Heart rate monitor

[Angie-Tap]

Advice please. Can you tell me are heart rate monitors worth buying and if so what would you recommend. Thank you.

[Maysie1 Graduate]

I have one which came with my Garmin watch and find it interesting, but it is no way essential.

My wife cannot see the point of all the data that my watch & HRM gathers, but I love it. It probably doesn't help my running/training much, but I just find it all interesting in a nerdy sort of way.

Like most of these running 'gadgets', we have them because we 'want' them, not because we 'need' them, so whether it is worth it or not to you depends on your personal circumstances and what you want to use it for.

If you are buying a Garmin style watch (which I assume you will be if you are looking to get a HRM) and are in two minds as to whether to get a HRM or not, then they are much cheaper to buy with the original watch purchase than as an extra item purchased separately afterwards, so think carefully. Not all watches are HRM compatible either.

[lizziebeth57 Graduate]

I agree with Maysie 1, I think it depends on whether you want one or not. My husband got me a Garmin 110 with HRM as a graduation present over a year ago - and have never put it on. I love the Garmin and still use it for every run but for whatever reason the HRM is something I have any interest in. I think if you are thinking about using the info to regulate the intensity of your running (or whatever it is that one does with the HRM info) then you may well be one of the folk who would love and use it. If not it will sit in the box like mine. Horses for courses.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

As the others have said, Heart rate monitors are worth buying if you want to monitor your heart rate. I have found it interesting to relate my perceived effort to the HRM reading and it is one way to keep your effort within defined ranges. Over time you may be able to track changes relative to performance as you get more or less efficient at running. Mine is seldom used, but will probably come out every couple of months to see if any changes are noticeable. It is possible to centre your training around the HRM, but it is certainly not essential.

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I bought a HRM about 3 weeks ago but it was not a watch but a Polar Wearlink band that goes round the chest and links with Runkeeper on my android smartphone. So far I have been pleased with what it shows and there has been no problems linking them up so that I can see overall distance vs pace vs HR at any stage of the run.

Buying a band rather than a watch is certainly cheaper and my view was why buy another GPS device when I already have it on the phone which I use for listening to music anyway.

In terms of applicability, I would agree with the other posts above. It is not essential by any means. However it is another, personal way, to track progress. So I expect to get more value from it over time. (I wear it for every run now).

I have found some interesting articles online and spreadsheet training tables (google "Daniels' tables") which help me use the output to understand which training zone I'm in and how I am performing but I certainly don't use that data realtime but just look at it when I get home.

Hope this helps. Happy running.

[Rignold]

There is a lot to be said for training by Heart Rate zones. I found it immensely helpful as a beginner transitioning to running longer distances, and still have my heart rate as the display on my Garmin while running. I am not rally interested in what my speed is while I am running, nor how far I have run, but how much of my hearts maximum I am exerting is of great interest to me in real time.

To use the analogy of your car dashboard display, the HRM is the tachometer, displaying your RPM. Whilst I realise most people don't give it a glance much of the time, it is useful to be able to see when yu need to 'change up a gear' and invaluable to know if you are in danger of redlining.

One man's gimmick is another's invaluable.

[Angie-Tap Graduate]

Thank you for all your help. Rignold, yes that is why I wanted one to see what zone I was in to get the most out of running and to make sure I am not overdoing it.

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I love my heart rate monitor. It keeps me from slacking off during a run--and I love the totally unnecessary feature of telling me how many calories I've burned!

[Zev1963 Graduate]

MIO Link is great.

You wear it on your wrist. It uses leds to measure your pulse rather than electrical impulses. It connects perfectly to my Garmin Forerunner 15. Much more comfortable, and reliable than the polar chest strap that I used before.