OKay, am I right in thinking that a heart rate monitor also monitors calories? If so, how accurate are they? My sister-in-law is a trainer and she said the machines are off by approx. 10%. Are monitors any better? I want one where I can enter my height, weight, age, etc and get as close as possible to the actual calories burned.
I want to know about affordable ones, as well as higher end ones (Christmas is coming.
I don´t know how accurate it is, but surely more than machines´ calculators.
I totally love my Polar F4, it´s a basic model, just heart rate (and limits you want to work in), time of exercise and calories (by entering height, weight, sex, and age). And it´s very easy to use.
I´ve seen other models that have a lot more things, but this is great for me, the basic information, and cheaper of course (I´m a student so that is important too)
I totally and complely recomend it!
I ended up going with a Polar FT40 and I like it. I also recently bought a Timex Ironman for my husband. He has features on his that he likes and I have features on mine that I really like. One thing I like is that I can upload my information to their training website and store it indefinitely. For him, he is uploading his manually to a spreadsheet.
If you are in the gym and using machines, you want to look for one that tries to block out interference from machines/other heart rate monitors. The heart rate monitors at the gym are off because they take the pulse through the palm and there is no percentage in which they are off, they are just off.
The heart rate monitors at the gym are off because they take the pulse through the palm and there is no percentage in which they are off, they are just off.
Because your palms get sweatier than your chest and your chest doesn't move around. Your fingers can be in a different position, etc.
Also, there is the factor that machines tend to state calorie counts higher because it makes them more popular. If you are on a machine that says you burned 300 calories, versus 500 calories, which one would you use? So they do build in a bit of fluff in there.
Nelie - thanks for the comment about the FT40. I am getting one this weekend. Since it is the new model, I was having a hard time getting specific feedback although I had already settled on a Polar.
I have the Polar F4 and I love it. If I could do it over again, I would get the F6 because it blocks interferance from other HRM's - both that people wear, and the machines (I think). I find sometimes that the machine interferes with my HRM and causes my heart rage percentage to be off.
My F6 works with machines - the HR in the watch matches what's on the machine. Basically it means you can either not wear the watch or even better (IMHO) you don't have to hang onto the machine to check your HR.
Love my F6! Coded band is good - I had another Polar before, it wasn't coded and my HR went crazy when I was around someone else wearing one.
What is the Best Heart Rate Monitor?
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