How reliable are the hand-grip pulse sensors on exercise bikes?

Just wondering as i tried my new exercise bike today and the max i could get the pulse sensor was 116bpm over 15Min’s, when im supposed to be exercising at a rate of 160bpm.

Cheers

I don’t think they’re accurate at all. In fact, I gave up on them and don’t bother using them anymore. When I used it, it would fluctuate, making my heart rate skyrocket, then drop. Half the time there wouldn’t even be a pulse. You shouldn’t rely on them too much.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 at 8:08 am and is filed under exercise pulse. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “How reliable are the hand-grip pulse sensors on exercise bikes?”

Bob A on February 6th, 2010 at 1:49 pm

I don’t think they are very reliable. I bought a Omron watch that uses the chest band and it works great for the money. They are great to help keep you in the correct fat burning zone. It comes with a holder to mount to the handle bars.
References :
http://www.amazon.com/Omron-HR-100C-Heart-Rate-Monitor/dp/B000A5CEUO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1264105639&sr=1-1
Timfromsydney on February 6th, 2010 at 2:09 pm

Depends on the machine i think, i used one that was crap as though, id assume they get worse with age too.
References :
curious george on February 6th, 2010 at 2:39 pm

I don’t think they’re accurate at all. In fact, I gave up on them and don’t bother using them anymore. When I used it, it would fluctuate, making my heart rate skyrocket, then drop. Half the time there wouldn’t even be a pulse. You shouldn’t rely on them too much.
References :

Pulse