When you exercise, a heart rate watch is really helpful and it is a must for achieving a healthy heart!
Before exercise, know your normal heart rate, and your target heart rate. While exercise, it is crucial to monitor your heart rate to confirm it is in the target heart rate range, which is depending on your age and your physical conditions. Use the heart rate watch to low your heart rate if you exercise too vitally, and use it to confirm your heart rate has gone to normal after you finish your cooling down.
After we have done the research, we recommend Garmin Forerunner 305, which received the most five star ratings in Amazon.
Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor
Garmin Forerunner 305 is a powerful, affordable, and effective wrist-mounted GPS devices. It is the most accurate, most reliable wrist-mounted performance and GPS tracking tool Amazon has ever tested. The 305 model includes wireless heart rate monitoring and it can also be connected to Garmin’s wireless bicycle speed and cadence sensor.
Technical Details
• High-Sensitivity, Watch-Like GPS Receiver That Provides Exceptional Signal Reception
• 1 Piece Training Assistant That Provides Athletes With Precise Speed, Distance & Pace Data
• Includes Training Center Software, Which Allows Users To Download Workout Data For A Detailed Analysis
• Used For Multiple Sports Such As Cycling, Cross- Country Skiing & Windsurfing
• Data Acquired May Also Be Analyzed With Motionbased, Which Provides Online Mapping & Route Sharing
Features
• Flawless heart rate sampling
• Great distance measuring and lap-average pace calculation
• Seamless integration with a PC
• Fully-automatic training log update
• User-customizable display
Highlight of Amazon’s reviews
1. Excellent workout tool
I like this thing quite a lot. I’ve had it for about three weeks, and have used it on 12 workouts so far. I use it primarily for running, with biking a secondary usage. The main reason I wanted it was for the instantaneous readout of distance, running pace and heart rate, the latter needed for the speed work I want to do this running season.
The core functionality (distance and heart rate monitoring) works perfectly. There’s none of the signal drops I’ve had with other heart monitors. Once the satellites are initially acquired, I’ve only had one dropout when I was outside. The initial acquisition of the satellites can be quirky and can take some time. The accuracy (according to the readout) is +/- 25ft, depending on how many satellites can be found. I’ve compared the distance measurement on the GPS with a known, measured distance on one of the trails I run on (the Chicago lakefront path). The GPS always increments a mile when I’m within 5 or 10 feet of the mile marker sign on the path. Well, I guess that’s the least I should expect from a $350 GPS unit! Of course it’s bigger than a normal running stopwatch, but that hasn’t bothered me at all. The heart rate strap is also very comfortable and well-designed.
The display is crisp and has one outstanding feature: The information presented on the various pages can be completely user-customized. The default screen layout is rather poor, but in just a few steps I could replace it with the information I wanted to see while I run. There are almost 40 different data fields you can choose from for display. Examples: current pace, average lap pace, average run pace, heartrate, distance.
The only disappointment is the point-in-time (instantaneous) pace measurement: It varies wildly during a run. I see swings as big as +/- 3 minutes/mile. I’m a marathoner and I know my pace is fairly consistent during a run. I just looked at my run today, and according to the data the first mile varied from 5:57/mile to 12:06 mile. I suspect the problem is either in the averaging algorithm (too short a distance?), or in the uncertainty that results from different satellites coming in and out of view. The variations seem to get worse under tree cover compared with an open area. Luckily there’s a lap-average pace that can be presented, and at least that value is useful and more accurate. The bottom line is that you can’t look at the watch and say “right now I’m running 9 mins/mile”. There is the ability to specify a pace smoothing factor, but I have it maxed out and still see the variations. The elevation readout also seems inaccurate, but that isn’t important to me.
Upload of workout data to the PC software (Training Center) is transparent. The PC software is very good for presenting time/distance/pace/heartrate/calorie data. However the maps it shows are very crude. I’ve worked a bit with one of the online, subscription services (MotionBased). That looks really good and provides some additional functionality beyond the included Training Center software, although I still haven’t decided if it’s worth the $$$ yet for long-term data storage. MotionBased allows export to Google Earth, and it’s tremendously cool to see your running path superimposed on a satellite image. You can recharge the unit through the USB port on your computer, although it’s slower than using the dedicated recharger.
I had hoped that owning this device would prove motivational for me, and indeed it has. I can’t imagine running or biking without it. Updating my training log is trivial now: Plug this thing into my computer, and it’s done. My hope is that a future software update will do something about the pace calculation (maybe a few additional levels of smoothing?). If so, the Forerunner 305 would earn 5 stars+++.
2. Greatest thing since sliced bread!!!
So glad I went ahead and bought this based on all the positive reviews. This is exactly what I have been looking for to take my running to the next level. Simple to use the basic features (not going to try to learn/use advanced features). The thing I love the most is being able to set ‘laps’ that the watch uses to store for all of your runs. I think the watch holds 1,000 runs in history and as many ‘laps’ per run as you perform. In my case, I set a ‘lap’ to 1 mile. Now I have data for all my runs on each mile’s performance. I could go on and on about how great this thing is. Would buy this again 100x and recommend it to any runner.
3. Everything you need, without the bells and whistles
I found that the Forerunner 305 starts up quickly and is very intuitive to use for the most part. I often was frustrated at first, though, with the long wait times to acquire satellite signal at start-up. However, I found that you can just hit the “mode” button to get to start setting up your day’s training without waiting for it to acquire signal. I wish this were in the manual, as it saves quite a bit of time. I find that generally, by the time you’ve programmed your run, the GPS has acquired the satellites, and is ready to go.
There are a variety of modes and displays, so you can tailor everything to your preferences, only seeing the information you want. The software is Mac and PC compatible, and very easy to use.