Activity Tracker?

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Hey guys, I have a question. I am looking for a heart rate monitor that I can wear on my wrist without a chest strap. It seems that there are a ton out there with different features. So far I have seen some that only show you your heart rate if you wear a chest strap or if you place your finger on a certain part of the watch. I am really just looking for something that measures heart rate, calories burned, and possibly steps taken. Preferably water resistant and not too terribly expensive. Anyone have any suggestions of one that might work? It would be great if it would link up to MFP to! I looked at the Fitbit, but it looks like that one does not do heart rate?

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  • cantfail
    cantfail Posts: 169 Member
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    Any heart rate monitor WITHOUT a chest strap is not going to be very accurate. They just don't work very well. The activity trackers like Fitbit, Jawbone One and the new IFit Active track steps taken, estimate calories used and distance travelled. None of them track heart rate.
  • Arydria
    Arydria Posts: 179 Member
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    Any heart rate monitor WITHOUT a chest strap is not going to be very accurate. They just don't work very well. The activity trackers like Fitbit, Jawbone One and the new IFit Active track steps taken, estimate calories used and distance travelled. None of them track heart rate.

    Not true. I use a Mio Alpha, and it tracks my heart rate very well. I've tested it against my Polar HRM (chest strap) and against monitors on various machines. I use the Mio in conjunction with Digifit on my phone, and I get pretty accurate results.

    The Mio is fairly expensive as HRMs go, but I love not having to use a strap.
  • jsingley899
    jsingley899 Posts: 54 Member
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    Hy Arydria, is the Mio Alpha the one that is compatible with the Iphone?
  • Arydria
    Arydria Posts: 179 Member
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    I use the Digifit app on my iPhone and it works well. It's a Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) that works with many phones.
  • jsingley899
    jsingley899 Posts: 54 Member
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    It does seem pretty nice, although I see what you mean regarding the price! I wish it was a little cheaper!
  • chell53
    chell53 Posts: 356 Member
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    I had a Fitbit one and it decided to quit on me, so in a pinch I purchased a LifeTrak C300, it calculates calories, tracks steps and does Heart Rate, I bought it at Amazon, also does running. You can look it up and see if that is something you are looking for.
  • jsingley899
    jsingley899 Posts: 54 Member
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    Thanks I will look into that one, I have not heard that one before!
  • jsingley899
    jsingley899 Posts: 54 Member
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    I'm reading up online about it and I'm a little confused about the heart rate monitor part, does it automatically read your hr or do you have to push something and it only reads it then?