What's the best Heart Rate Monitor for Erging

[Rowingdad1]

Hi Folks,
My Suunto M4 is showing some unreliable readings (unless it is my heart!) and I have a feeling it is the watch rather than the chest belt. It is about three years old and I've found most of the HRMs give up about that time. I have a Model C with a PM2+ so I'm wondering what my best option is to get useful data about my heart rate.
I probably don't use it that smartly but I do need to see the real time reading and that puts me off the Wahoo Tickr as I guess the screen on my phone will close after a few minutes and it will only be useful after I finish.
I don't want to spend a fortune but I am considering upgrading my monitor to a PM5 which, I suppose, my Suunto chest belt may be compatible with. The PM5 also opens the door to better ways of storing and using your rowing stats than my current scribbly note book.
I've also thought of an entry level Polar which gives current/max/avge and is much cheaper.

I would appreciate any thoughts about the hardware and also how to make best use of the heart rate data to improve the quality and outcome of training.

Happy erging!

[lwtguy]

I have the Wahoo Tickr and I love it.It can broadcast ANT+ and Bluetooth at the same time. It has an internal memory so you can use it without your phone. The app also doesn't close automatically, so you could broadcast the HR data while you are erging.

[bisqeet]

if you want to keep your pm2 then it will have to be ant compatible, unless you want to buy a bluetooth kt.

better off investing in a pm5, as you were going to do anyway, leaving the way open for bluetooth / ble, ant+

the cheaper garmin straps work faultlessly,
polar h7 has the advantage of being gymwear (syncs to a lot of the gym machines), but more expensive

hybrid (blettooth and ant) are very versatile, but cost at least as much as the H7 (i.e. Tickr - tickr-x)

the top range tickr-x also stores the data "offline" for later syncronising

all are good accurracy - just depends on your budget or usage...

[bobbyws]

Wahoo Tickr works best for me. It makes a quick and solid connection to the PM5 as well as my iPhone.

[aussieluke]

Wahoo Tickr works best for me. It makes a quick and solid connection to the PM5 as well as my iPhone.

Likewise for me. The cheapest Tickr is all you need.

[Rowingdad1]

Thanks for the replies guys... much food for thought!