goals, and how much you're willing to spend, and go from there.
Good luck, and have fun!
Hi Kerrie,
As for a heart rate monior, it depends on all what you want to do with it. As to what one you want to get. If you go to the gym and workout on machines, there are some machines that will respond to the Polar heart moitors and it will display your heart rate on screen and then adjust your workout to your heart rate, so you just have keep doing what your doing, and not even have to push a button in the middle of your workout as it's being done for you.
But for home use, and you don't have those machines, you may not want everything a Polar can do, as they do a lot. Or you might, as some show how many calories you burn, and what percent of those calories were fat. And some will even do a heart rate test on you, and you get to walk,jog and run for about 5 minutes, and it will then set itself to your heart rate. This part I've found to be pretty accurate as they are usually only a couple digits off, from the machines we use to test at the gym, and the people who have had a heart stress test, the Polar monitors gets pretty close to those numbers as well. They aren't excat but I haven't seen a watch be higher then what was shown on the stress test which is good.
Personally before I buy anything I go and research it, and read comsumer reviews, I usually try to find them off any site that is related to the product in question, so I get the bad with the good, and then decide.
Also Timex has a heart rate monitors, though I'm not too impressed with them. But they are a lot smaller then the Polar, the mid-size actually didn't look like I was wearing a cartoon or clown watch. But they pick up other equipment's signal some times and once in a while the watch loses the signal from the chest band, or gives a wacky reading, like 5 minutes ago I my heart rate was 150 and then I'll look down at it again as I'm still working out, and it will tell my my heart rate is 60. But then I just have to pull the chest strap away for 3 seconds and then it will reset. Needless to say, I persoanlly didn't like doing that, especally since the edge of the band is under my bra, and having your bra pulled 1/2 inch away while your moving, doesn't always keep things in the right place. So I sent my Timex back and and ended up getting a Polar. I can say Timex did have a better chest strap then the Polar, a bit wider, and it was all cloth instead of hard plastic and elelastic. But the nice thing about Polar is you can take the elelastic part off and just slip the chest piece under the bottom strap of your sports bra, and it stays in place and it's out of the way, so when you bending over etc, it doesn't feel like you got some belt around your chest. And it doesn't dig in, if you really curl your upper body, doing abs or whatever you happen to be doing.
But check out the different ones Polar I think has about 20 different heart rate monitors, there are other brands that a good as well, but sometimes they are only a west coast or east coast thing and it's hard to get them of you live on the other side of the US. And they get pricer the more you get on them, so take a look and see what they come with, what you'd really use, and then shop around and read comsumer reports, so you get the best one for the best price and does what you want. As there are a ton of gadgets that come with them anymore, I remember when they first came out, if you got one that told you the time as well as your heart rate, that was the top model, and it costed you an arm and a leg. Now they have come down, but then went back up because of the add ons.
One of the best sites I found is www.heartratemonitorsusa.com they will beat anyone's price and the price that you see when you look at the heart rate monitor is the price with shipping include. Well second day shipping I believe it is. If you want faster then you have to pay for it. Their customer service is really friendly and helpful and they know quite a bit about each watch, so if you have a question, they are pretty knowledgble.
Hope that helps.
Kit
As for a heart rate monior, it depends on all what you want to do with it. As to what one you want to get. If you go to the gym and workout on machines, there are some machines that will respond to the Polar heart moitors and it will display your heart rate on screen and then adjust your workout to your heart rate, so you just have keep doing what your doing, and not even have to push a button in the middle of your workout as it's being done for you.
But for home use, and you don't have those machines, you may not want everything a Polar can do, as they do a lot. Or you might, as some show how many calories you burn, and what percent of those calories were fat. And some will even do a heart rate test on you, and you get to walk,jog and run for about 5 minutes, and it will then set itself to your heart rate. This part I've found to be pretty accurate as they are usually only a couple digits off, from the machines we use to test at the gym, and the people who have had a heart stress test, the Polar monitors gets pretty close to those numbers as well. They aren't excat but I haven't seen a watch be higher then what was shown on the stress test which is good.
Personally before I buy anything I go and research it, and read comsumer reviews, I usually try to find them off any site that is related to the product in question, so I get the bad with the good, and then decide.
Also Timex has a heart rate monitors, though I'm not too impressed with them. But they are a lot smaller then the Polar, the mid-size actually didn't look like I was wearing a cartoon or clown watch. But they pick up other equipment's signal some times and once in a while the watch loses the signal from the chest band, or gives a wacky reading, like 5 minutes ago I my heart rate was 150 and then I'll look down at it again as I'm still working out, and it will tell my my heart rate is 60. But then I just have to pull the chest strap away for 3 seconds and then it will reset. Needless to say, I persoanlly didn't like doing that, especally since the edge of the band is under my bra, and having your bra pulled 1/2 inch away while your moving, doesn't always keep things in the right place. So I sent my Timex back and and ended up getting a Polar. I can say Timex did have a better chest strap then the Polar, a bit wider, and it was all cloth instead of hard plastic and elelastic. But the nice thing about Polar is you can take the elelastic part off and just slip the chest piece under the bottom strap of your sports bra, and it stays in place and it's out of the way, so when you bending over etc, it doesn't feel like you got some belt around your chest. And it doesn't dig in, if you really curl your upper body, doing abs or whatever you happen to be doing.
But check out the different ones Polar I think has about 20 different heart rate monitors, there are other brands that a good as well, but sometimes they are only a west coast or east coast thing and it's hard to get them of you live on the other side of the US. And they get pricer the more you get on them, so take a look and see what they come with, what you'd really use, and then shop around and read comsumer reports, so you get the best one for the best price and does what you want. As there are a ton of gadgets that come with them anymore, I remember when they first came out, if you got one that told you the time as well as your heart rate, that was the top model, and it costed you an arm and a leg. Now they have come down, but then went back up because of the add ons.
One of the best sites I found is www.heartratemonitorsusa.com they will beat anyone's price and the price that you see when you look at the heart rate monitor is the price with shipping include. Well second day shipping I believe it is. If you want faster then you have to pay for it. Their customer service is really friendly and helpful and they know quite a bit about each watch, so if you have a question, they are pretty knowledgble.
Hope that helps.
Kit