Top 5 Heart Rate Monitors for Exercise

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Updated on July 17, 2019

If you're trying to get in shape and lose weight, a heart rate monitor (HRM) is an excellent way to monitor your intensity and see how many calories you're burning. There are options for exercisers who want something simple and multi-sport athletes who want all the bells and whistles. Note that it is common to find wrist-based heart rate on fitness trackers, but using a chest strap is still best for accuracy.

Polar M200 and H10 Bluetooth Heart Rate Sensor

Polar M200 GPS Running Watch — Photo from Amazon

Polar is the company that popularized heart rate monitors for sports training. These have evolved and now they have many features to enhance your workouts. The M200 is designed specifically with runners in mind. You have a choice of using its wrist-based heart rate sensor or adding the H10 Bluetooth heart rate sensor chest strap. The chest strap should give you a more accurate heart rate.

The M200 tracks heart rate and workout intensity to calculate calories burned and time spent in each zone. In addition, the M200 has built-in GPS so you get real-time speed and distance for outdoor workouts. It has automatic or manual lap counting. It has 24/7 activity monitoring, and the Polar Flow app and website provide data and coaching to help you make the most of your workouts.

The Polar H10 is a Bluetooth heart rate monitor strap that will connect with many fitness devices and apps.

Wahoo TICKR

For the most accurate heart rate, a chest strap is still the best technology. This chest strap connects to GPS and Apple watches, treadmills, fitness trackers, and more. It's compatible with many fitness apps such as MapMyFitness, Runkeepr, Strava, and Apple Health, allowing you to decide which you want to use.

This strap has the advantage of being compatible with either Bluetooth or ANT+ connections, which may be found with older devices. It has a replaceable battery.

Garmin vivosport

You can monitor your heart rate from a chest strap with Garmin's activity monitors, including the vivofit and vivosmart. You can track your diet by the connection with the MyFitnessPal app. The vivosport adds wrist-based heart rate detection and GPS. It has all-day activity tracking so you won't be slacking between workouts and sleep tracking to ensure you are getting high-quality sleep.

Garmin Forerunner 735XT

If you're a multi-sport athlete, you may want a more serious heart rate monitor like the Garmin Forerunner 735XT. You get wrist-based heart rate detection and compatibility with a heart rate monitor strap.

The Forerunner 735XT has GPS tracking and the ability to create your own workouts as well as analyze pace, distance, and calories burned. Advanced features include VO2 max estimate, lactate threshold, race predictor, and recovery advisor. You can manage and view your workouts with Garmin Connect and also use a Strava membership for many features for cyclists.

Polar M600

This waterproof Polar smartwatch has wrist-based heart rate sensors and will connect to Polar's Bluetooth chest strap. It has built-in GPS and swim metrics. The color touchscreen keeps you updated with all of your exercise data. You can add music to the M600 and go completely phoneless while you train.