Are you at a loss when deciding which heart rate monitor sports watch to purchase? – It’s no wonder. There are literally hundreds of styles to choose from, all with different functions and sports applications ranging from a basic heart monitoring aid to a virtual wristop computer watch with monitoring and analysis features for tracking every detail of your physical condition.

While we cannot make your choice for you, we have created some pointers to help you decide which heart rate model is right for you. Consider this a rudimentary heart rate monitor watch buying guide. This article probably won’t answer all your questions, but it will at least get you started and thinking about what questions you should be asking yourself as you begin to shop for a heart monitor watch.

First. Decide How your Heart Monitor Will be Used.

Instead of doing what most people do and consider the most obvious criteria – price, decide what your goals are now and where your sporting ambitions will lead you in one years time. Nothing is worse than investing in a heart monitor watch that is not be capable of the things you want to do when you find you are a fitter, six months down the line.

Some good questions to ask yourself are:

• Are you training for a particular sport? Running, cycling, rowing, swimming, triathlon?
• Do you prefer to view your statistics on a wrist monitor, on your equipment screen or on a PC? Is that likely to change in time?
• Will you need to know basic or complicated data about your fitness workouts and performances? Is this likely to change in future?
• Do you need to track your speed/pace and distance?
• Will you be training indoors say on a bicycle machine or immovable treadmill? or outside on the track, velodrome, open trails, pool or ocean?
• Do you need to monitor heart rate information and other data continuously or only at specific times during your workout?
• Do you wish to monitor statistics over many sessions or just one session at a time?
• Do you need to record session and workout data for viewing and analysis by your coach for example?
• Do you require your monitor to double up as an outdoor navigational tool with functions such as barometer, altimeter and compass?
• Do you need to record your course routes and later import them into a 3D mapping program?

With a little forward planning, it is possible to purchase a heart rate monitor that has the features that you need right away or can grow into over time. While you may not need half of the features supported in your device at this moment, as your fitness level improves,  you may find the need to push your boundaries and try out some of the additional features never thought you would use.

Consider your purchase of a heart rate monitor watch as an investment in your fitness future.

Some other things you should consider when shopping around for a heart rate monitor watch include:

Chest Strap Vs Strapless

Almost all heart rate watches come with a chest strap that secures around your upper body, but in fact there are other types of monitors that can measure your pulse from your wrist or finger.

Usually a chest strap heart rate monitor is more reliable. These monitors detect heart rate via a chest sensor. Data is transmitted to the wrist watch using wireless technology which allows for real-time viewing of your heart beat data. Chest strap heart rate monitors are available in analog and digital options, with digital becoming the standard as technology advances. A coded, digital signal is more reliable and does not interfere with other heart rate monitor devices, a problem analog heart rate monitors suffer from.

Heart rate monitors that fit around your chest have the advantage that they produce accurate ECG continuous heart rate monitoring at all times during a session, which is not always offered in strapless versions.

Chest Strap Benefits

• You get continual feedback on your heart rate
• Some models can wirelessly interface with popular gym equipment. (So if your device is compatible you could view your heart rate while working out on a treadmill at your local gym).

Chest Strap Cons

• A lot of people have trouble with chest straps picking up their heart beat. (Good contact between the electrodes in the strap and the user’s chest is required. Sometimes adding a little moisture to the electrodes is required to get a beat).
• Analog chest straps are less reliable than digital ones. They are prone to crosstalk when in close proximity of other heart rate monitor devices and equipment, however digital heart rate monitors avoid this.
• Most heart rate monitors will not be damaged when used in the water, however they do not pick up a signal either. Water interferes with the radio waves which makes heart rate monitors ineffective.

Strapless Monitors

Strapless monitors typically use pulse heart rate measuring technology to measure heart rate by finger touch. They allow you to take a manual heart rate reading on-demand. Cheaper monitors that measure your heart rate from blood flow instead of calibrated monitoring should be avoided. The best readings are given with monitors that measure your heart beat via an electrical circuit created between your two fingers.

