Heart Rate Monitors

Nutrition1st

I'm a fitness professional, but I've never been in to gadgets. I'm thinking about purchasing a heart rate monitor. fitbit charge hr is what I have been looking at, but I want to find out what other people use and why.

sijomial

Polar FT60 (calibrated with my own tested VO2 max and max HR settings) for general cardio.
Why? Because my more basic FT7 broke and FT60 seemed to be a good price for the features I like.

Garmin Edge for cycling.
Why? Navigation, tracking as well as HR.

ScubaSteve1962

Polar V800 with H7 chest strap. I've never used an arm base HRM but from some of the post here, if you're exercising chest strap are supposed to be the better choice. you only wear it during that time. you can get a better price on Amazon

http://www.polar.com/us-en/products/maximize_performance/running_multisport/V800

chrisarmitage1980

ScubaSteve1962 wrote: »

Polar V800 with H7 chest strap. I've never used an arm base HRM but from some of the post here, if you're exercising chest strap are supposed to be the better choice. you only wear it during that time. you can get a better price on Amazon

http://www.polar.com/us-en/products/maximize_performance/running_multisport/V800

Have to agree I've got the polar H7 chest strap using with iPhone for simplicity. Use it all the time what ever the workout including when I run the Brighton marathon and when I teach INSANITY Live. Only heart rate monitor I recommend.
Chest straps do tend to be more accurate than watches etc. I brought mine from Newitts.com but shop around

kcdinga

I recently looked at the Fitbit Charge but after reading reviews, I went with the Garmin VivoActive. I bought it with the Garmin ANT heart rate monitor. It is just enough watch for the type of activity I do (though I read awesome stuff about the Polar and some of the other Garmin Watches are really great...especially some of the Cycling gear). I like the Garmin VivoActive for the GPS (very accurate).

Another band to watch for is the new Microsoft Band 2...lots of sensors (including heart) and GPS. Everything I have read (and I am sure the guys on these forums can tell you) is having a heart rate band is much more accurate than having just the sensor on your wrist.

Hope this helps.

RoxieDawn

I hate to rain on the Fitbit Charge (I had one for 9 months) and the hardware does not hold up. I went through three. Two of them the display buttons fell off and the third one the display button fell off and the the actual "brains" seated in the band comes out, this band simply breaks... I never wore mine washing dishes, swimming or showering.. It is a piece of junk...

Editied to say, Fitbit's app and website and their support department are top notch...

I now have the vivosmart and their Premium softstrap. I love my new garmin (there are no buttons to fall off and the digital display allows you to see so many things about your activities, calories, steps, goals and is bluetooth.

If I could have the garmin hardware with fitbit software, I would have the perfect tracker.

TryThisAgain22

http://www.cnet.com/videos/are-heart-rate-monitors-on-fitness-trackers-accurate/

This is an older video. But, I don't think the technology has been updated enough to make wrist worn HR monitors that accurate.

kcdinga

gia07 wrote: »

I hate to rain on the Fitbit Charge (I had one for 9 months) and the hardware does not hold up. I went through three. Two of them the display buttons fell off and the third one the display button fell off and the the actual "brains" seated in the band comes out, this band simply breaks... I never wore mine washing dishes, swimming or showering.. It is a piece of junk...

Editied to say, Fitbit's app and website and their support department are top notch...

I now have the vivosmart and their Premium softstrap. I love my new garmin (there are no buttons to fall off and the digital display allows you to see so many things about your activities, calories, steps, goals and is bluetooth.

If I could have the garmin hardware with fitbit software, I would have the perfect tracker.

That is exactly what I had heard about the And I agree...while I do like Garmin Connect, the Fitbit software is very cool (my father and sister use fitbit). I love the Garmin hardware!