I second this. We use the Wahoo HRM after having terrible luck with the Polar HRM and Santa brought me a Garmin for Xmas. I’m finally getting a feel for how hard I’m working and what my heart is doing at the same time. Also helps me to remember to breathe deeply in the climb when I’m sucking wind or when I’m exhausted.
I think a heart rate monitor is the best way to measure calories burned with steady state cardio. It won't work for things like HIIT or weight training or anything. But it should work for something like cycling as long as you are keeping more or less a steady pace. I use this one and like it for when I go running, but there are a ton of them out there.
could look into something like this just for hockey: https://www.amazon.com/Wahoo-TICKR-Monitor-iPhone-Android/dp/B00INQVYZ8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1483932403&sr=8-4&keywords=heart+rate+monitor+bluetooth
Bluetooth so you may be able to sync it all to google fit or apple fit or something.
It's still fairly removed from the heart. I would try getting a cheap chest strap and taking it through there. HRV might tell you more of what you want to know than RHR.
On long bike rides, I found my battery to be near dead on the Watch (mostly due to the heart rate monitor being active). I would usually charge in the car on the way home.
Recently, I've paired a Bluetooth heart rate monitor to the Watch and found the battery life to be greatly improved. I use the Wahoo Tickr and love it:
https://www.amazon.com/Wahoo-TICKR-Monitor-iPhone-Android/dp/B00INQVYZ8/
It's a bit more price but this tracker is what I have and it does both bluetooth (for phone) and ant+ (if you ever get a bike computer) for $50. It will be far more accurate than a fitbit and you can map your heart rate to climbs etc. It will also improve calorie counts.
My wife uses a fitbit blaze when we ride and it works fine. It's not perfect but it's just fine. The downside to the Blaze is no GPS built in so you have to carry your phone anyway. The Surge has GPS tracker so no phone needed. Your heart rate should be reasonably accurate just make sure the band is snug.
I really recommend the wahoo tickr
http://www.amazon.com/Wahoo-TICKR-Monitor-iPhone-Android/dp/B00INQVYZ8
It works over both bluetooth and ant+, so if you ever want to connect it to your phone or some other device you can. In fact, it can connect to an ant+ device and at least one bluetooth device simultaneously, so if you feel like using your vivofit 2 to display your hr while simultaneously using your phone to record your whole run (hr and gps), well, you can.
I bought a wahoo and a refurbished vivofit 2 a couple of weeks back, so I can confirm that they connect easily and have so far have played well together.
When I started I was at 121 kg/268 lbs, 170 cm/5'7" ft and I was walking on the treadmill at about 2.6 mph/4 kph. To get my heart rate up, I would incline to about 4. As I got more fit, I would incline to 6 or even up to 8.
I'm currently weighing 213 lbs/96 kg and I'm inclining to 9 or 10 and walking at 3.1 mph/4.9 kph. For the last month, though, I've been interval training. I run for a minute and take two minutes off. I do intervals for about 30 minutes and walk for another 30.
Also, working out is about getting your heart rate up. You don't necessarily have to feel tired or spent after a workout. I use a Tickr Heart Rate monitor (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00INQVYZ8?keywords=tickr&qid=1444238535&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1) paired with my phone to monitor my heart rate. I use that to measure how hard I'm working out.
Ultimately, I think you have to listen to your body and go as hard as your body will let you. As you continue to workout, you'll become more fit and be able to push yourself that much harder.
Not sure if you still want to be able to see your HR on your wrist but it was something I find handy when having to run in a certain HR zone for a training session.
I previously had a Garmin FR60 with the Garmin Heart Rate strap. As I wanted to capture my HR on Strava I bought the Wahoo Tickr.
The Wahoo Tickr is still compatible with ANT+ so I can see my Heart Rate on my Garmin watch and then have all the information saved automatically in Strava to review later.
Obviously not as cheap as the Pyle option but I find the extra functionality worth the extra. Saying that if your watch has stopped working completely then it might not be worth it.
Start with a heart rate monitor to quantify your workouts. Use a phone app like Strava to log your workouts (it's free). Look at the heart rate during the workout and the heart rate plot after the workout. Get it up and keep it up.
I've had this one for two years now and I love it. Works well, it's comfortable, reliable... Works with Bluetooth and Ant+. Can't go wrong.
