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Kettlebell HR monitor recommendation?

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Marius_Lefter

Marius_Lefter

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Hi to all members of this wonderful community.

I am in the market for a proper HR monitor. I train for health, wanna start S&S pretty soon (maybe in a month) and I just want to have a good, light, with a good quality/price ration, easy to use HR monitor to use when I do my swings, get-ups, cleans, so on and so forth.

What should I aim for, what should I get? Which products do you use?

Thank you
 
Marius_Lefter said:
Hi to all members of this wonderful community.

I am in the market for a proper HR monitor. I train for health, wanna start S&S pretty soon (maybe in a month) and I just want to have a good, light, with a good quality/price ration, easy to use HR monitor to use when I do my swings, get-ups, cleans, so on and so forth.

What should I aim for, what should I get? Which products do you use?

Thank you
Click to expand...
The sky's the limit...
I use a basic and inexpensive Polar RS300. (Works with a chest strap; which I still think is the most accurate and responsive)

I don't do any fancy logging on a computer or do HRV.

But you can get Bluetooth capabilities, GPS capabilities and all sorts of fancy stuff if you want to...
 
I use a polar h7 chest strap, and I use an app on my phone. The h7 is not the latest model making it very affordable. I use it to be quantitative above recovery between sets swing/snatch, maf running/rucking, and daily hrv.
 
I use the Polar H10. I train with @Anna C and was very impressed with what all it did for her. You can synch it to a smartphone and record every session, plus other things. I am a techno dinosaur, thus a bit like a 12 year old with a new Corvette. Still the H10 does everything I need. Anna can speak much better on its capabilities.
 
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I use the Polar OH1. It's an optical, arm band style, heart rate monitor that's very easy to take on/off. I also really like the bluetooth capability of running the Polar Beat app and seeing my heart rate in real time. It also has the capability to run as a stand alone monitor without the phone and will record your entire session. You just sync it to your Polar Flow app or PC.

As for accuracy, based on my experience, it is very accurate since I place mine on my upper left arm. From some of the review videos I watched, there is a few second lag compared to monitoring with a chest strap like HR monitor (i.e the chest versions are directly reading the pulses right at heart level versus reading the amount of blood pumping through your veins in your arm and doing math to determine your heart rate), but for the type of training I'm doing, I don't need the HR to be accurate to the exact second.
 
Yes, Polar H10 is good. H7 is fine. H10 seems to be a bit more reliable and always picks up the HR. It also has a nice "save" feature where you can start the session on your phone, go running or whatever away from your phone, then when you get back to the phone app and stop the session, the on-board memory syncs with the phone again. I've only used that feature once, but it's a good one if you wanted it.

I'd rather wear a chest strap than have something on my arm... but I always have a band around my chest anyway, so it just goes under what I'm already wearing.
 
Years of Maffetone style endurance training means I've worn a HRM most days for several years. I prefer the cheapest name brand model I can find, usually Polar. For MAF training the only data needed is current HR and total time. Nothing else matters, so all the extras are unnecessary. I also want the cheapest because it won't last anyway. I've blown up several. Extra features worth noting are chest strap sensors are far more accurate. I have not been convinced that IR sensors are good enough. Plus, with a Bluetooth chest strap, you can move on to HRV monitoring, which can be beneficial.
 
Marius_Lefter said:
Hi to all members of this wonderful community.

I am in the market for a proper HR monitor. I train for health, wanna start S&S pretty soon (maybe in a month) and I just want to have a good, light, with a good quality/price ration, easy to use HR monitor to use when I do my swings, get-ups, cleans, so on and so forth.

What should I aim for, what should I get? Which products do you use?

Thank you
Click to expand...
A few weeks ago I started using the Polar H10. I don't even notice it's on while practicing. I like the Polar Beat app because it lets me view my heart rate in 5 different ranges. There is another app that allows you to store you data online but I haven't tried it.
 
I've owned an H7 and wasnt satisfied. But H10 works like a charm and - surprisingly for me - I like the feature of being able to save my sessions online and compare them after some weeks.
 
When my Polar H7 died I went with the OH1. The chest strap is fine for grinds but i had to adjust it on breaks durings sets of swings, always felt like it was sliding down. So far so good with the OH1. Syncs with my M400 and my bike, syncing with the Polar app is easy and has a usb clip it sits in for pc uploads.
 
what watches sync with the polar H10? Being able to monitor the HR in 'real time' seems to be of high value.
 
Products | Polar USA

Looks like the M430 and M600 are the current watches. I have an M400 which you can still get on Amazon and elsewhere.

But for anything in the gym, it actually works much better to just have the app open on your phone and have your phone within view. So you don't actually need a watch at all.
 
Marius_Lefter said:
I just want to have a good, light, with a good quality/price ration, easy to use HR monitor to use when I do my swings, get-ups, cleans, so on and so forth.

What should I aim for, what should I get? Which products do you use?
Click to expand...

Basic Heart Rate Monitor

I work in Commercial Fitness Equipment Sales. So, I have access to anything.

I am a fan of simplicity. I have just the entry level Basic Heart Rate Monitor.

It measures my heart rate and the time of day.

Retail on the Basic is around $69 or so.

Chest Strap Heart Rate Monitor

These are the most accurate, 98%.

The Wrist Heart Rate Monitors are not as accurate.

The Chest Strap sits right on top of the heart. It is proximal, close to the heart. Thus, more accurate in picking up your heart rate.

The Wrist Heart Rate Monitor is distal, farther away from the heart. Thus, the signal is not as strong and harder to accurately pick up.

Batteries

The Watch requires a battery.

The Chest Strap also requires a battery.

The downside to some brands, such as Polar, is on the entry level models the batter is enclosed. Once the battery goes out in the Chest Strap, you need to purchase a new Chest Strap.

My recommendation when purchasing a Heart Rate Monitor is to get one that with a Chest Strap that allows you to change the battery. It saves you time, money and frustration.

Kenny Croxdale
 
kennycro@@aol.com said:
The downside to some brands, such as Polar, is on the entry level models the batter is enclosed. Once the battery goes out in the Chest Strap, you need to purchase a new Chest Strap.
Click to expand...

This has not been the case for the Polar H7 and H10 that I've owned. They use watch batteries, which you can order super cheap in packs of 10 on Amazon.
 
The old style non Bluetooth Polar chest straps were not meant to be user serviceable but the batteries lasted a really long time. The new Bluetooth models have terrible battery life, but at least you can change the batteries yourself.
 
I vote for the Polar H7. I have been using it for over 2 years and have had no issue other than some battery changes but they are no big deal you can do them yourself. I just sync it to my iPhone and your good to go. The polar app allows you to go back and review all your workouts. I have used it for running and S&S. I thought about getting an H10 since it’s new but my H7 still works so I am staying with it.
 
Thank you all for the info you so kindly put at my disposal. I feel less lost now, and more confident with my purchasing decision.
 
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