Heart Rate Monitor

mrob04
mrob04 Posts: 88 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey ya'll!!!
Im thinking of buying a heart rate monitor. What should I look for in one? Which ones are the best?
Thanks! :flowerforyou: :smile:

Replies

  • Finding_Freedom
    Finding_Freedom Posts: 34
    Hi there,
    I bought a polar ft 4 and I LOVE it. It tracks calories, heart rate high, low, and the time spent in the target zone. It is wonderful and super reliable.
  • austinmclark
    austinmclark Posts: 40 Member
    I have the Polar FT 7 and it is amazing! I highly recommend it.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    A great blog post about buying a HRM
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472
  • UrbanLotus
    UrbanLotus Posts: 1,163 Member
    I have a Polar FT4 too, love!
  • dewsmom78
    dewsmom78 Posts: 498 Member
    Polar FT4. $70 on Amazon.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    What do you want it to do?
  • sandviper888
    sandviper888 Posts: 10 Member
    Polar FT4. $70 on Amazon.

    is this better than the FITBIT ONE?
  • dewsmom78
    dewsmom78 Posts: 498 Member
    Polar FT4. $70 on Amazon.

    is this better than the FITBIT ONE?

    The FITBIT you wear 24hrs a day. I guess you clip it to your bra or something. I don't know enought about it. I personally only want to know my calories burned during exercise which is why I got the Polar. You can figure our your TDEE online, so to me the FITBIT isn't worth getting. But I could be wrong.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Polar FT4. $70 on Amazon.

    is this better than the FITBIT ONE?

    2 completely different purposes
  • lulu3561
    lulu3561 Posts: 85 Member
    I have the Polar FT60 LOVE IT!
  • ironmonkeystyle
    ironmonkeystyle Posts: 834 Member
    you're welcome:
    http://www.dcrainmaker.com/
  • rassha01
    rassha01 Posts: 534 Member
    Zephyr HRM BT, if you carry your phone during workouts it works awesome with Endomondo.
  • brittgabhew
    brittgabhew Posts: 3
    I have the Polar FT40. I bought it on sale through Heart Rate Monitors USA. At the time it was on sale for the same price as the Polar FT7. I absolutely love it, and wear it all the time when I workout. Prior to purchasing my HRM, I would use MFP or the gym machines to calculate my calories. The calorie comparison has been very different. For example: I would log one exercise after using the Elliptical at the gym and it said I burned 600 calories. According to my HRM I really burned 702. That's a pretty big difference. I also like to use it running and MFP would usually say I burned around 400-500 Calories. However, it did not take into account the hills or change in pace, so I actually ended up burning around 650 to 700. I love it, has made my workouts much more accurate and rewarding. I'll glance at my watch and notice my calorie burn is currently 480, and I'll be motivated to keep going until I hit 500. It's great.

    MFP does not have a Polar app attached to it, so when I finish my workout I go to My Exercises, Create New and file it like this: 4.23.13 Abs & Elliptical and do calories, time etc.

    Hope this helps! :)
  • Meaganandcheese
    Meaganandcheese Posts: 525 Member
    LOVE my Polar FT4! It's my second Polar and they are awesome.
  • NutellaAddict
    NutellaAddict Posts: 1,258 Member
    Polar FT4
  • AllergicToExercise
    AllergicToExercise Posts: 436 Member
    I also have the Polar FT4 and think it's great. Very easy to use and compared to some other HRMs not too bad on price either.
  • mcg6242
    mcg6242 Posts: 84
    Polar FT4 I love mine, not to complicated and does everything I need it to do.I got it off Amazon.com :wink:
  • FuzzyDicePHL
    FuzzyDicePHL Posts: 51 Member
    Polar is a very popular brand, but I prefer a bluetooth HRM where I don't have to wear a chest strap AND a receiver. I will always have my phone with me when I workout anyway (for music) so I like being able to track my heart rate with an app, rather than have to wear a tacky plastic watch. I had a Polar F6 (iirc) for about a year and it worked okay but I could never get the audio transfer function to work (the modem sound) so I never had the data to look at metrics. Then the chest strap's battery died and the only option was to replace it.

    Now I have the Wahoo Fitness Blue HR and I *love* it. It's a low-power bluetooth device with an easily-replaceable battery. The app that goes with it is great, very reliable and can upload workout data to Dropbox so you can scrunch numbers to your heart's content.

    Good luck with your purchase!
  • kokalvt
    kokalvt Posts: 143
    Polar FT4...LOVE IT and never going back!
  • Nacho12
    Nacho12 Posts: 155 Member
    I have the Polar F6. It tracks your heart rate, keeping in your zone and how many calories you burn during a workout. I love it and hate it when I forget to put it on. When I am in a spinning class, I keep trying to work a little harder to get the heart rate up and to see how many calories I can burn. I bought mine 3 or 4 years ago on Amazon.com for around $70.00.
  • jaygreen55
    jaygreen55 Posts: 315 Member
    A great blog post about buying a HRM
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

    This is a great post. Everyone who owns or wants to get an HRM should read it
  • Run4Me2Day
    Run4Me2Day Posts: 344 Member
    Hi there,
    I bought a polar ft 4 and I LOVE it. It tracks calories, heart rate high, low, and the time spent in the target zone. It is wonderful and super reliable.

