Calorie/Heartrate Monitors

Can anyone recommend a good heart rate monitor? Are there devices that exist that also measure calories burned? I am really after the number of calories I burn in an activity, but I may settle for a heart rate monitor and a formula or something!

I have a Mia watch.  It monitors my heart rate, calculates how many calories a day I should be eating for weight loss/gain/maintenance and calculates and tracks the number of calories burned thru exercise.  I love it.  Being a watch, it is very convenient to enter your daily calorie intake.   Oh - it also calculates your heart rate recovery which tells you how healthy your heart is. 

These type of watches run $120 to over $200.  I got mine on the internet at a very good price. 

I currently have a Polar RS200.  It tracks up to 16 workouts and stores Average Heart Rate, Max Heart Rate, Calories Burned and will track amount of time in specific heart rate zones.  Polar also have a cool feature that allows you to upload these workouts to a website to track your progress.  The Polar watches use a chest strap to monitor your heart rate which at times can be a pain but you get used to it.  If you have any other questions drop me a note and we can discuss.  Thanks.  Also my wife has the Polar F11 that has many of the same fuctions for less money.

Thanks for asking this question... I'll have to check these out.  Thanks for your suggestions too guys! :)

I use the Polar F4...monitors heart rate....calories...zone time.... I love it!

The Polar F4 and F6 don't have the fitness test, so they don't have any way to calculate VO2max, which means that the calories burned may not be accurate unless you happen to be around the default, or if you can calculate it yourself.

I have a timex  ironman with gps, that tracks speed, distance, time, etc.  but it doesn't do calories.  i love it and find it really help me stay motivated.  I can also upload the info onto the computer to track progress...

i use the Polar F6 and absolutely love it!  it tracks my heart rate, time spent working out and calories burned and is easy to use.  it also has the ability to create non-interference with other users of HRMs at the gym.  i use mine primarily for calories burned, but it's been an interesting journey learning about my heart rate during activities as well.

starrfy: I have a Polar F6 and I noticed that the VO2max was a parameter that was just a guess. How does one measure that?

not easily

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/vo2max.htm

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/vo2max.htm

http://www.concept2.com/us/training/tools/cal culators/vo2max.asp?vo2max

I keep meaning to do the concept rower one when I visit my parents, but I haven't got around to it yet. 

I have the Polar F11.
Love it.  It calculates VO2max too, and I upload my work out information directly from the watch to my computer and on to their polar personal trainer website.  My body is pretty dead on with the 3500 calories equals a pound.  My F11 motivates me to burn at least that many calories each week to reach my weight loss goal of a pound a week. 

I have the Polar F11 and I love it. Today was the first day I uploaded my files to the web and being able to see the actual numbers has me even more determined to increase my fitness.

 Also, I was alerted to the fact that I needed to increase my calories when I was able to track my calorie expenditures over a week using my standard work outs. Hope this helps.

Do you have a budget? Other needs or interests?

 

I got a Polar AXN300. Partly it had all the features I wanted. Partly I got a good deal on it. I likely would have been equally happy with the Polar F11. To be honest I wanted the F11 but the deal on the AXN300 was better.

 

The AXN line adds "outdoor" features. Things like elevation changes. Not much use if you never get out of the gym. Some of the others add biking or running features. Spend some time at the Polar website and compare the various models.

 

Depending on what you need/want and your budget the big list will get narrowed down. 

I too have the polar F11 have used it every day for over 2 years - only had to change the battery a few times. 

I like the fitness test very helpful since some weeks I'll burn more cals for the same workout than the week before - all depends on your current fitness level and stress and such can effect the VO2 from day to day

If you only want a basic calorie counter HRM the F6 is a good choice - if you want fancier your gonna have to spend the extra $$