Heart Rate Monitors

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norg
norg Posts: 13 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Looking for some help to find a watch that has a heart rate monitor built in to it and it has to be strapless so no chest strap. Decently priced, any suggestions?

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  • jeffpettis
    jeffpettis Posts: 865 Member
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    The only problem with the wrist based monitors are they are highly inaccurate once your heart rate raises during exercise. They are fine for normal daily activity tracking but once you start to exercise you will find most of them can't even read an elevated heart rate. I know you said no chest strap but for accuracy they are the best there is.

    Just something to consider.
  • norg
    norg Posts: 13 Member
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    jeffpettis wrote: »
    The only problem with the wrist based monitors are they are highly inaccurate once your heart rate raises during exercise. They are fine for normal daily activity tracking but once you start to exercise you will find most of them can't even read an elevated heart rate. I know you said no chest strap but for accuracy they are the best there is.

    Just something to consider.

    Yeah I understand. I find that chest straps are just so uncomfortable and I spend so much of my time concentrating on adjusting them rather than focusing on the exercise. Which heart rate monitor do you recommend purely just for exercising then rather than throughout the day?
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    norg wrote: »
    Looking for some help to find a watch that has a heart rate monitor built in to it and it has to be strapless so no chest strap. Decently priced, any suggestions?

    What are you hoping to gain from it, and what type of training do you do?
  • norg
    norg Posts: 13 Member
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    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    norg wrote: »
    Looking for some help to find a watch that has a heart rate monitor built in to it and it has to be strapless so no chest strap. Decently priced, any suggestions?

    What are you hoping to gain from it, and what type of training do you do?

    I want to be able to maintain exercise in my fat burning zone and to concentrate on improving my fitness by timing the duration from intense exercise heart rate back down to resting heart rate, but want a method more reliable then checking my pulse
  • jeffpettis
    jeffpettis Posts: 865 Member
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    I have a Garmin Vivosmart and love it. I pair it with the heart rate strap during exercise and have never had a problem with it, I don't even know it's there most of the time. Any of the straps by Garmin or Polar etc. are very accurate. I've had a few wrist monitors and was very unhappy with all of them. They have gotten better over the years but they are still nowhere near as accurate as a chest strap.
  • norg
    norg Posts: 13 Member
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    jeffpettis wrote: »
    I have a Garmin Vivosmart and love it. I pair it with the heart rate strap during exercise and have never had a problem with it, I don't even know it's there most of the time. Any of the straps by Garmin or Polar etc. are very accurate. I've had a few wrist monitors and was very unhappy with all of them. They have gotten better over the years but they are still nowhere near as accurate as a chest strap.

    Yeah I was reading about the vivosmart and the reviews are very good. How reliable do you feel it is at converting your exercise to calories? Does it do sleep?
  • jeffpettis
    jeffpettis Posts: 865 Member
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    I think it's pretty accurate at calorie counts. Of course nothing is going to be 100% so I never eat back all of my exercise calories. The Garmin Connect app syncs automatically with MFP as well so I don't have to do anything extra to get exercise calories added here. And yes it does have a sleep tracker.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    norg wrote: »
    I want to be able to maintain exercise in my fat burning zone and to concentrate on improving my fitness by timing the duration from intense exercise heart rate back down to resting heart rate

    OK, notwithstanding that HR zone training, at least as far as fat burning zone is concerned, is pretty old hat and discredited, there is some value in understanding recovery time and resting heart rate. I'll ask again, what type of training do you do? That has a material effect on the usefulness of the device and whether an optical device will help.

    By limiting yourself to optical measurement you're into either the Tom-Tom range, or the new Garmin 225. Fitbit devices aren't good for proper training. You could also look at the Schoche Rhythm, but that's quite pricey and still neads a head-end device as well.

    What's the constraint as far as the HR strap is concerned?



  • norg
    norg Posts: 13 Member
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    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    norg wrote: »
    I want to be able to maintain exercise in my fat burning zone and to concentrate on improving my fitness by timing the duration from intense exercise heart rate back down to resting heart rate

    OK, notwithstanding that HR zone training, at least as far as fat burning zone is concerned, is pretty old hat and discredited, there is some value in understanding recovery time and resting heart rate. I'll ask again, what type of training do you do? That has a material effect on the usefulness of the device and whether an optical device will help.

    By limiting yourself to optical measurement you're into either the Tom-Tom range, or the new Garmin 225. Fitbit devices aren't good for proper training. You could also look at the Schoche Rhythm, but that's quite pricey and still neads a head-end device as well.

    What's the constraint as far as the HR strap is concerned?



    I'm a sports student so I know the basics with regards to zones etc. I do lots of different training both strength and aerobic and lots of varieties of the two. So I guess I am looking for something to cover most bases. The constraint is that I find them incredibly uncomfortable and most ones that I have used in labs are very temperamental even good brands such as polar
  • TnTWalter
    TnTWalter Posts: 345 Member
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    I am a fan of the Polar brand. They are great.
  • norg
    norg Posts: 13 Member
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    TnTWalter wrote: »
    I am a fan of the Polar brand. They are great.

    Any ideas if the polar a300 is any good?
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    norg wrote: »
    I'm a sports student so I know the basics with regards to zones etc.

    OK, so in that case you'll appreciate that HR isn't a particularly useful indicator of of where to target your training, and calorie expenditure. I note your question about calories above.
    I do lots of different training both strength and aerobic and lots of varieties of the two. So I guess I am looking for something to cover most bases. The constraint is that I find them incredibly uncomfortable and most ones that I have used in labs are very temperamental even good brands such as polar

    Personally I generally don't find the straps a problem, unless I'm running more than about 10 miles, when I'll use some vaseline to help alleviate the discomfort.

    Noting the recommendation above for the VivoActive, you can use the Schoche Rhythm armband with most head ends, including the VivoActive. It sounds like that would be your best bet. Like I say, it's an expensive choice. I'd take a different view on the optical devices from the one upthread, most reports have them as pretty accurate, albeit lacking flexibility in terms of wearing them. That said, most of the processing is in the head end, rather than the sensor.

    I use a Garmin Forerunner 310XT to track running and cycling, and a VivoSmart to monitor daily steps and sleep. I use a chest strap though, but the Schoche will work with the 310XT.
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 609 Member
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    I use a Polar V800 with H7 sensor, do intense cardio for an hour, I sweat alot, but don't have a problem with the strap, I wet it and put some electro-gel on it. The A300 should give you what you want, I don't think it has the sports profiles like the M400 and V800
  • jeffpettis
    jeffpettis Posts: 865 Member
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    When you say they are "temperamental" what do you mean? I've never had a problem with any Garmin or Polar chest strap I've used. As far as comfort goes I think that is going to be more a personal thing from user to user. Personally I don't even know I'm wearing it but someone else might.

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