Reliable Inexpensive Heart Rate Monitor

tiggy73

Hi all, I am looking for suggestions for an inexpensive but accurate and reliable heart rate monitor. When I say inexpensive, I would like to stay under $50. I do a lot of walking. I am working myself up to jogging. I also do workouts with DVD's like Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred, Belly Dancing, Zumba, etc. I am not needing anything that can cook me dinner. I just want something that can accurately tell me how many calories I am burning. Thanks!

JayAlexander

I was just reading HRM reviews!! I'd like to see what people have to say too

Fat2FitChick

I have the Bowflex Precision HRM with chest strap. I bought it on Amazon for $26 but it is now up to like $36 or something like that. It is really accurate and accuracy is important to me because I eat my exercise calories and if it was off or wrong I wouldn't be losing weight like I am.

I really like it.

david081

Hi, Polar do a reasonable range, check them out on the internet - I have an FT4 which is a bit more than $50 but they have a range with some costing quite a bit less...

rgds, David

gatorflyer

I've recently gone down this road myself. I bought one of the cheaper ones (25.99 which wasn't reliable, then one for 39.99 which was better but still not totally reliable) but found that you get what you pay for. I ended up with one that I paid $99 for (regularly $109) and love it. It doesn't have all teh bells and whistles but it has enough. One thing I might suggest is if you have a smart phone (Blackberry, Android, IPhone) you might find some cheap apps to help. I kinda use a combination of things. I use my HRM to count exact calories and I use an app to count distance walked, sicne it uses GPS and it.s more exact than say counting steps.

THe one I've settled on is the Polar100

mislove68

I have a Sigma pc 9 women's it was $60 on amazon. I love it. Counts my calories and has a chest strap. I got a women's one because I have a small wrist and watches have always been big on me. this fits perfect. Also got my husband same brand and no interference. Also comes with a bike mount!

Serenifly

If you do a search at the top of the page , for HRM or Heart Rate Monitor there is about 6 threads a day started regarding them, you'll get oodles of input

tiggy73

I've recently gone down this road myself. I bought one of the cheaper ones (25.99 which wasn't reliable, then one for 39.99 which was better but still not totally reliable) but found that you get what you pay for. I ended up with one that I paid $99 for (regularly $109) and love it. It doesn't have all teh bells and whistles but it has enough. One thing I might suggest is if you have a smart phone (Blackberry, Android, IPhone) you might find some cheap apps to help. I kinda use a combination of things. I use my HRM to count exact calories and I use an app to count distance walked, sicne it uses GPS and it.s more exact than say counting steps.

THe one I've settled on is the Polar100

I do use the Cardio Trainer app my Android on my walks and it's excellent at tracking my distance and speed. It also gives me an estimated calorie readout. I still want something that's going to track my calories by my actual heart rate. I just want something basic and accurate to start with, then I'll probably upgrade in the future. Thanks for the suggestions!

tiggy73

Thanks for the feedback everyone! This will definitely help me with my research. :bigsmile: