Heart Monitor Watches - A Comparison of Features

November 19th, 2008 by bodypharmacy

Heart monitor watches give you several options when it comes to monitoring your heart. And they tend to come in two varieties – the traditional heart monitor watch that has a chest strap that takes readings and transmits them, and the strapless varieties.

Heart Monitor Watches

Strapless heart monitor watches

Unlike traditional heart monitor watches, the strapless heart monitor watches work without the need for a chest strap. In order to get these heart monitor watches to work, you touch sensitive electrodes on the face, and it will give you the reading of your heart rate.

Strapless heart monitor watches tend to be more comfortable because you do not have to worry about a strap slipping out of position when you are trying to monitor your heart rate. You also do not need to worry about moistening the electrodes like you do with a chest strap.

Traditional heart monitor watches

With traditional heart monitor watches, you do get the benefit of having a constant reading of your heart rate. This allows you make sure that you are staying within your target range and can allow you to see averages for different points of your workout. On the other hand, a strapless heart monitor watch requires you to act in order to get a reading. This could require slowing down or even stopping in order to be able to push the buttons needed to get a reading. Slowing down does decrease your maximum heart rate, so readings may be slightly lower than they would be otherwise.

Benefits of strapless heart monitor watches

There are many benefits to wearing strapless heart rate monitor. They tend to be more comfortable to wear since they do not have the hard plastic strap around your chest. There is no need to moisten anything, and you can jump right into your exercise routine without much effort.

Strapless heart monitor watches also allow you to wear them just like you would a regular watch. And you get the added benefit of being able to monitor your heart rate at any time of day. Feel like you are becoming stressed? Monitor your heart rate to make sure it is not getting to fast. Want to get a true rested reading? Try monitoring your heart rate while you are doing relaxing exercises or resting.

Features of heart monitor watches

There are many features that are available in strapless heart monitor watches. You can choose from heart rate measurement, memory and recall features, chronograph, countdown timers, and pacer mode. Many also have normal watch functions such as time and date, alarms, and time zone functions. In general, the more features you want, the more the cost will be.

If you are considering a heart monitor watch, the best thing to do is to consider how it will be used. If you are planning on wearing it like a regular watch and want to take your heart rate readings throughout the day, the strapless variety may be for you. However, if you only plan on using it during your workout hour, you may find that the traditional heart monitor watch works just fine.