Best Heart Rate Monitor for Tracking Calories Burned

lal73
lal73 Posts: 116
edited September 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Im new here so im sorry if this is repetative...Ive never owned one of these gadgets, and i see that the price ranges vary big time...Which is the best monitor to track calories burned during a workout routine? Will it also work during regular strenght training? i.e. using circuit machines at gym?
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Replies

  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    No, HRM's aren't designed to be accurate during regular strength training, only during constant non-casual exercise like walking/running/treadmill/rowing/etc. (basically, most aerobic exercises). If you do want a HRM, though, Polar's typically considered the brand to go with. Get one with a chest strap - wrist monitors aren't as accurate/reliable.

    If you want something that's designed to track calories all day, look into a BodyBugg/BodyMedia FIT - you wear them all day and they use body measures other than Heart Rate to estimate calorie burn. They're a bit pricy (comparable to fancier HRM models) but it was worth it for me - I love mine!
  • BigBoneSista
    BigBoneSista Posts: 2,389 Member
    I've seen a quite few people with the Polar brand so I bought one a couple of days ago from Di*k's Sporting Goods, the PT4. I love it. It comes with they chest strap which was fine. I was worried about it at first but I jogged, played the wii and did hip hop abs and it didn't bother me at all.

    The finger touch ones weren't as affective. I had two previous to this Polar and they didn't calculate very well.
  • txsjhawk
    txsjhawk Posts: 25
    I use a Timex Ironman to track my heart rate during my workouts then can figure out how mane calories I burned based on my stats...age, weight, gender. It does use a chest strap and I agree that they are more accurate than just the watch, especially the low end watches which tend to not monitor your HR when you need it most...when sweaty.
  • jillybeanruns
    jillybeanruns Posts: 1,420 Member
    Honestly, get a Polar with a chest strap. I have an FT60 and love it. I also just bought a Garmin for my running.

    Be cautious when it comes to HRMs without chest straps and honestly, I've seen some really bizarre numbers coming from Timex/Sportsline users.

    Your much better off spending your money on something accurate - get a lower-mid end Polar and you'll be good.
  • ErrataCorrige
    ErrataCorrige Posts: 649 Member
    I have a Polar FT7 and I love it. They are pricey, but I kept shopping until I found one on sale with free shipping, so it was a little more reasonable. I do a lot of classes like Zumba, etc. so it really helps me to know how much I have burned.

    It is also great motivation to pick up the pace when I see my heart rate dropping. Epsecially doing boring stuff like the treadmill. :)
  • LynnBirchfield
    LynnBirchfield Posts: 581 Member
    I recently got a Polar. You do have to wet down the transmittors on the chest strap -- but they tell you to do that.
  • lal73
    lal73 Posts: 116
    Thanks, great advice!
  • WarmDontBurn
    WarmDontBurn Posts: 1,253 Member
    I had a Polar F7 and just upgraded to the FT4. I am still waiting for it so haven't got to play with it yet. I got it on ebay brand new in the box for $49.99 :happy:
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
    I had a Polar F7 and just upgraded to the FT4. I am still waiting for it so haven't got to play with it yet. I got it on ebay brand new in the box for $49.99 :happy:

    FYI, that's not upgrading, the higher the number the better the model, or so I've read.

    I had an F4 and loved it, eventually I upgraded to a FT7 and love that too.
  • WarmDontBurn
    WarmDontBurn Posts: 1,253 Member
    I had a Polar F7 and just upgraded to the FT4. I am still waiting for it so haven't got to play with it yet. I got it on ebay brand new in the box for $49.99 :happy:

    FYI, that's not upgrading, the higher the number the better the model, or so I've read.

    I had an F4 and loved it, eventually I upgraded to a FT7 and love that too.

    My mistake. I figured that the F series was first then the FT series so it was an upgrade. I am pretty sure the F7 is discontinued since I couldn't find it on Polars site so the model up is the FT.
  • newmeat30
    newmeat30 Posts: 766 Member
    I just got the Polar F6 today. I had been looking at the Sportline 1060 (which was just a little bit more) and I was drawn to all the bells and whistles. I had researched the Polar F6 already and decided to go with that since I know that Polar is such a great brand. I'm glad I did, when I looked up the Sportline, the reviews had not been as positive as I would have expected. The best part about it is that it works with the chest band I have from my old Polar monitor.
  • mgibbons2011
    mgibbons2011 Posts: 4 Member
    hmm I just purchased timex fitness HRM with chest strap I bought this model because it tracks calories. But the directions are hard to follow. I've only tried it a couple times. Not sure yet how to track calories. Bought it for my new Les Pump Workouts...Anyone have any tips on tracking calories with this model??
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    hmm I just purchased timex fitness HRM with chest strap I bought this model because it tracks calories. But the directions are hard to follow. I've only tried it a couple times. Not sure yet how to track calories. Bought it for my new Les Pump Workouts...Anyone have any tips on tracking calories with this model??

