Timex HRM

cherie2304

I just bought a HRM and love it. One question though...instructions say to wet it before use. Why is it like that? I forgot to do it this morning and it said i burned 757 calories in 52 minutes. That 52 minutes consisted of running two laps around the park and walked one lap around the park. I am 5'2' and weigh 163 lbs.

Do you have any ideas if wetting the HRM will make it more acurate or not? Any help you can provide will be great. Thanks.

slieber

If it's the same Timex I had, then it's not accurate whether wet or not. My Timex only asked for my weight and, I think, age, but not all my other vital stats. It is no different than the machines at the gym.

That sounds like a lot of cals for only 52 minutes for your weight. When I got the Polar F6 I was about the same weight as you and for the activities that I thought were a lot of cals, via the Timex, I found the Polar clocked me at up to 200 cals LESS.

Wetting it just improves contact between the HRM and the skin. Granted, for those of us at certain weights, it won't matter all that much because the strap will make it tight enough anyway. I would still wet it though. All the chest strap HRMs say to wet them first.

I just wet my fingers and run them under the unit after putting it on. No big deal, unless the water is very cold. :-)

savvystephy

It may sound weird, but just like your finger and moisten the pads on the chest strap. Saliva, due to the electrodes in it is a great conductor for the HRM. Saliva and sweat are the best. That is how the HRM reads your heart rate.

Running is a fantastic exercise. My Polar HRM says I burn 600 calories in running for 35 minutes (with a 5 min warm up and cool down). I am 5'3" at 173.5 lbs.

slieber

Thanks for that clarification. I know the higher the weight, the more cals burned. For me, it's not nearly as much - I'm at 156. And it may also be related to fitness level - I'm highly fit so it's harder to get the heart rate up, and harder to get the cals burned.

cherie2304

Thanks for all your responses! My HRM is the Timex Personal Trainer. And it only asked for my weight. I would think it would need more information. I'm gonna try it out again when I go to the gym today and see how it goes.

slieber

That's the same one I had. I would recommend, if you can afford it, that you abandon it and get a Polar F11. The F6 is good, but with the F11, you can replace your own battery. Once my F6 dies, I'm getting the F11.

It's made a huge difference in keeping me honest with calories. :-)

zafferFL

the Polar's are awesome..

as it's been mentioned, the calories are not going to be accurate - honestly no tool is going to tell you exactly how many calories your body is really expending in exercise, but the estimates are generally good, provided you have set the watch up correctly and make sure it is reading your heart rate correctly - this is one reason to wet the strap slightly, if it doesn't make a good contact with your skin you can get erratic readings.

the biggest benefit in using the HRM's is to stay within your exercise range, whether you want to be in a current fat burning zone, cardio or HIIT rate - look at setting up the alarms to beep when you drop below or raise above your desired zone.