[surfinguru]

Ok, I have no idea what's good and what's not. I'm going to be doing the "El Tucson" century ride in November for Team in Training and I want to get a decent HR monitor to help my training. What are you using? I've been looking at the Polar F6 or maybe the S150. Anyway, suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Heidi]

Anything Polar will be good, that is the only brand I have experience with. They have different levels of features so it depends what you want it to do. I like to be able to store data for a few rides so I can upload them later. Another feature I like is to be able to preset different zones for different workouts. If I'm doing a hill interval workout I can set the lower and upper ends of my target heart rate zone so that it will beep if I go outside that zone. Or, if I'm on a tempo ride, I can preset the zones for that too.

Again, it all depends on how fancy and geeked out you want to get.

 

[Reactor]

The polar s150 is old news. It's a good monitor but lite on bike features, and it's wired.

The new Polar is the CS100 or 200. Wireless. The main difference between the two is the storage. I just got a CS200 for my specialized Roubaix comp and after finally getting a chance to use it I love it. It is still lean on the bike features, but much better than the old 'S' series. The heart rate strap is coded to the transmitter, so you'll eliminate cross talk on rides where everyone has a HRM. The battery is replacable, unlike the earlier straps, so you don't pay $30 when your strap battery dies. It is lite, weighs about what a regular computer does.

Cs100 is about $100, the 200 is about $150. Supergo, Performance, and colorado cyclist carry it.

P.S. I'm doing the Tour De Tucson too, see you there.

 

[sanjuro]

I noticed you get alot better responses in the road forum than in the Lounge.

I personally dislike all the fancy feature on HRM's, and I used a simple Sigma Sport to great success. I had to stare at it all the time, but I did extremely well on a simple monitor.

 

[Andyman_1970]

I'm not a fan of Polar as you have to send them your HRM if you need the battery replaced (or at least that's what it used to be).

I've had a Timex HRM for the last 2.5 years and have had no problems with it, and replaced the battery yesterday with no problems.

 

[LordOpie]

I personally dislike all the fancy feature on HRM's...

ditto.

Just tell me my heart rate. I bought a $30 one and it's accurate enough.

Granted, I'd like to have an all-in-one unit with cadence and gps, but that's just an erection.

 

[Heidi]

I'm not a fan of Polar as you have to send them your HRM if you need the battery replaced (or at least that's what it used to be).

I've had a Timex HRM for the last 2.5 years and have had no problems with it, and replaced the battery yesterday with no problems.

In the watch, no, in the transmitter, yes.

I don't get it, you would rather stare at your heart rate monitor than just have it do some simple functions to track stuff for you?????

 

[DRB]

After all that cool data from Floyd's Powertap wheel that his trainer has been dissecting on Bicycling, I really want one of those. But I guess its kinda like what Opie said. But that stuff is super cool.

 

[chicodude]

http://www.cateye.com/en/products/viewProduct.php?modelId=10&catId=6&subCatId=0


I have this one and I really like it.

 

[surfinguru]

Ok, I've decided that since I already have this computer, Mity 8 I don't see the need in getting anything more than just a HRM. With that said the Polar S150 is out. Any other suggestions?

 

[DRB]

Ok, I've decided that since I already have this computer, Mity 8 I don't see the need in getting anything more than just a HRM. With that said the Polar S150 is out. Any other suggestions?

What are some of the general features you want?

Zone training?
Workout storage?
Upload ability?

 

[Meat Foot]

Ok, I've decided that since I already have this computer, Mity 8 I don't see the need in getting anything more than just a HRM. With that said the Polar S150 is out. Any other suggestions?

Check out the Sigma Sport PC-14. It seems to do everything well. It is not that expensive ($80 or so from universalcycles.com), tech support was great (had a bad watch the first go around.....they hooked me up. Does not upload, does not keep multiple workout files....no biggie for me. It does do % over upper limit, alarm features audible and/or visual, kCal burned, avg. HR, max HR, time, day, date, lap feature. Current HR is always displayed. It is a good overall unit. Can be mounted on the handlebar too.

 

[TreeSaw]

I just got a Timex Digital Heart Rate Monitor and it works quite well for me.

Timex Site for details

 

[reflux]

Along the same lines, does anyone have a GPS deal that they take with them on rides? If so, your thoughts on it? Thanks!

 

[DRB]

Along the same lines, does anyone have a GPS deal that they take with them on rides? If so, your thoughts on it? Thanks!

A coworker has the Garmin Forerunner 301. It does everything. He has a little bit of trouble in the woods losing signal but not so often that it loses gigantic chunks of rides. He uses it for running and riding.

 

[Reactor]

Along the same lines, does anyone have a GPS deal that they take with them on rides? If so, your thoughts on it? Thanks!

On mountain bike rides I take a Garmin Etrex Legend. The bar mount is rock solid and the big screen is easy to see, the menus are easy to navigate even in gloves.

I had a friend with Forerunner 201 and a bar mount. The Forerunner was nice. The bar mount sucks, his GPS fell off in the middle of a night ride and he didn't notice for a while. He couldn't find it, now he has an etrex. If you get the forerunner think twice about the bar mount.

 

[Reactor]

Ok, I've decided that since I already have this computer, Mity 8 I don't see the need in getting anything more than just a HRM. With that said the Polar S150 is out. Any other suggestions?

If you want a basic HRM there are several good ones. I've heard the Timex is good. I have a Polar a5 for off road, the nice thing is it calculates calories expended, so it's easier to follow a diet plan. I had problems, I'd over eat on days off and under eat on massive ride/race days.. it was really screwing up my metabolism. The HRM helps because I have a ball park figure I can use to adjust my diet.

 

[Serial Midget]

I have used a bottom of the line Polar HRM for years, all I am interested in is my current HR, time and average HR. I don't even use the beeper function anymore - keeping track of your vitals becomes second nature after awhile.

Along the same lines - a few years back I bought a Campagnolo Ergo Brain for my road bike. It cost about $130.00 and has over 70 functions - after the first few months I stopped using everything except time, distance, speed and cadence.

I am big on keeping it simple.

 

[JoeRay]

Polar S725 or S720

Lets face it's not gonna win any best looking awards but who buys a monitor to use as a watch?

Love the whole system, downloading and logging in exercise diary, also have done some planning with the software. Keeps the motivation up for me. Sure I don't use all of the features but once you get a bit of an appreciation of what it can do you can get hooked on it.

As a minimum you need coded transmitter if you ride with others.

Polar service, I haven't had a hassle with either of my monitors, when battery goes flat, express post to Polar marked urgent and you get it back in two working days. Send it monday have it back easy time for weekend. With the new transmitters you can change the battery yourself, they even give you new o-rings.

 

[Reactor]

Yeah, I think the send polar $35 bucks and your old strap every time the battery dies, was getting a bit old. The strap lasts about two years if you use it a couple of hours a week at the gym, but some cyclists were using it 10-20 hours a week and burning them out in six months.

So the new high end transmitters have a use replacable battery, especially the cycle versions.

 

[surfinguru]

Thanks for all the input guys. I went with the Polar F6. Does everything I was looking for.