HRM Battery life?

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10kaday
10kaday Posts: 177
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Does anyone know how long the battery life is for a standard heart rate monitor? Not a real fancy one. Mine is the Timex Ironman Road Trainer which only tracks your heart and gives you calorie output etc. But it doesn't track with GPS which would save on battery power I think. The manual says the watch has a 3 year batter life. But what about the heart rate monitor thing that you strap on to your chest? I'm just curious if I wore that thing 16 hours a day 7 days a week how long will the battery last?

Replies

  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,371 Member
    Why would you wear it 16 hours per day? It does not estimate calories accurately if you're not actually working out to increase your heartrate at the time. The formulas they use to estimate calorie burn are not supposed to be very accurate if you're not in a particular range. Although if you are working that hard 16 hours per day, good for you! LOL If you want something you can wear all day long for a fairly good calorie estimate, you might consider looking into the BodyBugg or BodyMedia fit or something along those lines. They work differently than HRMs and are designed to wear all day.
  • LoreleiWalks
    LoreleiWalks Posts: 143 Member
    I just replaced the battery in the watch part of mine after 3 years of owning it. I am not sure about the chest strap. The instructions for my HRM said to mail it in to have the battery replaced, but I just had a watch store do it for $10. (It supposedly voided the warranty, but the warranty was only for 3 years anyhow, so who cares?!) I have a Polar F6.
  • 10kaday
    10kaday Posts: 177
    I want to wear it more often because often I do quick 5 minute exercises and I want to be able start the chrono to time it and get the calorie readout at the end of the day for all these little runs I take. I'd rather just keep it on vrs strap on strap off all day long.
  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,371 Member
    I want to wear it more often because often I do quick 5 minute exercises and I want to be able start the chrono to time it and get the calorie readout at the end of the day for all these little runs I take. I'd rather just keep it on vrs strap on strap off all day long.

    Ah, I see. Well, I have a Polar FT4 and my understanding is that any time the transmitter is connected to the strap, it is attempting to transmit to the watch and therefore is using the battery. Does yours allow you to detach the transmitter from the strap? So you could continue wearing the strap for convenience but pop the transmitter on/off as needed to conserve the battery?
  • 10kaday
    10kaday Posts: 177
    Nope! But I suppose I could twist it so the sensors are no longer against my chest which would turn it off. Still, my question is not answered. If I leave it hooked up 16 hours a day how long will it take before the battery is drained for a standard HRM that doesn't have any type of GPS (which would drain it faster I'd think)?
  • 10kaday
    10kaday Posts: 177
    Well according to Amazon it should last two years.. Really? http://www.amazon.com/Timex-Digital-Heart-Monitor-Sensor/dp/tech-data/B000I83P10/ref=de_a_smtd

    I guess only time will tell. In the meanwhile, I'll try to preserve the use of it as I'm sure it wasn't designed to be running 16 hours a day.
  • MissMaggie3
    MissMaggie3 Posts: 2,464 Member
    Well according to Amazon it should last two years.. Really? http://www.amazon.com/Timex-Digital-Heart-Monitor-Sensor/dp/tech-data/B000I83P10/ref=de_a_smtd

    I guess only time will tell. In the meanwhile, I'll try to preserve the use of it as I'm sure it wasn't designed to be running 16 hours a day.

    2 years? Bah! Mine ran out after about 6 months - certainly not continuous use.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,809 Member
    They are designed for sustained elevated cardio. I don't think the little five minute bursts are really worth recording. In my opinion.
  • cbatteiger
    cbatteiger Posts: 1 Member
    They base the 2 years on one hours use a day...which would be 730 hours...so at 16 hours a day it would cut the life down to around 46 days.
  • junk4g
    junk4g Posts: 1
    I am beginning day 3 and it's dying. Two days of 24 hour use (the owner's manual said to wear it continually for 3 days to learn about how my body works). Did it come with an old or inadequately charged battery? Perhaps. I'll try it. If the next one last such a short time, I'll return it and get a better one.
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