Looking to purchase an HRM - Need advice!

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umachanxo
umachanxo Posts: 926 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi guys!

I'm looking to buy my own HRM to better track calories burned during my workouts. I need some advice as to what brand/kind that I should look for.

These are 2 that I have been looking at. Thoughts?

SX - UNIVERSAL COMBO ECG HEART RATE MONITOR

Health Touch™ contact Heart Rate monitor fullsize

Thanks!

Replies

  • ScubyUK
    ScubyUK Posts: 271 Member
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    I'd look at getting a BodyBugg(US) or KiFit(UK) instead to be honest. Depends what your budget is though.
  • johnkernmusic
    johnkernmusic Posts: 91 Member
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    Well the FITBIT is compatible with Myfitnesspal.
  • karenwill2
    karenwill2 Posts: 604 Member
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    bump.. cuz I want to know the answer to this too. Only I want the cheapest, easiest one.
  • Gutter19
    Gutter19 Posts: 141
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    What kind of activities do you do when you exercise?
  • ryno0618
    ryno0618 Posts: 361
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    Personally I really prefer Polar. Not had any troubles with both the FT4 and FT7 models. Easy to use and trouble free. Aboult $60 on amazon for the Polar FT4.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I'm looking to buy my own HRM to better track calories burned during my workouts. I need some advice as to what brand/kind that I should look for.

    These are 2 that I have been looking at. Thoughts?

    SX - UNIVERSAL COMBO ECG HEART RATE MONITOR

    Health Touch™ contact Heart Rate monitor fullsize

    Thanks!

    Since this is specifically for exercise, forget the BodyBugg as that is when it loses accuracy. Study actually done on that.
    Unless your exercise is just plain walking, then it's fine.

    Read through the manuals on those two, if you have to input your gender, age, and weight at the least, you have a good chance of getting about as accurate as you are going to get with a HRM.
    And if it's not for a training routine and mainly calorie burn, might as well make it accurate as possible.

    The Health Touch is where you just touch it every once in a while I believe. That can't be as accurate.
  • AmyLRed
    AmyLRed Posts: 894 Member
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    The most recommended one on here i see is for Polar brand. I bought one shortly after Christmas, and debated between the Polar FT4 and FT60. I compared the features on their website and ordered the FT 60 from Amazon.com

    There are lots of great ones out there, and some not so great. You may get alot of responses that confuse and overwhelm you, so i would make a list of recommendations, research the features, and decide what features are most important for you, along with reviews.

    Good luck!
  • Tabimiller417
    Tabimiller417 Posts: 20 Member
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    I have one of the MIO watches & its extremely accurate (always matches hrms on machines). I looked into many different brands myself but I chose this one bc of its affordability & its features. If target.com sells one of the ones you are interested in than you should check the price bc they have a promo code right now that takes of 10%.. So its worth looking into. Im assuming when you say those are compatible with MFP that you are meaning the info will transfer over? Thats pretty nifty.. I guess I just dont mind putting my info in manually since Im on here anyways to track my food & fitness. I hope you find what your looking for though!
  • BrittSwimsJDRF
    BrittSwimsJDRF Posts: 50 Member
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    I have the polar FT4, and I love it. Easy to use, easy to clean, has a stopwatch, etc. And its purple :)
  • TimWilkinson101
    TimWilkinson101 Posts: 163 Member
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    Not sure where people are from, but Aldi has a Crane (their make) HRM for £12.99 at the moment.

    It has a 3 year warranty and "seems" to work very well. It calculates calories and fat burned based upon your weight and age and heart rate. Also has a stopwatch, countdown timer,, alarm and clock... amongst other things. As long as it doesnt break, it seems a bargain. It can also be set to alarm at various heart rates and tell how fit you are by how long it takes to recover.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I have one of the MIO watches & its extremely accurate (always matches hrms on machines).

    Extremely accurate for what exactly?

