Opinions on HRMs?

hi, it depends on why you want one and what you want to do with it!. I am both a nurse and fitness instructor , so have some experience of the differing reasons why people want ot buy one. To be honest you cant go wrong with anything from Polar.

Make sure whatever one you get also counts calories! Makes it much easier! This is the one I have and I love it!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P8VWQS/ref=oss_product

Just got rid of a lousy Sportline wristwatch and got a Polar FT4, HUGE improvement. Gives HR, cals burned and monitors whether or not you're in "the zone" and tracks time in zone over the course of the workout. Comfortable fabric chest strap.

Just bought a Sportsline w/o a chest strap & HATE IT!! Can't get it to work right. Definitely get one w/ a chest strap.

know your burn - get one! Polar of course

Just got rid of a lousy Sportline wristwatch and got a Polar FT4, HUGE improvement. Gives HR, cals burned and monitors whether or not you're in "the zone" and tracks time in zone over the course of the workout. Comfortable fabric chest strap.

^^^^ what he said! Love my Polar FT4.

What they said! I also love my Polar FT4.

I just got a Polar FT7 and I think it is just OK. I don't like that it doesn't show HR unless you start the timer (unless I am wrong about this?). But for the price I guess it will do. I do like that the machines at the gym can pick up my heart rate from the strap and display it right on the console. I think for calorie burn it is just showing total calories not net?

I also have a Garmin Forerunner 305 and I like the HRM on that way better but the watch itself is huge and gets in the way at the gym. But for running outside, it is great. It can show HR at all times. You can manually adjust your HR zones and it can show you which zone you are in. Has a bunch of other features that are good if you are a runner. 305 uses distance and time to calculate calories (so not so useful indoors) but if you get a New Leaf metabolic assessment you can upload the New Leaf profile into the 305 and it will use that info to calculate calories with the HRM and will calculate calories indoors.

The main reason you should buy a heart rate monitor is to monitor your heart rate. That is its primary function and the main thing it does reliably well.

Why monitor heart rate? During many cardio activities, heart rate is a measure of intensity. There are good reasons to monitor intensity: some days you want to make sure you are working hard so it helps to push you, some days you need to take it easy, so it helps restrain you. During some variable activities (classes), it can be harder to intuitively gauge intensity so a heart rate monitor can help you maintain a more consistent effort. During interval training, heart rate is a good indicator of recovery.

After a while, you can learn to associate feelings of exertion with particular heart rate levels. You can use things like average heart rate and recovery heart rate to gauge progress.

So, heart rate monitors are best at improving your training efforts.

I have really mixed feelings about the calorie counting features of heart rate monitors. The only ones even being close to worthwhile are Polar, Suunto, and I think the Garmin 405 models. Every other model ranges from being a rough approximation to just being a toy. The problem is that HRMs estimate calories by developing mathematical equations that associate heart rate with a given level of oxygen uptake. That relationship only holds true during steady-state aerobic activity at an intensity greater than 40% of VO2max. The following factors can affect the accuracy of HRM calorie estimates:

Upper body movements--these can cause calorie count to be overestimated
Thermal stress--elevates the heart rate, but there is no increase in calories burned, so calorie burn is overestimated
Any stimulant or medication that elevates heart rate--again HR is elevated, but there is no increase in calorie burn
Stress
Illness/infection
Cardiovascular drift--this occurs during longer cardio workouts. Heart rate increases due to increased body temperature and possibly reduced plasma volume, but, again, oxygen uptake does not increase. On my Polar F11, if I compare the first half of a 45 min cardio workout with the second half, the calorie count can increase by 25-35%, even with no increase in workload.

Sprinting--aerobic mechanism is not in use here, so, again, the equations built into the HRMs are not valid. At least during sprinting, chances are you are burning a few more calories than the HRM indicates.

Strength training: HRM calorie counts are useless during strength training. They have no validity whatsoever.

In addition to these physiological shortcomings, the accuracy of HRM calorie counts is affected by the accuracy of your input data. If you don't know your true maximum HR or VO2max (or the HRM does not allow manual VO2max entry), that introduces another layer of inaccuracy.

OK, that's the bad part. Let's balance it out. During some activities (cardio based exercise classes, elliptical cross trainers, stairclimbers) HRM calorie counts (if the HRM is setup properly and it's a reliable model) are probably the most accurate method available--certainly better than the activity tables on various websites.

For workouts that are mixed circuits (P90x, for example) they are less accurate, but still probably the best option.

Bottom line: the calorie counts can provide some useful information, but you need to be able to live with the fact that they are usually no better than 80% accurate under "real life" conditions. That's not necessarily bad compared to the other alternatives. I just think that people are way too accepting of the numbers on their HRMs. You should not be basing an eating plan based on a literal reading of HRM numbers. I would never eat back more than 1/2 of those calories to start with--unless by trial and error you determined your own "calibration".

So my final recommendation is always: have a realistic expectation of what HRMs can and cannot do; if you decide to buy an HRM, don't go cheap with an off brand model (unless all you care about is the actual heart rate count; and don't accept the oft quoted adage: "a HRM is the only way to be sure of your calories burned".

I love my Polar pink F6. I got it in December and it's made a difference for me. The calories on the machines at the gym are overstated, and even a lot of the calories burned listed on here are more than what my HRM says! I have been going by what it says and started losing again after a plateau.

Polar FT7 here as well, got it last week and have used it several times, definitely liking it so far.