Heart Rate Monitors

[MellowshipSlinky]

Need a HRM for my daughter - don't really want to spend much more than £100 if possible.
Must have a chest strap and be waterproof (using it on ergos and rowing on water)

Cant believe the price of Polar stuff now - years ago I had a basic but ample Polar watch and chest strap for about £50!

Thanks.

[meehaja]

I've got a Garmin Forerunner that does all that and got a discount (I think 40%) a few years back through NHS discounts, I noticed my health insurance also offers discounts. Modern ones are coming without chest straps now, so these should be cheaper I think?

[MellowshipSlinky]

Thanks

I've noticed more are sans strap, but her coach has directly requested that everyone in the training group have chest straps.
I think its to do with when they're actually on the water.

[tenohfive]

Wrist based HRM's on watches and activity trackers use an optical HR sensor. Whilst the better ones are broadly accurate in terms of correctly recording peaks and troughs in HR, their main failing is that they don't detect changes in HR quickly enough. So if you're out for a gentle plod and are working at a fairly consistent effort - optical is fine. But for interval sessions where your HR is rapidly changing - wrist based optical HRM's can't cut it. You still need a chest strap HRM for those purposes.

So. I'm assuming your daughter will have something connected to this HRM (be it a mobile phone app, sports watch etc) which means of the two connection methods - ANT+ and Bluetooth - she probably wants the latter, but it doesn't hurt to future proof and get one that covers both. And just about any will be waterproof in the way you describe, but only a few are designed to work underwater (for swimmers.) So I'd look at the Wahoo TICKR:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/wahoo-tickr-heart-rate-mon...

I've got the next model up (TICKR X) which adds a load of stuff for running that she won't need as a rower, although I think there are also some memory-type features that I've never used. It's been rock solid over thousands of hours of training and racing.

[Seventyseven7]

I've got the Wahoo heart rate monitor as well, which I use with Strava, connected to my iPhone.

Can recommend it very highly, not very expensive, fits perfectly so you don't even notice it and seems pretty accurate.

[MellowshipSlinky]

tenohfive said:

Wrist based HRM's on watches and activity trackers use an optical HR sensor. Whilst the better ones are broadly accurate in terms of correctly recording peaks and troughs in HR, their main failing is that they don't detect changes in HR quickly enough. So if you're out for a gentle plod and are working at a fairly consistent effort - optical is fine. But for interval sessions where your HR is rapidly changing - wrist based optical HRM's can't cut it. You still need a chest strap HRM for those purposes.

So. I'm assuming your daughter will have something connected to this HRM (be it a mobile phone app, sports watch etc) which means of the two connection methods - ANT+ and Bluetooth - she probably wants the latter, but it doesn't hurt to future proof and get one that covers both. And just about any will be waterproof in the way you describe, but only a few are designed to work underwater (for swimmers.) So I'd look at the Wahoo TICKR:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/wahoo-tickr-heart-rate-mon...

I've got the next model up (TICKR X) which adds a load of stuff for running that she won't need as a rower, although I think there are also some memory-type features that I've never used. It's been rock solid over thousands of hours of training and racing.

Certainly gets good reviews and well priced, but unless I'm missing something - no watch?

They're not allowed phones to be out whilst on the ergo and need to be able to glance at their heart rate, so a watch with big digits is needed.

[tenohfive]

MellowshipSlinky said:

Certainly gets good reviews and well priced, but unless I'm missing something - no watch?

They're not allowed phones to be out whilst on the ergo and need to be able to glance at their heart rate, so a watch with big digits is needed.

There's no watch because you didn't ask for a watch, you asked for a HRM. I don't actually know of any 'dumb' sports watches that'll connect to a chest HRM (I know they exist but I've never looked at them, and can't imagine many are being released) - everyone I know that has any interest in monitoring HRM uses them with a GPS watch. Maybe a Garmin Forerunner 25 would do what she wants. It's about as cheap as I can see for a GPS watch capable of connecting to an external chest HRM.

