Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Considerations When Buying Heart Rate Monitors

By Henry Calhoun

If you want to lose weight by working out, then a heart rate monitor is a good thing to own since they help you to stay within your exercising capabilities and lets you know how intense the workout sessions were. On the market are many heart rate monitors and while some only measure your heart rate, others have more features and can record things like calories burned or warn you when you are leaving your training zone.

Due to the many kinds of heart rate monitors available, it is often difficult to choose the one best suited for your needs. Also, since a heart rate monitoring device is like an investment, you want to make sure you take many factors into consideration before spending your money.

One of the most important factors is your own level of fitness. Many can make do with a basic monitor that has the basic functions and one just button on it. On the other hand, athletic people would be better off with a monitor that has more functions built-in, like GPS or downloadable data. If a heart rate monitor is to be purchased as an aid to losing weight, then one with more information, such as calories burned, is a better choice.

Of course your allowed budget must be taken into consideration. This means you must have the money and be willing to spend hundreds of dollars for the heart rate monitor. If you want to purchase a cheaper model, then be aware that it will not have as many great features as the more expensive devices. Generally speaking, for those not wanting to spend more than $100, nothing more than a device that can monitor the heart rate, count calories burned and time the session should be expected.

For the $100-$200 range, monitors can track progress and have downloadable data. Anything higher than $200 will have more advanced features, which may include global positioning systems, multi-sport tracking and comparisons in workouts.

If you are able to settle your needs and your budget, the last factor to consider would be the heart rate monitor's ease of use. Of course, more features complicate the operations and navigations, which could pose a problem once you are currently in a workout. You might buy some time to get comfortable with certain heart rate monitors, just keep in mind to study the monitor in order to get used to it.

Women will have to take comfort into consideration also, since many heart rate monitoring devices have chest straps and are bulky. The newest models are smaller than previous models and there are also now chest monitors that are strapless.

Basically, in regards to heart rate monitors you must first look for what you really need and not what you just want. Purchasing a model with many features that you don't need will only cost you a lot of money and you will never use most of what is available. Staying healthy means finding a heart rate monitor that will help you and provide you with the necessary information, and not just spending a lot of money.

About the Author:

0 comments:

Post a Comment