Heart Rate Monitor Buying Guide - Discounted Heart Rate Monitors, Best Pulse Meters and Measuring Equipment Devices UK
A heart rate monitor is a device for sensing, measuring and displaying your heart rate during physical exercise. Typically, the heart monitoring equipment is strapped onto the chest and detects heart activity just like an ECG measuring electrical activity of the heart. The chest monitor transmits to a wrist receiver which gives a digital diplay readout of your heart rate and, depending on the model of heart rate monitor, a whole raft of other useful heart-related information as well. Checking this while exercising allows you to stay within your target heart rate so you stay safe and receive the maximum benefits from your workout.
Buying a heart rate monitor can be something of a daunting task as the range of different devices for calculating your pulse rate is huge and the features they offer quite diverse. However, most people will find most of the extra bells and whistles offered by the most high-tech heart rate measuring devices are far beyond their needs, others will find them absolutely essential. It's a matter of personal choice and the best advice is to buying a heart rate monitor is simply this:
1) Visit a special fitness retailer like Sweatband Fitness and browse all the different makes and models of heart rate monitors on offer.
2) Note down any features you think will be especially useful to you.
3) Try to find a heart monitor amongst the thousands out there which match your requirements!
However, when choosing a heart monitor there are a few general things to take into consideration:
Heart Monitor Features - How many features are enough? How much is too much? If you are a technophobe then the last thing you need is a high tech heart rate monitor which does everything from measuring your pulse rate during exercise through to making tea and toast in the morning. If your top athlete qualty heart monitor has an interface which resembles the bridge controls of the Starship Enterprise then it will soon become an expensive wristwatch. By the same token, if you buy cheap heart rate monitor which just displays your average heart rate you may soon be left bemoaning the lack of features.
Some of the more useful features offered by pulse monitors include:
Target heart rate zone alerts - An audible, or visual alarm to warn you when your routine is falling outside of your optimal target zone. Exercising outside of your target heart rate is less effective than within it.
Calories Burned - programmable to give a reasonably accurate representation of how many calories you have burned through your chosen form of exercise.
Stopwatch and Timing - Even something this basic is overlooked by some of the cheapest heart rate monitors.
Backlighting - Again, something simple and often overlooked. If it's difficult to read, it will be frustrating to use so make sure the display is backlit.
Additional features including things like pre-programmed and programmable exercise routines, spoken readouts, computer link-up for downloading and uploading results and analysis of them, splits, fitness testing and much more. Some even have mp3 players built in.
What you need can only really be decided by you. Something like a computer link might be a useless gimmick to some but an essential training feature to others. Audio reports given by the likes of the HEARTalker range of heart rate monitors might be gimmicky to you but highly useful to partially sighted users. Once again, the best way to find the best heart rate monitor device for your specific needs, visit a specialist in heart rate monitors like Sweatband Fitness and browse what's on offer.
How Much To Pay?
The price of heart rate monitoring exercise equipment varies in price dependent upon the model, manufacturer and range of extra features.
Entry Level Heart Rate Monitors - The price of a good entry level heart rate monitor will cost under £100 and offer the mot basic features. These are good for people just beginning fitness training who will not need the extra features offered by the more expensive models. A good example of an beginner level heart rate monitor is the Polar F2. For under £50 you get a heart monitor which shows heart rate and elapsed time, keeps you within your target heart rate with audible alarms, has a large easily readable digital display and easy to use interface and is waterproof up to 30m.
More Entry Level Heart Rate Monitors
Medium Level - Heart monitors for the home fitness enthusiast. These have a few additional features to help guide you to better fitness by measuring fitness levels and tweaking your exercise routines to match your current level of fitness and other bells and whistles. A recommended mid-level heart rate monitor is the Polar M62 which features calories counting, personal fitness testing, calculation of high and low points of your optimal heart rate zone, stored settings for two individual users, fat consumption estimation, wireless transmission and more.
Click for more medium level heart rate monitoring equipment.
Althete Quality Heart Rate Monitors - For the serious athlete, these monitors are feature rich and ideal for athletic training. A good example is the Polar S610i which is one of the most powerful training tools available. The Polar S610i heart rate monitor features all the usual features of lesser HR monitors but also includes FREE PC software and an infrared data link to upload your own fitness routines into the programmable heart rate monitor or download training data for statistical analysis and performance measurement. The Polar S610i has a street price of £200 but can be bought from Sweatband Fitness for just £159!
More athlete training heart rate monitors
Some other things to consider:
Do you exercise in a gym or in your home around other exercisers? Some of the cheaper heart rate monitors may suffer from crosstalk, which is where the monitor gets a reading from another monitor or electrical device and gets confused. Look for a monitor like the Polar M62 which avoids crosstalk.
Will you share the monitor with someone else? Some of the best heart rate monitors have programmable settings for 2 or more different users so two or more people can use the same heart rate monitor and have their settings there for them to use each time.
 Find cheap heart rate monitoring machines at discount prices at Sweatband Fitness - the UK's top online sports equipment retailer. Their range of discounted heart rate monitors come at low prices with free delivery throught Great Britain.
Unsure? Read our buyers guide to Running Machines to help decide which treadmill running machine is right for you.
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