Many of the people who are very much into workout and exercising need a parameter representing whether they are doing it right or not. Working out at a personal level should be such that the ideal heart rate zone is met so that you can get the most out of your exercise routine. For such purposes, the heart rate monitors are largely used by many exercises at a personal level.
These heart rate monitors are ideal devices that instantly let you know whether you are following a good heart rate pace or you need to make some adjustments in your routine to get the most out of it. Heart rate monitors are usually worn on the wrist or the chest and they constantly track your heart rate to let you visualize it there and then or to study it later on.
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What is a Heart Rate Monitor?
A Heart rate monitor is typically an electronic device which is worn either as the chest band or as a wristband to continuously monitor the heart rate of a person while working out. These are especially suitable for use when performing any of the cardiovascular exercises such as running, walking, climbing, skiing or hiking. Ideally, where the ones where the heart rate works at its best.
For this purpose, the heart rate monitors come in two types. The first type is the one which is worn as a chest band which sends information of the heart rate to a monitor worn on the wrist. The second type is the one which is worn as the wristband only that is supposed to be touched to record heart rate. These recorded heart rate can later be studied to see whether you are exercising within the target heart rate zone.
Top five reasons why you must buy the Heart Rate Monitor
As important it is to work out and exercise, it is equally important to know whether you are doing it within your target heart rate or not. Because if you are not, then the activity won’t have the impact it must have on your body. A heart rate monitor helps you to monitor your heart rate at all the times during your cardio.
So, the top five reasons supporting the fact that you must buy a heart rate monitor have been mentioned as follows.
- Health improvisation: Whenever you start up a new exercise routine for a specific goal, you need to find the correct intensity to do it and maintain it to get the maximum benefits in the long run. This is what is exactly offered by this heart rate monitor. It will let you know whether you are doing what is takes to improve your health through any workout routine you adopt.
- Measuring the effort accurately: Some people use the method of stopping in between the workouts to measure their pulse rate in order to measure their effort. While it is inconvenient, it also never accurate. However, the heart rate monitor is bound to give the accurate results regarding the efforts you are putting in and you can study the same to find how much more you need to put in.
- Helps in adopting a safe workout schedule: Different kinds of workout sessions require a different level of intensities. You wouldn’t want to exceed the required heart rate intensity as it may be unsafe in your body and heart. For the same, the heart rate monitor will help you get to a safer session of workouts by helping you monitor your intensity for each one of them.
- Progress tracking and recording: While working out for weeks, you will want to visualize your performance and progress as compared to a longer time. Some heart rate monitors store weeks long of heart rates which lets you easily monitor any errors during the session along with how much have you progressed in maintaining the ideal heart rate.
- Works as a motivator: The heart rate monitor tells you when you have met your ideal heart rate target and when you have not. When it indicates an incomplete training session, you are naturally bound to work harder to meet the required one. And when it tells that you did good, it is quite a motivation working which is the primary requirement for anyone working out.
Factors to consider before buying a Heart Rate Monitor
Before purchasing the ideal heart rate monitor for your personal training and workout sessions, you will need to take into account some of the important factors to buy the right one. Following are the best factors to consider before buying a heart rate monitor.
- Look for the required features: There are many different kinds of heart rate monitors. There are ones that simply tell the heart rate in real time. While there are other that can be programmed to monitor some specific body parts or store data for later study. It will depend on your requirements as to which features would you require in your heart rate monitor.
- Easy to use: It is important that your heart rate monitor is very easy to use so that you won’t have to waste time programming it to get the accurate results. Researching for all possible options before buying the heart rate monitor is the best to pick out the one whose features and functions are easily understood and usable by you.
- The type of heart rate monitor: From the available two types of heart rate monitors, you will need to pick the one that is convenient and correct for you and your workout plan. The chest strap or the wrist strap have been designed for different types of cardio and must be matched with the one you will be using it for.
- Maintenance: The heart rate monitor you purchase must be easy to maintain. They usually run on batteries and are likely to run out of battery at some time. Some of them can be easily operated by you to replace the batteries and some are not. They require professional assistance. Depending on your ease, the maintenance time and cost must be kept in mind before buying the heart rate monitor.
- Budget and expense: Heart rate monitors usually tend to get expensive with the increase in the number of features. A simple heart rate monitor without many complex features will cost way less than a complex programmable heart rate monitor. Keeping in mind the budget you have to spare and the features you require, the ideal model of the heart rate monitor must be considered.
