Hear rate monitor

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pmorrison101
pmorrison101 Posts: 72
in Fitness and Exercise
I run outside and would like to know what I need to buy to track my mileage and calories burned? I am getting tired of running the same route (which I know the mileage) and since I am counting calories now, I really would like an accurate gauge of this. Also I do not want to spend alot of money. Where do I get one and how much are they? Do they all track calories and mileage? I do not want to wear a band around my chest........thanks for any help.

Replies

  • deepmidnyght
    deepmidnyght Posts: 15 Member
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    I just purchased the POLAR FT7 for 109$. It tracks time and calories burned. The cool thing about it is it lets you know if you are burning fat. It does not have a step counter though I wish it did have. Pretty easy to use. The more features you add to the HRM the more expensive. Mine is a mid range. You can get them for 40$ all the way up to 400$. Do a little research online it is worth it.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I run outside and would like to know what I need to buy to track my mileage and calories burned? I am getting tired of running the same route (which I know the mileage) and since I am counting calories now, I really would like an accurate gauge of this. Also I do not want to spend alot of money. Where do I get one and how much are they? Do they all track calories and mileage? I do not want to wear a band around my chest........thanks for any help.

    You need one with a GPS to calculate millage. You can get ones that tell you calories burned, but they require you wear the chest strap. Most HRM's don't tell you millage there is a hefty $, to have one that does.

    Essentially if you want accurate calories burned you will need the chest strap and to get millage you will have to spend quite a bit of $, neither of which you were looking at doing.
  • ANewLucia
    ANewLucia Posts: 2,081 Member
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    I found a Timex on Amazon with the watch and strap for 38.99 and no shipping fee. It got great ratings and is very basic. I just didn't want to spend a lot for bells and whistles. It gives your avg heart rate, peak hr, calories burned, time in target zone, recover heart rate timer...really all I care about are the calories...
  • mishmash73
    mishmash73 Posts: 166 Member
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    i heard you can't change the batteries in the polar & need to send it in. I didn't think about that but lucked out when i bought my Duo Sportline - it was $90 but totally worth it b/c i use it for lots of activities... like house cleaning! and it's simple enough to be able to figure out how to use it quickly but has all the options i need - calories and some others
  • foxxybrown
    foxxybrown Posts: 838 Member
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    If you have a smartphone, most will have an app for mileage. The iphone has the free RunKeeper app. This will give you your mileage with an estimate of calories burn.
  • Mads1997
    Mads1997 Posts: 1,494 Member
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    i heard you can't change the batteries in the polar & need to send it in. I didn't think about that but lucked out when i bought my Duo Sportline - it was $90 but totally worth it b/c i use it for lots of activities... like house cleaning! and it's simple enough to be able to figure out how to use it quickly but has all the options i need - calories and some others

    The Polar FT7 which is what I have and why I got it is that you do not have to send them away to have batteries changed.
  • anzura
    anzura Posts: 171
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    I have a Garmin Forerunner. It has a heartrate monitor, but I never use it. I can tell when my heart is beating fast or not ;)

    I also log all my runs on RunningAhead.com. Before I had my Garmin, I would just use the "create route" mapping tool there and time my run. I would then log it and would know my miles and pace. I would get really bored running the same route too!

    Oh and when you log your runs on RA, putting in your weight will give you a pretty accurate calories burned. my Garmin has that too, but RA is free.
  • miovlb6
    miovlb6 Posts: 339 Member
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    If you have a smartphone, most will have an app for mileage. The iphone has the free RunKeeper app. This will give you your mileage with an estimate of calories burn.

    I have an Android phone and I use Runkeeper to track my running routes via GPS. I really love it, and it's free. But there are several other apps out there which do the same thing basically, so if you have a smartphone, download a few of them and see which you prefer. I tried out Runkeeper, Cardiotrainer, and Endomondo. I finally settled on Runkeeper, but the others were very good too.

    As for the Heart Rate Monitor. You really should get one with a chest strap; they're so much more accurate. I have the Polar FT7 and honestly, I can't even tell I'm wearing the strap. I wear it right under the band of my sports bra, so I don't notice a difference with or without it. Now if I could run without a sports bra...that would be a different story! :wink: I hate those damn things! Oh and you can change the batteries yourself on the Polar FT7.

    BTW, Runkeeper (and maybe the other two apps I tried) can also track your heart rate and calories burned if you have the Polar Bluetooth cheststrap/transmitter (Wearlink, I think it's called).
  • michelle277
    michelle277 Posts: 18
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    If you have an iPod, you can use Nike Plus. I have it and it is very accurate. It tracks time, mileage, average pace, and calories burned.

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