HRM what kind?

Polar ft7!! and i love it! i had a different brand before but it was reallyy way off. Polar all the way its easy to use and not to harsh on the wallet

I have the polar ft7. Love it. Waterproof, different colors to pick from. Easy to use lots of VERY helpful info. I paid about 70$ on amazon for a new one. So far I have heard lots of people use and refer this brand and model. I am very pleased. Has a chest strap I was kind of Leary about but I never even noticed it at all when I wear it, not even on the first day. This hrm has my vote and recommendation. Good luck. Mine has helped me so much.

I'm sure there are dozens of posts about this topic but, I have a couple specific questions.

I would like your advice as to which HRM to buy to, monitor my workouts. Does it matter what kind of workouts? Easy to use since I'm not super tech savvy. Cost and are extra features worth paying for? Any MUST HAVES? I really would appreciate your advice if you already own one or have some experience with one.

Thanks for taking the time to answer Sorry if I'm dredging up old topics but, it's new to me.

Well, you didn't mentioned for estimating calorie burn, so that's good.
To answer one question, the HRM will only have a chance at decent estimate of calorie burn based on HR, when doing steady-state aerobic exercise.
Nothing less than exercise like daily activities or sitting around, and not anaerobic like weight lifting or high intensity intervals.
On either extreme it will be very inflated calorie counts.

If it is for purpose of calorie counts, the easiest model to have a chance of decency will be the FT40 which includes the required VO2max stat, and test to estimate it. Or a Garmin with Firstbeat algorithms, but it's pricier with GPS included.

This model also has some nice HR zone alarm features. So if a workout is supposed to be more intense, you can alarm you are going too easy. If it's supposed to be a recovery workout or warmup or cooldown, you can alarm if you go too hard.
Both are might useful.
Also gives avgHR and maxHR so you can compare down the road. You do an equal pace treadmill walk 1 month later and see everything has improved, always good to know.

Really depends what you want it for. Even the most basic one will allow you to measure your HR and see performance improvement over time.
Other than that I can't add much more than heybales' post above but for me, mandatory feature is the VO2max to improve accuracy. I'm probably a bit of a data geek in that I like to see and track the data with graphs and stuff. I like the software that came with the Polar rs800 series I got but I've seen the online based apps and they're good too.

If you're buying one to help push yourself further, and primarily track your heart rate, buy anything with a chest strap.

If you're buying it to count calories burned from your activities, get something with VO2max or comparable feature to make the calorie figure more accurate.

I agree with some of the above comments, Polar ft4 is the way to go! I've heard great things about the ft7 as well, however since I already have an iPhone with apps that track my running distance and whatnot I didn't see it necessary to spend the extra dough on the ft7. I was concerned about the chest strap but I can't even feel it! I highly recommend; it's a real eye opener and really helps you progress in your workouts. After I got mine I realized I wasn't working nearly as hard as I thought I was!!

I love my Polar FT7 although I bought it before knowing about the VO2 max thing. Knowing about it now I wish that I had gotten the FT40 but I seem to fall within the "average" range luckily so the calorie difference is negligible at this point.