Given that strapless monitors are not capable of recording continuous readings, it is impossible to compile accurate date about your overall workout. These monitors are fine if you want basic heart rate measurement without the hassle of fitting a chest strap or fancy data analysis.

Below is an overall summary of what questions you should ask yourself. Consider it a check-list if you like:

• Real-Time Maximum/Minimum/Average Heart Rate Measurement
• Chest Strap or Strapless
• Stopwatch Chronograph
• Countdown and Interval Timer – Useful for repetition training where you perform multiple hard/easy efforts
• Digital Wireless Transmission – to avoid interference with other HRM watches.
• Training Zones – Training zones are upper and lower heart rate limits. You can set up these to define the type of exercise you wish to partake in. For example for fat burning, the heart rate levels will be low, for cardio and stamina building, the levels will be higher. More complex monitors will feature more zones and some will even run simultaneous zones.
• Zone Alarm – Alerts you if your heart beat falls outside the current target zone
• Time Spent in Zone – Provides a summary of how long you spent within your desired zone over the course of a session
• Calories Burned – estimates the total calories you burn off during your exercise session based on height, weight, sex and heart rate intensity.
• On-board Workout Program – Predefined complex workouts including the option to create custom complex workouts.
• Fitness Test – Some watches are advanced enough to offer their own fitness tests that you can take to test your progress
• Heart Rate Recovery Measure – Will assess how long it takes your heart rate to recover after a session. Useful in assessing progressive fitness building.
• Distance/Speed Measurement – More complex sports watches offer a foot pod option or GPS for tracking current speed and overall distance traveled
• Heart Rate Over Lap/Split – It can be useful to know your heart rate and fields such as maximum heart rate and minimum heart rate over individual laps in a workout, especially in the latter parts of your session where lactic acid may be building up in your body.
• Transfer To PC – Allows your workout data to be transferred from the watch to a PC (or Mac) and analyzed using software.
• Navigation/Compass/Altimeter/Barometer – Require a GPS system and select outdoor features.
• Bike Mount – Useful for multi event athletes

So you’ve heard how many runners and cyclists are using heart rate watches to enhance their fitness and performance, but what is all the hype all about? Heart rate monitor watches have risen quickly in popularity over the last couple of decades. Read on and we will take you through the ins and outs of heart monitor watches.

What is a heart rate monitor?

A heart rate monitor is a device that measures the beats of your heart in real-time. The standard heart rate monitor consists of a strap that wraps around your chest and transmits heart rate data to your wristwatch. Strapless heart rate monitors are available too, but are less common and lack the functionality of the chest strap design.

What are the benefits of using a heart rate monitor

A heart rate monitors lets you know how hard you are working.

Over training can be a problem for athletes when an individual’s exercise exceeds their capacity to recover. When this occurs, fitness gains cease and the athlete can begin to lose strength and fitness.

An elevated resting heart rate and a slower level of heart rate recovery are two symptoms that over training has occurred.

Comparing heart rates and recovery between training sessions over the same distance can be one of the most useful indicators of fitness level and a check for over training.

A heart rate monitor is a useful tool for becoming more intimately tuned into your body and knowing when it is time to adjust your training.

Features of a Heart Rate Monitor

Modern heart rate monitors share several features in common, yet there are also differences between them, here is a brief overview.

The Heart Rate Sensor

There are generally two types of heart rate sensor in sports watches:

Chest Strap Heart Rate Monitors measure normal exercise/activity and continuously monitor your heart rate.

Strapless Heart Rate Monitors work with ECG (electrocardiogram) accuracy to provide heart rate on demand (i.e. when you press a button). These types of monitors have sensors on the wrist, or are sometimes shaped like a glove with sensors on the finger area.

While the strapless models are more convenient and work well for measuring resting heart rate or light to moderate exercise, for more serious workouts the chest strap models are recommended.

The chest strap watches transmit a signal to a wrist watch unit. There are two transmission types: analogue or digital.

