Polar ft7..Accurate reading

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lalalyn12
lalalyn12 Posts: 80 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello I have a question, I just bought this polar ft7, and I think it is not giving me accurate calories...so I weight 342 and I am 5;8, I set my settings correct...so its not the settings...So I tried it out today,. I did 20 minutes zumba highest hrm was 180 and lowest was 164 and the calories i burned was 141 calories, I did hi/lo for 25 minutes at heart rate 170 and burned 98 calories with NO stops...averaging at 170 hrm...and then I went to the arc trainer, according to the arc trainer at 100 resistance in 5 minutes i burned 106 minutes, according to my polar i burned 27..at 100 resistance now smh, I do not know if I should believe my polar or the machine, or the readings on MFP...any input you guys, according to MFP and another site in 20 minutes moderate intensity I would of burned tripple the 141...Now usually I would go according to that, and have been doing fine with losing weight consistently..I bought the polar to get more accuracy but i think I am working out to hard for only a few calories according to the polare..HELPPPP

Replies

  • toddis
    toddis Posts: 941 Member
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    If i recall correctly they are about 85% accurate. Seems that a setting might be off.

    also:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/548645-setup-polar-hrm-for-more-accurate-calorie-burn-for-known-bmr
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    I'd go through the settings again and just check that everything is set correctly. I have an FT4 and I find it very accurate.
  • lalalyn12
    lalalyn12 Posts: 80 Member
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    I did go through my settings numerous times and its set for my age, weight and height...is there other settings on the thing that I don't know of???
  • jkestens63
    jkestens63 Posts: 1,164 Member
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    Bump
  • ladyluch99
    ladyluch99 Posts: 264 Member
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    Something is definitely not right about the calorie burn you're getting. Not sure what it is, though. Is the chest strap secure and are you wetting it thoroughly before you work out? I also have the Polar FT7 and I did 35 minutes of a boot camp type class tonight and I burned 288 calories. I don't weigh as much as you and my bpm's weren't as high as yours but I feel it's fairly accurate. Hope you can figure it out soon. If not, perhaps you can exchange it for another one. Maybe that one is defective.
  • lalalyn12
    lalalyn12 Posts: 80 Member
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    yes i did multiple activities to day, on the arc trainer, basketball zumba and shopping in 2 hours and only burned close to 600 calories
  • rompers16
    rompers16 Posts: 5,404 Member
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    I'm guessing something is off...if I do apx 30 min of c25k I average about 250 calories burned and my hr doesn't stay that high.
  • peterdt
    peterdt Posts: 820 Member
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    WARNING! POLAR HEART RATE MONITORS DEFECTIVE!

    Here’s the scoop. I’ve been using the Polar FT7 since July. During that time I’ve had my weight set at 326 pounds, and have logged 132 hours on my FT7. My average calorie burn per minute was 6.5 calories per minute with an average heart rate of about 109. I thought that was abnormally low considering my weight and was always bothered by it.

    Then I bought another Polar FT7 thinking maybe I had a defective one. Guess what? Same results only about 6.5 calories burned per minute.

    Then I reset the one of the watches for 190 pounds two weeks ago on a hunch. Logged my results for a week and guess what? My calories burned per minute went to 8.1 per minute with the same 109 heart rate.

    In other words my calorie burn went UP from 6.5 calories burned per minute to 8.1 calories per minute at the same heart rate when my weight was reduced on the watch from 326 to 190. This is impossible of course in reality. The watch is not accurate for calories burned at my heart rate.

    I did the same experiment with the 2nd watch. Same results. My calorie burn went UP from 6.5 calories burned per minute to 8.1 calories per minute at the same heart rate when my weight was reduced on the watch from 326 to 190 on the 2nd watch as well!

    Conclusion: The formulas used to calculate calories for people at higher weights are NOT even close to being accurate.

    I would like to ask other Polar heart rate monitors users to do the same experiment. I suspect this problem is widespread. This is a huge product defect and the product should be recalled. Please report back to this post your results of your own “experiment. Also, it may not be for just my model. Please do the experiment for any Polar watch.
  • Athena53
    Athena53 Posts: 717 Member
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    Well, I wish I could repeat the experiment but even after buying a second chest strap (with electrode cream) and following manufacturer's instructions and troubleshooting suggestions here, I am extremely frustrated. The same run, the same terrain and pace, I can have a heart rate of 104 or 129. It hangs at the same rate for 10 minutes and suddenly my heart rate goes from 99 to 142. Or zero. This is doubly frustrating because I bought it to get credit for workouts under my company wellness program and their attitude if the monotor fails is "too bad, your workout didn't happen".

    I am currently looking into somehting more reliable that the program accepts. I would not recommend the Polar monitor to anyone.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,049 Member
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    The algorithms seem to break down above a certain bodyweight. This has been discussed before....and I know the numbers appear to skew in high body weight people.

    Just keep exercising, and eating well. At your weight, exact numbers are not that important. Let MFP figure your calories, and don't worry about exact exercise numbers right now. Weight loss is about the food anyway. You can't out-exercise a poor diet.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    Well, I wish I could repeat the experiment but even after buying a second chest strap (with electrode cream) and following manufacturer's instructions and troubleshooting suggestions here, I am extremely frustrated. The same run, the same terrain and pace, I can have a heart rate of 104 or 129. It hangs at the same rate for 10 minutes and suddenly my heart rate goes from 99 to 142. Or zero. This is doubly frustrating because I bought it to get credit for workouts under my company wellness program and their attitude if the monotor fails is "too bad, your workout didn't happen".

    I am currently looking into somehting more reliable that the program accepts. I would not recommend the Polar monitor to anyone.
    Have you tried changing the batteries in the transmitter and/or watch?
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
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    On my RS100 you have to enter your resting heart rate (heart rate sit). Does the FT7 require this? If your resting rate is really high ie. you are really out of shape, this will skew the numbers, but something sounds way off.

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