I haven't much of an idea what the difference is between a £25 HRM and a £250 one. I guess the more expensive ones are mostly tied in with GPS and so offer a plethora of information on your activities while your heart is/was doing what.
I'm looking for something basic that tells me what my heart is doing, and preferably also has the capability to record it. And as Santa has just been (and taken the contents of my wallet for his troubles) I'm thinking bargain basement.
It seems to me like their task is fairly basic. Is it possible to get a decent one cheap?
For something that can record the heart rate, I think about the cheapest is the Garmin FR60 or FR70. Costs about £80 or so.
If you want to use it in a race while lots of others are using theirs then the 25 quid one [i]may [/i]pick up signals from others. The more expensive ones are usually coded in some way
Recording ones are by far more expensive around £100 and monitors like polar pick up less interference from other monitors. I've found the most important extra feature of a heart rate monitor is average heart. A feature that won't set you back too much money wise.
Jez www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com
If recording is gonna cost then I might just save up and get a Garmin Edge eventually. But wouldn't mind something cheaper until then. I mostly ride solo so the signals aren't an issue.
i use a garmin forerunner 305. it can record and download a minefield of info. 99% of which i am not interested in.
but for cycling i use speed,time,ascent/decent,and heart rate.
i download the ride info to my computer and being as its gps i can look at my route on google maps. i can see my max and average heart rate,
best of all its a great motivator to get out as you can see your weekly/monthly etc. mileage or time.
i try and beat my previous months milage.
invaluable if you train on a static bike and are using a training programme . many books out there.
mine also measures cadence,
can be bought for £100 mark.
i have also used cheaper sigma hrm's to good effect. but were not recordable.
cant go wrong with a garmin.
Does the garmin edge come with a hrm then? Seeming like even more of a bargain now ive seen them at 170ish quid in a few places!
I've a couple of mates who use the Garmin 310xt which provides a stunning amount of data for hours of geekery. They've both had some trouble with them though but also faultless back up I think.
I have a £12 Aldi HRM which does %, high/low calories, zones etc but you can't record anything except with pen and paper. Never had any interference problems at all.
Does the garmin edge come with a hrm then? Seeming like even more of a bargain now ive seen them at 170ish quid in a few places!
The Edge 500 and 800 are compatible with heart rate monitors. The actual kit for it doesn't come bundled with the basic package though. It's about £30 or something I think, or you can buy it as a bundle. So probably be looking in the region of £200 for the 500.
What functions they offer I'm not sure.
Turns out heart rate monitors are coming into Aldi this Thursday. Woop.
Haha excellent. I bought a girlie coloured one last time for some reason so might have buy another 'just in case' 😉
Edit: more expensive but does distance too somehow!
get one that gives you read out in bpm and %. the latter being far easier to figure out when you are training.
i like the polar bike specific one personally, cs200. has cadence as well.
Picked up a polar from halfords recently for a good price, not sure what they still have on offer but worth a look.