    Get rid of the TImex.. The calorie counts are crazy on those things. Even if you did figure it out, it wouldn't even be reasonable accurate.

    Return ASAP and get a Polar.

    OP:
    Polar is the way to go. I started out with an FT7 and just recently bought an FT60.. I love both.
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    I had a Polar F7 and just upgraded to the FT4. I am still waiting for it so haven't got to play with it yet. I got it on ebay brand new in the box for $49.99 :happy:

    FYI, that's not upgrading, the higher the number the better the model, or so I've read.

    I had an F4 and loved it, eventually I upgraded to a FT7 and love that too.

    My mistake. I figured that the F series was first then the FT series so it was an upgrade. I am pretty sure the F7 is discontinued since I couldn't find it on Polars site so the model up is the FT.

    Your not mistaken... and that other poster is wrong.

    Polar F series is the older models.. FT is newer models. So even though the number went down, you upgraded models.
  • BitteOrca
    BitteOrca Posts: 74 Member
    hmm I just purchased timex fitness HRM with chest strap I bought this model because it tracks calories. But the directions are hard to follow. I've only tried it a couple times. Not sure yet how to track calories. Bought it for my new Les Pump Workouts...Anyone have any tips on tracking calories with this model??

    Get rid of the TImex.. The calorie counts are crazy on those things. Even if you did figure it out, it wouldn't even be reasonable accurate.

    Return ASAP and get a Polar.

    OP:
    Polar is the way to go. I started out with an FT7 and just recently bought an FT60.. I love both.

    So this really concerns me as I have a brand new Timex HRM. When I compare the calories burned according to my watch with online calculators that take into consideration average BPM, weight, age, gender and time, there is a HUGE discrepancy. The Timex number is always MUCH higher. I have been trusting this number, assuming that it's more accurate since it knows exactly how many minutes I burned at higher BPMs, but now I'm skeptical.

    Is anyone else encountering this problem?
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    hmm I just purchased timex fitness HRM with chest strap I bought this model because it tracks calories. But the directions are hard to follow. I've only tried it a couple times. Not sure yet how to track calories. Bought it for my new Les Pump Workouts...Anyone have any tips on tracking calories with this model??

    Get rid of the TImex.. The calorie counts are crazy on those things. Even if you did figure it out, it wouldn't even be reasonable accurate.

    Return ASAP and get a Polar.

    OP:
    Polar is the way to go. I started out with an FT7 and just recently bought an FT60.. I love both.

    So this really concerns me as I have a brand new Timex HRM. When I compare the calories burned according to my watch with online calculators that take into consideration average BPM, weight, age, gender and time, there is a HUGE discrepancy. The Timex number is always MUCH higher. I have been trusting this number, assuming that it's more accurate since it knows exactly how many minutes I burned at higher BPMs, but now I'm skeptical.

    Is anyone else encountering this problem?

    When I had a TImex, it told me that for 30 minutes of walking on a treadmill incline 15, speed 3.0 I burned 585 calories. Did that same workout with my Polar and I burned half that.

    Timex's are inaccurate because most don't take all info needed to give an accurate calorie estimation(IE Age, weight, height, gender and Vo2max).

    Return the Timex ASAP if you can.. and get a Polar. You'll be much better off.
  • mgibbons2011
    mgibbons2011 Posts: 4 Member
    Found a great how to on you tube..

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQW3yh8VKuE&feature=share

    747 calories burned doing Les Mills Pump Step for 38 minutes...found how to enter my weight and target zone.
  • mrkennethjay
    mrkennethjay Posts: 88
    I'm loving my Polar FT7.
  • marylizzybethy
    marylizzybethy Posts: 3
    I have the Polar FT7, I LOVE IT!! I wear it for all my work-outs including yard work. Just keep searching till you find a good deal on one. You will love it, trust me :-)
  • krazyforyou
    krazyforyou Posts: 1,428 Member
    I have a cheap Mio. Its great, no kidding. Bought it at Academy.
  • _TastySnoBalls_
    _TastySnoBalls_ Posts: 1,298 Member
    I got a Pyle sports brand one on Amazon for $30. style is PHRM38PN. chest strap with wrist watch....i love it.
  • Masterdo
    Masterdo Posts: 331 Member
    I got a Garmin in June, and really love it so far. Heart rate is really nice, it has very cool technology for estimating calories, they actually bought a vendor product from a Finnish company called FirstBeat Technology. It's the most accurate non-invasive (not plugged to a computer lab with a O3 mask), so that's pretty nice.

