Comparing HRMs: which one is more accurate?

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noexcuses0626
noexcuses0626 Posts: 60 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have both a Polar FT4 with chest strap and a Garmine Forerunner with a chest strap. I use my polar for indoor activities, but I like the added "mileage tracker" on my Garmin for outdoor activities. The thing is, the calories burned on each device is significantly different. Both have my current stats entered, both use a chest strap, and my HR zones are pretty similar while working out. I know neither one is truly accurate but which one is giving a better picture of actual calories burned???

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  • vespiquenn
    vespiquenn Posts: 1,455 Member
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    No one can tell you with 100% accuracy which is better. Best thing you can do is pick one (I would pick the lower reading one), and start watching numbers. If you notice that you're losing too quickly or gaining, adjust your numbers as needed.

    I would argue though that any of the Polar line seems to have more backing, but that doesn't always mean definite accurate results.
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,388 Member
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    Hard to say for sure. The one that has the most data available to it should be capable of more accurate readings, but if the algorithms driven by that data are flawed there isn't much that can fix that.

    You might want to compare numbers with exercises with known power measures and accepted formulas to see which one does a better job of the estimations.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    For running the Garmin is more accurate as it bases the measurement on your distance, corroborated with HR, rather than just guestimating from HR.

    For indoor activities it depends what activities you're trying to measure whether either of them is meaningful, but in general Garmin uses a more sophisticated algorithm than the FT4 that hel;ps mitigate for things that HRMs aren't designed to support, with respect to calorie estimation.
  • CincyNeid
    CincyNeid Posts: 1,249 Member
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    I would trust the Garmin more. . ..
  • janettles
    janettles Posts: 69 Member
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    I have a Polar H7 Bluetooth Heart Rate Sensor (rated most accurate by Consumer Reports and other reviewers). It is a chest strap that can broadcast my heart rate data to any app I choose. If I choose 2 different apps to receive my data for the same workout, I will get 2 different calorie counts. So apparently the number of calories being reported by the app depends on the ideas and beliefs of the company writing the software, and not on the data coming from the strap. I choose to believe the app written by Polar, but I am aware that I am choosing a belief.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    janettles wrote: »
    If I choose 2 different apps to receive my data for the same workout, I will get 2 different calorie counts.

    Partly that's because HR isn't a particularly good proxy for calorie expenditure, but it's relatively simple and inexpensive to collect, so for consumer grade devices pretty popular.
  • tiggerlove
    tiggerlove Posts: 225 Member
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    the H7 is great and very accurate but that's my opinion.

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