HRM....Chest strap or watch?

nichi123
nichi123 Posts: 244
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone!

I always log my calories burned just through MFP. However, after reading other posts I have decided that I would probably benefit form getting a HRM. For those of you that have them, could you please tell me what the pro's would be and which ones are best. Do the cheaper ones work just as good? Would a chest strap be better than a wrist one (although I THINK I know the answer to this!) I can't afford anything majorly expensive! Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Replies

  • Jill147
    Jill147 Posts: 5 Member
    LOVE my polar hrm. Chest strap AND watch work best. Mine has helped me tons and I don't workout (or swim) without it! Look on ebay if you want to find one cheaper. Polar has a lot of different ones some cheaper and some more expensive. The more you want it to do the more it costs. I bought one that was top of the line and cost about $200 but I have gotten so much use out of it its worth it!
  • nichi123
    nichi123 Posts: 244
    LOVE my polar hrm. Chest strap AND watch work best. Mine has helped me tons and I don't workout (or swim) without it! Look on ebay if you want to find one cheaper. Polar has a lot of different ones some cheaper and some more expensive. The more you want it to do the more it costs. I bought one that was top of the line and cost about $200 but I have gotten so much use out of it its worth it!
    This is great, thanks!
  • cmurphy252
    cmurphy252 Posts: 279 Member
    I also purchased my Polar FT7 from Ebay and paid $60.00 (chest strap and watch). I dont really know about ALL of the features of my watch (apart from tracking calories burned and heart rate), because the only thing I was concerned about was tracking my cals burned based upon my age, gender, sex and weight. The strap is VERY comfortable and adjustable.

    I'm glad I made the purchase. If you dont need all of the bells and whistles, then I'd propose purchasing from the lower end of the cost spectrum.
  • lcyfrn
    lcyfrn Posts: 121 Member
    I have a polar watch that comes with a chest strap. I wear them together for an accurate reading :) I paid £50 for it on amazon :)
  • MzManiak
    MzManiak Posts: 1,361 Member
    Of course one that comes with a chest strap would be best.... but I couldn't afford to shell out for one! I already bought a Fitbit. I just bought a watch HRM to use. It seems pretty accurate. The only thing is that it takes a few seconds to get a reading on my pulse sometimes and if I have to actually stop to take it, it defeats the purpose because then my heart rate drops a bit and I have to work to get it back up. That usually only happens when I'm running though. For things like Jillian Michaels videos, I don't have a problem.
  • acollis1
    acollis1 Posts: 167 Member
    I have a Polar FT4, love it! was $65 on amazon. It has a chest strap and a watch you wear together, the chest strap is sooo comfy you don't even know you are wearing it! Turns out I actually burn more calories during my workout than MFP says. Before the HRM I never ate back my calories, I still try not too but I feel better knowing I really earned them if I do!
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    If there's no chest strap it's not worth buying.

    The models that use "on demand" monitoring (ie periodically touching the unit to record heart rate) may be useful for tracking heart rate but nothing else.

    Having said that try to find a model that gives you your net calories expended as many of them will estimate gross calories burned which could, effectively, have you inadvertently double counting BMR (which you would be expending lying in bed....)
  • lunamare
    lunamare Posts: 569 Member
    Definitely a chest strap. Most people love the Polar ones. I have a Timex with a chest strap, I like the look better but it calculates calories burned for a guy :/ I have to plug the values into a calculator to get how many calories I really burned. It's an extra step but the watch only cost $25 so I won't complain. When it dies, I'll see what's out there.
  • MyaPapaya75
    MyaPapaya75 Posts: 3,143 Member
    Polar Ft7..chest strap/watch.....love it I believe I have had it for a couple of years now with no battery replacement yet...70 bucks on amazon...worth every penny and to be honest I would have paid 3 times as much because of the durability
  • JacMarieSTL
    JacMarieSTL Posts: 68 Member
    I have a Polar FT4, love it! was $65 on amazon. It has a chest strap and a watch you wear together, the chest strap is sooo comfy you don't even know you are wearing it! Turns out I actually burn more calories during my workout than MFP says. Before the HRM I never ate back my calories, I still try not too but I feel better knowing I really earned them if I do!

    THIS!!!! :smile: Me too!!! I've had my Polar FT4 for about 2 years now. Its my 2nd one in 6 years. My first Polar only lasted about 3 1/2 years.. But I work out 6 days a week... I got my $100.00 worth!!!

    There's no way I'd ever work out without a heart rate monitor again!!!
  • _Moose51_
    _Moose51_ Posts: 86
    I have a Polar FT4 and it works great, not real expensive either.
  • tomomatic
    tomomatic Posts: 1,794 Member
    Chest strap for sure.

    Are you planning on wearing your phone while you're using your HRM? There's some that work with Bluetooth so you can connect it with your smart phone. I believe it will work with your phone's GPS.
  • Singelli
    Singelli Posts: 40 Member
    The funny thing is that I made the exact same decision today and was going to post the exact same question... but I didn't want to seem dumb. XD

    I did some looking on amazon, and there were some models between $30 and $40. For all you pros, will those work just fine? I certainly can't afford much more...
  • Nishi2013
    Nishi2013 Posts: 210 Member
    I have a Polar FT4, love it! was $65 on amazon. It has a chest strap and a watch you wear together, the chest strap is sooo comfy you don't even know you are wearing it! Turns out I actually burn more calories during my workout than MFP says. Before the HRM I never ate back my calories, I still try not too but I feel better knowing I really earned them if I do!

