Heart Rate Monitors

I'm on my second Polar FT-7. The first one lasted over a year and I really like them. They give the essential information I want and are reasonably priced.

I had a groupon for a $10 HRM and it was a bowflex EZ PRO. When it came I realized that you have to put our fingers to check your HR, so it's not constant. I was very sad But what did I expect for a $10 purchase. I guess it's an ok watch. I have the NIKE fuel band which was $150, but I really don't think the calories on that are accurate, so I have an even more expensive watch, although the nike fuel points are good to make sure you're keeping active. Alas, I am also looking for a good, not too expensive HRM, and preferably one I don't need to strap to my chest. What's the cheapest that a good one will run for?

I have several and I like the Timex Global Trainer w GPS the best, with my Garmin GPS a close 2nd. The Timex sells for about 150 on Amazon, has all the features mentioned above with HR zones and alerts etc, you can program in different activities at different intensity levels o it generally gives the best burn info, HR alerts and training zones (up to four) can be set as well. Works very well for water aerobics which is a big plus for me over the Garmin which cost twice as much. BTW I haven't heard much bad feedback on the polars though either.

I'm in the UK and I have a OneBody HRM that I got for £20 from Tesco. For a relatively cheap HRM, it does a really brilliant job of tracking heart rate and calorie burn. You can program it with all your information, set workout zones and it also estimated fat burn as well. It comes with a chest strap for accuracy and really, I love it simply because of the value. Polar HRMs are over double the price and when I have tried them, they do pretty much the same job.

Bump