good, cheap heart rate monitor?

Hi,

This is my first time posting, though I have spent a lot of time reading others' posts. I am 44 and had my pacemaker installed Feb. 13th. Finally feeling confidant enough to exercise..feel great on the illiptical and can't wait for the weather to get a little warmer to try some actual running outside.

My question is this: can anyone recommend a heart rate monitor for running? I don't want to break the bank, but wondered if anyone out there has had good/bad experiences with any?

Never cared about my heart rate before pm...I check my pulse pretty regularly now, but want a good way to do while exercising.

Thanks! -Matt

10 Comments

Been using this one

by ma_ku - 2013-03-25 08:03:31

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000I6FN5I/ref=pe_217191_31005151_dp_1

It does the job well and I have no complaints. My PM was implanted on 19th Feb. Was back to running just over 2 weeks later. I never used a heart rate monitor before and it's quite interesting to watch the heart rate change as the terrain changes. I am 41, have 2nd degree heart block and am not PM dependent, but I was very worried about the effect of the PM on my running. Happy to report that I can run just as well as before. Just wish spring would hurry up! Had enough of this miserable weather..

Happy exercising!

Mark

Checking pulse?????

by donr - 2013-03-25 08:03:32

Perplexed: It is a bad habit to become obsessed w/ one's own pulse. If you were never worried about it before PM, why worry about it now? Your PM will take care of it below the UTR (Upper Tracking Rate). You have to get confidence in the PM's reliability & the fact that it will NOT let your pulse drop below the magic Lower Limit.

Like Luke Skywalker learning to feel the Force, you have to learn to just subconsciously KNOW when your pulse is w/i its proper limits.

Let me give you a hint - if you can talk and/or sing continuously while exercising, your pulse is just fine. If you cannot talk or sing, you are short of breath & your pulse is reaching the UTR.

Don

Polar

by quiffs - 2013-03-25 09:03:39

I use a Polar T31. It is very accurate and has lasted a long time.

It also has several features a runner would like.

Gene

try it out first

by Tracey_E - 2013-03-25 09:03:50

I've never found one at any price that works for me. My pm interferes with the monitor and it says I have no pulse. Others have had problems with the monitor showing too high because it picks up the pm spikes as well as the heart beats.

Ditto what Don said, I just go with how I feel. If I feel good, if I can talk and I'm not dizzy, I assume my pm is keeping up with me and don't worry about it. If you spend half your workout worrying about your pulse, you'll never get a good workout in ;o)

UTR

by Tracey_E - 2013-03-26 04:03:28

UTR is upper tracking rate, or how high the pm will pace the ventricles. With av block (what I have, also), the atria beats normally but the signal doesn't make it to the ventricles. If your upper limit is set at 150 and your atria is doing 170, your pulse will still be 150. It's not good to get the atrial rate over the upper limit but you can tell right away when it happens! It does not feel good, will kill a workout quickly. If you feel good, then odds are very high that you are working out under your upper limit. I used to count when I felt bad, my pulse was always exactly at my UTR. If you feel good when working out, then your settings are probably good and you don't want to mess with them.

Polar

by IAN MC - 2013-03-26 05:03:26

I run and use a Polar FT2 model . It didn't cost much and seems to work fine.

Ian

I will probably stop wearing it soon

by ma_ku - 2013-03-26 05:03:26

Don,

Well, the main reason was to understand what my heart was doing while running. I don't want to stay within the upper tracking rate of 150 as I am capable of 184 (according to Bruce Protocol stress test pre implantation) and have discovered my average while running at tempo is 165. They put me on some out of the box setting of 150. I now have the evidence to tell them to put it higher at my 6 week check. I am chronotropically (spelling?) competent. My heart does not block during exercise, just while sat on my backside.

Mark

REason for pulse checking

by donr - 2013-03-26 08:03:39

Mark: There is a difference between monitoring during exercise for how close you are to your UTR & as the OP stated "...check my pulse frequently..." ElectricFrank falls into your category, also. But you two are a small segment of the population. Most of us are like me.

The latter becomes an "Obsessive/compulsive" issue & implies that the member is fixated on heart issues. That is not good, & can lead one toward becoming a "Cardiac Cripple." The latter is from my cardio & his head nurse.

I am not an athlete, don't run, exercise vigorously, etc. I always know where my pulse rate is just by awareness & the only thing I care about is NOT exceeding my UTR. That's a "Can do, easy," sort of thing. If I cannot talk continuously & do something, my pulse is approaching UTR.

I have a Daughter that is just like you - A lifetime ago, when she was but a mere youth (22), I had to take my last Army annual physical fitness test. It was July in New Jersey; temp was in the 90's w/ a humidity to match. I got her to accompany me on the last event, a mile run on a course that ran through a swamp & was a lonely road. Told her that I did not want to die out there & have the mosquitoes suck my lifeless body dry of blood before someone found me. She did; I completed the course in an acceptable time; walked around a bit to cool down & collapsed on the grass at the civilized end of the course. She looked down at my quivering, sweaty body & asks (Very innocently, of course) "Dad, you look OK to me. Now that I'm warmed up, do you mind if I leave you & go for a run, myself?". Of course I agreed & she proceeded to take off & run another 5 miles. Now at age 50, her resting HR is somewhere in the upper 40's. She has given up the running & now rides her spin bike for an hour every other day to keep from getting rusty! If it weren't for the fact that she was the only baby in the hosp at the time of her birth, I'd swear that Wife brought home the wrong baby.

heart rate

by Perplexed Pacer - 2013-03-26 12:03:27

Thanks for the responses. I have 3rd degree heart block, and must be honest that I'm not sure what my UTR is. I agree with Don that becoming obsessed with my heart is probably not helpful or healthy. But I do want to be able to talk knowledgeably at my next doctor's appointment (in May) about what my heart rate is, including where it's at when I exercise. The guy is not what you would call overly chatty - I had to fire questions at him as fast as I could before he whisked out of the room at my first appointment following implant.

Anyway, I feel great. In March of last year we had some really warm, spring-like weather. I tried to get myself back running again but it was a struggle. I just felt totally spent, and couldn't run far or for more that a few minutes at a time. I chalked it up to getting older (bummer!). This fall I was getting winded just walking to the parking lot. I felt tired all the time. Now, I feel so good I want to go out and run in the snow (something I haven't done since I was in high school).

-Matt

heart monitors

by Mitch - 2013-03-31 01:03:51

Had my pacer installed 6 years ago and have been cycling extensively ever since (and before) I used the Polar and had all kinds of problems with it, as far as I am concerned Polar is junk. Others obviously have a different response. I now use a bike computer/with HRM,
Bontrager, and have been very satisifed with it. I do get some weird readings once in a while but it is almost always when I am cold and contact is not good. Once I warm up it tracks very well. I do like to set my effort level by using the monitor, I ride intervals at close to 90% of my real world max and try to keep long rides, 50 to 150 miles, over 80% The monitor is the only way I can do this I just cannot be sure what range I am in without it. Have been cycling for over 30 years (at 78) and find it much easier to keep a eye on the rate and adjust my effort accordingly.
My pacer is medtronic.

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