HRMs for Swimmers?

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CakepopPirate
CakepopPirate Posts: 51 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am searching for the perfect Heart Rate Monitor. I have noticed that some are water resistant but do not actually transmit your heart rate underwater. Are there any swimmers or triathletes out there that use a heart rate monitor while in the water? If so, what kind do you have? It could be that this technology is not 'out' yet and I am looking for something that doesn't exist :smile:

Thanks for your advice!

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  • froeschli
    froeschli Posts: 1,292 Member
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    I Used to use my polar m21 for swimming (about 10 years ago). It worked fine for me. According to the manual, the figures can be off because the electric pulse measured by the sensors on the chest strap may travel through the water instead of the skin, if it has lots of chlorine or salt in it. It'll throw the figure off, but not damage the unit though.
    I don't use it anymore because I replaced the batteries myself , which included cutting the plastic shell off the chest strap (was a sealed unit) it's taped together now, but I don't trust it to be waterproof anymore.
  • tammyclair
    tammyclair Posts: 38
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    I swim every day with my polar ft4. it works great. I bought it at Target but I heard that it is cheaper on Amazon.
  • Trail_Addict
    Trail_Addict Posts: 1,350 Member
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    I swim every day with my polar ft4. it works great. I bought it at Target but I heard that it is cheaper on Amazon.

    I tried swimming with my FT7, and ran into 2 problems.

    1. It wouldn't sync up once in the pool.
    2. The chest strap kept sliding down my chest, regardless of how tight I made it.

    Hopefully, there is a way to make it work because I'm dying to know my calorie burn in the pool.
  • tigerdactyl
    tigerdactyl Posts: 112 Member
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    Haven't tried my FT4 in the pool yet but I hear it works fine. I've also been told not to push any of the buttons while underwater

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