Body Media HRM

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FlannelMothman
FlannelMothman Posts: 193 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Is there a monthly subscription to this that no one's told me about?
I was going to buy one off Kijiji till I mentioned wanting to take a look and maybe demoing the HRM to make sure it works, and she said I couldn't demo it because it needs a subscription. I can't find this info on their website, so I figured I would ask here.

Replies

  • aleyjewell
    aleyjewell Posts: 65 Member
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    I don't have one but my boss does. It is more than a hrm. And it does require a monthly subscription.
  • steph1278
    steph1278 Posts: 483 Member
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    Yes. It is $6.99 per month.
  • FlannelMothman
    FlannelMothman Posts: 193 Member
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    Do I need the subscription for it to tell me the basic things? I just want to know calories burned.
  • shanmackie
    shanmackie Posts: 194 Member
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    bodymedia is not a heart rate monitor at all, but you can get a super expensive garmin one:

    "Garmin Heart Rate Support?
    If you enable heart rate support then Activity Manager can import and display heart rate data from Garmin heart rate monitors. We currently support the following Garmin® devices:

    Forerunner 60
    Forerunner 305
    Edge 305
    Forerunner 610

    Other Garmin heart rate devices supported by the Garmin ANT Agent™ software should also work but BodyMedia has not tested all heart rate monitors and cannot guarantee support for other devices.

    When enabled, the Activity Manager Dashboard page will display the summary and detail information of imported heart rate sessions. To import new heart rate data into the Activity Manager, click on the import button within the heart rate section of your Dashboard. Activity Manager relies upon the Garmin software so you can perform the import only from the computer where you have the Garmin ANT Agent or Training Center software installed.

    For best results, you should sync your armband data first and then import your heart rate data."

    i looked up the ones they have listed and they are very expensive. they're saying it MIGHT work with cheaper ones using the ANT software but they cannot guarantee it.

    and yes you need to pay a monthly subscription for body media. i believed it to be common knowledge so i'm not sure that's being hidden from you. :) if you go to buy one it makes you sign up for a subscription. it's very affordable, though!
  • ckmama
    ckmama Posts: 1,668 Member
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    You can get a Polar F6 for less than $100 comes with chest strap and doesn't require any subscription it will tell you how many calories you burned along with what range you heart was in during the workout. It is a basic HRM that gives the basic info. I have one and it works well.
  • healthyJenn0915
    healthyJenn0915 Posts: 185
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    Yes it does require a monthly fee which I also was unaware of. I had asked my Dad for one for Christmas and he looked into them. Once he found out it required a monthly fee on top of actually buying it he decided not to get it. So I am still trying to figure out what to get that will be a good way to track calories burned besides just a cheap watch hrm that I had before.
  • shanmackie
    shanmackie Posts: 194 Member
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    I have the 405CX. I was using the fancy features, making my own custom programs and stuff then i realized "what's the point?" My goal is just to lose weight and burn calories. So i always the "simple" feature. It just monitors how many calories I burned and HR and that's all i need to know really. This is what the software looks like(this one has GPS).

    yeah i was quoting BM's website for the ones that are specifically compatible with the bodymedia fit device. i figure... why am i going to pay just as much for a HRM when this works fine? it doesn't seem to add THAT much to my statistics. but that setup looks very nice. i guess you wear that all the time, too?

    and my subscription is only $6.95 a month and i'm only getting the first 3 mos free so i'm assuming they changed something. that's fine, though. $6.95 is a little better than $10. :)
  • FlannelMothman
    FlannelMothman Posts: 193 Member
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    Damn, OK.

    Then maybe you guys could help me. I thought an HRM would be something I check that displayed a number. Say, 667 cal burned since wearing. Maybe I press a button or something, but the information shows up on the device itself. I don't want to check a website for the information.

    Is there anything like that available? And available cost effectively?

    Also, it turns out what I'm looking for seems to come out this spring - The FitBit Flex. I have the FitBit Zip already, but I want something more. I guess I want the HRM though, as I'm unsure how accurate the Zip is as everyone and their dog on this site is touting the HRM as the most accurate way to know calories burned, and well, I want to be accurate.
  • shanmackie
    shanmackie Posts: 194 Member
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    you can get a HRM on amazon for relatively cheap w/ a chest strap - i bought one a while ago that was like $20 - that's good to wear during a single workout and get an idea of how much you're burning. an all-day device will be at least $100. if you have a fitbit i'd say that's plenty. bodymedia is very good but if you don't want to pay the $6.95 then stick with the fitbit.
  • FlannelMothman
    FlannelMothman Posts: 193 Member
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    Damn, OK.

