Heart rate monitor that always displays heart rate

tomcornhole
tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
edited November 17 in Fitness and Exercise
So I bought a Fitbit surge because I wanted a heart rate monitor and it seemed cool. Problem is it defaults to a clock and there is no way to default it to the HR. So I got the Charge HR and it will default to the HR display but the dang thing only stays on for 5 seconds. Got irritating very fast to hit the button all the time.

So, is there a wrist band type HR monitor that always displays the HR all the time? That's all I need.

Does an Apple Watch do this? I know it does do HR but not sure how it displays it. I have one on order but it won't get here until July.

Thanks,

Tom

Replies

  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    Why?
  • tomcornhole
    tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
    I had a heart attack and want to continuously monitor my HR while exercising.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    Then get a basic HRM that only displays HR. Activity trackers like Fitbits are HR devices as a secondary or tertiary feature.

    If you want a single device that will show HR during exercise ... the Vivoactive has that capability .. so do most Polar devices ... I'm not sure about the Garmin FR15 ...
  • debubbie
    debubbie Posts: 767 Member
    I have the Polar HR7 chest strap heart rate monitor and pair it with my phone using the Polar Beat app. As long as I don't have my phone's display set to time out after a certain time period, I can view my heart rate continuously. Depending on what I am doing, I usually set my phone up on the treadmill or bike display where I can easily see it. Hope this helps.
  • tomcornhole
    tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
    Would really like one that shows HR all the time. The Surge shows it during exercise but only if you're in an exercise mode. I would like to just have something that always shows HR. I guess I could put the Surge in an exercise mode and just use it as a HR monitor. I'll give that a try.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    A wrist mounted activity tracker with HR is the wrong tool for what you want. They are in accurate during exercise and not designed for use as a constant HRM.

  • mwyvr
    mwyvr Posts: 1,883 Member
    Garmin, Polar, Suunto (and there are others) -- all of them make products that can do what you need, utilizing chest-strap mounted heart rate detectors. Chest mounted detectors at this point remain the most accurate with the least lag. I've only ever owned Garmin but assume that the others can be configured to display HR continuously. My Garmin device has multiple configurable screens, any one of which can be configured to show HR alone or with other metrics.

    I'm curious - what would you be looking for by way of heart rate? Have you been told to limit exertion to keep HR below a certain level?

    Mike
  • aaliceinw
    aaliceinw Posts: 747 Member
    The vivofit displays the heart rate continuously until you switch it to something else. It sinks with garmin HRM that I use with my forerunner 70. It tracks steps and sleep.
  • aaliceinw
    aaliceinw Posts: 747 Member
    brianpperkins wrote: »
    A wrist mounted activity tracker with HR is the wrong tool for what you want. They are in accurate during exercise and not designed for use as a constant HRM.

    I wear my forerunner and the vivofit when doing cardio at the gym. I found it to be more accurate because the forerunner loses connection during certain moves and tells me the HRM is out of range or it tells my heart rate is too low, then stops measuring. The vivofit never loses the connection and never stops measuring. The reason for using both is because I want to track time spent on specifically on my activities, which the forerunner does and the vivofit stays on all the time so that I don't forget to put it back on after my activities have ended.
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,668 Member
    I'm simply amused by OP'S username, nothing to contribute. Carry on.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    edited May 2015
    Polar ft4

    Edit oh you want it 24 hours ...I think that would eat batteries
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    aaliceinw wrote: »
    brianpperkins wrote: »
    A wrist mounted activity tracker with HR is the wrong tool for what you want. They are in accurate during exercise and not designed for use as a constant HRM.

    I wear my forerunner and the vivofit when doing cardio at the gym. I found it to be more accurate because the forerunner loses connection during certain moves and tells me the HRM is out of range or it tells my heart rate is too low, then stops measuring. The vivofit never loses the connection and never stops measuring. The reason for using both is because I want to track time spent on specifically on my activities, which the forerunner does and the vivofit stays on all the time so that I don't forget to put it back on after my activities have ended.

    Both devices you mention utilize chest strap HRMs.
  • tomcornhole
    tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
    I ended up keeping the FitBit Surge and it has been working well. Not the most accurate for working out, so I use a pulse oximeter I had from before for that and that works well. I do have an Apple watch on order, so that might replace the Surge whenever it arrives. Thank you for all the suggestions.

    Tom
  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
    During workouts the apple watch heartrate is very accurate and will display continuously when you look at it. During the rest of the day though it only samples HR every 10 min and does not display continuously. You can however make it check your HR on demand.
  • tomcornhole
    tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
    scottb81 wrote: »
    During workouts the apple watch heartrate is very accurate and will display continuously when you look at it. During the rest of the day though it only samples HR every 10 min and does not display continuously. You can however make it check your HR on demand.

    That sounds like exactly what I need, plus I get an Apple watch to play with. Apple says it won't ship until July so now I get to wait.

  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
    Its worth the wait to have your own personal Dick Tracy watch LOL. I was lucky and got mine at noon on Apr 20th.
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