heart rate monitors

bhm100

Hi folks,
Can anybody point me towards a HRM which doesn't need a chest band transmitter ? I've vague memories of seeing a watch that got your pulse rate from just the wrist but can't remember where I saw it.

The reason I don't want a chest band is because it's for the missus when she's swimming - doesn't have to be as accurate or log the settings like my heartsafe one, it's just to get a snapshot idea of heart rates as she's going along.

cheers

Brian

Gav2000

When I looked a year ago I couldn't find one. The only ones without chest straps seemed to be those ones that you touch to get an instantaneous heart rate reading so not good for cycling or swimming.

Gav.

bhm100

The only ones I've managed to find are touch sensor ones as well, I think it must be my memory playing tricks. And somehow I can't see her stopping every few lengths for 10 seconds or so to get the HR.

Thanks for replying Gav, even if it wasn't the answer I was hoping for !

Al_38

I would have thought that some of the chest straps and watches would have been waterproof. Sure I've used a Nike Triax in the pool before - and if you are only training then presumably it doesn't matter that the strap puts a bit more resistance on your lungs.

Al

bhm100

Hi Al,

It's not so much about the chest strap being waterproof it's more about problems with FM transmissions through water. Well, that's only what I've read, I've no direct experience.

Although the missus doesn't like the straps anyway, so I was hoping just to get her a watch-type HRM which had a continuous read-out like the normal ones. Like Gav found though, the only ones I can see you need to touch with your fingers for 10 secs and it says even they don't work when submerged.

Jonathan M

I thought there was an issue withy using chest straps in salt water, that the condictivity of the salt water means they won't pick up, but a work colleagues daughter is a very good swimmer (maybe 2012 standard) and she uses a HRM in the pool.

doktorsteve

No reason why a HRM cannot work in water. The Polar chest belt transmits at low frequency (20kHz I believe) using mainly a magnetic field. I suggest that it is the electric field which is absorbed by water. Remember submarines communicate deep in the sea using ultra low frequency radio.

Gav2000

I'm not sure the chest strap would stay in the right place while swimming through water, unless it was really tight, I think it'd slip down (although a woman would have it under her costume).

My chest strap has a rubber water seal ring on the battery door although I'm not sure if that is just to keep sweat out or makes it genuinely waterproof.

bhm100

but a work colleagues daughter is a very good swimmer (maybe 2012 standard) and she uses a HRM in the pool.

by any chance is it one of the suuto memory belts ? my understanding is that this collects data and then you download it afterwards.

I found a good site selling pulse/strapless HRMs and they are very down on the chest strap ones that we'd use for swimming applications - the suuto one was the only one they reccomended.

You're right that my missus could wear a belt under her costume, she just doesn't like the restriction you get. And although she's usually trying for a PB, it's not that serious.....

Gav2000

bhm100 wrote:

You're right that my missus could wear a belt under her costume, she just doesn't like the restriction you get. And although she's usually trying for a PB, it's not that serious.....

I find wearing my HRM and fastening it too tight (so I notice it) actually seems to put my heart rate up, I have much better rides without one, I certainly get up hills better without one.

andrewgturnbull

Hi there.

Polars work fine underwater, although I always find that the chest band slips down if you push off hard from the wall. No problems under a wetsuit though - I've done this quite a lot swimming open water.

At the end of the day, taking your pulse at the end of an interval works pretty well. Pretty much all of the inervals I do are done at a constant pace, so your hr at the end of the interval is a pretty good indicator of what it was for the majority of the time you were swimming.

If you're doing shorter reps (e.g. 50m), then your final hr is more important anyway.

Cheers, Andy

andrewgturnbull

doktorsteve wrote:

No reason why a HRM cannot work in water. The Polar chest belt transmits at low frequency (20kHz I believe) using mainly a magnetic field. I suggest that it is the electric field which is absorbed by water. Remember submarines communicate deep in the sea using ultra low frequency radio.

[pedant]
Electric field, magnetic field - same thing! The correct terminolgy is electro-magnetic field.
[/pedant]

Cheers, Andy

Jonathan M

bhm100 wrote:

but a work colleagues daughter is a very good swimmer (maybe 2012 standard) and she uses a HRM in the pool.

by any chance is it one of the suuto memory belts ? my understanding is that this collects data and then you download it afterwards.

I found a good site selling pulse/strapless HRMs and they are very down on the chest strap ones that we'd use for swimming applications - the suuto one was the only one they reccomended.

You're right that my missus could wear a belt under her costume, she just doesn't like the restriction you get. And although she's usually trying for a PB, it's not that serious.....

Its a Polar, separate strap and head unit.

alien

I use a Suunto Smartbelt/memory belt whilst swimming (Triathlon..) and it works well though I do the analysis after downloading the data when I'm done. It doesn't work with the watch in the water so zone alarms etc are not usable.

the cheapy analogue systems seem fine in the pool.

I would advise against the wrist only ones, they're really not very good...

the polar and nike belts work in the water no problem and the ones I've seen give the data to the watch and are usable for zone alarms etc.

http://www.heartratemonitor.co.uk/ btw are very good and are experienced users - give them a call and you'll end up speaking to someone who uses the stuff during sport - not a call center. (I'm a satisfied purchaser from them)

bhm100

Hi folks,

Well, I reckon I'm a lot more informed now than the same time last week - so thanks to everyone for passing on their info.

When I started this I'd only read about problems with HRMs in the pool - transmission, chlorine contents messing up the electrics, etc. so it's been very interesting to find that folks have successfully used HRMs and especially the cheaper ones !

I'm not sure which one I'll get (early Christmas shopping, so plenty of time yet) I think it'll come down to the one which has the clearest watch display, as long as the unit is consistant in its readings then it doesn't have to be spot-on accurate.

Many thanks to all for helping.

Brian