    I thought I wouldn't care much about the GPS since I have a phone with apps, but the signal is MUCH better, much faster, tracks by the second, and saves it in standard format, so you can take it to many places to log (TrainingPeaks, Garmin Connect, SportsTrack, etc.).

    Great investment, and lots of fun :)
  • AllisonB145
    AllisonB145 Posts: 94 Member
    I have the Polar FT7 and really like it. It tells my heart rate, calories burned, time in fitness mode or fat burning mode etc....
  • werdnanilmot
    werdnanilmot Posts: 1
    Suunto makes HR monitors that are hands down the best technology available outside of a sports lab. I have had 2 T6 models and swear by them.
  • gagajenks
    gagajenks Posts: 25 Member
    Hi
    I am looking into getting a Heart Rate Monitor to calculate calories burned from work outs, I appreciate that there are many online but just asking for help/advice from anyone that has recently purchased one.

    Thanks in advance.
  • louie61403
    louie61403 Posts: 23 Member
    Hello! I purchased my HRM about a month ago. It's a Polar FT7. I've been very pleased with it. I was looking into the FT60 as well as the Garmin Vivofit, both of which were a bit more money and ultimately out of my price range. I'm very pleased with my purchased. I simply put the chest strap on with some water right before heading to the gym and push a button and off it goes. I mainly take classes (Zumba, Body Combat, Body Pump, etc) with mine and it tracks my max and average heart rate, how long the workout was, how many calories burned. It also gives you weekly summaries which is cool because I think WOW - I burned that many calories last week?!?!?!!! I do NOT have the thing that syncs with polar, I simply just put it into MFP when I record the workout. Although I love the activity bands that are popular right now, I asked myself if I would get bored of wearing one all the time. The other thing that I took into consideration was that when you wear the vivofit you need to look at the calories burned BEFORE you start or it just gets consumed into your daily count. I like knowing how many calories I burned at each class. It makes me feel motivated so I am very glad I purchased it. It's not too fancy but is very reliable. I read some reviews about not being able to get it to sync with the watch but I've never had that problem and I use it usually 6 times a week.
  • gagajenks
    gagajenks Posts: 25 Member
    Hello! I purchased my HRM about a month ago. It's a Polar FT7. I've been very pleased with it. I was looking into the FT60 as well as the Garmin Vivofit, both of which were a bit more money and ultimately out of my price range. I'm very pleased with my purchased. I simply put the chest strap on with some water right before heading to the gym and push a button and off it goes. I mainly take classes (Zumba, Body Combat, Body Pump, etc) with mine and it tracks my max and average heart rate, how long the workout was, how many calories burned. It also gives you weekly summaries which is cool because I think WOW - I burned that many calories last week?!?!?!!! I do NOT have the thing that syncs with polar, I simply just put it into MFP when I record the workout. Although I love the activity bands that are popular right now, I asked myself if I would get bored of wearing one all the time. The other thing that I took into consideration was that when you wear the vivofit you need to look at the calories burned BEFORE you start or it just gets consumed into your daily count. I like knowing how many calories I burned at each class. It makes me feel motivated so I am very glad I purchased it. It's not too fancy but is very reliable. I read some reviews about not being able to get it to sync with the watch but I've never had that problem and I use it usually 6 times a week.

    Thanks Louie61403 Your response is much appreciated. There are so many out there to choose from and im just looking for something basic to see how many calories I have burned so I can get accurate readings from my work outs. I am using Jillian Michaels at the moment, ranging from 30 Day Shred, Shred with Weights, Yoga Meltdown and Extreme Shed and Shred :)
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    Heart rate monitors only come close to estimating calories burned for a narrow range of steady state cardio activities. Lifting weights, intervals of any kind, yoga, dancing, etc are not among those activities where HRMs accurately estimate caloric burns.
  • gagajenks
    gagajenks Posts: 25 Member
    Heart rate monitors only come close to estimating calories burned for a narrow range of steady state cardio activities. Lifting weights, intervals of any kind, yoga, dancing, etc are not among those activities where HRMs accurately estimate caloric burns.

    What exercise could you recommend to a new comer who is aiming to improve her fitness levels.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    Heart rate monitors only come close to estimating calories burned for a narrow range of steady state cardio activities. Lifting weights, intervals of any kind, yoga, dancing, etc are not among those activities where HRMs accurately estimate caloric burns.

    What exercise could you recommend to a new comer who is aiming to improve her fitness levels.

    Any exercise that you are willing to do on a continual basis is good. Lift, run, cycle, swim ... whatever gets you moving.

    Jjust don't expect a HRM to provide an accurate calorie estimate for them all. All a HRM does is count heart beats and plug that into a formula derived from lab tests of people doing certain activities .. mostly running or cycling. The device cannot differentiate between an elevated heart rate from running, watching a scary movie, sex, or a roller coaster.
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