Heart Rate Monitor

[arryb]

I'm looking at doing some proper training in the near future and have decided a heart rate monitor would probably help me get somewhere with it. I've been having a brief look on wiggle and have seen this:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/X-Train_V3_20_Fu...

It seems to have got a reasonable review for the money, but am I better off spending an extra £20/30 and going for something by Polar or someone else? I haven't got a massive budget but I'm prepared to spend a bit more to get something better if the one above wouldn't be up to the job.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks. Arry

[smifffymoto]

Have a look at heartratemonitors.co.uk. bloomin loads to get confused over.I keep looking at a Polar F6

[mchammer89]

Got myself one of these http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/0...

When I got it it was only £30 though, that was during the summer, I guess that's inflation for you.

If I was getting one now, i'd go for this http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Polar_CS100cad_W...

It is a bit more expensive, but you get a HRM and a computer with cadence, worth it IMO

ETA - It's actually the cheapest wireless cadence equipped computer I could find, with or without a HRM, temtped to get this myself now.

Edited by mchammer89 on Tuesday 27th January 19:21

[smifffymoto]

RE. Polar CS 100 HRM.co.uk w/o chest strap £49.99 with strap £59.99 ALOT cheaper than Wiggle

[mchammer89]

Yeah but the cadence function is an £18 option

[smifffymoto]

1-nil to you

[mchammer89]

smifffymoto said:

1-nil to you

Call it 1 - 1, I just bought it because if you buy it without the chest strap you save £10, i've already got the chest strap from my other Polar

To the OP, hope you're happy making me shell out £70 of my student money!

[arryb]

mchammer89 said:

smifffymoto said:

1-nil to you

Call it 1 - 1, I just bought it because if you buy it without the chest strap you save £10, i've already got the chest strap from my other Polar

To the OP, hope you're happy making me shell out £70 of my student money!

I'm a student too Hence the requirement of not costing much

[Hard-Drive]

I got a wireless Bikemate computer with HRM for £12 from Aldi! Cracking bit of kit for the money...

[merlin-thewizard]

Tesco own brand - £20

It works and it's cheap!

[dubbs]

I've got the Suunto T6 and it is superb... however I'd say the best HRM out there VFM wise is the Suunto T3C right now.

It'll pair with GPS/Foot/Bike + cadence pods and will use STRM lite for data to go on to PC.

It calcs training effect in real time on the watch and the polished black strap version looks good enough to wear everyday. :-)

[prand]

I have a Garmin edge 305 "Personal Trainer" which at c£140 is pricey for just a heart monitor, but it comes with so much more...

a) Speedometer/Odometer, average, max speed & much more
b) Altimeter - records how much you have climbed/descended
c) basic mapping & waypoints via GPS
d) You can use on different bikes with no extra calibration, and also for walking, running, skiing etc
e) you can download everything off the unit to a PC based app for analysis and training records, and mapping your routes
f) optional cadence sensor (extra £15-£30)

There is the more expensive 605 which has full colour mapping, but I'm not sure I really need that level of mapping for the bike.

[anonymous-user]

polar fs2c and a basic knowledge of excel is all you need, the fs2c is bombproof, stores your last run, is very simple to use and has everything the amateur runner/cyclist could need. use mapmyrun for route details etc

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 28th January 12:15

[mchammer89]

I didn't know the Garmin was so (relatively speaking) cheap, I think that'll be my next move

[Muzzlehatch]

arryb said:

I'm looking at doing some proper training in the near future and have decided a heart rate monitor would probably help me get somewhere with it. I've been having a brief look on wiggle and have seen this:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/X-Train_V3_20_Fu...

It seems to have got a reasonable review for the money, but am I better off spending an extra £20/30 and going for something by Polar or someone else? I haven't got a massive budget but I'm prepared to spend a bit more to get something better if the one above wouldn't be up to the job.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks. Arry

I have that exact model from Wiggle - the OH got it for me for Christmas.

It seems quite good, but as I've never used a different HRM, I wouldn't be able to compare. The only niggle I have is that it doesn't have a date function, which you would usually expect on a watch. The stopwatch is handy, and the HRM has some good and useful training functions for your different zones.

It's ideal for me, as I run and cycle a lot (TTs, Duathlons and Tris), so can keep it on when training my brick sessions. My bike has its own computer for speed, cadence, etc.

[Digger.]

Had a Polar F5 iirc, now have a Polar F11, very nice bit of kit. Bonus is that batteries (strap) are user-replaceable. I am mainly a gymster so there might be a better model for cyclists? I dont use the data recall, just the %max hr and the calorie counter features. It helped me focus so much more on training and achieve my weight-loss/fitness goals.

[Exige46]

Some great deals for Garmin Edge on Amazon at the mo

[SaTTaN]

Not the cheapest, but it does work well I have a Suunto T6c, they now do a cycling bundle, heart rate monitor, bike pod etc. although I've purchased all the bits seperatley over the last year as they didn't do the bundle before.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Suunto-T6C-Cycling-Pack-SS...

Works very well - just don't bother trying to get the GPS module for it - it won't actually log waypoints like the X9i/x10 does...grr (anyone want to buy mine?)

My current training solution is my t6c integrated wirelessly with the bike pod, cadence pod and heart rate monitor and I use my blackberry + bluetooth GPS receiver + http://www.instamapper.com/ for route tracking and saving into Google Earth (yeah... gadget freak)

cost me a blinking fortune and I've had 2 bouts of proper man-flu and a chest infection so not much time to play with it since December

Software is pretty good and data is exportable to something else via CSV export, the instamapper service & software is free and works very well - slightly OT but this is a trace of my daugter on her bike round a park

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1320146&...
and (one weird plot error)
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1320234&...

I've found that the tech angle keeps me interested in the bodily slog

Edited by SaTTaN on Friday 30th January 18:44

[dubbs]

I use my Suunto T6 and then my iPhone 3G with iMapMyRun application. This logs all training times and does the GPS plus mapping, it'll also give you pace and timing information via voice feedback when listening to the ipod.

[Graeme_Gman]

merlin-thewizard said:

Tesco own brand - £20

It works and it's cheap!

+1

Got one of these myself the other day. couldn't believe how cheap it was, but really does work very well indeed. Can't really go wrong for the money.