I have been doing some research on heart rate monitors as part of our diet and fitness regime and from what I can tell the Polar ones are the best but they’re also pretty complex and expensive. The most reasonably priced one that also has a couple of good reviews is the Acumen Eon Basix ES for around $43 plus shipping. Does anyone have one of these or can anyone recommend a better one for under $50?
This model Polar is $49.95.
I have two Polars. I love them.
I have been training with an HRM for many years. It’s a good idea, though with experience you can get away from having to use one all the time.
Go with one that puts the pickups on a band around your chest and has the monitor on a strap around your wrist. The band is the most reliable pickup, and the “watch” monitor is the easiest to use.
My view of the market is that there’s a lot of hype out there. It all boils down to:
[ol]
[li]Basics: upper limit, lower limit, some sort of warning when you get out of range[/li][li]Timing: Stopwatch[/li][li]Advanced timing: Split times[/li][li]Logging: Logging of minimum, maximum, and average HR for a time period[/li][li]Advanced logging: Logging of “time in range”[/li][li]Fancy stuff: special codes to prevent interference from other HRMS, intervals, recovery, detailed logs of heart rate over time, multiple workout profiles, date, time, alarm, backlight, waterproof, altimeter, yada yada yada[/li][/ol]
But just having a warning when you’re not in your target would be enough. The timing stuff you can do with an inexpensive digital watch, and the other stuff only gets important when you really wanna be sophisticated.
I don’t know if they do this any more, but my first Polar only allowed you to set heart rates in intervals of 5. So you could do 115 but not 116-119, etc. Kinda dumb. But, I got something out of it anyway.
Polars are very reliable, but also pricey. You may want to get something inexpensive and then get it at a place that has a good warranty on it.
Just as a note: Wireless HRMs are notorious for getting EM interference. There’s a section of road I ride where my HRM jumps from a comfortable 130 to 235 because of a poorly shielded overhead line! And at a gym I used to belong to, we used to joke about “dying” every time we sat underneath the big neon sign in the window, since our HRMs would immediately go to “0” :eek:
My Polar does 1 BPM increments, so I think they’ve improved.
biddee, a HRM is a very useful training tool, and it’s worthwhile investing in a good one. It looks like the Acumens don’t record your max/min and average HR which is really useful when you keep an exercise log. The features I use/have used heavily on my Polar are the alarm for going out of zone, the timer, and the average heart rate.