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I am looking for a device that I can use to measure how many calories I burn.

Features I am looking for

  1. Take in my weight into consideration to give accurate calories burned.
  2. Takes in factors like going up stairs might burn more than walking on flat ground.
  3. Accurate(I would settle for 80% to 90%)
  4. This might be a stretch but maybe something to help give me ballpark number of calorie burn when I am doing weight lifting.

So I been searching around and not sure what is good and not good.

I use a site called http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ and it recommends FitBit

I am not too crazy about it for a couple reasons

  1. It seems like it would be another thing I need to have in pockets and look after
  2. Even though the sleep thing would be nice I don't think it is essential(and from I read it is not that accurate)
  3. I use myfitnesspal already to log my calories so I think a tool that allows you to log calories is redundant

I been checking out for Pedometers that are also watches. I found a couple but I am not sure how accurate they are and if they constantly are monitoring(I read some watches only track calories if you manually tell it you will be doing a work about between x times.)

All the watches I seen so far also include heart monitors so I guess that is an added feature benefit??

Sportline - 915

Timex - Health Touch Heart Rate Monitor

Timex - Health Touch Heart Rate Monitor - T5K470

MIO Motion Heart Rate Monitor Watch with Multi-Function Activity Monitor

Tech4o Traileader 1 - Watch

So those are the ones I found so far no clue which one is better.

$100 is really the max I am willing to spend but $50 or less is what I am really looking for. The watch also has to either ship to Canada or be at a well known store that I can jump across the border or buy in Canada.

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As per StackExchange rules shopping recommendations are off topic on all sites, check fitness.meta, too: meta.fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/298/shopping-questions – Informaficker Aug 27 '12 at 10:12
Welcome to fitness.SE. Per @WalterMaier-Murdnelch's comment above, shopping recommendations are off-topic. It would be better to either ask about features to look for in X (I think you know what you're looking for already in this case) or perhaps examine the specific features/performance of a single product you are investigating. – Greg♦ Aug 27 '12 at 14:44

closed as not constructive by Greg♦ Aug 27 '12 at 14:45

As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or specific expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, see the FAQ for guidance.

1 Answer

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For Heart Rate Monitors I would look into Polar. If there's some other piece of equipment or software that interfaces with an HRM, it's usually only compatible with Polar. Polar monitors also fare better in reviews than other brands. You can get some basic ones that are under $100, although $50 isn't doable without a good sale.

I couldn't say anything about pedometers as I've never researched them. Compared to a good HRM, I don't think they're much use either, so getting a good HRM under your budget is better than an OK HRM and pedometer under budget.

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Do you have any articles that can explain the difference between HRM and pedometers? Also do you have any recommendations for which polar watch is good? I am also a computer programmer so I am wondering will that cause some more false positives since I am moving my hands alot and from my understanding that is how they calculate calorie burn. – chobo2 Aug 25 '12 at 17:56
Well a good HRM is actually a chest strap, measuring your heart directly and sending the signal to your watch. It will just measure pulse. A pedometer would use an accelerometer to detect movement, and is used to count how many steps you take, the brief amount of time I've looked at them suggest they'd go on your hips or legs, rather than your arms. You shouldn't mess anything up by moving your hands. As far as calorie tracking goes, the usefulness of that is dubious, and I don't think any HRM could be counted on to give accurate results for that. – Robin Ashe Aug 26 '12 at 15:07
As far as recommended Polar Watches, the most important bit is the chest strap, after that you'd look at it potentially based on what types of activities you'll do, price and aesthetics. I'd go for one with user replaceable batteries. Unfortunately Polar has a lot of scattered overlap for features, rather than having the watches tiered where a more expensive one does everything the cheaper one does and more. – Robin Ashe Aug 26 '12 at 15:09

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