I started doing the Couch to 5K program and loved it. It gets you to want to go out and try to push yourself through the program. Reading more about running in general, it was hard to figure out how many calories you're burning or if you're over extending yourself (beyond my huffing and puffing).
I decided a heart rate monitor would be an excellent way to gain this data. I started researching heart rate monitors and came to realize that most monitors use a chest strap to measure your heart beat. This is literally a strap that you must put on under your clothes (near the bottom of your bra) in order to get the physical heart beat. This seemed a bit inconvenient for me. And anything that takes too big of an extra step results in me not using it.
I found some heart rate watches but they weren't continuously monitoring your heart rate, they would only display your heart rate when you press on it. That couldn't rate my calorie loss.
After much more research, I found the MyTrek watch from Scosche. This heart rate monitor uses light to determine your heart rate and can be strapped on to your arm or leg.
There were a ton of reviews on this product from other blogs. It appeared that Scosche handed out a bunch of watches to bloggers to have them review their product. Most of them stated how good the system was - convenient and accurate. But on amazon there were some really horrible reviews:
Amazon.
The bad reviews stated that though the MyTrek works initially it tends to stop working. Some cures were restarting the watch or restarting the app but both weren't long term solutions. Someone even claimed that using a moisturizer helped but it didn't quite make sense with how the watch uses light to count your heart rate.
Well, even with the bad reviews, I decided to try it out. It was about fifty bucks when I ordered it from Amazon (obviously cheaper now) and considering my other option of the chest strap heart rate monitors were hundreds of dollars, I figured this would be a cheaper way of trying it out. And with Amazon's return policy, it was even lower risk.
Well, all the negative reviews were right. Initially the MyTrek worked great! It was catching my heart rate and informing me every time I was going too high or if I wasn't working hard enough. But after two days, the watch just didn't work. It would either be at 70 or way too high. Considering 70 is your resting heart rate and I was running that was wrong. I reset the watch. Reset the app. Used the main app vs digifit. Nothing.
So I called Scosche and with little question, they sent me a return notice and I sent the MyTrek back to them. Within the week, there was a box at my front door but instead of a MyTrek, it was their new RHYTHM monitor!
On first reaction, was very excited about this! But gaining a new product also meant I could not return it to Amazon. I tried to find more reviews on the Rhythm but there are none! There was one blog that wrote it worked well and she tested it well. But she also stated the monitor went in and out once in awhile.
Oh well, I was stuck with this monitor now. So I charged it up and went out for a quick walk. Worked like a charm. But alas, so did the MyTrek, so I was still weary. Just like the MyTrek, the watch was accurate and worked very well.
And also like the MyTrek, the Rhythm also stopped working after a couple of days.
A little frustrated, I went to the Scosche site to see if there's any info on the watches not working after a few uses. Though there was nothing beyond the instruction you get from the box on the web site, I realized something while going through their website, there were images of people using the watch:
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| How to really wear the watch |
Though this is how the instructions state to use it:
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| Instructions on how to wear |
I switched up how I wore the watch and it works! Well, most of the time. Once I get it in a spot that it works consistently, it seems to stay on for my runs or walks. I may lose a minute or two by adjusting it but that's not much of exercise time. I have now used this watch over 20 times and it has consistently been catching my heart rate and monitoring me correctly!
A minor issue is that it is very hard to get out of the charging case. I use a pair of pliers and just bent one of the four holders back a little and now it's very easy to get out and it didn't affect the charger.
I highly endorse this product and use it every day.
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| What you get in the box |
