Heart Rate Monitor - What's the scoop?

momswanson

I have had several HRM, and I love my Timex! It is user friendly and does everything I want it to do. As a matter of fact, I bought one for each of my daughters for Christmas since I love mine so much!

Reama5

Hm. I've been assuming that it works by metallic sensors like the wrist one does. That's how it measures your heart beat, by measuring the electric activity produced by the heart.

So, as long as it has contact with my skin it would work.

Reama5

Thanks for all the feedback!

Here's another question:
Do any of them have websites or apps that let you track data?
Do any of them sync with MFP?


K, that was two questions.

JayByrd107

Hm. I've been assuming that it works by metallic sensors like the wrist one does. That's how it measures your heart beat, by measuring the electric activity produced by the heart.

So, as long as it has contact with my skin it would work.

It's reading the pulse in your wrist, most lkely. If you could rig it to read your femoral artery, I suppose that could work.

dad106

Thanks for all the feedback!

Here's another question:
Do any of them have websites or apps that let you track data?
Do any of them sync with MFP?


K, that was two questions.

Polar does.. FT7 and up come with an optional flow link attachment that let you track data.

None of them sync with MFP.. far as I know.

As far as the non chest strap HRM's, don't even think about it. they are not accurate at all when trying to figure out calories burned.

jjs22

The chest strap has 2 conductive pads on it. They are made of a black conductive plastic, so they don't stand out much, but you can definitely see them. When you wear the strap, the pads are several (8 ?) inches apart, on either side of your heart.

The electrical signal produced by your heart is teeny-tiny. The electrical signals produced by everything else in your environment are HUGE. Easily tens of thousands of times bigger. Yes, really. So getting a good clean measurement of the heart's electrical activity is no small feat !

In order to focus on the signal and throw away the noise, HRMs take two readings from two separate locations, subtract them, and then amplify the difference. The idea is that each sensor picks up pretty much the same noise, but because they are on opposite sides of the heart, the heart signal seen by each sensor is different. (The heart's electrical activity is very complicated and non-symmetric. Otherwise, cardiologists would have less studying to do !) A serious EKG works the same way, but with more sensors.

Anyway, it wouldn't surprise me if it was *possible* to detect a pulse using other locations on your body, but the HRM chest strap was designed specifically for your chest. It does an amazing (IMO) job at picking up a pulse in adverse real-world conditions, so I wouldn't go making its job harder by putting it in locations where the signal it needs is even tinier.

Reama5

The chest strap has 2 conductive pads on it. They are made of a black conductive plastic, so they don't stand out much, but you can definitely see them. When you wear the strap, the pads are several (8 ?) inches apart, on either side of your heart.

The electrical signal produced by your heart is teeny-tiny. The electrical signals produced by everything else in your environment are HUGE. Easily tens of thousands of times bigger. Yes, really. So getting a good clean measurement of the heart's electrical activity is no small feat !

In order to focus on the signal and throw away the noise, HRMs take two readings from two separate locations, subtract them, and then amplify the difference. The idea is that each sensor picks up pretty much the same noise, but because they are on opposite sides of the heart, the heart signal seen by each sensor is different. (The heart's electrical activity is very complicated and non-symmetric. Otherwise, cardiologists would have less studying to do !) A serious EKG works the same way, but with more sensors.

Anyway, it wouldn't surprise me if it was *possible* to detect a pulse using other locations on your body, but the HRM chest strap was designed specifically for your chest. It does an amazing (IMO) job at picking up a pulse in adverse real-world conditions, so I wouldn't go making its job harder by putting it in locations where the signal it needs is even tinier.

Hm, that makes sense.

It should be here on Wednesday and I'll let the thread know how it works on other parts of my body. If I end up using my chest, 'eh.