# Lady heart rate monitor straps



## JohnHenry (Aug 9, 2006)

girlfriend wants a heart rate monitor to use while running/biking.

It should also estimate calories burned, she says. Is that really a worthwhile function?

Also, what is the women's experience with chest straps?

Do the straps built into a sports bra (Polar?) work well? Is the sizing decent? Any downfalls? upsides?


help.


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## Loraura (Jun 30, 2008)

Unisex is fine. Never had a problem with the three I've had (Garmin, Cateye, Nike). It's more valuable to me as an effort indicator for pacing myself than a calorie estimator.


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## jorgy (Oct 21, 2005)

I prefer the straps like Polar's WearLink or Garmin's 'premium' soft strap.

I've never tried Polar's bra because I don't think it's going to give me enough, um, support. I just put the HR strap under my bra strap.

I'm gonna say get something like a Garmin Forerunner 305. I used to use HR, but now my preference is to have my pace. You can get a bike mount kit for the 305 and you can even add a cadence sensor later.

Both a Polar I've had and my Garmin estimate calories. I think the Polar is better, with the Garmin tending to inflate calories burned quite a bit. It's not something essential, just an interesting tidbit.


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## JohnHenry (Aug 9, 2006)

Loraura said:


> Unisex is fine. Never had a problem with the three I've had (Garmin, Cateye, Nike). It's more valuable to me as an effort indicator for pacing myself than a calorie estimator.


I used to train with a heart rate monitor myself.
The whole calorie estimator threw me....she controls her calorie intake really, really well.

Seems like the estimator will do little for her, in my eyes, at least.


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

I use the hr monitor strap that came with my Polar. It works fine. I don't have the bra one.


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## bq_or_bust (Oct 27, 2007)

*Garmin HR strap fits in Polar Bra*

friend has the 305 and was constantly getting chaffed. i got her the Polar Bra; old style which has a openings for the HR strap. Garmin 305 HR strap is similar to the old Polar HR straps. she has no problem since.

Garmin's calorie is totally off. Polar seems more accurate. BUT, in truth, none are really accurate.


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## Catrin (Jul 16, 2010)

I like the wear link strap that Polar has, am barely aware that it is there. As car as the calorie estimation is concerned, it is nice to have as a ball-park idea. It helps to make certain you have as much information programmed in such as resting heart rate and so forth.


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## Becky (Jun 15, 2004)

My Suunto has a very soft strap, similar to the Polar WearLink. The battery compartment is also the buckle (it closes in front), and fits well under a bra. 

As far as calorie estimating goes, the Suunto is definitely more accurate than my previous Timex HRM.


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## gardenrunner (Jul 25, 2009)

I have the garmin 305 w/ HRM and it doesn't chafe one bit. I don't even use body glide under it. Ever. I don't know how accurate the calories burned category is, but it asks for your weight, and since it knows your pace it should be pretty accurate. In cycling mode, you even enter the weight of your bike(and can enter up to 3 different bikes) so it calculates that into the cals burned equation.


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