I’m looking for a heart rate monitor (HRM), but I don’t really know exactly what my needs are – that’s where you guys come in. I want a HRM mainly because I’m curious about the physiology (I’m a doctor, but sports medicine is a bit of a dark art to me), but also to improve the effectiveness of ‘training’ rides and get fitter. I mostly ride (XC and a bit on the road) but also do the occasional run.

I have strava on my iPhone – does this mean I don’t need a GPS HRM? Or is there some sort of training benefit to having GPS data alongside heart rate? Whilst it would be nice to sync heart rate with Strava, is it actually that helpful?

I understand I can get an ANT+ thingy to go with my iPhone, and then I can buy a HRM strap and use that with Strava. But surely that’s rubbish for real-time heart rate measurements (unless you have the iPhone on a bar mount which I don’t want to do)?

Should I get a bike-mounted one, or is something like the Garmin forerunner range a better shout since it’s more versatile? Can you get a bar mount for a watch-style HRM, or vice versa a wrist band for a cycling-oriented GPS?

What features do I want/need and why? Besides current heart rate which is obviously standard there are loads of options (av HR, time in various zones etc) but I don’t know if I’d ever need to use them?

Do I need to spend £200 on a Garmin Edge 500 or will a heart rate monitor watch from Decathlon do the trick?

I’m guessing that’s about 12 questions and 6 assumptions. 😯

Anyway, I’m no expert, but having had a few HRMs, the answer will depend on you really. A cheap standard GPS is great for sticking to zones etc. But the worst ones give unreliable HR readings esp at the start of a session (eg 10bpm – 350 bpm inside a minute).

A GPS one is great for remembering where you’ve been and trying to figure out why you are knackered one week and not the next. Also the HRM side of them seems totally sorted.

I find phone ones frustrating and inaccurate. That may well be just me.

If you dont want to navigate then you dont need an Edge: Forerunners are just fine and actually better for running (smaller).

You got a PC / Mac?

You can get an edge 500 on wiggle for £180 use the 10-EXTRA coupon on the checkout 🙂

This one: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/garmin-edge-500-red-with-premium-heart-rate-and-cadence/

I had been using a suunto tc3 for many years, an old etrex gps and then apps for GPS on my iPhone. The iPhone is, and always will be a compromise as the GPS accuracy (and I would imply other data) will vary from app to app depending on how the coders interpret the data from the GPS chip etc.

I bought the edge 500 last week and had my first ride on it today. I was impressed. It’s nice to have all the data in one place and to be able to see the data you want while riding (the screens are customisable).
I also record my rides using run keeper and did so today as well to compare with the garmin. According to run keeper I’d travelled 21.77m. The edge 500 19.17m – not that it really matters as long as it is consistent (unless you use strava etc)

HTH

personally, I would go for one that goes ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..wait for it……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………b………………………e…………………………..e…………………………………….p…………………………………………………………………………b…………………………………………..e……………………………………………………..e……………………………………………….p……………………………………………..b…………………………………………..e…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………e…………………………………………………………p………………………………………….

I use a Garmin 910 with a bike mount and it’s ace

I used the combination of cheap HRM/strava on iPhone for about a month before i realised that I wanted to be able to log the HR stuff more reliably.

Looked into decent phone mounts and HRM solutions for using the iPhone as my bike computer but in the end decided that it was better value just to get a Garmin Edge 500. Don’t regret the decision for a moment.

I tink you can get wrist-mounts for the Edge, but I run so infrequently that I usually just use the phone or carry the Garmin in my pocket.