Heart Rate Monitors

Right now I am looking at the Polar A5 and the Polar M32. Are these too a good choice? Also which one is a better choice?

anything from Polar will be excellent quality.

Get the best one that has the features you need and you can afford. the Polar website is excellent.

http://www.polar.fi/polar/entry.html

If you can afford it, get one of the Polar cycling specific ones - together with the polar software they are great for analysing your training.

KakenBetaal said:

If you can afford it, get one of the Polar cycling specific ones - together with the polar software they are great for analysing your training.

I agree. The cycling features of Polars may not be the most versatile ones but considering the overall quality and hassle-free operation, a S-Series HRM is something to opt for.

While I own a polar S-150 (I think) and am extremely happy with it, do a bit of searching - there was a long thread on HRMs, with people commenting on Polars, Ciclosports and Suuntos.

Check it out.

Also, IMHO, do not simply buy the best HRM you can afford. Honestly consider what you would use it for and then purchase the best model for your use... no need to get the one that downloads via IR port all the data for you to analyse if you do not intend to do that!

Just my two cents! 🙂

Janky said:

I am currently in the market for a heart rate monitor and have absolutly no clue about them. Does anyone have and recomendations for one. I ride a mountain bike and I might start riding a road bike. Thanks in advance.

I'll second others recommendations for the Polar HRM's and also the thought about analyzing your riding and intended purpose for the HRM. I've a Polar S210 and generally like its feature set but I have to log my own data rather than having the ability to download. This isn't an issue (for me) but might be for you.

The one characteristic that I don't like is that if it doesn't detect a heart beat for a short period of time (I think 2 minutes but not sure) it stops recording and there's no way to restart it without losing the detailed data for that session. It does keep summary data (ride time, max and avg HR) but you lose the time in each zone which is important data (to me). I believe other, more expensive Polar's have more memory and will keep more than just summary data but as far as I know, they also shut off after not receiving a heart beat and aren't restartable. If this isn't the case (not certain since I don't own one) I'd appreciate being corrected.

This stop/restart may not be an issue if you wear the HRM. I mount mine on the bike which I like because it makes it easier to see while riding and, because I don't like losing the data when it stops, I must remove it and put it on my arm when away from the bike at rest stops.

Again, look at your intended usage (bike mount vs. arm, type of data you want, manual vs. automatic download, etc), how much you want to spend and then decide.

Hope this helps,

Greg

While appreciate the fact that many here are very fond of their Polar HRMs, I would suggest that their are other, perhaps better options.

I have owned many Polars over the years, but recently purchased a Suunto t6. Both the watch (HRM) and the PC software absolutely blow Polar out of the water.

Polars are good units, and perhaps you will be happy with one, but they are by no means the only game in town.

Buy the best one you can afford! I recently bought a nice HRM, but one that was fairly inexpensive since it was my first one ever and I was a little uneducated. Although I have only used it for ~4 weeks, I already wish I had one with more features. Mine allows the setting of only one heart rate zone, although it does time different laps. It also only shows time below zone, time above zone, time in zone, and average heart rate over all laps. With this said, I wish I could set different zones for each lap so I could more effectively train with intervals. I would also like to know minimum and maximum heart rate for the workout, not just average. I really wish I would have spent the big $$s for one with all these features. Now I have to wait for Christmas (hope my wife reads this). Like many things, a good one will cost more now, but less in the long run. Good luck.

Use a polar S150, its great for what it does-would have bought one with cadence etc but could not justify the outlay. The whole concept of HRM makes life a lot more sensible