Hi
Does anyone know any good deals for on of those Heart rate Monitor things people wear at the gym, or when jogging ?
I think a good brand is "Polar' , there may be better but I'm not sure.
They usually have a wrist watch type thing and a chest band that you wear to pick up the heart rate.
Cheers
Pookie
I like garmin myself, the price depends on all the extras you want.
The one I have has a million features and I use probably 3.
Are you using it for running? Heart rate is the last thing I check, If I'm still running I'm not dead.
Extras include pace/virtual partner/zones etc
There are apps that do a lot of what the watches do.
I purchased a Polar FT7 about a year ago through 12WBT (The Michelle Bridges thing) and it was pretty cheap as a member and you're not limited. So if you know someone who is a member, maybe see how much they go for. (The prices on the website as a non-member are different).
However Wiggle prices are pretty cheap. And they have free shipping all over Australia for over $80ish.
http://www.wiggle.com.au/polar-ft7-heart-rate-monitor-traini…
You don't necessarily require an FT7, could get an FT4 or something cheaper.
Hope this helps.
Polar FT7 is $115.85 on the 12WBT site (+ $8.95 postage).
I bought mine from Fitness Market (retail shops in Brisbane, or online http://www.fitnessmarket.com.au/shop/fitness-monitors/ ). Just checked and they have it for $109 or $95 for the FT4. $7.50 postage or free pickup if you can get to a retail store.
It really depends what you want from a Heart Rate monitor. The Polar models don't do distance without a foot pod (sold seperately), whereas other models do.
Hope this helps!
Depends what you want to sync it to, as some use Bluetooth Low Energy and others use the ANT+ protocol.
I have a Polar H7 strap which can be had for about $80 or so. It's a well built unit and very comfortable to wear. I sync it to my phone and haven't had any issues with the Bluetooth connection on it at all.
If you take your Bluetooth enabled phone jogging with you this is the cheapest and best solution. You can get a Wahoo Blue Heartrate strap for about $60 ish I think. Get one of the many fitness apps (strava, Runtastic etc) sync the strap with your phone and away you go.
Added advantage of the phone apps are that they often also use the GPS in your phone to work out how far you ran, how much uphill you ran etc etc. Some like strava can also let you know how you compare to other people that ran that same 'segment'. If you go cycling you just have the same kit but mount the phone on your handlebars or stick it in a bag/pocket to record same details.
If you are going to use your smaretphone get a Bluetooth HR strap, if you are going to buy a watch it will probably come with one. (probably using ANT+)
Personally I use Garmin (Have a GPS watch and a Bike computer, same HR strap works with both).
Measuring your HR can be useful in training. It can tell you when you are in one of the HR 'zones', it can let you know how hard you are working and, over time it can show you getting fitter. I once used the records my watch kept of my workouts on Garmin Online to see that my resting Heart Rate (before I started running/cycling etc) had dropped 10 Beats Per Minute over the course of a couple of months as i exercised and got fitter. I know it isn't exact or the best way to measure resting HR but at the time it was a real motivation boost for me!
Hi
Wow…thank you everyone for your replies :)
Lots of useful info.
I'm going to the gym 5 days a week for a 2 hour workout which mainly is cardio machine stuff.
So I mostly want to be able to track calories burned…heart rate..etc.. without loosing track from one machine to the next.
My phone is a galaxy s4 which is a bit big to strap to my arm or keep in my pocket without it being a nuisance :(
So I guess I don't need too many fancy features just yet.
It drives me crazy already trying to keep my earphones in while I jog on the treadmill :( and all I have is a little ipod thing on my arm that plays a few tunes.
Cheers
Pookie
If you are just jogging on a treadmill you wont need the GPS functionality. If you only jog on a treadmill you could rest the phone on the front of the treadmill where the buttons etc are and have the running app with your HR display on the screen but I get it if you would rather have a watch.
You missed out on the Heart rate monitor sale from Harvey norman.
Smartbands and fitness tracking devices are usually more popular now and have more features — try having a look at kogan, eBay, Amazon and see what fits you.
Mio Alpha for instance goes for $200 from Mobicity, also check out http://www.activitytrackersaustralia.com/