Best Heart Rate Monitors to buy?

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Nikki8287
Nikki8287 Posts: 23
in Fitness and Exercise
I am interested in purchasing a heart rate monitor to keep track of calories burned during workouts. I have no clue as to which one to buy since there seem to be a million out there. PLEASE! Any suggestions????? :flowerforyou:

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  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    Polar.. FT4 or FT7.

    Covers the basics and are pretty darn accurate in estimating calories.
  • astroub
    astroub Posts: 289 Member
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    I have a polar FT4 and I love it!!! It really works great! Not very expensive either. Any polar brand I have heard is great!
  • jackieb79
    jackieb79 Posts: 58
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    I just bought a ladies Timex HRM with watch at Costco for $69.99 (in Canada, so prob cheaper in USA) and love it. It tracks min/max/avg HRM and calories, recovery etc. during workout and was reasonably priced.
  • vikesfanmb
    vikesfanmb Posts: 291 Member
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    I just bought a New Balance N4 Pearl at Target and I absolutely LOVE it! It was pretty inexpensive too for all the features it has . . $59 on sale! :smile: I would suggest doing some comparison shopping to get the features you really want and/or need because the more features the watch has, the more costly it will be.
  • loseatonlady
    loseatonlady Posts: 160
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    I have a Garmin - just HIGHLY suggest you get one that has the chest strap!
  • RaeN81
    RaeN81 Posts: 534 Member
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    It depends what you want to use it for. If you are running or biking/training for a race you may want to shell out some extra cash for one with a GPS. I just got the Garmin Forerunner 405CX and it's incredible but pricey. Fortunately for me, it was a gift!
  • lbeasey
    lbeasey Posts: 254 Member
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    I have a Polar and love it...make sure it has a chest strap!
  • megz85g
    megz85g Posts: 101 Member
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    i used to have a polar F7 now i have a polar FT60 and i love is.
    i use it every time i exercise.
  • gc2052
    gc2052 Posts: 183
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    Love my Polar 6 but also use a fitbit. Fit bit does not have a chest strap but it is pretty close to my polar which has the chest strap. Like the fit bit because it tracks miles and steps as well as calories. No cost to get reports from the computer. It also tracks sleep patterns. I wear the fit bit 24 hours a day and use my polar also during exercise because the fit bit does not pick up calories in weight traiing and some aerobic activity.
  • Nikki8287
    Nikki8287 Posts: 23
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    Sounds like Polar is a pretty good brand from all the replies. I had a couple people tell me about the Body Bugg? But I read on amazon that you are required to have a subscription for it.

    Does the chest strap make that much of a difference?
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    Sounds like Polar is a pretty good brand from all the replies. I had a couple people tell me about the Body Bugg? But I read on amazon that you are required to have a subscription for it.

    Does the chest strap make that much of a difference?

    Yes, the chest strap makes a world of difference. With the strap, the watch is continuously getting your heart rate... with the watch only kind, you have to touch the watch face every time you want it to take your heart rate. Since calorie estimation is based off of heart rate, with the watch only kind, it would only base the calorie estmation off of when you touched the watch vs a chest strap that is always feeding the heart rate and thus giving a more accurate calorie estimation.

    The bodybugg does require a subscription to use it.. not sure how much it is though.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
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    Another Polar FT4 fan here! Does exactly what i wanted, and does it well and cheaply too!
  • Scorpioangel
    Scorpioangel Posts: 951 Member
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    I have the Polar FT7 and love it :)
  • Nikki8287
    Nikki8287 Posts: 23
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    Thanks everyone for the suggestions :happy: xoxo
  • gashinshotan
    gashinshotan Posts: 753 Member
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    Polar FT4 is on sale on Amazon for $55 shipped last time I checked. FT7 is $71 shipped from a third party Amazon seller.... the FT7 has some extra features such as more recorded workouts (99 vs 10 on the FT4), weekly reviews, a fat burning/fitness zone indicator, and the ability to upload your info to the polar website if you're willing to spend an extra 40-50 bucks on the flolink device for your comp.... so it's up to you if the extra 15-20 bucks is worth it...

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