Is My Heart Rate Monitor Right??

I recently bought a heart rate monitor watch, it was mid range in price. It measures my heart rate by the the pulses in my finger therefore i have to make sure i constantly up date it whilst exercising.

Anyway, i use to measure 1hr of power walking at 3mph and it said i would burn 220 calories. Well, i walked for 55min today, updating my heart rate every 3 minutes ( a bit tedious) and it said i burnt 300 calories. Does this sound correct?

you should corroborate this with some of the tools on the internet that calculate calories burned, including this site.  It is an indirect science at best.  What you are shooting for is just a general assumption of calories burned.

Original Post by rainbowjelly:

I recently bought a heart rate monitor watch, it was mid range in price. It measures my heart rate by the the pulses in my finger therefore i have to make sure i constantly up date it whilst exercising.

Anyway, i use to measure 1hr of power walking at 3mph and it said i would burn 220 calories. Well, i walked for 55min today, updating my heart rate every 3 minutes ( a bit tedious) and it said i burnt 300 calories. Does this sound correct?

First of all, you don't have a heart rate in your finger. HR can be measured on the neck (carotid) or wrist (radial). I would return this HRM, to be honest.

Original Post by cellophane_star:

Original Post by rainbowjelly:

I recently bought a heart rate monitor watch, it was mid range in price. It measures my heart rate by the the pulses in my finger therefore i have to make sure i constantly up date it whilst exercising.

Anyway, i use to measure 1hr of power walking at 3mph and it said i would burn 220 calories. Well, i walked for 55min today, updating my heart rate every 3 minutes ( a bit tedious) and it said i burnt 300 calories. Does this sound correct?

First of all, you don't have a heart rate in your finger. HR can be measured on the neck (carotid) or wrist (radial). I would return this HRM, to be honest.

 

It is electronic, it is not "feeling" a pulse it is recording heart beats by the electronic signals the way an electrocardiogram does.

I've never heard a good thing about HRMs that take your pulse only when you touch your finger to it.

I've mostly heard swearing about "that piece'o's"!¤"#"¤% junk" when it comes to "HRM"'s without the chest strap.

 It's hardly monitoring your heart rate when you have to stop and do periodic checks, is it?

LOL...  You guys are a tough crowd!  I was not going to tell someone those types of HRMs suck after they just bought it....

Better to hear it now, in case it's still returnable, rather than 30 days from now.

Actually I've never understood how putting your finger tips on your watch so it can count your pulse is any easier, simpler, or better than putting your finger tips on your wrist and counting your pulse yourself.

Having a chest strap and watch that continually monitors and dispalys your heart rate on the other has it's benefits.

Oh dear reading this has just made me wonder if i've bought a piece of rubbish too!!!  I've just bought a Vivago Personal Wellness Manager (£100 on offer!) which takes sensor readings directly from the wrist and does not have a chest strap/transmitter belt.  I am using it for the first time today and apparantly i've burnt 804 cals since going to bed at 11pm last night until now (8.30am).  Seems a bit high as all i've done is sleep, get up and eat brekkie and drive to work!

Before I was using a Sigma PC-15 (approx £30) which had a chest strap but sometimes the contact of the strap against the chest is lost (usually when sretching) and it doesn't give a signal or readout but will pick up where it left off when it the contact is made again.  I got a bit fed up of having to continually look at it to see if it was working hence the recent purchase.

2 questions...Have I bought a silly gimmick?  Should I stick with the Sigma?

I just got a Vivago, tried to get from HAB at £100 but they refunded me as they oversold the product so had to get elsewhere for £170

I was disappointed last night as did a step class and it only registered an extra 50 calories, should have been 250-350, but think I have had it too loose as it seems to measure via the heat of the skin and movement so wasnt staying in contact all the time, its not as I had suspected just a pedometer type motion sensor as was swinging my arm alot. Already giving more changeable readings since tightened so the next step class will be the test! I had Polar HR before which accurate if you minused your (suspected) BMR cals but could only use when exercising not 24/7 like this one.

So how are you getting on with it?