    THIS!!!! :smile: Me too!!! I've had my Polar FT4 for about 2 years now. Its my 2nd one in 6 years. My first Polar only lasted about 3 1/2 years.. But I work out 6 days a week... I got my $100.00 worth!!!

    There's no way I'd ever work out without a heart rate monitor again!!!

    This. I have had mine for 7 months. Works well and does what its supposed to.
  • hottiewannabe
    hottiewannabe Posts: 92 Member
    I love my Polar FT7! It has the chest strap and watch and I don't work out without it! I found that the totals on MFP were a little higher than what I burned, so I really believe it's way more accurate.
  • mariposa224
    mariposa224 Posts: 1,241 Member
    FT4 here as well. I've had it a bit over a year and I love it. Never work out without it! I've had to replace the battery in the watch & the Wearlink transmitter (which snaps onto the chest strap), but not until after I'd had it a year. The batteries aren't expensive, either. It was definitely worth every penny I paid for it.
  • MommaKit79
    MommaKit79 Posts: 852
    I have a Sportline Cardio that I bought through AMAZON for like $40...I LOVE IT!!! It has a watch AND chest strap. The only problem I have had is recently because I started wearing gloves because my bands were hurting my hands. So, I have to be careful with the gloves stopping it. BUT, I am going to work with it because I LOVE it!! It is so much easier then guesstimating through MFP!!
  • got2befitnow
    got2befitnow Posts: 108 Member
    I have a Polar FT4. Just bought it a couple of weeks ago on clearance ($97 CDN). It has a chest strap and watch. I was a bit skeptical on the chest strap, but you don't even realize that you're wearing it, so no worries. It is definitely a good thing to have when you're counting calories. MFP always over-estimated the calories I was burning, so it wasn't a pleasant surprise when I found out what I really was burning, but it's good to know the truth!
  • nichi123
    nichi123 Posts: 244
    Thank you all so much! You've helped me greatly!!! :-D
  • pfgaytriot
    pfgaytriot Posts: 238 Member
    I have a Polar FT4 and love it, but I'm looking into getting a bluetooth chest strap to use with the Map My Fitness. I have a few friends that use it and they enjoy it. It's only $50 and includes a year's subscription to the MVP membership. I've noticed a lot of HRMs on Woot.com and on Groupon. If you get one off of one of those sites be sure to read the fine print and make sure it has a strap. Would also be best if you did a little research to find the reviews on the ones they may have listed.

    SN: Everyone I've ever known to have a strapless HRM said it was the most frustrating device they've ever owned and usually stopped using it only after a few uses.
  • peeaanuut
    peeaanuut Posts: 359 Member
    I have the H7 which is bluetooth and I love it! Downside is that now that I am swimming I cannot use it. Oh well, I can always steal the wifes.
  • MissTattoo
    MissTattoo Posts: 1,203 Member
    I have the Polar Ft4 and love it. MFP was over calculating all of my worksouts by 400-600 calories! That's a huge difference!
  • Cyclingbonnie
    Cyclingbonnie Posts: 413 Member
    I love my polar ... chest strap with watch for read out. I'm not sure my model, but I've had it for about 3 years and it works great. I paid about $65 for mine. It was a special at the gym I was a member of at the time. I think retail was about $100.
  • Chasem1984
    Chasem1984 Posts: 10
    Go with the watch and chest strap combo for sure.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    You need the chest strap if you want it to be remotely accurate.
  • Gismos
    Gismos Posts: 15
    The funny thing is that I made the exact same decision today and was going to post the exact same question... but I didn't want to seem dumb. XD

    I did some looking on amazon, and there were some models between $30 and $40. For all you pros, will those work just fine? I certainly can't afford much more...

    I used an Omron HR-100C and it worked for me (~$30 on Amazon). It is pretty basic but had alarms for too high and too low of a HR. It doesn't calculate calories burned but I just wanted to make sure I didn't die while doing Insanity. It is still working about a year later so I got my money worth.
  • honeysprinkles
    honeysprinkles Posts: 1,757 Member
    Definitely get one that has a watch and a chest strap. I use a polar ft4 and you can get them for pretty decent prices!
  • kali31337
    kali31337 Posts: 1,048 Member
    I have a Polar Ft60 with a chest strap for normal activities and a water proof strap for swimming. I love mine more than I can say!
  • Lmns218
    Lmns218 Posts: 155
    What everyone else said lol

    I have a Polar FT4 (?) with a watch and chest strap...come to find out, I was burning LESS than what MFP said I was doing a certain exercise. Well, I couldn't find what I was doing on MFP so I tried to look for the closest thing....so I am glad I invested in it. It costs me about $65 on amazon.com and because I spent over $25, shipping as free
  • rhapsodygirl
    rhapsodygirl Posts: 23
    I have a Polar7 and I LOVE it! The chest strap is very comfortable. I highly recommend it.

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