The 12 Best Heart Rate Monitor Watches You Can Buy Right Now
Doctors are big fans, btw.
There are probably a lot of things you keep tabs on over the course of a normal day. Your mood. How much water you’re drinking. The latest Bachelor gossip. But your heart rate probably isn’t on the shortlist.
Well, it should be. Monitoring your heart rate during exercise can be a quick indicator of how hard you’re working, and it’s important to have a steady hold on your resting heart rate (how many times your heart beats per minute when you’re just chilling) as well. Both measurements can give you a better understanding of your fitness level and flag potential issues that you should discuss with a physician, like high blood pressure.
Typically speaking, a resting heart rate can range between 60 and 100 beats per minute (bpm). Your maximum heart rate during physical activity, as prescribed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), is 220 minus your age. (So, if you’re a 30-year-old woman, your max heart rate should be roughly 190 bpm.) The CDC suggests staying within 60 to 75 percent of that number to maintain a healthy active heart rate.
An easy way to stay in the loop with your heart? A wearable, like a heart monitor watch. “Heart rate monitors aren’t always going to be 100-percent accurate, but they can be a good estimate of where your heart rate sits, whether that’s during exercise or at rest,” says Elizabeth Barchi, MD, a sports medicine doctor at NYU Langone. “If it’s super high, that could be a sign that you need to focus more on your cardio.”
The right watch for you, of course, depends on your other individual goals or needs. Many heart monitor watches have other impressive capabilities, like GPS, recovery tracking, and more.
Check out one of these 12 heart-rate-monitor watches to get started. From sleek and sporty to downright durable, there’s a fit wristwatch here for everyone.
The Series 4 has a first-of-its-kind optical HR sensor. The watch measures your heart rate throughout the day and during workouts, and sends notifications if it’s exceptionally high or low—critical since these symptoms may not always be obvious. It also features an electrocardiogram (ECG) app Apple worked on with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which can capture heart rhythm in a moment right from the wrist.
Rave review: «I love my Apple Watch Series 4! It’s comforting to know with “Fall Alert” turned on that someone would be notified just in case and the EKG option is pretty cool (and accurate) as well. What’s not to love. I’m super excited. » —Shante, amazon.com
Planning a hike? This smartwatch offers GPS tracking, Bluetooth technology, a heart rate sensor, and 40 hours of battery life. With a watch this stocked, you’d think it cost more. But it’s actually super affordable (under $70!) and comes in four sleek colors.
Rave review: «I have an Apple Watch and it kills me that I have to charge every night. Love this watch because it gives the basic info I need and the price is good! Tells you the weather, sends you your messages, tracks your heart rate, has a compass and workout stats, and it lasts 40 [hours] in one charge!! —HoneyJL, amazon.com
Heart rate mapping and GPS tracking aren’t the only perks. Samsung recently launched Fitness Programs on the Gear Sport, which sync up with easy-to-follow workout videos on your phone, bringing a coach right to your wrist.
Rave review: «I love Samsung watches and all the different features you can add to them. I have so many different exercises added: elliptical, rowing machine, squats, planks, steps. I love that I can track everything in my Samsung Health app and I have all my info right there. I also really like the sleep tracking. And the Gear Sport does last longer than the Gear Fit. And the battery will go two to three days instead of just one like on the Gear Fit.» —Melissa D., amazon.com
This easy-to-use fitness watch will make tracking your workouts a breeze. One full charge can give you up to seven days of working time. Plus when you’re sleeping, the watch can monitor your heart rate through its sensor and pick up on any unusual sleeping patterns.
Rave review: «I absolutely love this watch. The battery lasts about 10-12 days (can be longer or shorter depending on your notifications). It won’t allow you to make calls or send texts, but it will ring on your watch and show you when you have a message and notifications you set up to come up on your watch. Overall if you want a nice watch that keeps track of your steps, workouts, sleep, heart rate, and can control your music this is a great watch!!» —Tiffany, amazon.com
This may be the most stylish watch Garmin has ever released, and you get the best of both worlds since it’s got a physical, ticking watch and a hidden smart display that turns on only when you quickly rotate your wrist for a glance. In addition to monitoring sleep and counting steps, the Vívomove HR uses heart rate to gauge the intensity of your workouts and tell you how many calories you’ve burned.
