Heart rate monitors

I have had 2 Polar FT4's both crapped out on me within 4 months, since bought a FT70 and it's great. add it with a Fitibit Flex and they are perfect companion devices

Ughhh....just bought one, supposed to be delivered Wednesday. I hope it doesn't do that to me!

I bought the h7 as per someones recommendation on here, I love it so far. I am a data nerd. So the more data the better imho. Dont really think it will sync on here and it doesn't sync on the fitbit but I just enter everything manually and I am good with it. My guess that this site was generous in the calories was correct (not a bad thing because some people sparta work out) but stalled some progress for me I could have had. It also shows me if I am not trying hard enough and I really like that.

HRMs aren't designed for weight training - the energy expended in weight training isn't related to heart rate.

I don't sync my HRM (Polar FT7) so can't help with your question but have a look at http://www.polar.com/uk-en/products

Edit to add - online calculators for running and walking are likely to be at least as accurate as a HRM. For anything but steady state cardio then HRM accuracy isn't likely to be great.

^Agreed. HRMs are designed for steady rate cardio. It even says so on the product. It's not meant to be used to figure out strength training, HIIT, yoga, many dvd type workouts and such.

Some interesting reading/info on HRMs

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1044313-this-is-why-hrms-have-limited-use-for-tracking-calories

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

I used my HRM (Polar FT4) during a 45 minute interval run and 45 minutes of strength training exercises (several sets of lunges, squats, burpees, and mountain climbers) earlier today, and it told me I burned 641 calories. I thought that sounded a bit high and posted about it, and I was told the same thing--that HRM's aren't good for tracking these types of activities. So my question is, if my HRM isn't reliable, how am I supposed to be tracking calorie burn for these activities??

What you mentioned as strength training sounds like alot of cardio to me especially the part about burpees and mountain climbers. If I do weightlifting I don't count what the HRM says and fitbit usually tells me about 100-150 calories for about 40 minutes. In a 30 minute interval run (depending on the intervals and how far I go I usually burn between 250-350 (2-3 miles outdoor)