I'm going to suggest something you probably don't want to hear: spend more. A lot of GPS watches now support rowing as an activity, so can record things like stroke rate etc. Having an instant display of her HR will do what she/her coach wants right now, but it's a slippery slope - soon she'll want to be able to look back at her data and see how other metrics affect things. And if she's introduced to Strava then she'll really want to be able to record her data. The same watches will also include lifestyle elements (step count and all that nonsense), 24x7 optical HR monitoring and smart-watch style notifications.
If she's got a birthday coming up it might be worth considering - because if she's serious enough to be training with a coach, sooner or later anything you buy now (with the exception of the HRM I've linked - which is future proof) will end up going in a drawer having been replaced with something much more expensive and much more capable.
Garmin Vivoactive 3 might be a good place to start (the chest strap HRM will still be needed though, for the reasons described in my OP.)
ETA:
This is getting rave reviews ATM. Could be had with the TICKR for just over £200:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/suunto-spartan-trainer-wri...

Edited by tenohfive on Wednesday 15th August 10:29

Edited by tenohfive on Wednesday 15th August 10:32

[MellowshipSlinky]

tenohfive said:

There's no watch because you didn't ask for a watch, you asked for a HRM. I don't actually know of any 'dumb' sports watches that'll connect to a chest HRM - everyone I know that has any interest in monitoring HRM uses them with a GPS watch. Maybe a Garmin Forerunner 25 would do what she wants, it's about as cheap as I can see, coupled with the HRM I've linked above.

I'm going to suggest something you probably don't want to hear: spend more. A lot of GPS watches now support rowing as an activity, so can record things like stroke rate etc. Having an instant display of her HR will do what she/her coach wants right now, but it's a slippery slope - soon she'll want to be able to look back at her data and see how other metrics affect things. And if she's introduced to Strava then she'll really want to be able to record her data. The same watches will also include lifestyle elements (step count and all that nonsense), 24x7 optical HR monitoring and smart-watch style notifications.
If she's got a birthday coming up it might be worth considering - because if she's serious enough to be training with a coach, sooner or later anything you buy now (with the exception of the HRM I've linked - which is future proof) will end up going in a drawer having been replaced with something much more expensive and much more capable.

Apologies - I didn't mention a watch in my OP which I should've done!

I think you're right and I need to bite the bullet and go for the dogs danglies.
From September she's training in her clubs National squad (11 sessions per week...) with a view to gaining possible GB selection, so all parameters of training will eventually be needed.

Thanks for the great advice!

[S100HP]

If shes on water you'll need a waterproof one surely? This limits options.

Appreciate its very expensive, but I have a Fenix 5. This is fully waterproof, has a optical HR monitor and connects to a HRM if you wish for more accurate data. I've not looked, but I'm sure there will be a cheaper option that Garmin do which will do the above.

[Slagathore]

MellowshipSlinky said:

Certainly gets good reviews and well priced, but unless I'm missing something - no watch?

They're not allowed phones to be out whilst on the ergo and need to be able to glance at their heart rate, so a watch with big digits is needed.

Check the connectivity options for the PM5, assuming they train on Concept2s, which I'm sure they do.

You can connect the heart rate monitor to the monitor and it will display on there. I haven't managed it with my Polar H10, but there was an update the other day saying you can now connect to more than one device, so I'm hoping that allows me to connect to my phone and then direct to the PM5 as well. Will try next time I'm at the gym.

So no need for a watch if you go that route. The H10 and Polar Beat app are really good.

[MellowshipSlinky]

Thanks

Now looking at the Polar A300 and H10 strap.
She needs a watch for when on the water.

Yes, they train on C2's so hoping to link into that which will also let the coaches see their HR.

[tenohfive]

Polar really are behind the game these days in the sports watch market. Garmin and Suunto are the market leaders and no-one else can seriously rival them.

Just about any decent sports watch and chest HRM should be waterproof btw. All the ones I've mentioned are in any event.

[MellowshipSlinky]

The Garmin stuff seems to all have GPS which is not needed, and is double the price.

Whilst I don't mind going slightly over budget, we've just bought her a boat... so trying to keep costs a bit lower!

Edited by MellowshipSlinky on Thursday 16th August 15:30