desperately looking for a HRM

trippbear

Looking for a HRM. Willing to buy it for cheaper than the brand new price. Looking to get one that counts calories and heart rate.

thanks!

Pipsg1rl

I liked my Ironman Timex with chest strap except when doing anything on my back. (+/- $70)

My current is a New Balance TRNR (or something like that). it is a wrist item only, no strap. I think it over estimates calorie burn, so I normally half it when entering into MFP. (+/- $60)

souti_in_oz

Polar blue tooth HRM connexts to your smart phone. Use an app like polar beat or run keeper to track your running, indoor use and circuit classes. All the information then is presented all pretty like online and through your app to show your progress.

The polar H6 HRM is around $60US i believe (I'm from Australia)

Hope this helps!

DeeVanderbles

The first HRM I bought with a chest strap was the Sportline 1010 Women's Duo Heart Rate Montior. I bought it from BestBuy for $70. I just went to their site looking for a link to send you and it's actually on clearance for $40 right now. I think it's a good HRM for the price. Now I have a Garmin GPS Sportwatch HRM that I'll be able to use to run outside and track miles and pace when it gets warmer. Those are expensive.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/1010-womens-duo-heart-rate-monitor/1175163.p;jsessionid=1185E4EDA7825E89B1064F99E5C698CB.bbolsp-app04-181?id=1218236685106&skuId=1175163&st=sportline&cp=1&lp=3

sugaree1202

I have a Polar F4 and absolutely love it! I paid about $60 at heartratemonitorsusa.com (they also have an eBay store). I initially started with a cheaper Mio Drive HRM ($15 at stores.ebay.com/N-Y-Bill) that worked well but did not have a chest strap and requirements constantly taking your heart rate using a sensor on the watch so my calorie burns weren't as accurate as they could be due to unrecorded heart rate fluctuations.

I did a lot of research before getting my Polar and went with that brand because they developed and use the most accurate algorithm for determining calorie burn (this only applies to steady-state cardio - while you can, and I do, track burn during HIIT and strength training, hrm's just can't account for variables within your body that have an impact on calorie burn during these exercises).

Initially I bought the much more expensive Polar FT7 training computer/hrm, $120, but it was giving me ridiculously low readings - like 95 calories for Fire 30 - and then the transmitter completely stopped working. I searched additional reviews about this specific issue with the FT7 and found the low burn amount and transmitter malfunction were committed issues with this model. I contacted HRMUSA.com and was very easily able to exchange the faulty FT7 for the more reliable, cheaper and bright pink F7.

I haven't had any issues with my F7 since getting it almost a year ago. It's user friendly, has useful info like target heart rate zone and time spent in these zones during each workout, saves 30 workout sessions (I think, maybe more) and the chest strap is barely noticeable under my sports bra. The manufacturer recommends using electrode gel to get a good signal but a little bit of water on the back of the strap works just as well and is free.

I also use a Fitbit One to track my daily activity. While a Fitbit is an activity tracker and does not measure my heart rate, it is a neat little gadget to get an overall snapshot of my daily activity level (when I enter my calorie burn from my hrm in mfp, it replaces the Fitbit data for the time period of my workout) and syncs with mfp to adjust my daily calorie goal accordingly. The combo of both devices gives me an accurate count of the calories I burn each day.

Good luck finding the right hrm!

Mewcenary

Loving my Garmin Forerunner 610. GPS, HR, great little device.

DeeVanderbles

I have a Polar F4 and absolutely love it! I paid about $60 at heartratemonitorsusa.com (they also have an eBay store). I initially started with a cheaper Mio Drive HRM ($15 at stores.ebay.com/N-Y-Bill) that worked well but did not have a chest strap and requirements constantly taking your heart rate using a sensor on the watch so my calorie burns weren't as accurate as they could be due to unrecorded heart rate fluctuations.

I did a lot of research before getting my Polar and went with that brand because they developed and use the most accurate algorithm for determining calorie burn (this only applies to steady-state cardio - while you can, and I do, track burn during HIIT and strength training, hrm's just can't account for variables within your body that have an impact on calorie burn during these exercises).

Initially I bought the much more expensive Polar FT7 training computer/hrm, $120, but it was giving me ridiculously low readings - like 95 calories for Fire 30 - and then the transmitter completely stopped working. I searched additional reviews about this specific issue with the FT7 and found the low burn amount and transmitter malfunction were committed issues with this model. I contacted HRMUSA.com and was very easily able to exchange the faulty FT7 for the more reliable, cheaper and bright pink F7.

I haven't had any issues with my F7 since getting it almost a year ago. It's user friendly, has useful info like target heart rate zone and time spent in these zones during each workout, saves 30 workout sessions (I think, maybe more) and the chest strap is barely noticeable under my sports bra. The manufacturer recommends using electrode gel to get a good signal but a little bit of water on the back of the strap works just as well and is free.

I also use a Fitbit One to track my daily activity. While a Fitbit is an activity tracker and does not measure my heart rate, it is a neat little gadget to get an overall snapshot of my daily activity level (when I enter my calorie burn from my hrm in mfp, it replaces the Fitbit data for the time period of my workout) and syncs with mfp to adjust my daily calorie goal accordingly. The combo of both devices gives me an accurate count of the calories I burn each day.

Good luck finding the right hrm!

:flowerforyou: :drinker: 100% agree.

KatC_88

Love my Polar FT4 and hubby really likes his FT7! Good luck!

sugaree1202

^^^ I've heard lots of good reviews on the men's FT7 model and it doesn't seem to have the same issues as the women's model does which why I initially went with the women's FT7. I was kind of relieved I had a reason to exchange it for an F4 without having to pay a restocking fee because I didn't need all the features it had. I didn't have the budget for the Polar Link router or a PC which it connects to in order to sync my training files with the polar website as the extended training info and stats don't sync to an app or mobile device, or didn't at the time anyway. You can sync some Polar devices by purchasing the H7 transmitter but I don't know if this eliminates the need for Polar link router. The Polar app is only available for Apple mobile devices and Samsung S4 that uses a specific operating system (and of course I have an S3 so there was no way around manually entering the lengthy training files).

If you're doing serious training and need to know more info than your heart rate, calorie burn and time spent in your target heart rate zone, the FT7 and Polar Link are worth it otherwise the F4 is more than sufficient and has no major common problems with the device or software.

After rereading my first post I saw a typo - the issues I mentioned with the FT7 are common issues, not commitment issues