Suggest your heart rate monitor

sarahruizfitnessjourney
sarahruizfitnessjourney Posts: 192 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm thinking of finally getting a heart rate monitor for Christmas. I will do some research on which one will seem like the best one for me but was also looking to get some suggestions. I don't want to spend tons but don't want something cheap that won't work either. What's the one you use, why did you choose it and how much did it cost?

Replies

  • nicolen160
    nicolen160 Posts: 197 Member
    I am interested in this too, I have a cheaper one that has a watch and chest strap but sometimes I really wonder if it is right!?! I would love to have one that works with my phone instead of the watch. I only use mine during workouts and I don't want to have to wear something all the time so I am just not sure what to get. Any suggestions would be great!
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
    I first bought a $5 one where you hold your finger on the watch to see your heart rate...
    I've spend $5 on some pretty stupid things but this has to be the worst.

    I bought a Polar FT4 for $60 online (free shipping) and I love it. I bought it over a year ago and still use it all the time. It comes with a chest strap and a watch. You enter in all of your info, and when you start your workout you press start, and when you finish you press stop. It tells you the duration of your workout and calories burned. I'm sure it can tell you what your average HR was, what your max was, etc. but I'm only interested in calories burned. If you look at the watch while you're working out, it tells you what your current HR is.

    It's great for home workouts and running outside. Highly recommended!
  • gsager
    gsager Posts: 977 Member
    I have an FT4 too, love it. I just got a fitbit one and don't use my HRM as much as I did before. What kind of exercise do you do?
  • mollyb1018
    mollyb1018 Posts: 17
    Love my Polar F4! It's easy to use and motivating! :o)
  • lmissinsanity
    lmissinsanity Posts: 19
    I've got a Garmin fr60, got in mainly because it tracks how far I go when I trail run, but its a good hrm and I also use it when I do my insanity workouts.
  • hifi898
    hifi898 Posts: 54
    Echoing the Polar FT4 love. I got one a few weeks ago from Walgreens.com ($60 or so) and has made weight training and indoor gym cardio (treadmill, elliptical) so much easier to calculate calories burned. I wear a fitbit Flex all the time in addition to this, and have had it since June. Both are incredibly easy to use, and I tend to falter on the side of technical idiot most of the time....so I needed easy.

    And just to cover all ground, when I'm in the gym, I wear my HRM only. I leave the fitbit off because it's not going to pick up on stationary activities, like I usually do. I need to know how hard my body is working instead of how many steps/distance covered I've done. Every Sunday morning, I walk 4.5 miles around my hilly neighborhoods so I'll wear my HRM and have RunKeeper going. I compare cals burned between RunKeeper and my HRM, and verify everything syncs up in the end. Both are about 20 cals off from one another (RunKeeper is more). I don't wear fitbit because I'm not really concerned with steps taken. I know it calculates calories too, but I want the most accurate. I've been struggling with losing and I'm testing to see if it's because of overreporting exercise. I've already confirmed my food is on point, so...

    Hope this helps and happy HRM hunting!
  • ayalowich
    ayalowich Posts: 242 Member
    I have always used Polar's, and in June purchased the RCX 3 w/GPS. They have a new model (RCX5) so you can probaly get the 3 for about $200. I like the HRM and the calorie counter, along with the ability to upload my workouts and compare my results.

    Not a huge fan of the GPS. It is not nearly as precise as I demand and very frustrating. You can run the same segment back and forth 10 times and probably get 4 or 5 different distance measurements, sometimes being off by as much as 5%.

    Good luck.
    I'm thinking of finally getting a heart rate monitor for Christmas. I will do some research on which one will seem like the best one for me but was also looking to get some suggestions. I don't want to spend tons but don't want something cheap that won't work either. What's the one you use, why did you choose it and how much did it cost?
  • sarahruizfitnessjourney
    sarahruizfitnessjourney Posts: 192 Member
    Thank you for the suggestion. I will be looking into this one. Sounds like a great one for a great price and I'm mainly using it for home workouts and running outside so this sounds like it just might be a perfect fit.
    I first bought a $5 one where you hold your finger on the watch to see your heart rate...
    I've spend $5 on some pretty stupid things but this has to be the worst.

    I bought a Polar FT4 for $60 online (free shipping) and I love it. I bought it over a year ago and still use it all the time. It comes with a chest strap and a watch. You enter in all of your info, and when you start your workout you press start, and when you finish you press stop. It tells you the duration of your workout and calories burned. I'm sure it can tell you what your average HR was, what your max was, etc. but I'm only interested in calories burned. If you look at the watch while you're working out, it tells you what your current HR is.

