heart rate monitors- advice!

MagonElizabeth

I have been reading a lot about people who are buying the heart rate monitor watches/bands, etc. and I'm wondering what you all think of the ones you have? What are the benefits of them and which ones are the best?

Doberdawn

I have a Polar RS100 HRM. I love it. It is not so fancy that I can't use it (though trying it's "own zone" programming was a bit annoying <g>), but it is fancy enough to have the features I would want.

1. you want one where you can set your own target heart rate zones
2. you want one that tells you the time you spent IN your zone.
3. preferably, you want one that tells you the time you spent over and under the zone too (which mine does)
4. it will also tell you the calories burned

Polar, there are articles you can find on the net, is one of few brands that has been scientifically determined by independent sources ("The American College of Sports Medicine and the "British Journal of Medicine" have put Polar's heart rate monitors to the test over the years") to be reliable... see e.g. this article from last year:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/490909-the-accuracy-of-calories-burned-in-polar-heart-rate-monitors/

molzeppa

I have a Polar FT60 and I love it. I set my own max heart rate and based the zones on that. I lost 24 pounds using it last year. The calorie count sure seems accurate to me! I've replaced the battery twice in 1.5 years.

I used another brand HRM wrist watch only (no chest band) for a while and found needing to push a button to see my heart rate and have it calculate calories did NOT fit my exercise style.

I wish I could see heart rate and calories burned on the same screen, but other than than, I'm happy with my purchase.

dbevisjr

I have a Polar RS100 HRM. I love it. It is not so fancy that I can't use it (though trying it's "own zone" programming was a bit annoying <g>), but it is fancy enough to have the features I would want.

1. you want one where you can set your own target heart rate zones
2. you want one that tells you the time you spent IN your zone.
3. preferably, you want one that tells you the time you spent over and under the zone too (which mine does)
4. it will also tell you the calories burned

Polar, there are articles you can find on the net, is one of few brands that has been scientifically determined by independent sources ("The American College of Sports Medicine and the "British Journal of Medicine" have put Polar's heart rate monitors to the test over the years") to be reliable... see e.g. this article from last year:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/490909-the-accuracy-of-calories-burned-in-polar-heart-rate-monitors/

Good info above but I would add one more thing. Be sure the model you pick uses heart rate to calculate calorie burn. Many only use your gender, age, weight and duration of workout to guess at the calorie burn.

Doberdawn

I wish I could see heart rate and calories burned on the same screen, but other than than, I'm happy with my purchase.

Are you sure you can't? I can on my Polar RSS100

GrammaBonnie

I am happy with the Polar FT80. I wrote a fairly extensive review about it, which you can see here:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/GrammaBonnie/view/polar-ft80-heart-rate-monitor-review-406807