Need new heart rate monitor (Read 66 times)

Hi, I'm new here. I do a variety of exercise - running, hiking, kayaking, xc-skiing, snowshoeing, and working out at the gym. The gym is my regular one because I can do it rain or shine, year-round, so I run on a treadmill there.

I need a new heart rate monitor. I want a chest-strap one for accuracy and consistency, with a display I can read on my wrist. That's ALL I need.

I don't care if it also has GPS, ANT+, Bluetooth, timings, warning, pacing, laps, alarms, and sends a card to your mother on Mother's Day, b/c I'm not going to use any of those features. ALL I want is to glance at my wrist while I'm working out to see my heart rate.

I mention this because lots of these devices have so many features and options that they get in the way of being a HR monitor - you have to press a lot of buttons, scroll through menus, configure stuff, tell it your weight, age, religion and hair color and read a long manual in eight languages, just to get it to display your HR. No. I don't want to be bothered with that much complication. My old Polar unit that I'm replacing was like that and it was a pain. Plus all those features consume your battery. I want something that I put on when I start my workout press a button and BAM, it's a hear-rate monitor - I don't want to fiddle with it. What's the simplest one I can get? Price is not a factor, but simplicity is.

Thanks in advance!

I have a Polar M430 watch with wrist HR monitoring. As far as I can tell it's very accurate, and you don't have all the extra hardware to strap on and set up. You just put on the watch and you're done. I'd ditch the chest strap stuff and just get a watch.

No, as I explained in my question, this is for multi-exercise use.   The wrist ones are fine if you're not moving your arms too aggressively but they lose the plot if you're weight-lifting, xc-skiing, etc.   Also, they have to be in skin-contact, so you can't wear them over your clothes, say for a winter activity.   So I definitely want a chest strap kind.   But there's at least a half-dozen out there so the question is, which of them is easiest to put into HR mode and keep it there every time you turn it on, with out having to get a degree in computer science.

Check out the reviews on DCrainmaker.com

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/11/winter-technology-recommendations.html

Any garmin is compatable with the chest straps. Even the wrist based HR monitors. I run with a friend who has the Fenix 5 and he wears a strap because he didn't trust the wrist HR monitor for a few runs.

If simplicity is the only factor you could get a fitbit. I have a Garmin 410 that uses a chest strap and I'm sure you could find one for $50 or less. Otherwise you're going to find every watch has the features you don't want (to turn off).

I currently run with the 235. I don't disagree with the heart rate for activities outside of running. It has a bunch of features I don't need/use. I turn them off simply by deactivating bluetooth...ONCE. Yes, I had to tell it my height, weight, age and gender...ONCE. It has a specific Heart Rate screen for runs you can turn on/off ONCE, along with pushing one button to display my current heart rate. I can go almost a week with my 235 getting texts/emails, runs, and heart rate before I need to charge it depending on how many miles I'm getting. I just went 6 days without charging it and covered about 50 miles.