HRM advice

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kwjager
kwjager Posts: 29 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am very active. I already have an Omron pedometer, which I like, and which I use to regularly calculate my daily steps. But I'd like to get a Polar heart rate monitor, too, so that I have a more accurate gauge of my calorie burn. My question concerns the difference or utility between the HRM and the Fitbit. People I know LOVE the Fitbit, but I've been on the fence. If I already have the pedometer, and obtain an HRM, do I even really need the Fitbit to track my fitness or would that be overkill? TIA.

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  • Smirnoff65
    Smirnoff65 Posts: 1,060 Member
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    Polar H7 hrm combined with the free Polar Beat app for smartphones (or Digifit's icardio app) works perfectly, it is flexible enough to do you for any cardio activity, I also have a Polar Loop activity bracelet but rely more on the hrm for recording my exercise activity I use the Loop more as a motivator for me to get in my daily steps I would imagine that the Fitbit is similar.
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
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    i have a fitbit, and honestly for my needs it's blah. first off, it's only accurate if your body is exactly average, which mine isn't. next, it's a pain in the butt as it always counts driving as lots of steps unless you remember to log the driving time or turn drivebit on and off.

    that being said, i find my HRMs very useful, but i haven't found heart rate monitors to do more than average calories burned. maybe at a higher level of HRM there's more about your personal condition involved, but putting in height, weight and age isn't going to make for accurate burn info. it can, however, be used as a guideline since you can determine your progress based on doing the same walk or run and checking if your heart rate is lower, which would indicate fitness improvement. or you could bike faster, but see your heart rate is no higher than on a slower ride a few months ago, which would again show progress. and to me that's a lot more useful than an activity monitor like the fitbit.
  • Trignon
    Trignon Posts: 21 Member
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    Might want to think about getting something with GPS built in like the Garmin ForeRunner series. You can upload workout to software like Garmin Connect or Strava.
  • luckydays27
    luckydays27 Posts: 552 Member
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    I use a FB One for my day to day living and a Polar FT60 for when I am exercising. The FB gets my calories pretty close to my daily burn and when I enter the cals from my workout, that time frame gets overridden so there is no double count of the calories.

    When I was losing, using the two devices really helped me lose. I was able to have a fairly accurate calorie burn number and I ate less than that. I am in maintenance now and am doing well. I eat the cals that FB and my HRM say I burn and I have been around the same weight for 8 months now.

    I am very happy with both devices and cant see a time that I would not use them to maintain my weight loss.

    FWIW, I lost 78 lbs using the FB and HRM. Easiest time I ever had losing weight.
  • HelenWater
    HelenWater Posts: 232 Member
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    I'm waiting to get a Polar M400. The Garmin FR15 looks good, but a bluetooth HRM will work with lots of phone apps. DC Rainmaker writes in depth reviews of fitness watches and HRMs.
  • kwjager
    kwjager Posts: 29 Member
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    luckydays27 wrote: »
    I use a FB One for my day to day living and a Polar FT60 for when I am exercising. The FB gets my calories pretty close to my daily burn and when I enter the cals from my workout, that time frame gets overridden so there is no double count of the calories.

    When I was losing, using the two devices really helped me lose. I was able to have a fairly accurate calorie burn number and I ate less than that. I am in maintenance now and am doing well. I eat the cals that FB and my HRM say I burn and I have been around the same weight for 8 months now.

    I am very happy with both devices and cant see a time that I would not use them to maintain my weight loss.

    FWIW, I lost 78 lbs using the FB and HRM. Easiest time I ever had losing weight.

    This is great info, thanks. It sounds like having both WOULD provide a more accurate sense of calorie burn.
  • kwjager
    kwjager Posts: 29 Member
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    I don't know if I need a GPS version, as most of my activity is based on the gym. My steps are obtained through work (teaching/standing desk/long walks/taking stairs) and all in the same building, so the GPS function would be overkill I suspect.
  • indianwin2001
    indianwin2001 Posts: 296 Member
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    I have the fitbit one and a garmin forerunner 220--I use the HRM for my cardio and track everything else with the fitbit--I am very happy with the results

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