heart rate monitors?

I could rave about my heart rate monitor all day.

Instead of looking around for a cheap one, I'd save your pennies and wait until you can get a decent one. You get what you pay for.

I've had the Polar FT4 for almost a year now and I have ZERO complaints. If you've researched HRMs at all, I'm sure you've read about the chest strap. DON'T SKIMP AND BUY ONE WITHOUT THE CHEST STRAP. Accuracy is important. The FT4 is pretty basic and doesn't have a ton of bells and whistles, but it does exactly what I need it to do - Calculate my calorie burns during a run, group exercise class, etc. You can input your age, weight, height, sex, etc, and you can update it as your numbers change. You can pause it between exercise. There's a back light if you're working out in the dark. A cake with candles pops up on your birthday (which surprised me and made my day). It also displays the time, how long you've been working out (minutes and seconds), and some random charts showing your total calories burned.

The more I run, the more I wish my HRM was a little more techy. Maybe a GPS watch that calculated pace and distance, etc. But for now, the FT4 is perfect. Plus, it's pink...

Hope this helps I bought mine on Amazon for $75 with free shipping. Keep your eyes peeled. I know some people who have purchased them for less.

I just bought the FT4 on Amazon last week for $62. I second everything Brittany said. I bought it after constantly seeing it recommended here on the forums and it was worth every penny!

I bought a nice cheap one, from Sportline, got it at Walmart for only 28bucks
works fine.

Ok, so I have been comparison shopping also, this morning (shhhhh! I'm supposed to be writing policies) and the chest strap kind of stresses me out. My girls are big, and I keep reading where the strap goes under the sports bra band, and mind always rides up. Is this a valid concern or does b00b size not matter?

Ok, so I have been comparison shopping also, this morning (shhhhh! I'm supposed to be writing policies) and the chest strap kind of stresses me out. My girls are big, and I keep reading where the strap goes under the sports bra band, and mind always rides up. Is this a valid concern or does b00b size not matter?

doesn't bother me at all.

doesn't bother me at all.

Thank you!

Where can you get just the stress strap?

Ok, so I have been comparison shopping also, this morning (shhhhh! I'm supposed to be writing policies) and the chest strap kind of stresses me out. My girls are big, and I keep reading where the strap goes under the sports bra band, and mind always rides up. Is this a valid concern or does b00b size not matter?

ok, if your bra is riding up, that's a sports bra issue. there have been a couple really good threads about decent bras for us larger girls. I'm a fan of the extreme impact Champion one, Enell and a few other companies make decent ones too - take proper measurements and invest in a decent and well fitting bra (double up on the old ones if that helps while you wait for it to ship from Amazon). The Girls will thank you for it.

But you need a chest strap to accurately measure HR during a workout - the "touch" sensors only work when you're actually touching them, so you have to stop your activity and won't get a constant read. They're just a fancy (expensive) way of sticking your fingers on your neck and counting to a stop watch. It will get you what it gets you, but I don't recommend it at all (putting fingers on your neck is free!).

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-comparison-calculator (and his reviews) are an awesome place to investigate the options.

Thank you! :flowerforyou:

I know the bra ride up is bra issue, but I want to make sure that between that and the "girls" a chest strap isn't going to be a problem.

I have a cheapy wrist HRM that I used a couple summers ago, and hated it for the very reason that you mentioned above..stop, touch, resume. And mine didn't give me a calorie count...Which is why I want to get a nice one with a chest strap. I had to ask because NOTHING ever really fits the way it's supposed to.

The ideal HRM solution for me has been the Zephyr. It's a Bluetooth HRM that communicates with my Android phone via the Endomondo app. I paid $75 for the Zephyr on Amazon.

I used to have an iPod attached to one arm and a dedicated HRM strapped to the other. And when cycling, I'd also have a GPS on my bike. Now with this setup, everything is combined, contained and controlled with my phone.

Endomondo Pro, coupled with the Zephyr HRM, is easily the most effective (results and cost) training tool I've ever used. And it's a very nice bonus that MFP and Endomondo share data. All of my workout calorie burns are automatically uploaded to MFP which is very convenient. Endomondo utilizes the phone's GPS capabilities to track all workouts. In addition to your heart rate, you can track your speed, lap times, elevations changes, calories burned, steps taken (yes, it has a pedometer), pace and more. And all of this data is displayed in big, beautiful, living color on your phone's screen. A very nice upgrade over the tiny displays on dedicated HRMs.

The latest release of Endomondo has greatly expanded the audio coaching capabilities of the app. You can now customize the app to provide exactly the information you would like to hear as you workout. It will tell you your heart rate, speed, pace, calories burned, elapsed time, etc. at whatever intervals you choose. This is very handy for me because my primary cardio in the winter is cross country skiing, and my arms are heavily involved in each workout. It's very nice to have all the vital information spoken in my headphones. I never have to stop my arm swing to see my heart rate or other data.

All of your workout data is maintained in history files on your phone, and it's also automatically uploaded to the Endomondo website where you can analyze your workouts in much greater depth. Unfortunately, Endomondo recently locked out some of the analytical features on the free version of the website application, forcing you to buy a monthly subscription to get the full suite of tools. I use the paid version because I'm an analytical geek who scutinizes every workout to find clues for ways to improve my speed, fitness, etc.

This combination of tools has been key in helping me dramatically improve fitness markers such as resting heart rate, recovery heart rate, lactate threshold, blood pressure, etc. I can't imagine every going back to a dedicated HRM.

I have the FT4 for 3 weeks now and love it! I put it just below my sports bra strap and it works just great.