    It's great for home workouts and running outside. Highly recommended!
  • sarahruizfitnessjourney
    sarahruizfitnessjourney Posts: 192 Member
    Sounds like a lot of people use and love the FT4. I mainly do running outside and workouts at home. I have done and completed Insanity, Jillian Michaels workouts etc...
    I have an FT4 too, love it. I just got a fitbit one and don't use my HRM as much as I did before. What kind of exercise do you do?
  • sarahruizfitnessjourney
    sarahruizfitnessjourney Posts: 192 Member
    Sounds like a lot of you have and love the Polar FT4. I will for sure be looking into this one. I am looking for something that is accurate, not to expensive and easy to use and it sounds like this one will work perfectly for what I'm looking for. I just do running outside and at home workouts including Insanity, Aslyum, Jillian Michaels DVDs, Bob Harper DVDs etc.... and other challenges I find along the way. Thanks for all your replies, I'm off to check out the Polar FT4. Going to check out Amazon first.
  • gsager
    gsager Posts: 977 Member
    Good deal, sounds like the one for you.
  • thedestar
    thedestar Posts: 1,275 Member
    I also have the Polar FT4. I've had it for over 2 years and I love it. No complaints. I had to replace the battery once but I just took it to a BatteryPlus store and it cost less than $10 to replace. I think I spent about $70 when I bought it. Good luck!
  • Lauren8239
    Lauren8239 Posts: 1,039 Member
    I originally bought a Sportsline wrist heart rate monitor.......wasn't sure if it was accurate. So I bought a Polar F7 - wore both and they were the same calorie burn etc. I just prefer the Polar cause it gives me more info and it's a prettier colour lol
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Anything from Polar, Suunto, or garmin will be good. Just find the one that suits your needs best.
  • shopperdisguise
    shopperdisguise Posts: 14 Member
    Don't shoot me, I am a novice to heart rate monitors. So my question is, I see you mention a chest strap. Does it have to be worn during exercise? Also, does it fit one with ahem *large* chests? This may be a problem for me.

    Thanks for the help!
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Don't shoot me, I am a novice to heart rate monitors. So my question is, I see you mention a chest strap. Does it have to be worn during exercise? Also, does it fit one with ahem *large* chests? This may be a problem for me.

    Thanks for the help!

    Yes and yes.

    And no, it shouldn't be a problem.
  • kristy6ward
    kristy6ward Posts: 332 Member
    I have a Polar FT60, and have been using it for almost two years. I got it from bodytronics .com during a sale. Look around for promo codes. I chose this one over the ft4 or ft7 because of the built in fitness test and training program.

    The chest strap is meant to be worn while use.. it is what picks up your heart rate. The watch must be worn as well.. it picks up the signal from the chest strap and records all the information. The strap is adjustable and elastic, you should have no problems with it.


    If I had to do it all over again.. I probably would have invested in a device that was both a HRM and GPS tracker. I discovered a love of running and need the gps to track my training runs. I now have to wear two devices, the FT60 and a Garmin Forerunner 10. My dream device would be the Garmin forerunner 610. Oh well.
  • shopperdisguise
    shopperdisguise Posts: 14 Member
    Thank you so much for your replies, kristy and jackson. Very helpful info. I can see I am going to need to invest in one of these soon.
  • TXBlonde81
    TXBlonde81 Posts: 78 Member
    I bought the Polar H7 Bluetooth Smart Heart Rate Sensor from Amazon earlier this year. It is running about $60 right now. I like that it syncs up with most of the cardio machines at the gym and it is easy to use with my iPhone. I use the Digifit app and the Polar app to watch my heart rate and sync up with MFP and Fitbit.

    For the person asking about larger chests, I fall into that category and I haven't had any issues. I wear it on my ribcage right below my sports bra.
  • w292737
    w292737 Posts: 25
    I bought the Polar H7 Bluetooth Smart Heart Rate Sensor from Amazon earlier this year. It is running about $60 right now. I like that it syncs up with most of the cardio machines at the gym and it is easy to use with my iPhone. I use the Digifit app and the Polar app to watch my heart rate and sync up with MFP and Fitbit.

    For the person asking about larger chests, I fall into that category and I haven't had any issues. I wear it on my ribcage right below my sports bra.

    thank you for posting that. I wa goign to ask if the polar worked with syncing to an iphone :)
  • sandytoshiko
    sandytoshiko Posts: 67 Member
    I have a Nike plus sports watch and bought the polar HRM for it. I love it. Pricey but I love that my runs are records and mapped out on line. This is a watch ($157), HRM ($40 on amazon). It will track your run pace or bike speed and also keeps track of location via GPS and with HRM strap (sold separately).
  • stitchvalkyrie
    stitchvalkyrie Posts: 51
    Call me crazy, but theres an app on the windows phone called "Heart Rate" and ... it seems accurate? Ok not while you are exercising, but I can check it when im sitting down, and say 5 minutes after exercise, and the results are always consistant. What do people think of this just as a little thing to have to check your average heart rate now and then?

    I too have a Nike SportsWatch and love it, I also have a Nike FuelBand (you'd think im in love with nike, but truth be told I didn't have any of these gadgets a month ago.. I bought the watch to help me run, then the nike Kinect game for at home - great fun, and now the fuel band to encourage me!) they are all really good and help motivate me to run and exercise. I would get the heart rate monitor that goes with the watch but cant really afford it at the moment, and doesn't it hurt your chest? I think years ago I bought a cheap ole' one from a shop and but it just under my bra and it felt tight to run in? Like I couldn't get enough air lol

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