Discussion: Heart rate watches without chest strap

Has anyone tried any of those? I get highly annoyed with the chest strap and the result is that I never use a heart rate monitor. A watch that reads the heart rate without the chest strap seems pretty cool, but how well do they work?
If anyone has had experience with them, please let me know.
THanks!

Spouse won one of those finger press type watches. She never uses it. It takes too much effort to get a reading.

I had a cheap timex one but you had to count your own heart rate and then enter it in. Have you tried the soft chest strap? I belive it comes on some of the more expensive models.

you can buy the softer strap seperately aswell. When the new adidas polar fusion range comes out you can buy running tops and bras that just let your transmitter attach to the front.( the small section inb the centre of yout strap)

The shirt sounds cool.
I had a problem wit the polars that I was too small for the strap and it would just fall down.
Attaching it onto your shirt sounds much more comfortable

HEy thanks for the info.
I've tried the sports bra with the heart rate strap into it, but since I end up washing it everytime I use it (go figure!), it's more of a pain threading this thing in than just putting it on.

I think chest straps can be easily modified to be more comfortable an effective:

Make a couple of shoulder straps out of a material of choice. That way the strap can't slide down, and therefore doesn't need to be as tight.

i stopped using hr monitor during races - to much attention to sliding down strap, especially at the end of the course (probably due to weight loss).

My guess is that the slipping later in the course is due to the nylon strap getting wet; nylon expands when wet (something that scuba divers have to pay attention to for the same reason). You could do what scuba divers do...soak the strap before putting it on.

its usually completely wet after 5 min into race, but i'll try. thx.

The new flexible strap is good for small torsos--I can pull it tight enough, and it doesn't slip.

I also found that it is more comfortable for me to wear it backwards, with the bulky center piece on my back (less interferance with my sports bra).