    I also have a FT4 and LOVE IT! Same as above.....really helps keep me in check.
  • HoneyCashew
    HoneyCashew Posts: 23
    Bump and Thanks!
  • mrob04
    mrob04 Posts: 88 Member
    What do you want it to do?

    Well heres the thing.... I used to do just cardio and liked it ok but decided to try lifting weights and I really like it but I am unsure of the calories that I would burn while lifiting. So I was thinking wearing a HRM it would show me what I burned and if I needed to do more. Even tho my acct with MFP is old Ive done the typical on again off again with exercise and eating right & have just recently recommited to a healtier lifestyle. With that being said I am relatively new to exercise and need lots of help and advice! LOL!!!!

    Lots and lots of ppl are speaking highly of the polar ft 4. I may end up goin with that.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    What do you want it to do?

    Well heres the thing.... I used to do just cardio and liked it ok but decided to try lifting weights and I really like it but I am unsure of the calories that I would burn while lifiting. So I was thinking wearing a HRM it would show me what I burned and if I needed to do more. Even tho my acct with MFP is old Ive done the typical on again off again with exercise and eating right & have just recently recommited to a healtier lifestyle. With that being said I am relatively new to exercise and need lots of help and advice! LOL!!!!

    Lots and lots of ppl are speaking highly of the polar ft 4. I may end up goin with that.

    HRMs are not designed to give calorie estimates for weight lifting. It will give you an estimate but it will just be a random number. Usually I see quite high estimates. The article i linked above explains it.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    What do you want it to do?

    Well heres the thing.... I used to do just cardio and liked it ok but decided to try lifting weights and I really like it but I am unsure of the calories that I would burn while lifiting. So I was thinking wearing a HRM it would show me what I burned and if I needed to do more. Even tho my acct with MFP is old Ive done the typical on again off again with exercise and eating right & have just recently recommited to a healtier lifestyle. With that being said I am relatively new to exercise and need lots of help and advice! LOL!!!!

    Lots and lots of ppl are speaking highly of the polar ft 4. I may end up goin with that.

    HRMs are not designed to give calorie estimates for weight lifting. It will give you an estimate but it will just be a random number. Usually I see quite high estimates. The article i linked above explains it.

    Agreed. HRMs are not designed to be used with strength training. They are meant for steady state cardio. Lifting is neither steady state nor cardio.
  • dewsmom78
    dewsmom78 Posts: 498 Member
    What do you want it to do?

    Well heres the thing.... I used to do just cardio and liked it ok but decided to try lifting weights and I really like it but I am unsure of the calories that I would burn while lifiting. So I was thinking wearing a HRM it would show me what I burned and if I needed to do more. Even tho my acct with MFP is old Ive done the typical on again off again with exercise and eating right & have just recently recommited to a healtier lifestyle. With that being said I am relatively new to exercise and need lots of help and advice! LOL!!!!

    Lots and lots of ppl are speaking highly of the polar ft 4. I may end up goin with that.

    HRMs are not designed to give calorie estimates for weight lifting. It will give you an estimate but it will just be a random number. Usually I see quite high estimates. The article i linked above explains it.

    Agreed. HRMs are not designed to be used with strength training. They are meant for steady state cardio. Lifting is neither steady state nor cardio.

    I use mine to do JM's Body Revolution which is a mix of strength training and cardio. The HRM's measure your heart rate and base calories burned on that. So I agree, only doing weight training - although very essential to fat loss, your HRM wont' be as useful.
  • bobbietaylor733
    bobbietaylor733 Posts: 34
    I also have the FT4 and LOVE it!

    BUT, does anyone know how to shut off the annoying beeping when your not in your target zone...it drives me CRAZY when I`m cooling down and using weights sometimes.... plus it drives my dog crazy when I walk him, he`s always looking to see where that beeping noise is coming from LOL.
  • harric88
    harric88 Posts: 82 Member
    POLAR FT7 - I love it :) I used to swim quite a lot so that was why I chose this one - Worth every penny.
  • mrob04
    mrob04 Posts: 88 Member
    What do you want it to do?

    Well heres the thing.... I used to do just cardio and liked it ok but decided to try lifting weights and I really like it but I am unsure of the calories that I would burn while lifiting. So I was thinking wearing a HRM it would show me what I burned and if I needed to do more. Even tho my acct with MFP is old Ive done the typical on again off again with exercise and eating right & have just recently recommited to a healtier lifestyle. With that being said I am relatively new to exercise and need lots of help and advice! LOL!!!!

    Lots and lots of ppl are speaking highly of the polar ft 4. I may end up goin with that.

    HRMs are not designed to give calorie estimates for weight lifting. It will give you an estimate but it will just be a random number. Usually I see quite high estimates. The article i linked above explains it.

    Agreed. HRMs are not designed to be used with strength training. They are meant for steady state cardio. Lifting is neither steady state nor cardio.



    I did not realize that. Thank you. So in yalls opinion if I do strength training how do I calculate calories burned? Is it necessary that I do so (hopefully thats not a dumb question cuz it kinda sounds like one!)? I am still doing C25K so will probably still purchase a HRM for that reason.

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