Heart rate monitor that always displays heart rate

tomcornhole

So I bought a Fitbit surge because I wanted a heart rate monitor and it seemed cool. Problem is it defaults to a clock and there is no way to default it to the HR. So I got the Charge HR and it will default to the HR display but the dang thing only stays on for 5 seconds. Got irritating very fast to hit the button all the time.

So, is there a wrist band type HR monitor that always displays the HR all the time? That's all I need.

Does an Apple Watch do this? I know it does do HR but not sure how it displays it. I have one on order but it won't get here until July.

Thanks,

Tom

brianpperkins

Why?

tomcornhole

I had a heart attack and want to continuously monitor my HR while exercising.

brianpperkins

Then get a basic HRM that only displays HR. Activity trackers like Fitbits are HR devices as a secondary or tertiary feature.

If you want a single device that will show HR during exercise ... the Vivoactive has that capability .. so do most Polar devices ... I'm not sure about the Garmin FR15 ...

debubbie

I have the Polar HR7 chest strap heart rate monitor and pair it with my phone using the Polar Beat app. As long as I don't have my phone's display set to time out after a certain time period, I can view my heart rate continuously. Depending on what I am doing, I usually set my phone up on the treadmill or bike display where I can easily see it. Hope this helps.

tomcornhole

Would really like one that shows HR all the time. The Surge shows it during exercise but only if you're in an exercise mode. I would like to just have something that always shows HR. I guess I could put the Surge in an exercise mode and just use it as a HR monitor. I'll give that a try.

brianpperkins

A wrist mounted activity tracker with HR is the wrong tool for what you want. They are in accurate during exercise and not designed for use as a constant HRM.

mwyvr

Garmin, Polar, Suunto (and there are others) -- all of them make products that can do what you need, utilizing chest-strap mounted heart rate detectors. Chest mounted detectors at this point remain the most accurate with the least lag. I've only ever owned Garmin but assume that the others can be configured to display HR continuously. My Garmin device has multiple configurable screens, any one of which can be configured to show HR alone or with other metrics.

I'm curious - what would you be looking for by way of heart rate? Have you been told to limit exertion to keep HR below a certain level?

Mike

aaliceinw

The vivofit displays the heart rate continuously until you switch it to something else. It sinks with garmin HRM that I use with my forerunner 70. It tracks steps and sleep.

aaliceinw

brianpperkins wrote: »

A wrist mounted activity tracker with HR is the wrong tool for what you want. They are in accurate during exercise and not designed for use as a constant HRM.

I wear my forerunner and the vivofit when doing cardio at the gym. I found it to be more accurate because the forerunner loses connection during certain moves and tells me the HRM is out of range or it tells my heart rate is too low, then stops measuring. The vivofit never loses the connection and never stops measuring. The reason for using both is because I want to track time spent on specifically on my activities, which the forerunner does and the vivofit stays on all the time so that I don't forget to put it back on after my activities have ended.

SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage

I'm simply amused by OP'S username, nothing to contribute. Carry on.

Sued0nim

Polar ft4

Edit oh you want it 24 hours ...I think that would eat batteries

brianpperkins

aaliceinw wrote: »

brianpperkins wrote: »

A wrist mounted activity tracker with HR is the wrong tool for what you want. They are in accurate during exercise and not designed for use as a constant HRM.

I wear my forerunner and the vivofit when doing cardio at the gym. I found it to be more accurate because the forerunner loses connection during certain moves and tells me the HRM is out of range or it tells my heart rate is too low, then stops measuring. The vivofit never loses the connection and never stops measuring. The reason for using both is because I want to track time spent on specifically on my activities, which the forerunner does and the vivofit stays on all the time so that I don't forget to put it back on after my activities have ended.

Both devices you mention utilize chest strap HRMs.

tomcornhole

I ended up keeping the FitBit Surge and it has been working well. Not the most accurate for working out, so I use a pulse oximeter I had from before for that and that works well. I do have an Apple watch on order, so that might replace the Surge whenever it arrives. Thank you for all the suggestions.

Tom

scottb81

During workouts the apple watch heartrate is very accurate and will display continuously when you look at it. During the rest of the day though it only samples HR every 10 min and does not display continuously. You can however make it check your HR on demand.

tomcornhole

scottb81 wrote: »

During workouts the apple watch heartrate is very accurate and will display continuously when you look at it. During the rest of the day though it only samples HR every 10 min and does not display continuously. You can however make it check your HR on demand.

That sounds like exactly what I need, plus I get an Apple watch to play with. Apple says it won't ship until July so now I get to wait.

scottb81

Its worth the wait to have your own personal Dick Tracy watch LOL. I was lucky and got mine at noon on Apr 20th.