The best heart-rate monitor?

cldmolly

Hi!

I have a Garmin 405CX but I don't think it can do what I want it to do. (Please correct me if I'm wrong!)

I want a heart-rate monitor that I can wear for 24 hours so I can see what my calorie expenditure is at rest, during the work day, during activity and exercise. I'm not running anymore (I've done a couple of halfs) and instead do bootcamps, light jogs in the neighbourhood, hiking, other fitness classes. I know chest straps are most accurate but I feel lost in the sea of too many products on the market.

I appreciate your guidance.

_Zardoz_

Hi!

I have a Garmin 405CX but I don't think it can do what I want it to do. (Please correct me if I'm wrong!)

I want a heart-rate monitor that I can wear for 24 hours so I can see what my calorie expenditure is at rest, during the work day, during activity and exercise. I'm not running anymore (I've done a couple of halfs) and instead do bootcamps, light jogs in the neighbourhood, hiking, other fitness classes. I know chest straps are most accurate but I feel lost in the sea of too many products on the market.

I appreciate your guidance.

No HRM will do that as they are all designed for steady state cardio anything else and they are very inaacurate. You need to look into fitness trackers such as Fitbit or Bodymedia

Kalikel

I use my fingers and a watch. It's less expensive than the others, but it's more accurate.

mticktin

The Basis band (http://www.mybasis.com/) is designed for what you've mentioned. It is essentially a fitness tracker similar to a Fitbit Flex or Jawbone UP, and as such is meant to be worn 24 hours a day and provide metrics such as steps and calories as well as sleep analysis; however, this device includes a built-in HRM sensor. I have not used this device, but my understanding is that it may provide better estimates of daily calorie expenditure for simple day to day tasks and be less accurate for more vigorous "exercise" periods. I've seen some people suggest using this as a more accurate fitness tracking alternative and supplementing with a more traditional exercise HRM (e.g. Polar or Garmin) for a complete solution.

roanokejoe49

I use my fingers and a watch. It's less expensive than the others, but it's more accurate.

Yeah, cause you keep your finger on your pulse and watch your clock 24 hours a day. Did you even read her post?

bigobelly

I use a Sportline with chest strap when i workout. It tracks total calories burned and also fat grams burned. I wear the watch all day and it has a touch function that lets you see your heart rate at any time. I dont see why it wouldnt track your calories at rest or 24hrs day. Im very happy with it.

Kalikel

I use my fingers and a watch. It's less expensive than the others, but it's more accurate.

Yeah, cause you keep your finger on your pulse and watch your clock 24 hours a day. Did you even read her post?

Yes, I read the post. She wants to know her heart rate during three different times of day. For that, I'd use my fingers and a watch.

The stuff you buy is expensive and cool, but fingers are more accurate.

cldmolly

oh dear me. My apologies for not expressing all the other things I do within a TWENTY-FOUR HOUR period. I also cook, clean, change diapers, chase kids, dance with the kids, do bath and bedtime routine, put the garbage out, clean the dishes/kitchen, a multitude of other chores and activities.

Now will you provide me some HELPFUL advice?

Booda101

You may want to consider either the Garmin Vivofit or Polar Loop. These two devices combine an activity tracker (like Fitbit, Nike Fuelband, Jawbone UP, etc) with the ability of an HRM. However as a previous poster indicated, HRMs are designed for steady state cardio such as running, biking, aerobics.



http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

Kalikel

oh dear me. My apologies for not expressing all the other things I do within a TWENTY-FOUR HOUR period. I also cook, clean, change diapers, chase kids, dance with the kids, do bath and bedtime routine, put the garbage out, clean the dishes/kitchen, a multitude of other chores and activities.

Now will you provide me some HELPFUL advice?

I was attempting helpful advice. If you want accurate readings, you need to use your fingers.

But I do apologize for the misunderstanding. You said you wanted a 24 hour monitor because you wanted to measure three different things. You meant everything. I didn't get that and thought it was just the three.

You cannot very well walk around with your fingers on your neck or wrist all day long.

If the constant readings are more important than the accuracy, obviously, a monitor is better and I have no helpful advice.

Good luck!

roanokejoe49

I use my fingers and a watch. It's less expensive than the others, but it's more accurate.

Yeah, cause you keep your finger on your pulse and watch your clock 24 hours a day. Did you even read her post?

Yes, I read the post. She wants to know her heart rate during three different times of day. For that, I'd use my fingers and a watch.

The stuff you buy is expensive and cool, but fingers are more accurate.

....

JosieRawr

I absolutely adore my Body Media Link! It tracks everything that doesn't involve water(I charge it when I shower and have to remove if I swim, but otherwise I wear it all the time)

It has been very accurately in line with my weight loss when I used it for 3 months straight. It also counts steps, moderate activity, and vigorous activity. It's $7 a month for the subscription.

It's an armband that tracks several different data points to come up with a very accurate (in my experience ) estimate.

mticktin

In addition to the Basis, which I mentioned previously, you may want to consider checking out the PulseOn. It's only available via preorder at the moment, but both devices monitor heart rate through an optical sensor. In my experience, the optical sensor method for heart rate monitoring can be very effective. I use a Mio Link during my workouts and compared the results to my Polar chest strap when I first bought it. Both result sets were very similar.

cldmolly

oh dear me. My apologies for not expressing all the other things I do within a TWENTY-FOUR HOUR period. I also cook, clean, change diapers, chase kids, dance with the kids, do bath and bedtime routine, put the garbage out, clean the dishes/kitchen, a multitude of other chores and activities.

Now will you provide me some HELPFUL advice?

Some advice was helpful, HRM don't do what you want it to do. I don't know why you want this anyways... but as someone suggested you're looking for an activity monitor, not a HRM. The person suggesed a "basis", bodymedia fit, jawbone, fitbit are some other options. None of them track HR, the "basis" does. But for some reason I don't think it will be very accurate, I'll look in to it. Actually i don't need to look in to it, as we reduce our weight and are on a lower caloire diet, our hormones will slow down our metabolic rate. Making all these devices pretty much useless.

I was responding to the one poster, I just forgot to quote.

Everyone else has been helpful.

JosieRawr

Also- while the chest strap hrm is suppose to be the most accurate, I personally had issues with it... It liked to fight with my underwire and I could only use it every other day or so or it would irritate me, also had issues with it when I ran if I wasn't erm.. firmly secured.. Any bounce and the numbers when crazy... lol. Just my experience before I settled on my body media.