Heart rate monitors on wrists (not strapped on body)

Pacing Mule

Hi guys

My wife is interested in picking up a heart rate monitor for running. At the moment she uses Endomondo on an iphone to track her runs. (Well aware that GPS tracking isn't 100% perfect on phones but from a beginners point of view it's fine!)

She wants to use a heart rate monitor to follow a training plan which will be better for weight loss. Although she has the phone for GPS she's not too keen on wearing a heart rate monitor that is held in place by a belt (from a comfort and practical point of view) She'd be more interested in the kind of monitor the Nike Sportsband is - in that you wear it like a watch and can view the heart rate as you're running.

The nike sportsband has gotten some shady reviews from what I can see but that's more to do with the distance tracking than heart rate monitoring. I'm just wondering is there anything similar / better or even cheaper on the market ?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Krusty_Clown

Do Nike+ have a wrist-based heart rate monitor? I believe Nike+ is compatible with Heart Rate monitors (e.g. Polar) but to my knowledge they're all torso-based, rather than wrist-based. I used to have a LIDL wrist-based HRM, but it was crap and died eventually. There are some female sports-bra type things that can take a HRM strap. Not sure if that's useful.

sconhome

Heart rate readings from pulse are not accurate, unfortunately. The chest strap is picking up electro pulses from the heart muscles and is the only dependable way of tracking the data.

The heart rate straps like the Polar H7 are soft elastic and are comfortable to wear (as a guy its easy for me to say, but my wife wears the soft strap - no complaints). They are also bluetooth compatible to pair with most running apps & iphones.

Thanks to rom for the point below. I was unaware of the bluetooth differences and the specificity of the iphone 4s.

rom

amphkingwest wrote: »

Heart rate readings from pulse are not accurate, unfortunately. The chest strap is picking up electro pulses from the heart muscles and is the only dependable way of tracking the data.

The heart rate straps like the Polar H7 are soft elastic and are comfortable to wear (as a guy its easy for me to say, but my wife wears the soft strap - no complaints). They are also bluetooth compatible to pair with most running apps & iphones.

For bluetooth its bluetooth low energy and it has to be iphone 4s as previous versions i.e. iphone 4 do not support BT low energy. Only about 4-5 phones support BT low energy HRM's currently. Marketing name is bluetooth smart. http://www.bluetooth.com/Pages/Bluetooth-Smart-Devices.aspx

huskerdu

I think she should consider a torso strap. I have a standard Garmin one ( not even the premium, soft one) and you wouldn't even know you have it on.
It sits very neatly just below my bra with no problems.

rom

huskerdu wrote: »

I think she should consider a torso strap. I have a standard Garmin one ( not even the premium, soft one) and you wouldn't even know you have it on.
It sits very neatly just below my bra with no problems.

I have that one too but it bores a hole in my chest. I prefer to use a polar strap with it as that strap is more like a bike tyre with no sharp edges unlike the garmin. Had the hard strap on before and hated it.

TFBubendorfer

Suunto had (have?) a HR monitor that takes reading from the finger, but the reviews were horrible due to the inaccurate readings. It was basically useless.

HR strap around the chest is the only way to go at the moment. She should at least give it a try.

DublinDilbert

The Timex Ironman HRM strap is a bit smaller / lighter than the one I have for my Garmin 305. The Timex is not a bad HRM, once you figure out how to use it.

The chest straps are fine once you get used to them. Most of the time your to busy worrying about other aspects of your run to even remember its there :-)

rom

Motorola SF700 Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor tried to do this recently but they never released them or pulled them off the market. Basically they used your ears to get HR but now they are selling a strap instead too. They Demo'd at CES and that's the last I heard or saw from it.

Younganne

I wear the standard Garmin 305 strap and i never notice it, just make sure it's not too loose or too tight!!:D

rainbow kirby

Younganne wrote: »

I wear the standard Garmin 305 strap and i never notice it, just make sure it's not too loose or too tight!!:D

+1, I probably do push it slightly lower than normal though to get a reading with certain sports bras that have a relatively low band though.

Donelson

Suunto ambit has a wrist hr feature, but I've no idea if it's any good. 400+ euro so it's kinda pricey!