Top 4 Best Heart Rate Monitor Reviews of 2019
1. Scosche Rhythm+ Heart Rate Monitor Armband
It is a brilliant heart rate monitor armband by Scosche which is really lightweight and has a waterproof exterior that can be submerged up to 1 meters. The key features of this heart rate monitor are mentioned as follows.
- It is a great armband workout tool for managing heart rate, calories burned, distance, pace etc.
- It is known to work with most popular health and fitness apps, including digifit, run keeper, mapmyfitness, Strava etc.
- It also works with all Bluetooth Smart and ANT+ enabled devices and equipment such as watches, fitness equipment, smartphones, and tablets.
- It is very lightweight and a breathable armband.
- It has been built with an Ip67 waterproof construction that can be submerged up to 1 meter.
- It easily attaches to your forearm for full wireless communication with your device.
- It features a dual-mode processor so that you can simultaneously transmit your heart rate to multiple ANT+ displays and your favorite Bluetooth Smart enabled watch or smartphone app.
- The overall dimensions of this heart rate monitor wristband are Width 1.75 inches, Length 1.75 in and Height 0.5 in.
- The total weight of this heart rate monitor wristband is 0.0625 lbs.
- It comes with a 1-year limited warranty.
2. Fitbit Charge 2 Heart Rate + Fitness Wristband, Black, Large
It is a heart rate monitor wristband by Fitbit that tracks the heart rate continuously to give you a clearer picture of your health. You can record your workouts and select the right exercises for you. The key features of this heart rate monitor wristband are mentioned as follows.
- It features the PurePulse continuous and gives an automatic wrist-based heart rate tracking to better measure calorie burn all day.
- It helps you to maximize your workouts using simplified heart rate zones such as Fat Burn, Cardio, and Peak.
- You can also see call, text and calendar notifications on the OLED display.
- It is capable of tracking how long and how well you sleep and wake with a silent vibrating alarm, automatically.
- It helps you to obtain a better understanding of your fitness level and knows how you can improve over time with a personalized Cardio Fitness Score.
- It can be used with a connected GPS during run mode to see real-time stats like pace and distance on your wrist.
- Using this heart rate monitor, you can track all-day activity like steps, distance, calories burned, floors climbed and active minutes.
- It also features reminders to move and has a long battery life.
- It also features the personalized guided breathing sessions for you based on your heart rate.
- The overall dimension of this heart rate monitor wristband is 9.9 x 0.9 x 0.5 inches.
- The total weight of this heart rate monitor wristband is 1.3 ounces.
3. Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor
It is a fitness and cross-training heart rate monitor by Polar which contains basic heart rate features to keep your training simple. It counts your every move and works as a simple monitoring device. The key features of this heart rate monitor are mentioned as follows.
- It measures heart rate in beats per minute or % of maximum.
- It gives a manual or age-based heart rate target zone with indicator during training.
- It displays the heart rate analysis after training as per the average and maximum heart rate.
- It also suggests smart Calories.
- It also gives the heart rate in water with included H1 heart rate sensor.
- It collectively totals for a long-term follow-up.
- It has a 12-months battery life i.e. for 30 minutes of training a day.
- It measures only the heart rate and not the footsteps.
- It provides continuous and accurate heart rate to keep your fitness training simple.
- It has a Smart Calorie feature that uses your personal data to provide accurate calories burned.
- It includes a heart rate chest strap made of soft fabric material that adapts to your body shape.
- It comes with a user replaceable battery and is water resistant.
- It is capable of connecting with a compatible gym equipment using GymLink.
4. Polar H7 Bluetooth Heart Rate Sensor & Fitness Tracker
It is a heart rate sensor chest wrap by Polar which is known to deliver accurate results of your heart rate to your mobile phone. The key features of this heat rate monitor are mentioned as follows.
- It is a brilliant heart rate monitor which gives a live and accurate heart rate to compatible mobile training apps through Bluetooth Smart technology.
- It is a brilliant fitness tracker with a waterproof heart rate sensor and is compatible with iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (5th generation), iPad (3rd and 4th generation), iPad mini and iPod Nano (7th generation) and Bluetooth Smart transmission technology.
- It has a long battery life and the transmitter can be detached from the chest strap after every use.
- It features the advanced technology with the Gym Link that connects Polar heart rate monitors and activity trackers with compatible gym equipment.
- It has brilliant calorie counter capabilities for those who want to count the calories they burn and get basic heart rate-based features to keep their fitness training simple.
It is brilliant heart rate monitor tool to measure the heart rate of a person. Depending on the features and budget you want and you have, you can go around choosing the ideal heart rate monitor for yourself.
