Heart rate monitor

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blondie_girl14
blondie_girl14 Posts: 198 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am looking to find a heart rate monitor that is accurate when taking a heart rate. I'd like to be able to wear it all day for steps and stuff but I feel like to get a accurate heart rate you need a band.......any suggestions?
I was looking at this one

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  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
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    Heart rate monitors are meant for purposeful exercise like running or cycling not for wearing all day long.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    If you're tracking all day and steps you want like a FitBit or similar device - not a heart rate monitor. Some FitBits and similar do track your heart rate although I don't know it is very accurate.
  • canuck121
    canuck121 Posts: 1 Member
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    to get accurate HR you should get a chest strap. To get a ballpark idea of what your HR is, go for the optical HR found in wrist bands. The chest strap is better because its positioned near the heart and measures electrical current. The optical measures blood flow but is farther away from the heart so there could be a delay in the measurements, plus there can be contact issues if its not secured tightly during activity. Neither device measures steps. I'm a Garmin fan and I would go for the Garmin 235 watch with optical HRM. You can also purchase a chest strap separately that it will read to enhance the data. The 235 is a running watch but also counts steps and monitors your sleep. I do triathlons so I wear chest strap and either my Garmin watch or iPhone.
  • kksmom1789
    kksmom1789 Posts: 281 Member
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    I have a Fitbit charge 2 and absolutely love it tracks my steps and sleep I love doing the step challenges with my friends it's also a heart rate monitor and every time I go to the doctor I ask them to compare my Fitbit to what they it and it's always spot on or just a beat or two off
  • blondie_girl14
    blondie_girl14 Posts: 198 Member
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    Thanks.
    I currently have one with a strap but it's not working. Figured I could get a fancy shmancy one idk
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,136 Member
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    HRMs in wrist bands that use optical sensors have some notable inaccuracies especially during exercise activity due to the movement in the wrist that messes up the ability to optically sense the beats. There are optical HRMs that mount in head bands/swim caps that are more accurate since there is not the movement that is found in a wrist. And then there are the chest staps that either go to a proprietary watch or the bluetooth type that connect to app on one's smart phone. As stated, HR is only really useful in terms of relationship to calories burned during steady state cardio exercise.
  • LPflaum
    LPflaum Posts: 174 Member
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    I second the FitBit HR2. Its relatively accurate (when measured against my chest strap), comfortable, plays nice with MFP, and its much cuter than the old HR.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    My heartrate monitor is made by Garmin. It can be used with anything that uses ANT+. Aside from being able to show my coworkers that my resting heartrate is 47 bpm, I see no reason to wear it all day. Heartrate monitors don't count steps and they won't tell you how many calories you are burning. All they do is give you an indication of your exertion level when you are exercising. A comparison of your heartrate to your max heartrate will give you an idea of how much more effort you can put in.
  • eldnarrandle
    eldnarrandle Posts: 1 Member
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    looking for heart rate monitor to use while swimming. needs to be easy to read because I don't wear my glasses in the pool. I do not want to use a chest strap. thoughts?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    Another vote for the fitbit charge 2 :+1: It's about as accurate as a wrist worn tracker can be, obviously not 100% but good enough.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    eldnarrandle wrote: »
    looking for heart rate monitor to use while swimming. needs to be easy to read because I don't wear my glasses in the pool. I do not want to use a chest strap. thoughts?

    The wrist based one's turn off the HRM if you select a swim activity. They lose contact with the skin to much to even approach being useful is my understanding. If you want HRM while swimming, it's a strap.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,136 Member
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    eldnarrandle wrote: »
    looking for heart rate monitor to use while swimming. needs to be easy to read because I don't wear my glasses in the pool. I do not want to use a chest strap. thoughts?

    Why do you need to look at your HRM while swimming? If you simply want to record HR data this https://welcome.moov.cc/moovhr/ might work for you.

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