Thursday, August 6, 2009

Purchasing A Heart Rate Monitor

By Henry Calhoun

Once you have decided to shed some pounds through workouts, a heart rate monitor is a good thing to have. Several heart rate monitors are on the market and each has their own set of functions. Some are basic and only record the heart rate, but others have more capabilities and can do things such as calculate calories burned or warn you when you are no longer working out in your targeted heart rate zone.

Since there are so many different heart rate monitors on the market, it is often a difficult to decide on which one is the right one. This device should be looked at as any other investment and therefore you have to take many important factors into consideration before choosing the right heart rate monitor.

The heart rate monitor that you will buy will depend largely on the level of your fitness. A general heart rate monitor has a single button, but there are models that can provide fitness information which is great for a general workout. If you are trying to lose some weight, a heart rate monitor that tracks time and burned calories will be good for you. If you are an athlete, choose on that has advanced features, like global positioning system, downloadable data, and others for multiple support in many sports.

Of course your allowed budget must be taken into consideration. This means you must have the money and be willing to spend hundreds of dollars for the heart rate monitor. If you want to purchase a cheaper model, then be aware that it will not have as many great features as the more expensive devices. Generally speaking, for those not wanting to spend more than $100, nothing more than a device that can monitor the heart rate, count calories burned and time the session should be expected.

Those able and willing to spend $100-$200 on a monitor can expect to track progress and be able to download data. More than $200 will allow you to purchase device with the most advanced features, such as GPS, workout comparisons and multi-sport tracking.

If you are able to settle your needs and your budget, the last factor to consider would be the heart rate monitor's ease of use. Of course, more features complicate the operations and navigations, which could pose a problem once you are currently in a workout. You might buy some time to get comfortable with certain heart rate monitors, just keep in mind to study the monitor in order to get used to it.

Women will have to take comfort into consideration also, since many heart rate monitoring devices have chest straps and are bulky. The newest models are smaller than previous models and there are also now chest monitors that are strapless.

When buying heart rate monitors, you must consider your needs instead of your wants. It would not be a wise idea to buy something so expensive yet you don't have any real intention of using these features into good and practical use. As with any product, shop wisely for a healthy living.

About the Author:

0 comments:

Post a Comment