Another HRM Question...
 

My bf recently bought me a new Polar FT40 HRM. I have always wanted one to be able to have rough estimate of the calories I'm burning rather than a "average" guess. My question is that how accurate are they? When I run I get a fairly high calorie burn and I question if its accurate, and I have just always sold myself short on the amount of calories I burn or is it just rounding up and I need to stop wishful thinking?

When Jillian Michaels had a radio show she talked often about how they used polar heart rate monitors with the Biggest Loser contestants for the first few seasons. She said she always found them to be very accurate and could estimate their weight loss for the week within about a pound (which, considering what they burn in a week, I'd say is accurate). The only inaccuracy would be that it doesn't account for your percentage of fat vs. lean muscle mass, which would vary between individuals.

I love my Polar monitor and have found it to be pretty accurate. As long as the band's sitting flat on your ribcage and you've plugged in all your stats you get a good reading. If it's slipping and sliding during exercise then your burn will probably be low. If nothing else, it tells me if I'm exercising in the right "zone" of intensity and I know if I'm getting the kind of workout I want.

I really couldn't workout without mine now :)

I LOVE my polar F11- I believe it is fairly accurate as you have to calibrate it to your own body.

I mean unless you have a few to compare it to it's hard to say- but I'd wager if it were way off they wouldn't be in business anymore.

I bought a Polar F4 on Saturday and I love it. It's SO motivating to see the numbers and my heart rate and the 'zone'. So far I really think minei is accurate. The first thing I did with it was go on my treadmill to compare. I wanted to see if my treadmill matched. My treadmill was off by 10 calories. I won't know for sure how accurate it is until I do an official weigh in after a week, but I'm pretty certain the numbers are pretty close. My Polar has helped me see which exercises are more effective for calorie burn. I found out quickly that running and walking on my treadmill doesn't produce the high calories burn I get from doing a cardio and weight training video.