Whether you call them heart rate monitors, or fitness and activity trackers, they all have one goal in mind: to help you stay motivated and maintain a healthy lifestyle by telling you when to speed up or slow down to achieve optimal results.
While these devices all track your heart rate, they all have differing degrees of built-in features, including sleep tracking, smartphone notifications, daily fitness tracking and sedentary alerts.
Choose from your bells and whistles-free, yet reliably accurate Polar FT1, which is designed for basic fitness training and has an easy-to-read display, or go all out and track your whole, activity-filled day, from sleep to wake with the Letscom Tracker that is great for your whole family.
Find one that fits your routine, then personalize your settings to better monitor your daily activities, fitness and heart rate to ensure a more well-balanced and healthier lifestyle.
1. LETSCOM Fitness Tracker and Heart Rate Monitor
The Letscom Activity Monitor is a multipurpose device that tracks multiple modes, including heart rate, sleep monitoring, allows you to see calls and messages on your wrist, and is easy to charge with a built-in USB plug. This tracker’s intuitive heart rate monitoring allows you to see your heart at a glance during workouts and will assess overall performance with a personalized in-app report including your rest, average and maximum heart rate. Lastly, all this goodness can be viewed on a bright and clear OLED 0.96 inch screen which you can customize to your specific tastes.
PROS: LETSCOM is water-resistant so you can wear it when running in the rain and washing your hands.
CONS: It does not come with its own USB charger.
2. Polar H7 Bluetooth Heart Rate Sensor & Fitness Tracker
The Polar Heart Rate Sensor & Fitness Tracker provides live, accurate heart rate data to compatible mobile training apps through Bluetooth technology. This is done via an included soft fabric chest strap that seamlessly adapts to your body shape. Simply connect the heart rate sensor to the Polar Beat app to start receiving data that will allow you to train at the right intensity, avoid under and overtraining and reach your goals faster. This monitor can be used at home or the gym with its Gym Link connect.
PROS: Choose from 100+ sport profiles and get real-time voice guidance while you train.
CONS: It is advised to make sure to remove the Bluetooth device from the strap and close out the app on your phone so as not to significantly deplete the battery life.
3. Polar Ft1 Heart Rate Monitor
Polar’s Ft1 Heart Rate Monitor provides continuous, accurate heart rate information that will help you safely exercise at the right intensity. It works by displaying your heart rate in beats per minute on a large, easy-to-read display and when you exercise out of your zone, it will give you a visual and audible alarm. Included with this device is a coded heart rate transmitter chest strap which picks up yours (and only yours) heart rate monitor.
PROS: This monitor displays three data points once the exercise is over: time, average heart rate and maximum heart rate.
CONS: This is a basic heart rate monitor and does not offer a lot of statistical-type data.