Garmin HRM vs. Polar HRM

BigVeggieDream
BigVeggieDream Posts: 1,101 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I see many people on MFP singing praises about Polar HRM and have found articles on the web that seem to concur with this. However, the HRMs for Polar do not work with my iPhone 4. I am trying to find an HRM that works with RunKeeper and my iPhone 4. Garmin HRMs do work with RK and my phone, however, I can't really find much about Garmin HRM on MFP or elsewhere that talk about accuracy. Just a few people that mention they use Garmin, but not whether they find it accurate or not. Anyone have any useful info about Garmin?

Replies

  • badbcatha05
    badbcatha05 Posts: 200 Member
    Are you interested in accuracy for heart rate or the GPS function?
  • h7463
    h7463 Posts: 626 Member
    Hi there! I have a Polar H7, and it works great with my iPhone 4s. It's the chest strap with a Bluetooth sensor only, there is no wrist watch to go with it. The mobile app has worked well. and I have used it with the phone's GPS also. It's been accurate within a few yards.
  • BigVeggieDream
    BigVeggieDream Posts: 1,101 Member
    Are you interested in accuracy for heart rate or the GPS function?

    I'm interested in the heart rate to make my caloric burn more accurate. Runkeeper has GPS and it works great.
  • BigVeggieDream
    BigVeggieDream Posts: 1,101 Member
    Hi there! I have a Polar H7, and it works great with my iPhone 4s. It's the chest strap with a Bluetooth sensor only, there is no wrist watch to go with it. The mobile app has worked well. and I have used it with the phone's GPS also. It's been accurate within a few yards.

    All of Polar's HRM work with 4s, but mine is only a 4.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    Hi there! I have a Polar H7, and it works great with my iPhone 4s. It's the chest strap with a Bluetooth sensor only, there is no wrist watch to go with it. The mobile app has worked well. and I have used it with the phone's GPS also. It's been accurate within a few yards.

    The Polar H6 and H7 require bluetooth 4.0 / BLE compatible phones hence the compatibility difference between the iPhone 4 and 4S.
  • doug_pierce
    doug_pierce Posts: 255
    Garmin uses Ant+ (a dongle that plugs into your phone). The newer technology is Bluetooth. With a iPhone 4 you should be able to use anything with Ant+.
  • badbcatha05
    badbcatha05 Posts: 200 Member
    I can't comment on how either one links to an iPhone, I never used them that way. I do own a Polar and a Garmin. The actual counting of the heart rate seems pretty accurate when I compare to what I count myself periodically. I'm not sure about the caloric burn accuracy though for either... they are both really just estimates. My garmin has shown to be within 20-25 of the estimate on cardio equipment. Can't compare with my Polar there since it automatically picks up the chest strap. I use my Garmin exclusively because I like all of the other features it has.

    I think either way you go, you will be more accurate than using MFPs estimates... both devices are way off from that.
  • doug_pierce
    doug_pierce Posts: 255
    Recommend the Wahoo adapter over the Garmin. A couple of reviews:

    http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2011/10/garmin-iphone-ant-adapter-and-garmin.html

    http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/05/first-look-at-wahoo-fitness-ant-iphone.html
  • Keepcalmanddontblink
    Keepcalmanddontblink Posts: 718 Member
    Check the Garmin out on Amazon and read the customer reviews. This way you get an idea of how good it is/isn't without having to buy it first.
  • sc003ro
    sc003ro Posts: 227 Member
    I have the Garmin Vivofit with the Chest HRM.....This is my first FITNESS BAND So i do not have much to compare to other than the cardio machines HRm...I have an I phone 5 s. You have to sync it to load the data to the phone. In reviews some people complained about that however it is easy and does not bother me...

    my biggest grip is there are no instructions...you have to download them which is alittle annoying....

    other than that I think it is great

    feel free to friend up to compare or send me a message with any questions
  • h7463
    h7463 Posts: 626 Member
    Hi there! I have a Polar H7, and it works great with my iPhone 4s. It's the chest strap with a Bluetooth sensor only, there is no wrist watch to go with it. The mobile app has worked well. and I have used it with the phone's GPS also. It's been accurate within a few yards.

