Opinions, please heart rate monitors

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NuttyBrewnette
NuttyBrewnette Posts: 417 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
For those of you that have one, which one do you have?
About how much did it cost?
What do you love about it?
What do you hate/dislike about it?
Anything you wish you had considered but didn't, before you purchased yours?
Do different hrm work better for different types of activities?

Replies

  • Rheagansmom
    Rheagansmom Posts: 53 Member
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    I have a polar ft4. The only thing that I don't love about it is that it doesn't do pace for when I am walking half marathons. Other than that my cardiologist told me I needed one due to having extremely high heart rates and it not coming down, so it lets me keep an eye on it and he reccomended polar with the chest strap due to it being almost right on. I think at the the time I got it it was 100
  • timeforme23
    timeforme23 Posts: 461
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    Polar FT40
    about $140 on amazon
    EVERYTHING
    Nothing . . its my favorite toy
    Nope, I did my fair share of research before I took the plunge
    Whatever you decide make sure it has a chest strap. They monitor your HR no matter what youre doing.
  • yeabby
    yeabby Posts: 643 Member
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    Definitely get a chest strap. It's way more accurate. I had a Timex but, it only lasted a year. Now I have a Polar F6 and a Garmin. Both are 4-5 years old and going strong. Haven't had to change the battery in the Garmin yet but it's super easy, and about $2, with the Polar. Good luck!
  • maemiller
    maemiller Posts: 439 Member
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    Polar ft7, the trainers and instructors all recommended this to me
    $75 on Ebay, very stylish and very easy to use. No regrets whatsoever, I love it!
  • jmijaressf
    jmijaressf Posts: 215
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    For those of you that have one, which one do you have?
    About how much did it cost?
    What do you love about it?
    What do you hate/dislike about it?
    Anything you wish you had considered but didn't, before you purchased yours?
    Do different hrm work better for different types of activities?

    I have the Polar RS800CX.
    Cost a lot of $$$...
    It does everything I need it to do beyond getting heart rate: altitude ascent and descent, miles (including GPS breadcrumbs viewable on Google Earth), running cadence, stride length, heart rate variability, programmable training programs, bike sensors...
    I can use it for everything except for swimming.

    For most people though, I recommend anything in the Polar FT series because they cost under $100 and will suit most folks who want to do heart rate monitoring and get an accurate calorie count. I get my heart rate monitor gadgets from heartratemonitorsusa.com. They have some of the better prices out there, plus free shipping.
  • Hopeinanguish
    Hopeinanguish Posts: 101 Member
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    I now own the Polar FT7...it cost me 100 dollars. I did own a crappy one before.

    I love it because it's accurate. It asks for age, weight, height, and sex to determine your heart rate. It has a strap to go over your heart and doesn't require you to touch anything to activate the sensor. Be careful...having a poor heart rate monitor can be dangerous and hurt your goals.

    Get a Polar! Good luck!
  • Goalinsight
    Goalinsight Posts: 32 Member
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    I bought a Polar FT7 today and I'm really happy with it, having used it this evening. It's simple to use and not too expensive.:smile:
  • mcpdallas
    mcpdallas Posts: 2 Member
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    I have a Garmin Forerunner 305. It's much bigger than a normal watch. It does more than just monitor your heart rate. You can use it for running and cycling and has GPS so you can track your route. For indoor running I use a Garmin foot pad to keep track of distance and pace. Recently I bought a road bike and I'm not using the 305 for cycling anymore. I now use a Garmin Edge 605 for cycling.

    I like both the 305 and 605 a lot. They are perfect if you want to keep track of many things. But if you only want to monitor your hear rate, time expired and time of day and are not going to use all the other functionalities they offer then I would not recommend them.
  • dragonflydi
    dragonflydi Posts: 665 Member
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    I have the Polar FT4 and I like almost everything about it. The only thing I don't like is that is does not include a pedometer feature, so when I go running and end up in a "detour", when I'm done, I don't know exactly how far I have gone.

    Prior to that I had a New Balance one that was a watch style only (w/out a chest strap) and while it did have the pedometer and did pretty accurate calorie burn for walking/running, etc., I was unable to use it for my weight training b/c it took the running/walking motion to trigger everything else.

    The reg. price of the FT4 was $99, but it was on sale for $10 off, the sales associate had a coupon for $10 off a purchase of $50 or more, and I had received a $10 'same as cash' card in the mail, so I scored and got mine for $69.

    I looked at both the FT4 and the FT7 and the only different that either I or the sales clerk could see was that the FT7 told you whether you were in a 'fat burning' zone or a 'cardio' zone. If you know your heart rate zone, that is easy to determine on your own and the sales clerk told me he didn't think that one added feature was worth the extra $20 ... but if I wanted to try the FT4 and decided I wanted that feature, to take it back, ask for him and he'd take care of a swap for me.

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