Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor + Watch

glbrocks

I just purchased a Polar FT4 today as part of my exercise and workouts. I tested it out today by doing some interval running around my neighborhood for 15 minutes. It claims that I burned 170 calories (not sure how accurate that is). Does anyone on here have this device and use it all the time?

heybales

Tons of people do.

Since the cheaper Polar's are missing a key stat (VO2max) to allow decent calorie estimates (not measured, calculated), here is a test you can do if you have a treadmill, or known distance.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/774337-how-to-test-hrm-for-how-accurate-calorie-burn-is

And so you know, the formula that tie HR to a calorie burn is only valid for steady-state aerobic cardio, so same HR for 2-4 min. (that's how long it can take for HR to lower to truly match the effort you are doing, higher just prior to that was overkill inflated)

Intervals is nothing but steady-state.
And weight lifting is anaerobic if done right, and non-steady-state too.

So you will get inflated calorie burns from both of those activities.