Which HRM?

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scottishhighlander
scottishhighlander Posts: 56
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello mfp's!

I'm thinking of buying a heart rate monitor. Polar seem to be a popular brand, can anyone recommend these or any others?
Can spend up to £100 ($150)

Thanks

Ade

Replies

  • gordon53
    gordon53 Posts: 20
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    good blog about HR monitors here.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

    I have a heart rate monitor with my Garmin forerunner, and it is useful in the context of how I feel when outdoor running - measuring peaks and troughs of effort, for example. Haven't used it for a while, as all my exercise is in the gym over the winter as I don't like the cold! The treadmill in the gym I go to, and the cross trainer both have heart rate monitors which are probably not very accurate, but more indicative of effort. I feed the data from my exercise into my Garmin Connect profile, and it will estimate calories burned, which is a useful check against the MFP calories burned indicator (MFP underestimates!)

    Interested to see what you go for, and hope this helps....
  • scottishhighlander
    scottishhighlander Posts: 56
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    Hi Gordon, first off nice to meet you. Interesting reading, looks like that the hrm's at the cheaper end of the scale are wildly inaccurate for counting calorie burn. That's my main interest really in getting one. I've been using the ones built into the equipment at the gym and have been finding that they are either not working or unreliable.
    I have been half considering a FitBit tracker too, mainly due to its integration with mfp. But going by reports it's fairly inaccurate at counting cals.
    It's looking likely that I'll go for the polar ft60. It's a little bit above my budget @£130 on amazon.
    What like are they for wearing all day? I'd be interested to know what I burn at work as well as the gym?

    Ade

    Ps which garmin forerunner do you have Gordon?
  • scottishhighlander
    scottishhighlander Posts: 56
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    Bought the polar ft60, beingbtryinng it out round the house tonight. Going to have its first outing at the gym tommoroe
  • sixisCHANGEDjk
    sixisCHANGEDjk Posts: 243
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    Report back on your likes/dislikes. I need to get one myself and have been wondering which to get.
  • RAFValentina
    RAFValentina Posts: 1,231 Member
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    Polar RS300X is a great modern, technical but easy to use multisport one... £80.99 from here http://polar.fitnessmegastore.co.uk/polar-297/running-299/polar-rs300x-heart-rate-17361.htm also you can add on components such as Speed or GPS sensor to get more data. It has built in fit test which gives a very good reading of your VO2 max and RHR which helps it to calculate your calorie expenditure. I think its fab and can use it for running, cycling, gym, walking etc! VO2max reading was spot on in comparison to my maximal test! Very comfy to wear, easy to use. You can even upload the workout data onto polarpersonaltrainer and sync it to a training plan made on there.... put you'll need a polar flowlink but you can always add that on later, likewise with the speed sensor foot pod and GPS unit! :)

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