An all-purpose heart rate monitor?
 

I THINK I want to buy one of these heart rate gadgets. Can you guys tell me what features you REALLY use? I know my heart rate will rise when I pedal faster, harder, or up hill...how will seeing this graphically help? I figure some sort of audible alarm to help me figure out which gear causes the least heart rate increase might be informative...still, can't you tell that when you can't breathe? --you just shift to an easier gear when your body says "no more of this!" :-) All joking aside, the only major benefit I can see from reading about these things is to actually keep me from over-training. Is this true? Finally, is there one watch that is useful in running, swimming, and biking...or do you have to get several different ones?

Thanks
David

Polar has a lot of models, I have the A5 model and I like it a lot. It's water resistant so I can wear it while swimming. I wore it my first tri and it was nice to see how my heart rate reacted versus how I was feeling. I haven't worn it in a while mostly because I forget to put it on. But it's nice to know how many calories you burned. I wouldn't go with one that had all the bells just because you don't really need all the features IMO and they are just more expensive. The A5 is about $100 and is really easy to use. My friend has the Polar S520 (about $260) and it has a cycling feature and you can download the info to your pc. Whatever...I wouldn't be able to figure that out anyway!! I can't figure out how to make mine stop beeping at me when I go over my AT!!!!

The Polar S625X works equally well on the bike as on the run. It is designed as running computer (with pace, elevation, etc.), but with the addition of a speed sensor for the bike, I used for everything. My wife (triathlete) uses her S625x for swimming as well.

A HR monitor basically tells you what level intensity you're working at. For example if you are training for performance, you wanna be hitting close to 80% and above of your maximum heart rate (which you can estimate or determine doing a maximal aerobic test). If you're going for cardio fitness, somewhere around 60-80%. You can just look at improving your performance by going all out everytime you train, but there is a tendency to sacrifice intensity when you are feeling tired. A HR monitor lets you know whether you are in the "zone" or whether you're taking it too easy. For really long distance activity, you can use a HR to actually control your HR at a level you need to be to complete the activity, say a marathon or a really long ride. You don't wanna be pushing yourself too hard too early. Kinda helps with the pacing.

Or as Princess mentioned, you can calculate your calories burned!