Heart Rate Monitor

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crnorwood
crnorwood Posts: 29
in Fitness and Exercise
Does it matter which brand that you buy? Need some input please. Thanks so much in advance! :)
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Replies

  • ChelDM
    ChelDM Posts: 145
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    bump
  • ChRiStA_1983
    ChRiStA_1983 Posts: 380 Member
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    It's not so much the brand that matters, it's whether or not it comes with a chest strap and transmitter....Ones with the strap are MUCH more accurate and reliable!

    Polar is a HUGELY popular brand....Most people on the site will likely recommend it. My sister and I both have the Polar FT4, which is AWESOME, and relatively inexpensive!
  • crnorwood
    crnorwood Posts: 29
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    Thanks much, Christa!
  • nalont1
    nalont1 Posts: 13
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    I recently purchases a Polar USA heart rate monitor model FT40...it was a bit of an investment at $140 but I use it daily. It has showed me what I burn during my exercise dvd's and the biggest eye opener was that my treadmill was really over estimating my calorie burn during my run. By like 100 plus calories! I love my Polar! But it is the first and only one I have used. I researched alot because I didn't want a cheapy...so I can't really give you a comparison on other brands.
  • Aylilth
    Aylilth Posts: 125
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    I would say brand is up to you but I highly recommend one with a chest strap.
  • nalont1
    nalont1 Posts: 13
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    I agree with Aylilth that a chest strap is recommended.
  • jrich1
    jrich1 Posts: 2,408 Member
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    From reading lots of threads on MFP about these, it seems you get what you pay for, and Polar is aproven brand, I love my FT7
  • CarterGrt
    CarterGrt Posts: 289 Member
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    I love my Polar FT80. I had a Garmin for while that was very good too. It was very clunky and ugly (in my opinion), but it worked great. I think the big price-driver feature is GPS. I got this feature and am glad that I did, but you can drive the cost down a lot if you skip this feature. And, if you are using indoors, in the gym, or in water, then this is an un-needed feature.

    Good Luck!!!

    --Carter

    p.s. I just wore mine skiing for three days. The chest strap is so light and comfortable that I never noticed it and it had no trouble transmitting through all those layers of clothes. Very cool.
  • KickassYas
    KickassYas Posts: 397 Member
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    I was gifted an extremely kick *kitten* Bowflex HRM with a chest strap for optimum accuracy. SOOO I would tell you what she told me:

    make sure you get the chest strap type so you know its on the money. :) be willing to invest in it and check out craigslist :)
  • tdonlin
    tdonlin Posts: 934 Member
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    Polar FT7 here.
  • yyzdnl
    yyzdnl Posts: 127 Member
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    You will get a lot of recommendations for the Polar brand on this site but I really like my Suunto M5. You have to send the Polars in to get a battery changed the Suunto's battery can be replaced by the user. I think they fit and look great and wear my wrist piece all day so I can log my morning workouts after I get to work.
  • karljp
    karljp Posts: 30 Member
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    Just bought a Timex Unisex HRM T5G971 on Amazon for $38 bucks. Has chest strap and simple to use. I love it. Others are very expensive.
  • deema79
    deema79 Posts: 108
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    Hey,
    I picked up the New Balance N4. It comes with a strap which is great. Ive been using it for about two weeks and have nothing bad to say.
    The Polar ones need to be sent in when the batteries need to be replaced.
  • AnaNotBanana
    AnaNotBanana Posts: 963 Member
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    I use a Polar FT4. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles like the more expensive models but it does what I need it to do. I paid $65 for mine on eBay. I believe they retail somewhere between $80-$90. Check eBay or CraigsList for reasonably priced HRMs. Mine came with a Wearlink strap which is more flexible and comfortable. I wish I would have gotten one of those earlier in my journey. It's definitely a valuable tool and worth the money.
  • tpycha126
    tpycha126 Posts: 217 Member
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    I originally bought just the wrist watch HRM, but when I'm in the middle of during cardio it's hard to get my reading since you have to stop and push a button and wait for it to take my heart rate and then sometimes it doesn't want to take it all. So today I went and bought a new one with a chest strap. Wish I would have right away instead of trying to save a few bucks because now I've spent more than if I just would have bought one with a chest strap originally.
  • nalont1
    nalont1 Posts: 13
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    Many new Polar products have user changeable batteries in both the watch and transmitter. I just checked this out after reading the comments about having to send it in...which is not ideal and I was not aware of this when I purchased a couple of weeks ago. Just checked my model and the watch and transmitter are both user changeable according to Polar's website.
  • Serenifly
    Serenifly Posts: 669 Member
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    My first HRM was 9 $ on Ebay (Mio Shape) It was fine for my first one cuz I just wanted to see if I'd use it ... turns out I did and wanted one with more functions

    I now have the Polar FT60 - this thing does everything but the dishes

    Won it on Ebay for 160$ which is still 100$ below retail ...

    I'd suggest just buying a cheaper one and see if you'd personally benefit from it than just go out and buy the ferarri's of HRM
  • Serenifly
    Serenifly Posts: 669 Member
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    My first HRM was 9 $ on Ebay (Mio Shape) It was fine for my first one cuz I just wanted to see if I'd use it ... turns out I did and wanted one with more functions

    I now have the Polar FT60 - this thing does everything but the dishes

    Won it on Ebay for 160$ which is still 100$ below retail ...

    I'd suggest just buying a cheaper one and see if you'd personally benefit from it than just go out and buy the ferarri's of HRM
  • NAMsMommy
    NAMsMommy Posts: 132 Member
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    Just a note about the battery changing, they do have you send them in, but its only to ensure that the waterproofing is maintained. You can use the polar swimming even. My friend's battery lasted YEARS at 3x a week use. So, it isn't like you are sending it in every week...
  • wrenbird
    wrenbird Posts: 28 Member
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    I'd like to know if anyone has a heart rate monitor that you can hook up to your computer and upload data.

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