    All of Polar's HRM work with 4s, but mine is only a 4.

    Ah. OK...didn't know if you forgot to specify...
    Good luck with your search, anyway!
  • aswearingen22
    aswearingen22 Posts: 271 Member
    Keep in mind both the Polar and the Garmin are calculations for your caloric burn and neither is perfect, they're both good guesses. Either guess is probably just as good as the other.

    Also something to keep in mind is that app's on your cell phone to track your distance/pace are not as accurate as the gps in a gps watch like the Garmin. They are notoriously off, always giving you MORE distance than you've actually run, making you think you are faster and have covered more distance than you actually have (say the Garmin says 1.0 miles, RK or the like will say perhaps 1.15). If you're only running 3 miles or so at a time, not a big deal, but still off. If you're running 10+ miles, that's getting to be a pretty big discrepancy. The gps in your cell phone isn't intended to be used like the gps in a gps watch, so it's just not as accurate. If you don't care, and are just running for fun/fitness and not training for races/splits/times, and are just out to run for 30 mins and mileage/pace don't matter to you, the app's are just fine. But if you are in the market to buy either a polar or a garmin and are a runner, HANDS DOWN I'd get the Garmin. The calorie burn on either will be as accurate as you can get, but you get far more features with a Garmin. And the price isn't going to be all that different, you can get a Garmin 10 for $130. Even better, Garmin just released the 15 that is a gps watch and fitness band combined for $170. So you get the advantage of a gps watch and a fitness tracker like their vivofit or the fitbit's, all with the chest strap. So you could get your daily TDEE calories along with the individual burn from each activity. If I were you, I'd definitely go with the 15.

    ETA: I used to have a Polar a decade ago before I became a runner and it worked just fine. My latest gps watch is the 610 and I love it and use it to track calorie burn on all my work outs (runs, classes, biking, etc., I just turn off the gps if I'm indoors/treadmill and the calorie burn still works great). A month or two ago, I got the VivoFit and totally love it too. I wear both when I run or workout now and use the calorie burn from my Garmin 610 to enter into mfp, but use the vivofit to give me my total TDEE from which I take a 20% cut each day for weight loss.
  • BigVeggieDream
    BigVeggieDream Posts: 1,101 Member
    Keep in mind both the Polar and the Garmin are calculations for your caloric burn and neither is perfect, they're both good guesses. Either guess is probably just as good as the other.

    Right now, that is what I want. I use several websites, MFP and RunKeeper to see how many calories I burn and they can all be wildly different.
    Also something to keep in mind is that app's on your cell phone to track your distance/pace are not as accurate as the gps in a gps watch like the Garmin. They are notoriously off, always giving you MORE distance than you've actually run, making you think you are faster and have covered more distance than you actually have (say the Garmin says 1.0 miles, RK or the like will say perhaps 1.15). If you're only running 3 miles or so at a time, not a big deal, but still off. If you're running 10+ miles, that's getting to be a pretty big discrepancy. The gps in your cell phone isn't intended to be used like the gps in a gps watch, so it's just not as accurate. If you don't care, and are just running for fun/fitness and not training for races/splits/times, and are just out to run for 30 mins and mileage/pace don't matter to you, the app's are just fine.

    Wow! I wasn't aware of that. Damn, I'm not going as fast as I thought. Now I'm really curious.
    But if you are in the market to buy either a polar or a garmin and are a runner, HANDS DOWN I'd get the Garmin. The calorie burn on either will be as accurate as you can get, but you get far more features with a Garmin.

    Right now, weight loss and getting fit is my main concern, but I do want to train in the future so I'll keep this in mind. Thanks. This was very informative and was exactly the type of answer I was looking for.
  • aswearingen22
    aswearingen22 Posts: 271 Member
    Right now, weight loss and getting fit is my main concern, but I do want to train in the future so I'll keep this in mind. Thanks. This was very informative and was exactly the type of answer I was looking for.

    Glad I could help!
  • SameMe_JustLess
    SameMe_JustLess Posts: 245 Member
    I had a Polar, really liked it. But, when I started running I sold it on eBay and bought a Garmin FR220. It's awesome. I think it depends in your needs/wants since the brands themselves are comparable.

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