heart rate monitor?

I LOVE my Polar FT7...with the chest strap.

I second the Polar FT7 with chest strap!!

I also have a Polar FT7 and LOVE it! I like it because the readings are more accurate than online sources. At times the cardio I enter online is pretty generous! Other times (very few) my HRM reads higher cal's burned.

Search them out, keep note of the features that you would like, then pick one.

I read a lot of reviews and personal accounts before I asked for mine (it was a bday present).

Good luck with your search!

i polled the group before buying mine last november....i wanted one with a chest strap as everyone recommended but $$$$ was not readily available. SO....i price shopped, compared, considered all the MFP advice and landed on the POLAR FT4.

was in my price range, had a chest strap, was a brand highly recommended, was programmable to MY stats for better accuracy, counts cal, tracks avg heart rate, max, keeps a running total of time spent, # workouts, # total cal burned using it. LOVE IT!

New Balance N-4. It has the chest strap, does up to 9 runs, has all the functions, and was very reasonably priced,

http://www.polar.fi/en/products/get_active/fitness_crosstraining/FT4
The FT4 is your basic HRM. Comes with a chest strap and wrist watch. The strap makes it more accurate. I find the strap to be very comfortable. I usually forget I'm wearing it when I get home. It calculates calores burned, avg heart rate, max heart rate, exercise duration. You input your profile (age, gender, weight, etc) and it gives you a heart rate range based on your age and when you work out it will beep if you go above or below that range. It also saves up to 10 workouts so you can go back through the files and see previous workouts. It's a simple HRM with few buttons and very easy to use. It also comes with user changeable batteries. Many HRMs make you have to send them back to the manufacturer to change batteries. It's also water resistant so you can actually use it for swimming.

http://www.polar.fi/en/products/get_active/fitness_crosstraining/FT7
The FT7 has the above and then some, including the compatibility with the flowlink which allows you to connect it to your computer and automatically upload your activity to polarpersonaltrainer.com. These extra features were not necessary for me but if you want to be able to use the polar website and upload your activities then you won't be able to do that with the FT4 as it does not support flowlink. The FT7 can tell you if you are improving fitness or burning fat. It stores up to 99 previous workout instead of only 10 like the FT4.

You can get them at lots of places like Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon.com, Ebay, Target. I ordered my FT4 online from Walmart and did the site to store pickup. I paid $89 for it and it has been well worth every penny. The FT7 is going to cost between $100-$120.

Polar FT4...it rocks!