I'm looking for a heart rate monitor.

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AmoreCouture
AmoreCouture Posts: 255 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I recently found the Garmin Forerunner with GPS, and love everything about it except I use a treadmill a lot and it will not track calories on a treadmill through the GPS. I usually use the treadmill and do exercise videos at home, so I am looking for something to accurately track my calories burned and heart rate. I also looked in to the Polarf4 and I don't like that it doesn't save your previous workout, so I don't know. Any help would be great!

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  • drog2323
    drog2323 Posts: 1,386 Member
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    I have heard the Garmin is pretty good - too bad about not tracking cal's on the treadmill. I currently have a Timex (iron man style watch with the heart/chest strap)- and really not happy with it at all. I find it konks out all the time and isn't too reliable. I have heard really good things with the Polar ones, maybe you can find one that does save the cals? or just record the cal's daily.
  • lorirogs
    lorirogs Posts: 65 Member
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    I use the Body Media. I love it!
  • eileeeneileen
    eileeeneileen Posts: 5
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    I absolutely love my Polar F6 ($78).
  • vojtko68
    vojtko68 Posts: 7 Member
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    I have a Garmin FR60 with footpod and heart rate monitor and it works great. Tracks my calories whether I run outside, on the treadmill, do elliptical work or bike. I have also used it when I did the P90X videos and it tracked everything as well. My boyfriend has the Polar and his complaint is the infared transferring instead of the usb ANT Agent on the Garmin. It didn't sound like you had the heart rate monitor which would be needed to accurately track calories.
  • lesley12345
    lesley12345 Posts: 89 Member
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    I have the Women's Sportsline and love it. It saves your previous workouts, it tracks your heartrate, distance, steps, and calories. It comes with the chest strap that you can wear during your workouts for more accurate numbers. I love it!
  • frostiegurl
    frostiegurl Posts: 708 Member
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    I have the Polar FT4 and it saves my previous workouts. I got it on Amazon for less than $90. Love it and don't know what I did without it. Right now it's about $74 for the woman's bronze model. About $7 cheaper than what I paid less than a week ago.
  • tabbychiro
    tabbychiro Posts: 223 Member
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    Do you have the 305? I have one and discovered the same thing about no calorie tracking for indoor workouts. But I discovered that if you get a New Leaf metabolic assessment done, you can get a profile that can be uploaded to your Garmin and then it will track calories. http://www.newleaffitness.com/

    I had the assessment done at my gym. It was about $150. $100 for the test itself and about $50 for the mask, which I can use again if I ever want to do the test again. Of course, they recommended I take the test again in 3 months.

    I also got a Polar FT7 though for the gym because I felt the 305 was too bulky. The FT7 can store workouts, I think 99?
  • bettyboop573
    bettyboop573 Posts: 610 Member
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    also looking for a HRM.....want to come back and see what poeple are saying :smile:
  • dimoul
    dimoul Posts: 137 Member
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    I bought a Polar HRM from Academy a few weeks ago. I think it is an rs140. Polar talks to the machines at the YMCA. That was the only reason I got it versus another brand. I also have a cheapo from walmart that I really like because it has all the same features + ability to record your heart rate without the strap and it looked better. But the walmart one did not talk to the machine....

    The biggest difference I saw among the Polar models I was looking at was whether you wanted to record 1 workout with up to 99 laps, or record up to 99 workouts without lap info. In other words, it was a trade off between laps and workout history over time. Since I record my workouts in MFP after each workout and I run laps at the track, I went with the model that records laps and one workout.
  • krand
    krand Posts: 1
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    I use the Polar FT7 for indoor workouts, especially treadmill, elliptical, and spin classes, and I love it. The strap is comfortable during these exercises, and it tracks all your workouts and progress. I have it set so that the display shows the percentage of MHR, but you can even set it to display just calories if that's what you want. It sells for about $110, but if you want to upload the data to a computer, you'd have to buy the optional transmitter for about $50. Otherwise, you can just use the watch which stores hundreds of workouts ( I think up to 200). If you go the Polar website, there are video tutorials so you can see what it does before purchasing it. For my husband who runs outdoors, he would need something that tracks mileage; this one doesn't .
  • Lizzee1225
    Lizzee1225 Posts: 3
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    I just researched and bought my first hr monitor about a month ago. I went from thinking I needed the Garmin 405 to buying the Polar F4 after much discussion with a running expert. I am SO glad I decided to buy the F4 and not the Garmin. Reasons are b/c the Garmin has too many bells and whistles for me. I just want something to track my hr, give me the calories, and the duration of my workout. It does just that. I am training for a few half marathons and so with the hr monitor, I also use an app called runkeeper. Between the free app and the Polar F4 I have everything that the Garmin offered for what I needed. The Garmin is expensive and very complicated and the Polar F4 is inexpensive and user friendly. Good Luck.. and hope this helps.
  • AmoreCouture
    AmoreCouture Posts: 255 Member
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    Thanks everyone. I've been looking at the Polar F7, and I think I'm going with it.
  • AmoreCouture
    AmoreCouture Posts: 255 Member
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