Rave review: «I get compliments on this watch all the time and then when I show people that it is an activity tracker, it really blows their mind. I love the look, the feel, and that it works well with my business casual attire.» —Brittany F., amazon.com
The latest iteration of Fossil’s smartwatch automatically measures your heart rate during every workout. Another notable feature: custom goal tracking, which allows you to keep tabs on what’s most important in your world, like drinking water or morning sweat dates.
Rave review: «Overall, I love this watch and would recommend it to friends and family. Is it perfect? Not exactly, but it does do a lot of things very well. I love having Google assistant and Google pay right on my wrist. I see that a lot of people are disappointed with battery life, and yes it could last a little longer (I can usually get 1.5 days on a charge, sometimes two. it just depends) but honestly as much as this thing does and as fast as it charges (it’s 100% in just over an hour) it’s not a deal-breaker for me.» —Brooke L., amazon.com
This fitness tracker features real-time heart rate zone details, so you can make the most of your workout in the moment. It’s also complete with 15 different exercise modes that you can use to collect data on more than just steps (including yoga and swimming!).
Rave review: «I’ve now owned all three of the Fitbit HR/Charge watches. This seems like a nice improvement so far. The touchscreen is simple to use and easier than the single button to control everything on the last two models. Huge omission is that the five clock faces that it launches with do NOT include a face with the date like the Charge 2. I use the date all the time and will have to begrudgingly grab my phone to check the date now.» —G., amazon.com
Recently started working out with a coach or trainer? Using Polar’s new Polar Flow for Coach service, you can instantly offer up access to your training data to others. It also syncs with other popular sports communities, like TrainingPeaks and Strava, and can give you accurate smart calorie readouts based on your weight, height, age, gender, and individual maximum heart rate.
Rave review: «Quality of the watch is good. I bought this mainly for its heart rate monitoring but without the chest strap. Overall the watch is nice; a little expensive for my use as I only use it for HR monitoring but I guess it’s worth it for me as I’m sick of the chest strap. Overall I would recommend this product.» —SpendsTooMuch, amazon.com
Most Comprehensive Reporting
WHOOP Strap 3.0
If you’re thirsty for in-depth knowledge on your body and performance, then Whoop is for you. It senses all your vital signs, has sleep tracking capabilities, produces meaningful data for your workout performance, and gives you intel on things like heart rate variability. It also provides a score between 0 to 100 that measures recovery every single morning. One small catch: You can only keep track of data using the Whoop app on your phone, since it doesn’t have a watch face.
Rave review: «If you’re a super data-driven person, the Whoop is for you. If you’re quite curious about your sleep, then the Whoop is for you. To be clear, It’s a useful, very cool tool. It just might not be the right activity tracker for people who have a more casual relationship with fitness.» —Tim Marcin, mashable.com
If you want a wrist-free option that works similarly to— and just as well as—most mid-range fit watches on the market, Motiv’s fitness ring is your best option. It can measure all of the important metrics, including heart rate, active minutes, and sleep, right from your finger. It’s also waterproof if you plan on doing a few laps in the pool and has a three-day battery life that’s geared to track your heart health whenever and wherever.
Rave review: «It’s lightweight and the battery life appears to match what the manufacturer claims. The app is easy to use. My only complaint is the finish EASILY scratches. I have the “pink” finish and after less than a day of wearing the ring is visibly scratched.»
—Sarah S., amazon.com
Looking for a durable watch that can get you through tough terrain and not-so-nice weather? Check out this one for a shock and water-resistant option that can measure your heart rate, distance traveled, and pace. Bonus: In addition to monitoring your heart health, the watch will track your stress levels too.
Rave review: «Mainly using this watch for heart rate, step counting, and smartwatch capabilities. Took a couple of days of messing with it to figure out the buttons, but it wasn’t all that bad. The battery life so far is half after nine days, which is great in my mind. The step counter is pretty close to what my phone shows. As far as smartwatch capabilities I’m not overly impressed.»
—Courtney H., amazon.com
Capable doesn’t even begin to describe this smartwatch. It can monitor your heart rate, recovery, sleep, and calories burned. Plus, if you’re the type of person who likes to hit the trails, but tends to gets a little turned around, the Suunto 5 maps feature will leave a breadcrumb trail of your route (whew!).
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