Reddit reviews Power Systems Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor, Exercise Training Watch, Black/Silver (92018)
We found 9 Reddit comments about Power Systems Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor, Exercise Training Watch, Black/Silver (92018). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Adjustable, audible alarm alerts the user when out of their zoneCounts and displays caloric expenditureTracks totals for session, training hours, in-zone training and provides weekly training summaryButton-free Heart Touch functionFitness training watch for walking, running, biking, circuit, HIIT and other cardio workouts
Might I suggest this one? http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Heart-Monitor-Watch-Silver/dp/B001U0OFDC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381634129&sr=8-1&keywords=polar+ft7 I just purchased it myself and Polar is a great company for workout equipment. Plus it has a lot of really good reviews.
I bought a bare-bones model on Amazon that had pretty good reviews: This is the one I got for 35 dollars. I am a petite person, so I had trouble getting the chest strap to fit. No complaints if you only want to track your heart rate. It didn't do anything fancy like track calories, so eventually I upgraded to the Polar FT-7. I love it. It tracks calories and is able to tell you when you're in the fat-burning zone vs. the fitness zone during your workouts. It also keeps a log and charts of your progress. It's twice as much at 70 dollars.
I have this one. I've been using it almost two years and I've never had a problem with it. I did some pretty extensive research before I bought it and it was the most consistently rated one with the features I wanted.
I have the Polar FT7 watch which comes with the chest strap.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001U0OFDC?pc_redir=1411126975&robot_redir=1
If you want just a chest strap and don't want to use the watch to see the reading, you need the bluetooth model (H7 I believe) and use the app on your phone to see the readings.
Personally I prefer the watch over the app because I don't have to fumble with my phone while riding, just a quick glance at my wrist and I'm good.
One caveat though is that these are not good for general tracking(just cardio from exercise) as they don't count steps or minutes moving. For that you will need to use a tracker like Fitbit, Jawbone UP, or the Polar Loop.
Calorie counting HR monitor helps me!
As far as I know, most of the wrist ones DO require a chest strap. Getting the pulse from the wrist is going to be way sketchier than from a chest strap. I have this one. I wore it once for 24 hours straight just to get a "baseline" and it wasn't super uncomfortable, just have to spend a few minutes to get the chest strap comfortable (might be easier for me as a lady since I kind of tuck it up under my sports bra and it stays put mostly.)
Keep in mind that even with a heart rate monitor like this, the results are not 100% accurate for "how many calories burned" since it's just basing it on your height, weight and whatever it can get of your pulse. It's more accurate than the counter on the treadmill though.
> Our workouts can range from 200 calories to over 1000, and we might do 1 or two a day. It ends up being a ton of estimating
From what you're saying, it sounds like you're more concerned about what you're burning during the exercise than what you're doing through out the day. To that, I'd say take a look at the FT4 or the FT7. Both of these come with a chest strap and a "watch" to monitor your heart rate. If you ever go indoors to a machine, most machines will pick up your device and show your stats on the screen. You can plug your stats into both, both will let you know when you're out of your heart rate range, and they will take a lot of guess work out of your workouts.
Polar heart rate monitor with a chest strap.
http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Heart-Monitor-Black-Silver/dp/B001U0OFDC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1462880158&sr=8-3&keywords=polar+heart+rate+monitor
http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Heart-Monitor-Watch-Silver/dp/B001U0OFDC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1396030582&sr=8-2&keywords=top+heart+rate+monitors