    Telling you the current HR?
    If so, that's great for just a wrist unit. Some have trouble with it, I'm glad it's working for you. Gives new abliities to train in different zones and such.
    Just confirm this isn't a case where the machine is picking up your HRM on the MIO and just displaying the info. in which case it better match. Even if you do the handholds, most override if it sees compatible signal.

    Or extremely accurate for telling you the calories as OP was wanting?
    Those machines are not accurate by a long shot, so comparing to that means that MIO is way off too.
    Did it have you input gender, age, weight during setup? Then not very accurate, but at least better than tables hopefully.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Not sure where people are from, but Aldi has a Crane (their make) HRM for £12.99 at the moment.

    It has a 3 year warranty and "seems" to work very well. It calculates calories and fat burned based upon your weight and age and heart rate. Also has a stopwatch, countdown timer,, alarm and clock... amongst other things. As long as it doesnt break, it seems a bargain. It can also be set to alarm at various heart rates and tell how fit you are by how long it takes to recover.

    Wow, that is a lot of features for cheap price. usually the zone alarms are left out, and recovery.

    This sounds exactly like a Cardiosport which also made a Nashbar HRM I had for years.

    Does it have strap replaceable battery? And the setup is kind of annoying as you go through each screen almost to get to what you want?

    My strap plastic broke so no more. And I gave monitor to the Spin bike instructor to offer to those who got super cheap setup and wanted a bit more.

    It was nice. Careful with the strap, it can last years.
  • cafel3
    cafel3 Posts: 89
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    I haven't purchased a HRM yet, but I wanted to purchase one and was looking at the Pyle brand since they look very affordable and do what I need (heart rate zone and calories burned). Does anyone have experience with any of these and which model?
  • ilikejam33
    ilikejam33 Posts: 252 Member
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    Polar FT4, best one ive had and ive tried a few. Easy to use, cheap, and very accurate. Polar is the number one brand so why look at ones that are less accurate to save $10? if you want to be succesful you want to be as accurate as possible otherwise you will eat back too many cals.

    You need one that comes with a chest strap as well for the most accuarcy, anything else just estimates in between when you have touched it, and the machines at the gym typically overestimate (as does MFP)

    FT4 comes in a variety of colours as well so thats a plus :)
  • TimWilkinson101
    TimWilkinson101 Posts: 163 Member
    Options
    Not sure where people are from, but Aldi has a Crane (their make) HRM for £12.99 at the moment.

    It has a 3 year warranty and "seems" to work very well. It calculates calories and fat burned based upon your weight and age and heart rate. Also has a stopwatch, countdown timer,, alarm and clock... amongst other things. As long as it doesnt break, it seems a bargain. It can also be set to alarm at various heart rates and tell how fit you are by how long it takes to recover.

    Wow, that is a lot of features for cheap price. usually the zone alarms are left out, and recovery.

    This sounds exactly like a Cardiosport which also made a Nashbar HRM I had for years.

    Does it have strap replaceable battery? And the setup is kind of annoying as you go through each screen almost to get to what you want?

    My strap plastic broke so no more. And I gave monitor to the Spin bike instructor to offer to those who got super cheap setup and wanted a bit more.

    It was nice. Careful with the strap, it can last years.

    Yep, its got replaceable batteries in the watch and the strap. The setup is a abit fiddly and yes you had to go through a lot of screens to complete it. Seems okay now though and yes it does seem like an awful lot for the money and if it lasts will be a bargain.

    probably buying another for my lass tomorrow.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Yep, its got replaceable batteries in the watch and the strap. The setup is a abit fiddly and yes you had to go through a lot of screens to complete it. Seems okay now though and yes it does seem like an awful lot for the money and if it lasts will be a bargain.

    Yep, just that replaceable battery aspect was great in my mind compared to sending it back. Must be the same unit, or similar model.

    Just a hint, since important to keep the weight up-to-date. Go to the calorie burn screen, and then press and hold the Setup button to start entering the weight, ect immediately, without setting up the rest.

    Same idea to change the zones, start on that screen.

    My manual did not make that ability known, discovered looking through the Cardiosport manual.

    Mine lasted probably 9 years of use. Well worth the $45 back then.

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