Looking for a good heart rate monitor

anewallee
anewallee Posts: 12 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello MFP family!

I am currently attending a boot camp and would love to know of a good heart rate monitor that will help me determine exactly how many calories I'm burning during the workout. A friend told me about FitBit but I have read mixed reviews. They are pricey, so I want to make sure the one I get is effective. Thanks so much!

Replies

  • skylark94
    skylark94 Posts: 2,036 Member
    The Fitbit is not a HRM and will not be effective for tracking calories burnt during a workout.

    The Polar FT4 is a good affordable HRM. You can find it on Amazon.

    I have both. I wear the Fitbit all day, but also wear the HRM for my workouts and manually log that burn through Fitbit's website of app.
  • jgrode1984
    jgrode1984 Posts: 112
    I have a polar ft4 also and I love it! It seems to be pretty accurate as well!
  • jgrode1984
    jgrode1984 Posts: 112
    I have a polar ft4 also and I love it! It seems to be pretty accurate as well!

    I bought mine at best buy, in-store.....
  • CaffeinatedConfectionist
    CaffeinatedConfectionist Posts: 1,046 Member
    I have a Polar FT-60, and I love it. I've had it for over a year and a half, and have only had to change the battery once. I find actually seeing a calorie burn estimate to be very motivating! So I'd recommend Polar just from my personal experience with it.

    If you're not sure which model you want, you can check out the various types on their website. The more expensive models come with a lot more features (the 60 lets you program your V02 max, and has training and tracking features, etc) so if you know exactly what you want to do with the HRM, you can choose the most useful model. If you just want basic heartrate and calorie burn tracking, I'd imagine you'd be fine with just an FT-4 or FT-7

    http://www.polar.com/en/products/product_finder

    ETA: Just wanted to also point out this very useful blog post about why HRMs are not effective at calculating calories burned during strength or circuit training. I had been using my HRM wrong for quite some time, and wish I'd known this information sooner! If you plan on doing more than just cardio while wearing your HRM, this is well worth a read:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/hrms-cannot-count-calories-during-strength-training-17698
  • PoshDinosaur
    PoshDinosaur Posts: 49 Member
    Bump for the link! That's good to know.
  • LauraW1219
    LauraW1219 Posts: 71 Member
    If you go look at sears.com at the Polar FT4 I just got mine on clearance for 42.74. It's the bronze one. I love mine and I wanted to know how much I was really burning instead of what myfitnesspal gave me. With the HRM I'm under what they give you for a calorie burn, but I rather know what I'm really burning. It comes with a band. The only draw back to it was when I go to the gym the band kinda get's in the way. I do love my Polar tho! Goodluck
    '
  • PoshDinosaur
    PoshDinosaur Posts: 49 Member
    Thanks! I'm in the UK, so Sears is out of the question, but polar seems a good brand. I'm ideally looking for something that can talk to an iPhone app too.
  • susannahsutton1
    susannahsutton1 Posts: 372
    ooh - I have a Polar H7 cheststrap (Wahoo do something of the same spec) that talks to my iPhone and makes the iPhone the heart rate monitor. Is great. And because it talks to my iPhone, which talks to MFP, it all syncs up. Finish workout, go to MFP profile and see how many calories I can then eat!!
  • junebaby21
    junebaby21 Posts: 260 Member
    I have a Polar FT4. Got the best deal on Amazon after doing a lot of research on which, what, when, where.
  • PoshDinosaur
    PoshDinosaur Posts: 49 Member
    I was coveting the polar H7 - it's a luxury, as I already have a heart rate/watch combo that works okay. Would prefer to not wear the watch, just to reduce the stuff I carry.

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