Heart rate monitors... Help needed

JewelleryByMandy
JewelleryByMandy Posts: 43 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm looking into getting one but getting confused the more I look into it!
There are watches I've seen that monitor heart rate and calories burned.
Do these work on their own or do I need a chest strap thing aswell? Why would I need both?
Don't want to spend much either, about £20 or so.

Cheers

Replies

  • rolemodel69
    rolemodel69 Posts: 365
    There are models which require a chest strap and others models who don't. I prefer the models with the chest strap as they usually are more accurate. The chest strap usually comes with the watche
  • chard_muncher
    chard_muncher Posts: 75 Member
    I'd go for a chest-strap model, they're supposed to be better at picking up your heart beat. Also, I have heard that the chest strap is comfortable for women to wear (if that's an issue you were thinking about). Personally I use a timex ironman heart rate monitor. It's comfortable and works well enough.

    The chest strap model will come with a watch, which is how your heart rate is displayed to you (the watch doesn't do anything to detect your heart beat). It's different from the watch-only versions, which attempt to pick up your heart beat from your wrist instead of your chest. Most monitors will also give you some additional information like average/max heart rate for your workout, workout time, etc... Some fancy ones allow you to download the data to your computer and display it in a graph.
  • JewelleryByMandy
    JewelleryByMandy Posts: 43 Member
    Thanks good people!!
  • gspea
    gspea Posts: 412 Member
    I bought the Wahoo HRM chest strap and have the app on my iPhone. The HRM will also connect with endomondo (another app I used prior to downloading the Wahoo app). I like it. Only thing you have to remember is to close the Wahoo app as it will continue to look for the HRM even if you aren't using it.
  • sarajeanelles
    sarajeanelles Posts: 55 Member
    The watch reads out the data from the chest strap if you get that type of HRM. The ones with the chest strap are more accurate but are also a little more pricy. I have the women's Polar FT4 and I love it. I got it on Amazon for about $65. It gives an accurate calorie and heart rate read out and I would recommend it.

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