HRM?

The Polar FT4 is a good basic model with a good reputation.

I have a Polar FT4, I got it last week and it's great! It is pretty basic. Since having my HRM I work harder just so I can see the numbers and it helps me stay on track. The cals for exercise on MFP were way off for me.

LOVE my Polar ft4

i got the polar FT4 last week. the grey one. i love it. it records your last 15 workouts. with dates and all. it tell u when your in the zone according to your heartbeat. how long your workouts are and how long u were in the fat burning zone to burn fat....i love to put it there n work out. then n the end look at my cals n see how much i burned. it has a pause button if i need to go to the restroom or something. they come in different colors.
it makes me work harder..i love to see the cals add up. or work to keep me in the zone.....the reward is the outcome of the cals i burn.
i do work harder since i bought mine last week. and it has paid cus i lost 2 pounds since i bought it.

I have a Polar Wearlink+. I got this specifically because it is compatible with my phone and the apps i use. HOWEVER, with the apps I use it DOES NOT specifically measure or track "calories burned" which I prefer, because I prefer to use several different calculators to determine that since I don't know what formulas the auto track ones are using.

What I use mine for is to track and modify heart rate during exercise. I was going pedal to the floor and feeling pretty iffy and found out after I got my HRM that I was working out entirely too close to my max heart rate.

posted this on another thread too.
thought i would share my experience with my garmin forerunner 110 my awesome wife got me for christmas.
what it does- gps HRM, stop watch, time, distance, avg pace/lap, calories after you download it to the connect site.
what i like - all the stuff i mentioned above. i like when running or walking knowing my pace and HR and know what the exact distance is(*see below) and can change my route mid run if i decide to go farther. then when you download it from the watch to the online site it maps it, like in google maps, so you can get a view of what you did and can think about how to modify or save it as a course. shows all your stats, pace, laps, actual moving time, avg HR, the whole works. the strap doesn't bother me, no chaffing or irritation. even when i do my circuit routine and lay down to do abs. can use indoors whe it is freezing out. it will still do stopwatch function and HRM just no GPS, obviously.

downsides- doesn't mean i don't like. just stuff to consider. battery. i have read a lot of reviews about battery issues. garmins don't have a regular battery you can change. i have only had it couple months so no issues. it has gone a week or more with out charging and still had half a battery left. i don't do marathons, the farthest i have gone with it is 4-5 miles total. about 45 mins so battery was fine. the thing that drains it is GPS. most of the day it sits or can wear as a watch. if the battery dies i will cross that bridge then. cost - my wife got a great deal. i would not have bought it myself because of cost, but fortunately i have an awesome wife who did. i prob would have went the fitbit or polar route. is it worth it, right now i say yes, ask me in a year. also- doesn't sync with anything. like your phone or mfp or anything, except garmin.

i have not tried out their training programs so i can't comment on that, yet.

*sidebar from above. it has on a couple occasions when i started running as soon as it synced GPS started me in the wrong location and had me running directly through the downtown buildings. in other words throwing off my first mile distance and pace. so now i make sure to walk at least a few hundred yds just to make sure it is on and then hit lap and start running.

Zephyr HxM bluetooth with my phone. Very comfortable chest strap & you get your choice of fitness apps.

Thanks everybody! I've been reading about them before deciding if I want to buy. I like the idea of knowing more accurately how much I'm burning.

Does the chest strap bother you? Seems like it would be uncomfortable or weird to get used to. And does it stay in place? I do a lot of Zumba and kickboxing.

I have a Garmin 610 which is fabulous but quite pricey. The chest strap doesn't bother me at all. In fact, yesterday I wore it roller skating and then later went out for dinner with friends and when I got back home and went to change I was very surprised to see that I had been wearing the chest strap all day without even realising.

I purchased an Polar FT7 after doing some research on this site and on the net. OMG wish I bought one of these a long long time ago. It makes you work just that little bit harder. It counts your calories (MFP exercise calories was way out) and is so simple to use. It also saves upto 99 of your workouts.

Fantastic tool.

I have a Timex HRM, and like it. It is pretty basic, and I like the fact that both the watch and the chest strap have batteries I can change myself. I dont notice the chest strap once it is on. I would suggest you wet your fingers under a tap and run it across the inside of the strap before putting it on, as that helps it adhere better to your skin. I wear it for both cardio and strength workouts with a trainer, and it doesnt shift at all.

might want to scope out http://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-reviews he's quite thorough and was invaluable to me when I was making my decision. Really helped a lot, and he's very even-handed towards the different products.

I picked up an FT4 at Sears this week for $45 because they consider the Janurary fitness season over already in sales. (No more post-New Year's purchases).

So far I like in in general, and the chest strap has been quite comfortable. However, being a gadget geek, there's are a lot of extras I wish it had. For one I'd like the ability to keep a detailed track over time so I could see how my bpms change with intensity, for another I'd like to have multiple zones preset so I could easily switch between burn, fitness, and aerobic on the fly. (Track over time would help here too since I could see how long I was in each zone after the fact).

The FT7 has two preset zones and the ability to upload the overall results (using a $45 extra gadget) to a computer but it doesn't keep the track over time either. For that you have to get one with a triple digit price.

might want to scope out http://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-reviews he's quite thorough and was invaluable to me when I was making my decision. Really helped a lot, and he's very even-handed towards the different products.

X2, and he has a discount code for clever training so you get 10% off.