Fit it or HR monitor

mom23nuts

What is best? Fit it or HR monitor. I could ask for one for my birthday or Mothers Day. In truth I have a polar HR monitor but my son is using the strap in his middle school fitness class.

Do they sell replacement straps and batteries?

sijomial

That's a bit apples or oranges!
Best for who?
Best for what?

Yes you can buy Polar chest straps separately. I keep one for use in work gym and one for use at home.

mom23nuts

I just wanted to know if a fit bit does what a HR monitor does and is accurate. Which one us more accurate and the best representation of the workout you put in

erickirb

mom23nuts wrote: »

I just wanted to know if a fit bit does what a HR monitor does and is accurate. Which one us more accurate and the best representation of the workout you put in

All cal burned devices are based on calculations embeded in them and are just estimates. Even an HRM is only a good estimator of cals burned during steady state cardio, for any other type of exercise they will not reflect what you really burned. Intervals or strength training you would be better off using other methods of estimating.

mom23nuts

So if machines aren't accurate and monitors aren't accurate....how do you come up with a number to put in to calories burned from exercise?

sijomial

mom23nuts wrote: »

So if machines aren't accurate and monitors aren't accurate....how do you come up with a number to put in to calories burned from exercise?

What exercise precisely? The answer will be different for different exercises.
Just as some machines are accurate and some are not.
Just as a HRM is suitable for some things and not others.

You also don't need to be terribly accurate (far more important to be accurate in your food logging).

Here's what I use:
Indoor cardio on rower, spinning bike or elliptical - Polar HRM.
Indoor cycle training on an expensive power meter exercise bike - I use the machine's calorie estimate which is taken from my power output.
Serious outdoor cycling - Garmin HRM and navigation unit. (Not very accurate but convenient.)
General cycling - Runkeeper phone app. (Ditto)
Walking/running - I use a simple formula to convert distance to a calorie estimate. (Better than HRMs generally.)
Strength training - MFP's database estimate which is based on METS. (Impossible to be accurate anyway.)

mom23nuts

Ugh.....this seems too complex for a simple question of what device does what and which one seems to be most accurate. I am not trying to be a guru on this crap...I just need to invest in something decent that seems legit

saf4ron

I have a fitbit HR and I find it does a pretty good job. I don't think any over the counter monitors are 100% accurate but they all seem pretty good for what most people need.

katharmonic

saf4ron wrote: »

I have a fitbit HR and I find it does a pretty good job. I don't think any over the counter monitors are 100% accurate but they all seem pretty good for what most people need.

Agreed. My Fitbit HR does a really good job for me. It's accurate enough for my running and walking and I've lost 40 lbs using it and tracking my food on MFP so I think the burn estimate is well within the range of accurate enough for my purposes (I almost always eat back most of my exercise calories).

MamaFunky

I love my HRM. I have a polar FT4. While it may not be 100% accurate, it at least gives me an idea of my calorie burn. I have been using it for over 2 years now and love it. I have thought about a fitbit before, but I am more interested in what I burn when I am exercising, not a daily estimate.

AigreDoux

I have Fitbit HR too. I like Fitbits cause they give me an incentive to increase my non-exercise calories (parking far away at the grocery store, etc.). I really like the sleep tracking function too.

I don't know how accurate the HR function is. I've tried to use it while running on the treadmill, and it often loses signal. May be just me though. If I were to do it over I may have gotten a regular Fitbit and used an HR monitor for running.

sijomial

mom23nuts wrote: »

Ugh.....this seems too complex for a simple question of what device does what and which one seems to be most accurate. I am not trying to be a guru on this crap...I just need to invest in something decent that seems legit

And you still haven't said what exercise!
You don't need to be a guru to answer the simple question of what you want to use it for.

mom23nuts

Well I spin and I jog mostly...bike today said 646 calories...and no that my HR replacement strap arrived I used that in conjunction and it said I burned 465 calories....pretty big discrepancy.

hko718

HR7 ezpz

mom23nuts

hko718 wrote: »

HR7 ezpz

Yeah, I have the ft7 needed a replacement strap and now I hopefully record more accurately.

NorthCascades

mom23nuts wrote: »

What is best? Fit it or HR monitor. I could ask for one for my birthday or Mothers Day. In truth I have a polar HR monitor but my son is using the strap in his middle school fitness class.

Do they sell replacement straps and batteries?

I got a Polar H7 strap for my girlfriend recently. The strap and transmitter was about $80. And yes, you can buy just the battery, or just the strap, if you need to.

That's in the same ballpark as a Fitbit. But it's a lot more accurate. She had a Fitbit HR, and returned it. Compared to a chest strap, the Fitbit is slow and not very accurate (I'm talking about measuring heart rate). The Fitbit over-estimated calories, if you ate as many calories as it said you burned, you'd gain a lot of weight.

mom23nuts

NorthCascades wrote: »

mom23nuts wrote: »

What is best? Fit it or HR monitor. I could ask for one for my birthday or Mothers Day. In truth I have a polar HR monitor but my son is using the strap in his middle school fitness class.

Do they sell replacement straps and batteries?

I got a Polar H7 strap for my girlfriend recently. The strap and transmitter was about $80. And yes, you can buy just the battery, or just the strap, if you need to.

That's in the same ballpark as a Fitbit. But it's a lot more accurate. She had a Fitbit HR, and returned it. Compared to a chest strap, the Fitbit is slow and not very accurate (I'm talking about measuring heart rate). The Fitbit over-estimated calories, if you ate as many calories as it said you burned, you'd gain a lot of weight.

See...now that's the sort or information I was hoping for with my initial question!! Thank you!

I did find a replacement strap and in doing some comparison shopping I luckily got it fir $46.95 free shipping from Heart Rate Monitors USA. DICKS SPORTING GOODS wanted $75.

Now it seems things are more accurate in charting exercise calorie burn.