Heart rate monitors. Which one?

CyclingBantam

Hllo all,

I am considering getting myself a Heart Rate Monitor as I am aiming to really improve my fitness (Not that I am unfit now, I just want to get quite fit). I have looked through the forums for a while and it seems to me that a HRM is the way to go to ensure I am training at the right levels. I would like to get one that I can download my results on to the laptop and thus keep a reccord of my performance. Can anyone suggest any good models around the £80-£100 mark (If I can get a good one for less then great)

Also should I be looking at getting one that combines a speedometer as well (I have a basic speedometer currently). I do quite like looking at stats shuch as total climb/hill grade etc so if I could get something that sows me all that even better (If you can also give me the moon on a stick that would be super!). :oops:

Apologies for boring you senseless there but any advice would be great.

Thanks

Ben

feel

I know nothing about this but you can hardly go wrong at that price.

Slow Downcp

Take a look at the Polar CS200CAD - it gives you all the things you want (apart from altitude and the moon on a stick). I've had one for a couple of years.

Shop around though, as prices can vary wildly.

Alex_Simmons/RST

One option to consider is the newer Powertap CPUs (without the power meter hub). The models to consider are the:
CERVO 2.4 Pro (wireless)
http://www.saris.com/p-286-cervo-24-pro.aspx

CERVO 2.4 Standard (wired)
http://www.saris.com/p-287-cervo-24-standard.aspx

They are a fraction more than your price range. They operate as cyclocomputers and with one easy change in the set up menu they can be upgraded to also read power data from a power tap hub if you ever wanted to upgrade to power based training.

Now with the upgraded chips, the HR monitor is very reliable, they record data every 1.26 seconds, have plenty of memory and record speed, cadence, distance, time and HR all for download to your PC (USB download cradle comes with kit and uses software provided free by Saris). Interval functions and so on. No altimeter however.