I use a Wahoo Tickr: https://www.wahoofitness.com/devices/heart-rate-monitors/wahoo-tickr-heart-rate-strap
You can pick one up on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wahoo-TICKR-Heart-Monitor-Bluetooth/dp/B00INQVYZ8
It pairs with both iOS phones and Apple watches, and works with Strava as well. On Amazon it has some questionable reviews, but I've been using mine for 2+ years, and I've never had a problem with it.
I use and recommend the Wahoo TICKR (~$40 on Amazon)!
I pair my TICKR to my Android/Pixel 3 using the Wahoo app and just let the app handle all the data collection for my workout. You can even set it to automatically upload it to other apps (like Runkeeper, or Strava in my case).
I know a lot of people go with the Polar H10 (~$90 on Amazon), but I didn't find the need for the extra features it offers (which is few).
(Bonus: I still 'start' and record a workout on my Fitbit just to have the data in my Fitbit Dashboard as well)
Wahoo TICKR Heart Rate Monitor, Bluetooth / ANT+ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00INQVYZ8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_T1MqCbJMREM6Z
There's a wealth of options. You can have dedicated wrist-mount, chest straps with bluetooth to your phone (like Wahoo!'s Tickr), etc. Here's a great place to start shopping:
I can't speak to that Bose product, but that's way more money than you need to spend. I would recommend just getting a standard Bluetooth heart rate monitor from a reputable company like Wahoo.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00INQVYZ8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_rvlIybY9TTXSG
And then a decent Bluetooth set of headphones. I've been using these ones for about 7 months and they are great.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BV2BPVS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_DylIyb4X7HYKQ
This combination will cost you about $80, rather than the $150 will. Good luck!
i use the same wahoo fitness strap for many years - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00INQVYZ8/ref=s9_acsd_al_bw_c_x_1 cool app and great strap
Before we go about missing the point (and edit our comments), here and here. I recommend the first one since it has more versatility for apps and gives you the option for ANT+ if you ever need it. ANT+ is nice to have additionally just because some things require it and buying a second HRM just because you didn't buy one that was bluetooth and ANT+ to begin with is frustrating.
I just purchased this one about 30 minutes ago. It has really good reviews both on Amazon and some fitness websites http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00INQVYZ8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00
There were a couple of cheaper ones likes this one http://www.amazon.com/Jarv-Premium-Bluetooth-Wireless-monitor/dp/B00BWX023E/ref=sr_1_5?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1448846306&sr=1-5&keywords=heart+rate+monitor+bluetooth but the negative reviews of it incorrectly reading heart rates (one reviewer had his heart rate jump to a million+ and throw off all his averages) seemed to happen to often for me.
Its not been mentioned yet but one option would be to get a bluetooth smart heart rate belt and sync it with your smartphone. The Wahoo Tickr is probably the best you can get
(although cheaper ones are available)
With a waterproof case you can easily secure it in the boat and see your HR as you row, or even get a strokecoach app to give you even more information (rate/GPS speed etc). Another advantage are that its much easier to then review your HR after the workout than it would be with a cheaper HR watch like the FT1
I have used both wrist based and strap based (? haha). For gym training, running and 24*7 hr, the wrist based one is great (I have a vivoactive 3 but in the past I used a 920 xt with a strap). I love not having to wear a strap for these activities but still wear one on the bike since wrist based hr is shit while cycling. This is standard across all devices and I wouldn't expect it to get better for a long time. I don't see the value of hr while swimming since you can't check your heart rate easily while swimming anyways, I would get used to training by the clock or RPE for swimming. As someone mentionned the garmin HR Tri or swim strap would record your heart rate while swimming but you still couldn't check it as you swim since your watch and your strap need to be fairly close to each other to transmit in water. I believe that your heart rate from a given set would be recorded by the strap and then transmitted to the watch while you wait at the wall between intervals and I'm not even sure it would display during the workout (you'd have to check DC rainmaker's review on those strap to get this detail). Anyways the conclusion is: swimming HR is useless don't bother with it.
A simple HR strap on amazon is pretty cheap and I would get a dual Bluetooth ANT+ one such as this one: https://www.amazon.com/Wahoo-TICKR-Monitor-iPhone-Android/dp/B00INQVYZ8/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1510255379&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=wahoo+tickr&psc=1