LOL Heart rate monitors without chest straps?

Can anyone recommend a cheap(ish) heart rate monitor without a chest strap?

A few weeks ago I had a stroke. The doctors told me I need to be mindful about my heart rate now. However I really don't see why I should stay indoors all summer. I need to get back on my bike as soon as I get out of this hellhole of a clinic.

Now I am looking for a heart rate monitor that can help me keep my heart rate at a certain interval so I don't have to count my pulse all the time. I know a chest strap would be cheapest and most accurate, but I hate wearing them. Has anyone used one of those fancy new wristbands? Any recommendations or warnings?

 

You can pick up a Fitbit Charge HR for £120. That is a heartrate monitor that sits on your wrist, it also tracks your exercise patterns too:

https://www.fitbit.com/uk/chargehr

 

Just get a cheap fingertip pulse oximeter. They can be had for as little as $10 on ebay and AFAIK even the cheap ones work great.

 

Id agree avoid fitbits I have one an its pretty far off the mark I can have my chest strap monitor on an the fitbits about 8bpm lower than my actual rate. Not only that the green light is annoying when your trying to sleep.

A cheap oximeter will do the job just as well, plus give you the SP02 level which is more useful than how many floors you've walked which is broken, uses barometric pressure, went up in a lift, I did four flight of stairs...

Have they mentioned about a blood pressure monitor?

 

I'm using a Garmin Vivosmart HR, it does the job. The problem with wrist based HRMs is that they pick up increases in your heart rate with a significant delay. So if you're biking at happy 110-120bpm and you pump up for an upgrade, you end up with your readings all over the place until your heart rate has been at say 150bpm for a while - they use time series analysis to work out your 'live heart rate' by calculating an average over past few datapoints

After your heart rate stabilises it's pretty much on par with your consumer grade chest wrap

 

I can't comment on the heart rate portion, but I/we got my better half a M$ Band2 to monitor her sleep and it's pretty good at that. The odd false positive* for wakening periods but nothing like the problems I heard about with fitbit such as; people getting up and going to the toilet and their device reporting unbroken deep sleep.


*she rolled over and thwacked me in the face mumbling something about beetroot's,** I woke up, but she didn't despite what the smart-watch said. Stuff like that...

**I kid you not!

 

I've tested my Fitbit Charge HR a few times and the heart rate is always about right, except when exercising, it gets a bit sketchy then.

 

Well according to the apple watch I tried for a laugh, I have no pulse... so probably best avoid that too...

 

I just bought this for my better half

http://www.polar.com/uk-en/products/sport/A360

It has the wrist HR monitor and you can use a strap with it as well, think it has to be the polar H7.

Quite a nice looking thing wee to, and the display is very nice.

You'll never get more accurate than with a chest strap as said earlier though.

Out of interest, what is the advice you have been given regarding your HR?

 

Thanks for the replies guys! Really great advice here! I will go with a chest strap because it's the safer and cheaper option. Looking at all those watches they really have a lot of fitness BS tacked on that I couldn't care less about.

Since it is probably a good idea to take a phone with me in the future I will just connect the chest strap and have the phone warn me if my HR gets too high. Damn, I did sports to get out of the house and away from all the techno gadgets.

Are there chest straps out there that can be used while swimming (and without a phone) as well?

@freshsandviches: As stated in the other topic I am 28. Under supervision I may reach a HR of 145 with spikes to 155. However I get dizzy quite often after around 10 mins of training. When alone they recommended to keep the HR 10-15 bpm lower.

 

Have a look at the ones aimed at triatheletes, iirc garmin do some...


The 'swim' one. The triathlete one proper has a thinner band [or more accurately the swimming one has a wider band to stop it sliding around when it's wet] but is designed to be worn under a swimsuit...

whether they satisfy your idea of 'cheap' is another matter...

 

Both Garmin and Polar do very good Triathlon capable ones.

Having used polar most of my life and knowing a few people who have used them at elite level triathlon, that's where I would spend my money

 

I use one of these when I'm out riding, I didn't get on with a chest strap and having something on my arm is much more comfortable.

I tested it against the medical machine my sister-in-law has (a travelling nurse) and it was within 3bpm of it when you account for the short delay.