Fellow Runners: I MUST get Heart Monitor

[1242Vintage]

I’m a cyclist and use the Garmin branded heart rate monitor, paired up with my little Garmin bike computer. The monitor is very accurate, costs about $60 and pairs up with my Garmin bike computer.

Am pretty confident there is the same set up for runners where the monitor pairs up with a Garmin watch.

Best regards on your recovery.

[Bamaman]

A couple of times last year, my wife had some heart issues. In Sept., I took her to the E-Room with a blood pressure of "54 over Dead". They couldn't believe she could talk much less give them a list of her 12 medications by the generic name. She was in AFIB with a 169 heartbeat, and they shocked her into rhythm. She is now learning to live with congestive heart failure. Covid in November knocked her down a notch in ability to walk far--a very common biproduct with Covid.

We have a 45 year old friend that's always been a runner and most recently an avid long distance road bicyclist. He passed out riding, and had to have heart surgery. He had a very slow heartbeat, but his heart beat extra hard when it did beat. I understand this is a common issue with runners--in great shape with an abnormal heartbeat. And he's the opposite of my wife's issue.

And at one point, it's time for a change of activities. You've just got to understand your condition and make the decision on how to live your life.

[Z3Dreamer]

Scosche Rhythm Plus armband heart monitor and Suunto watch. Don't really need the Scosche, as the Suunto has this function in most of its models.

A bit pricey but it works for me.

[Luvtoride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain3d I run about 50 miles a week and will say wrist based heart rate during running is a waste of time. You must use a chest strap to get accurate numbers. My garmin 245 has wrist based and chest strap. It will default to chest when it finds it for running. When I take it off it goes back to wrist based. The wrist based heart rate monitoring is excellent for sleep and normal day activities. You can set it to alert you to abnormal heat measurements. So a combination approach is what you want. And it is fun to see all the data. If my over night resting heart rate increases I know I need to back off training etc.

Hi Glenn,
I hope you are doing well and recovering from your heart stent issue. Please take care of yourself.
I would agree with Captain 3d that a chest strap heart rate monitor is the best option. I have Afib and even these are not completely accurate for me but they are better than wrist based Apple watches and fitbits. I use a Polar heart rate monitor and it works very well.

Take care and best of luck. Hope you feel better soon!
Brian

[nash031]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mystang52 Suggestions/comments? If I only need to monitor heart rate, should I get a plain vanilla monitor, or one of those Smart Watches?

Get a Polar H10 heart rate monitor strap. For your condition, don't rely on wrist-based HR. You can get a reasonable ECG from the Polar strap.

Pair that with an inexpensive smart watch, like a Garmin FR35. Total is ~$200 ($80 strap, $110 Garmin). I think you can even just pair it with your phone via the PolarBeat app if you don't want a watch.

Garmin straps are pretty good too. I use a Polar to track HRV, among other things, because I'm way into my sports... but it's also far and away the most accurate and I wouldn't mess around with anything else if a doctor was telling me to monitor my heart while running. Simple as that.

[Yoheadden]

I’m glad you sought help and the procedure went well.
I’m a Garmin user, but it seems a Garmin, Fitbit or Smartphone will do what you need. I guess it comes down to if you want to switch your phone out for a watch and what features, other than HR monitoring, you really want or need.
Good Luck on the recovery and hope your back on the road/pool soon.

[Deuce]

I had a chest strap heart rate monitor and about a fourth of the time it would not work. I have an Apple Watch series for now that I’ve had for going on 5 years and it works great all the time! Mine can also be used as a phone for $10 a month extra.

[Rambler]

I’ve done the chest strap, a FitBit running watch, a Garmin 235, and Apple watches over the years. I will say that they all work about as well as each other, most of the time. There wasn’t any difference between my strap and my Apple Watch or FitBit. The Garmin 235 running watch seemed to be most accurate for distance, but, when it was really cold out, the heart rate got a little wonky. I never had that issue with the strap, the Apple Watch, or the FitBit. I highly recommend the Apple Watch, for a few reasons: 1) you can get a model that you can use as a phone. You can call for help if you have an issue. 2) Your loved ones can also track your location with the Apple Watch (if you allow them). 3) you can check your oxygen saturation with Apple Watch (good tool if you have heart issues. 4) Apple Watch can detect arrhythmia. 5) Apple Watch can be set up to call family or 911 if you suffer a fall. 6) Apple Watch will calculate your estimated VO2 MAX, which can be helpful if you are having heart and lung issues (mine dropped like a rock when I had a cold - or maybe COVID - a couple months back, and is just now starting to recover).

Yes, they are expensive, but they are fantastic tools to have. For about 4 years, I ran with both Apple Watch and Garmin. By the time the Garmin died, Apple had come out with all of these features, and I got older, so the more accurate distance measurement (IMHO) of the Garmin are less important to me, but the heart/lung/oxygen measuring features as well as the ability to call and be tracked are MUCH more important to me now. YMMV, but these are reasons we have them (wife started having seizures a few years ago, and this gave me the peace of mind I needed for her to go running without me unduly worrying).