Heart rate monitor without chest strap

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criscricket
criscricket Posts: 72
in Fitness and Exercise
Can anyone recommend a good one? I mostly want to track my hr and calories burned? And maybe steps taken as a bonus.

Thanks
Cris

Replies

  • Wisemomoffour
    Wisemomoffour Posts: 125 Member
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    I want to know too--thanks for posting!
  • Fitness_4_Jess
    Fitness_4_Jess Posts: 55 Member
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    I think the Polar FT 4 doesn't have a chest strap. I have the FT 7 with a chest strap and love it. To me, it was worth the extra $20 for a chest strap.
  • NKF92879
    NKF92879 Posts: 601 Member
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    I think the Polar FT 4 doesn't have a chest strap. I have the FT 7 with a chest strap and love it. To me, it was worth the extra $20 for a chest strap.

    The Polar FT4 DOES have a chest strap. I have one and I LOVE it.
  • blondejillie
    blondejillie Posts: 305 Member
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    Me too. I've been researching them, and am torn between polar, omron and others. Would love someone who has used a good one to make a recommendation...
  • alorick
    alorick Posts: 194
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    I have a body media fit armband HRM. It's pretty much the same as a body bugg. It tells you how many calories burned, and you can break it down and see exactly how many burned while exercising. It also counts steps taken, tells you how many hours you slept, and you can enter in your food and track calories, too. I'd definitely recommend it.
  • melibea
    melibea Posts: 228
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    I have the FT 4 and it does have a chest strap. I believe this helps your calories burned estimation be a lot more accurate than without one. So i recommend the FT4 if you are looking for an affordable HRM that works great.

    I am not really sure why you wouñd want one without the chest piece when they are not as accurate. If you are worried about comfort, please remember that the straps are adjustable and you can make them be comfy enough for you. At first you'll be thinking about how here is something around your chest but sfter a while the thought really goes away and you cannot feel it anymore :)
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    You need a chest strap if you want any reasonable accuracy of calories burned.

    Personally I recommend Polar... FT4, FT7 and FT40 are basic models. Will do heart rate and calories burned. If you jump up to the Polar FT60, you can buy an optional GPS sensor that will track distance and steps I believe.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    I started with a watch-only model, a New Balance I found on clearance at Target. To take your heart rate you have to put two fingers on the edge of the watch face during exercise, and wait until it beeps. Not too bad if you're just walking, but got tricky during more strenuous workouts to try to get the pulse without slowing or stopping exercise. Also, since it's just periodic readings rather than a continuous read like you get with a chest strap, it's not as accurate, and it doesn't always read right away or correctly the first time, etc. which was very frustrating. After about a month I started looking for a model with a chest strap.

    I got a New Balance N4 on eBay, brand new and it works perfectly, for $26 - about $3 more than what I paid for the watch-only version. :grumble: I also found that the watch was giving me much higher calorie burns than the chest strap does, which probably led to me eating more than I should have! :noway:
  • nakaiki
    nakaiki Posts: 180 Member
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    Polar sells a sports bra that can be used instead of the chest strap . . . due to my exaggerated measurements, chest straps never keep correct placement. The bra is pricey, but I love mine.

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