Polar HRM

rymattsmom

Hi all,
wanted to know which polar hrm is the best to get for overall fitness. i go to a lot of classes and use the elliptical a lot. what are the differences with all their different ones? thanks in advance! btw, is looking at ebay a good place to get one reasonably cheap?

Capone007

I just ordered one about 5 minutes ago from healthchecksystems.com. I talked to them on the phone also with a few questions I had. They also threw in a free cinch bag, and I got 6% off for using a code. I ended up buying the FT40F, but you may not want all that. If you go to http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/products/compare you can compare the different monitors side by side. It helped me anyway!

tigerblue

I got the FT7. Middle price range for polar. Not the highest, not the lowest. It is very easy to use and I like it a lot. It has been informative. It gives me slightly higher calories burned than this website (within 100 calories most of the time). But it gives a number MUCH lower than the machines at the gym. In fact, over the holidays before I got the HRM, I was using the numbers on the machines instead of the website, and I was gaining (slowly) even though I was under my net calorie goal because the machines were so far off! So far I seem to be holding steady (I am on maintenance) using the numbers from the Polar FT7.

lucky48

I have a Polar F11 which Polar has since replaced with the FT40. I paid close to $180.00 for mine and I love it. I use mine for running and fitness classes primarily. I got the F11 because it has exercise programs that you can either follow or create your own.

Each model has different features and it's all about how technological you want to get and how much you want to track. I use mine strictly for how intense I need to train and how many calories I'm burning so I don't need something too fancy. There are some models that are close to $400.00. The best place to view the different features is probably on Polar's website.

curlytop89

I don't have a polar one, I have a cheapie sportsline from walmart that comes with the chest strap. It took some figuring out, but it really keeps track with the chest strap on and I am doing machine exercises or jumping around with an aerobics class. It then tells how long you are below, in or above your target zone and how many calories you burned. I was on the stairmaster today at the gym with it on and it actually synced or something with the machine. I think the machine might have been sportsline also, I don't know. It was kinda weird, the stairmaster was picking up my heartrate without me holding anything with my hands. I have never been into heart rate monitoring, but I am liking this I think. Too bad it doesn't have a pedometer with it. Ha ha. Guess I'll still have to use my iphone for that.

lucky48

I don't have a polar one, I have a cheapie sportsline from walmart that comes with the chest strap. It took some figuring out, but it really keeps track with the chest strap on and I am doing machine exercises or jumping around with an aerobics class. It then tells how long you are below, in or above your target zone and how many calories you burned. I was on the stairmaster today at the gym with it on and it actually synced or something with the machine. I think the machine might have been sportsline also, I don't know. It was kinda weird, the stairmaster was picking up my heartrate without me holding anything with my hands. I have never been into heart rate monitoring, but I am liking this I think. Too bad it doesn't have a pedometer with it. Ha ha. Guess I'll still have to use my iphone for that.

I have a Sole treadmill with integrated heart rate grips but it also came with a chest strap. When I'm using my polar, the transmitter also transmits to my treadmill as well as my wrist unit. I think this is much more accurate as the grips don't always record it properly. If you're at the gym, your transmitter might also be transmitting to the machines if they have an integrated receiver.

keith0373

Garmin has some cool GPS ones as well. This is on my wish list for my birthday

http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Forerunner-405CX-Sport-Monitor/dp/B0025UHKNS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296147616&sr=8-1

mistawalka

G'day rymattsmom

I have the Polar FT4 - which is pretty basic but does most of what I need:

Shows:
Calories used
Heart Rate
1 HR zone setting
Records the last 10? exercise session (Max heart rate / average HR / workout time / time in HR zone)
Waterproof to 30M - useful for swimming

For more advanced Polar models you may be looking for additional features:
Ability to upload/transfer data to a PC
Multiple HR zones (for different types of excerise)
etc etc

HeatherMN

I've got the F6 and love it! It's simple enough for me to operate but gives me the info I want. They sell for about $80-$100 now at sporting goods stores.

calcote05

Garmin has some cool GPS ones as well. This is on my wish list for my birthday

http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Forerunner-405CX-Sport-Monitor/dp/B0025UHKNS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296147616&sr=8-1

I have the Garmin without the HRM, wish I would have splurged and gotten the one with it!! I LOVE my Garmin!!