Heart Rate Monitors

[orionz06]

I am looking at the Garmin Forerunner 410 to track HR and location. I do not need it for all day so the run time is plenty. I do not want it to be massive, and Garmin seems to be THE way to go. It will track HR when exercising for me, cycling and running in specific. It will not replace my bikes computer, just provide be with a HR.

Anyone have suggestions for anything better or does this do the trick?

[dog guy]

I've been using an earlier Forerunner for a few years and like it. The GPS holds lock very well in my high desert environment. I don't know how it would do in dense tree cover. The data records just fine, except for speed or pace. Speed and pace give good totals and averages but when you see the graph, it looks like an EKG of fibrillation: up and down all the time, even though I know I'm not changing speeds that fast. I think it has to do with how often it makes a data point for position and then calculates speed/pace, combined with the slop you get with small, moving GPS antennas. The aggregated data is fine, but I can't look at a specific spot and know exactly what my speed was. All in all, I'd buy it again when I break this one.

[MarkG]

I don't run but I do ride everyday and I can tell from experience that a wrist mounted GPS is a PITA on a bike. I currently use a Garmin Edge 500 /w heart rate monitor mounted on the stem of my bikes. That being said, Garmin does make a bicycle mount for the 410 so it can be bar mounted. I guess your choice might boil down to features.

[orionz06]

I would likely get the bike mount, but not use any of the bike features.

[dog guy]

I just got around to downloading data from a bike ride, first time I've used mine other than running. The speed and pace data is much smoother than it is from a run so in your application this might not be an issue.

[orionz06]

Cool. Ideally I would just be tracking HR to stay where I wanna stay, the rest is just cool data that I will get anyway.

The price floor for a decent HRM seems to be $200, the 410 is only a little bit more and seems to be a little smaller and has a better chest strap. I will probably snag it one of these days coming up.

[Vic303]

Speaking of HRM's, I just salvaged an old Polar TArget wrist monitor, and successfully paired it with a Vetta chest transmitter. Can't change out the battery easily on the ancient Polar chest transmitter, so I went with the user-serviceable-without-cutting Vetta transmitter. Works great with new batteries in both.

[Hizzie]

I love mine. Reviews on both suggest the 305 is more user friendly than the 410. http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Forerun...3338092&sr=1-1 You can pick up the 305 on Amazon with the HR monitor strap for under $140. Only negatives for the 305 are that it is not for swimming and the watch band sucks. They do sell a velcro replacement strap. Yes it is a big device for your wrist but you really don't notice it while you using it. With the short battery life that all of the GPS watches have you won't be wearing it as a watch anyway. My favorite feature is that you can set the screens up with any 4 of the parameters you choose to match how you want to monitor your workout. I use mine for running.

Just make sure whatever Garmin you get it has the HR strap. They come both ways.

[Hizzie]

What did you pick and how is it working out?

[mike boufford]

I love mine. Reviews on both suggest the 305 is more user friendly than the 410. http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Forerun...3338092&sr=1-1 You can pick up the 305 on Amazon with the HR monitor strap for under $140. Only negatives for the 305 are that it is not for swimming and the watch band sucks. They do sell a velcro replacement strap. Yes it is a big device for your wrist but you really don't notice it while you using it. With the short battery life that all of the GPS watches have you won't be wearing it as a watch anyway. My favorite feature is that you can set the screens up with any 4 of the parameters you choose to match how you want to monitor your workout. I use mine for running.

Just make sure whatever Garmin you get it has the HR strap. They come both ways.

I've got the 305 and love it. The only time it really has a hard time acquiring signal is on dense cloud cover. Trees are not an issue here in Michigan. The heart rate monitor works well and I do use it to monitor my heart rate while lifting.

I will say that there is one issue that I have with mine: it will show that I crossed a mile marker at x time, but the lap time display is always 3 seconds later. Weird.