cheap heart rate monitor

keef66
keef66 Posts: 13,123
edited June 2010 in Training, fitness and health
In order to make the most of The Time Crunched Cyclist I need to be able to measure power output or heart rate. Definitely can't justify a power meter, so I was looking for the cheapest way of getting HR data. Stumbled on a fell-running forum in which somebody said they'd just bought an HRM for a tenner from his local chemist. Hopped on the web and found Lloyds doing one reduced from £20 to £10, nearest branch just round the corner from work so I've just popped out and invested in one. Looks OK to my untutored eye, but I'll report back when I've given it a go tonight

Comments

  • kfinlay
    kfinlay Posts: 763
    Aldi or Lidl - mines works a treat and you can specify your own higher and lower limits. Can't download info but they are cheap and a good start to see if you will use it
    Kev

    Summer Bike: Colnago C60
    Winter Bike: Vitus Alios
    MTB: 1997 GT Karakorum
  • markos1963
    markos1963 Posts: 3,724
    kfinlay wrote:
    Aldi or Lidl - mines works a treat and you can specify your own higher and lower limits. Can't download info but they are cheap and a good start to see if you will use it

    +1
    Norfolk, who nicked all the hills?

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3013/243 ... 8d.jpg?v=0
    http://img362.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... 076tl5.jpg
    http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3407 ... e001af.jpg
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Well it seems to work, and my lights, cheapo Halfords wireless puter and the HRM play nicely together. Try as I might, I couldn't get it beyond 177 bpm, which is fairly close to the notoriously unreliable 220 - age (52) formula.

    I'm clearly not dead yet

    My only complaint, and it seems churlish to camplain about something costing £9.99, is that the heartrate is displayed in small digits beneath the much larger time display. I'd have thought that the primary function of an HRM was to show heart rate information, no?

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