Analogue straps are the most common and provide accurate continuous heart rate data upload to a wrist watch. These units will also generally interface with most popular types of gym equipment, but have some deficiencies, with an analogue strap there is the potential for interference from other heart rate devices if you are in close proximity.

Digital straps transmit signal via Digital FM transmission, which is more robust and heavily reduces the risk of interference. On the down side, they do not interface with most gym equipment, but this is not usually a problem for most users.

In chest strap heart rate monitors, the ability to replace the battery battery is another point to consider as some of the leading manufacturers don’t permit it.

Target Heart Rate Zones or Training Zones

Most heart rate monitors will give you the option of measuring your heart rate against specified limits or heart rate bands. When using this feature, your goal then will be to keep your heart rate (measured in beats per minute) within a lower limit and an upper limit. This upper/lower range is called a Target Heart Rate Zone or Training Zone.

Many heart rate monitors – knowing that in different circumstances, different target heart rate zones apply – support multiple Zones, giving you the option of using one Target Zone for a gentle warm-up and another for the high intensity period of your workout.

Most heart rate monitors also offer a Zone Alarm feature, which alerts you if you are training out of your zone.

Real-Time Information

Heart rate monitor watches will display feedback on your heart rate while you are working out. Perhaps the most obvious display field is your Current Heart Rate, but there are usually several other options too.

Here are some of the more common ones:

Recovery Information

Once you have completed a workout, your recovery heart rate information can be an important guide in determining if you have had enough rest before your next effort and as previously mentioned, a general indicator of over-training when compared to your recovery rate in similar sessions.

Some sports watch heart rate monitor support this feature, so it is worth looking for when making your decision about which watch to buy.

Post Session Information

When you have finished your session, most heart rate monitor watches provides you with stats and data for the session as a whole.

Some common analysis values are:

• Time Spent in Zones
• Average Heart Rate
• Minimum.Maximum Heart Rate
• Average Heart Rate For Each Lap
• Heart Rate Recovery
• Calories Burned

Calories Burnt Using a Heart Rate Monitor

Many heart rate monitor watches provide the measuring of calories burned in a session.

It’s important to be aware that sports watches are configured to only measure calories while performing exercise. If used during the day you will most likely get inflated readings.

Heart Rate Monitor manufacturers calculate calories in different ways too, some include your metabolic rate (calories burnt while you are inactive) whereas others don’t.

Swimming and Heart Rate Monitors

Unfortunately most heart rate monitors are not designed to be used in water due to the inability to transmit FM waves under water. It is possible (but highly unlikely) to get a reading only when your chest area and the transmitter are clear of the water.

Also note, while most sports watches claim to be waterproof. You should never press any watch button while under water. This let’s water into the watch case and electronics and water don’t mix too well.

Problems Getting A Reading

A Heart Rate Monitor works by detecting the electrical stimulation of your heart. In chest heart rate monitors this detection process works due to the “electrodes” in the chest strap. Generally the better the fit of the strap, the greater the chance of picking up your heart beat.

It is essential when picking up a strong clear heart beat to wet the electrodes with water. The electrodes are usually 10 cm either side of the center of the chest transmitter on the side that touches the skin. When you exercise you will sweat creating the moisture you need naturally, however if this moisture dries out before exercise you may experience erroneous readings.

Should wetting the strap not prove effective, the use of a electro conductive gel (ECG) is recommended when using a heart rate monitor with a chest strap.

Other reasons for the cause of erroneous readings in Heart Rate Monitor Watches include a flat battery in the strap, external electrical interference – some environments may be subject to high levels of electrical noise. High voltage power lines for example can sometimes cause this, crosstalk – interference from other Heart Rate Watches or a poor fitting chest strap.

More Heart Rate Monitor Links

Timex Ironman Heart Rate Monitor Comparison Table
Timex Ironman 100-Lap T5F001 – Runner’s Heart Rate Monitor Watch
Heart Rate Monitor Basics