Heart Rate Monitor Recommendations Please

In My Humble Opinion
1

Help me Dopers! I’m trying to get healthy and fit, so a little over a month ago I started the Couch to 5K program. So far it’s going very well, and I’m halfway through. I also started tracking my calories by food journaling, and in an effort to keep accurate, I’d like to buy a heart rate monitor so I can track calories burned. I know everything is just an estimate, but websites can be wildly inaccurate, so I’d like a better estimate. :slight_smile:

I don’t want anything really fancy. I’m looking to spend between $60 and $100. I don’t need it to do anything more than tell me what my heart rate is and what percentage of maximum I am at during a workout, and estimate my calories burned based on my personal stats. I don’t know whether or not to get a wireless one or one with a chest strap. If anyone has used both, I’d like to know your thoughts on the differences.

I thank you for helping me in my quest for fitness!

2

Polar has always been the gold standard. I don’t think calories burned would be much more accurate with a HRM as it’s still an approximation. It is useful to help gauge effort and keep your workouts under control.

3

Forgot to add-go with the chest strap. I don’t know what you mean by wireless as the chest strap models are wireless. Don’t get the type where you touch a contact or fit a sensor over your fingertip-poor accuracy. Your heartrate drops very quickly once you stop, I counted a drop of 25 bpm in just 10 sec.