Best Heart Rate Monitor for the Money?

If you want quality and durability, I think the age old adage "you get what you pay for applies," but it does pay to shop around because you only want to pay for the features you need. A lot of what model you get is based upon what you plan on doing with the HRM (walking, running, cycling, swimming, etc).

I own the Polar FT40. It's a good HRM for general exercise. It measures HR and counts calories burned. I can wear it 24 hrs/day, but it does have a chest strap and wearing it for that long would be uncomfortable, but if you only want to wear the chest strap during your workout, it's not really noticeable as you get used to it pretty fast. As an alternative, you can buy a Numetrex shirt that eliminates the chest strap since the HR transmitter snaps right into the tight fitting shirt.

The Polar HRMs and Numetrex shirts are not cheap, but I think the Polar brand is very reliable and accurate. You can find some good deals if you buy online. I got a super deal on eBay and only paid $55 for my FT40! I used to rely on the exercise equipment calorie counters, but when I bought the HRM I found that the machines were greatly overinflating the calories burned. And since I was making a habit of eating back my exercise calories, I was actually overeating!

With a good HRM, what you're paying for is accuracy and features.

Check out the Polar website and do a product comparison because they have a wide variety of models and a wide range of prices too. There are also some short, informative product video clips online to help you decide. There is one model that is designed to be worn all the time and measures resting heart rate, which may be just what you need. I forget the model number off hand but I'm sure you can quickly locate it as it is on the lower cost end.

Hi
The chest strap isnt that awkward of uncomfortable. When you exercise you dont even know you are wearing one.
I use a Polar heart rate monitor and love knowing what % I'm sitting at during a spin class and then the calories burnt

I have the Polar F4, I've used it for 3 years now, never had any issues with it. As far as the chest strap, you get used to it, it has never bothered me. But as a woman we are used to having something strapped on in that area anyways, haha. My first monitor was a wrist one and it went right back to the store after one workout, you have to apply two finger tips to it and hold for about a minute I'm not very coordinated so running or spinning was hard for me to use that one. My polar was under 100 but that was years ago.