Heart Rate Monitors

[94CoRd]

I was looking at getting some feedback about the type of Heart Rate Monitor you use, and the pros and cons of that type and/or model.

I'd like to get into triathlon type of training if you have any suggestions.

Thanks.

[urban.one]

Be aware that with Polar brand you have to send it in to Polar to have the battery changed. They have a funny setup and most watch places wont touch it. You can try it yourself but it is somewhat tricky and I think its like $40 to send it in to Polar. Google it if you want more info.

[HHURICANE1]

I have a Polar and the batteries are easy to change. Couple of small screws and done.

[swak]

i have a timex one and train for triathalons.
I went to MEC, $95 or something and got a 'TIMEX IRONMAN TRIATHALON' watch.
It has a crazy amount of settings, and it is pretty accurate.
Highly recommend it.

[94CoRd]

Originally posted by swak
i have a timex one and train for triathalons.
I went to MEC, $95 or something and got a 'TIMEX IRONMAN TRIATHALON' watch.
It has a crazy amount of settings, and it is pretty accurate.
Highly recommend it.

That's exactly what I did. It's $105 now though, but I tried it out for the first time last night; It adds a whole other component to the workout!

[TurboD]

Originally posted by 94CoRd


That's exactly what I did. It's $105 now though, but I tried it out for the first time last night; It adds a whole other component to the workout!

i'm interested as to how it helps you, or another way of putting it would be, what does it measure other than heart rate?

[94CoRd]

Well so far I think it is unreal!
It helps you fine tune your workout, while you workout.

Your heart rate is an indication of so many things, and once you determine your max heart rate and minimum heart rate, you can adjust your workout to a specific zone, and hone in on what you'd like your workout to accomplish (Anaerobic, Aerobic. Maybe a little lactic acid resistance)

But to more answer your question, the heart rate monitor I bought, as long as the chrono is running will determine your min / max and average heart rate for the workout. It also tells you the calories burned (you specify your weight in the watch setup, But not to sure how accurate the reading is.) There's a recovery mode that displays a safe heart rate for you to be at based on your avg - min - max for the workout and it progresses after a minute to a lower heart rate - I now know My recoveries pre-HRM were horrendous.

[Super_Geo]

Is there one where you can output the data?

I wouldn't mind having some excel graphs of heartrates for stuff like stiar climbing or hill climbs while road biking...

[urban.one]

If you want a cool toy I recommend this:

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10290136&whse=BCCA&Ne=4000000&eCat=BCCA

http://content.costco.ca/Images/Content/Product/865049cL.jpg

Heart rate monitor with GPS. You can connect it to your PC to download the data. Pretty useful and cool. The GPS lets you see youre route on google maps or satelite.

[94CoRd]

The garmin 305 is a very cool toy!

Timex sells a data Xpander I think they call it. But it pretty much tracks all your workouts and uploads them to your computer. You can buy the Timex Race Trainer which is pretty much the road trainer plus the data xpander.

I went with the Road Trainer because a) it's my first time using one of these gadgets and b) they sell the xpander separately.

[98type_r]

I have the Garmin 305 and definitely recomment it if you're going to get into triathlon training. GPS mapping and HR is definitely the way to go. It's customizable to show what data you want for seperate running and biking modes. You can upload all the data to your PC to track your training.