First post here, so hi i guess

Im a bit of a noob when it comes to this roadie lark - been mountainbiking for ages, decided to give road biking a try to keep fit and to ditch the bus to uni.

Im really getting into it (any sport that i can buy lots of gear for, i love), and i want to make my training a bit more scientific (im an engineer and a geek, numbers are hawt) just wanting to get some opinions on different HRM's :

Ideally i want something that i can link to my computer so that i can track my progress - but this isnt essential - min/max BPM, average BPM and something with adjustable training zones as what im really wanting - as well as average, min and max speed and distance. Ideally not over £50 ($90ish dollars i think) Also, chest strap or not? seems like extra faffing about over a watch only unit, but there must be a reason behind it?

Tried to do a search, but either ended up with 500+ topics or none depending on the search terms, apologies if this has been asked a million times before.

ZOLL PD 2000

This one is pretty good and has a defibrillator also. It only weighs 15 lbs. Thats 6804g for the weight weenies

Well, the question is.. Do you want continuous heart rate data and recording or just contact heart rate. For you to get AVG heart rate and Max heart rate and have accurate and consistant data a HRM with a chest transmitter is the only way to go. They are the most accurate.

What type of other features are you looking for? You stated you are a bit of a geek and like your data. 90$ wont really get you anything to satisfy your geeky needs. For something more high end that will give you the good HR data you need something that stores and downloads sample heart rate data. Most good HRM on the markets take that sampling data and download it to their respective software.

And before I give you my opinion on which HRM to buy I have to warn you- I work for Polar so I may be a little biased

What type of other features are you looking for? You like data, but only heart rate data? Or do you want to compare these data points to speed,altitude,cadence,wattage..ect???

If you are looking for a dedicated cycling computer that does this I would suggest a Polar CS400. If you are looking for something just for heart rate recording and can be wrist mounted so you can use it off your bike as well I would suggest the RS400.

If you are not looking for actual downloading of datapoints but just want summary information you can go with the CS300 which is wrist mounted.

Respond with some more information and I'm sure I can point you in the right direction.

Polar CS200 is the lowest model that allows computer download capaiblityh of heartrate vs speed vs blah. It's around $150 on PBK. The CS200CAD includes cadence for an extra bit of money.

Actually, he stated he was a bit of a geek which is why I didn't recommend the CS200. The downloading capabilities are great for someone who doesn't care about data and graphical comparisons but for someone with a techy background he would be completely dissapointed with the CS200's downloading capabilities. With the CS200 you can only download to the Polar webservice and the data that is downloaded is just summary information with NO datapoints. So you will get only averages and max'. With the CS400 you can store actual data points and a sampling rate, so when you download you get a curve for each data source like speed,cad.alt..ect.. This is something I think everyone that wants data needs.


I have a tech background and I would be dissapointed in the downloading capabilities of the CS200.

Watch style ones that don't have a chest strap are annoying as hell. You put your fingers on a sensor and it will tell you your HR. It would be OK for yoga, or the gym, but anything else its annoying as h3ll.

For my first HR monitor, it was just a watch with a chest strap, then, I just attached the watch to the handle bar so I could see it at all time. It was cheap and effective (about 40 bucks), but it didn't offer any PC connectivity. I now have the Garmin 305, which you can sinc but its kinda pricey.

A garmin edge 305 with heartrate can be had for under 200. It records everything (well, not power)
Use it with Ascent and track heartrate against location, climbing, speed and cadence. I'm amazed ow cool it is.
Why mess around with a watch?