    Then maybe you guys could help me. I thought an HRM would be something I check that displayed a number. Say, 667 cal burned since wearing. Maybe I press a button or something, but the information shows up on the device itself. I don't want to check a website for the information.

    Is there anything like that available? And available cost effectively?

    Also, it turns out what I'm looking for seems to come out this spring - The FitBit Flex. I have the FitBit Zip already, but I want something more. I guess I want the HRM though, as I'm unsure how accurate the Zip is as everyone and their dog on this site is touting the HRM as the most accurate way to know calories burned, and well, I want to be accurate.

    Sounds like you just want to spend money. You already have a fitbit. Just get a good HRM and call it a day.

    Trust me. That's the farthest from the truth. I could go ad nauseum about how wrong you are but I won't sidetrack.

    So yeah. An HRM is what I'm looking for (for all day wear, something more accurate than a FitBit). Any recommendations?
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
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    You don't have to have a subscription; if you don't want to pay the monthly fee you can buy the display device that gives real time calorie burn, minutes of moderate and vigorous exercise, and steps. I think it's around $50. You can also set it to show the number of calories burned during a workout.

    I have one, and believe me, seeing how many (or few) calories I've burned is a real motivator.
  • healthyJenn0915
    healthyJenn0915 Posts: 185
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    So is there a device you can wear all day that will tell you your total calories burned through out the day? Or is a HRM the best bet? I am wanting to get an accurate count on calories burned while working out but also would like to know total calories burned through out the day. The fit bit is just like a pedometer right? Doesn't actually tell your calories burned?
  • xsmilexforxmex
    xsmilexforxmex Posts: 1,216 Member
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    Check out Polar brand HRM's... I have the Polar FT4.. I use it in conjunction with my fit bit when I work out then leave it to my fit bit for the rest of the day. It doesnt automatically upload to any sites but I think some of the models do. Polar has a pretty good rep.
  • xsmilexforxmex
    xsmilexforxmex Posts: 1,216 Member
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    So is there a device you can wear all day that will tell you your total calories burned through out the day? Or is a HRM the best bet? I am wanting to get an accurate count on calories burned while working out but also would like to know total calories burned through out the day. The fit bit is just like a pedometer right? Doesn't actually tell your calories burned?

    Check out their website, the fit bit tells you a lot. I have the ultra, it tells me floors climbed, steps taken, calories burned, tracks sleep and food intake vs output, I also get a weekly e-mail of my stats for the week.
  • healthyJenn0915
    healthyJenn0915 Posts: 185
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    Ok Thank you. I will check out the polars and the fit bit!
    So is there a device you can wear all day that will tell you your total calories burned through out the day? Or is a HRM the best bet? I am wanting to get an accurate count on calories burned while working out but also would like to know total calories burned through out the day. The fit bit is just like a pedometer right? Doesn't actually tell your calories burned?

    Check out their website, the fit bit tells you a lot. I have the ultra, it tells me floors climbed, steps taken, calories burned, tracks sleep and food intake vs output, I also get a weekly e-mail of my stats for the week.
  • BaileyBoo13524
    BaileyBoo13524 Posts: 593 Member
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    I personally love my body media!
  • jelr
    jelr Posts: 98 Member
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    The gofitwear/bodybugg is an activity/calorie monitor. It logs your calories the entire time you wear it and can be worn all day/night but uses various methods besides heart rate to achieve this information. It also logs things like steps in a day, what times of the day you worked harder on a bar scale, what your average calorie burn is in a (short span of time, etc. A heart rate monitor tracks your heart rate and generally is not used as an all day calorie burn monitor. It is used to see your active heart rate and get an idea of calorie burn (not available on super basic ones though) and other during workout type statistics. I am not sure of many heart rate monitors that are for all day wear and use that track resting calories and all accurately I am sure you could use one as such but the most accurate ones are chest strap versions and I don't see that being comfortable all day much less the guaranteed accuracy of it in lower resting zones. People like heart rate monitors because like on a machine at the gym it shows you which target zone you are in to let you know if you are working hard enough or too hard or right where you want to be.
  • jaz050465
    jaz050465 Posts: 3,508 Member
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    HRM are for exercise. Not for all day use. Many people use Fitbit during the day and HRM for exercise. The BMF is for all day including exercise and is tested to be 95% accurate.
    I bought a used BMF from eBay to get accurate data to analyse. Then i'll sell it in (hopefully without losing much). It's much more accurate than Fitbit A three month subscription isn't much- especially considering that we get MFP free.

    Other things to look out for is the new Basis and out later- the Amiigo.

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