Heart rate monitors are a variant of smartbands and smartwatches that are gaining their little space in the market. We have from private labels, specifications that large manufacturers put in their wearables, or more dedicated products such as Garmin heart rate monitor range.
Keep in mind that heart rate monitors are a range apart from smart wearables. Although smartwatches or smartbands have integration with sports functionalities, these are usually a secondary or less precise addition. If we are professional or amateur athletes who want to have a more reliable record of the physical activity that we carry that takes into account the sport we practice, a heart rate monitor is a safe bet.
Smart heart rate monitors, wearables for athletes
The difference between wearables such as Samsung Watch or smart heart rate monitors is that although a high-end smartwatch may have specifications for athletes, heart rate monitors focus on the quality and reliability of physical activity monitoring.
How important is a greater reliability of reading the exercise? If we are not very active or merely idle users, we care very little because they are functionalities that we are not going to take advantage of. Being athletes of medium or higher grade, a correct reading of our activity can be key to our training.
The consumption of calories through an exact exercise with a reliable reading will help us control our diet and know if we should eat more or less depending on the results. Even small variations of a branch of exercise can make a noticeable difference. The energy consumed while running is not the same as when running, even if we travel the same distance.
Another functionality that they offer us is integrated GPS, especially Garmin heart rate monitors, for running route tracking apps. A GPS is a precision technology that requires constant monitoring so as not to get lost or calculate that our routes are long and flat enough for the running exercise and its route tracking and constant improvement to be satisfactory.
Smart heart rate monitors are also designed to be resistant and withstand water, since they will be in contact with our sweat or with water in water sports such as swimming or canoeing. The water resistance in more restrained wearables is present to withstand sweat and some rain, but not so much as to be submerged and constantly receiving water.
Even within the heart rate monitors there are ranges
It should be said that what we have said in previous paragraphs has its nuances. Not all digital heart rate monitors have the same basic features, and even some smartwatches have high-end features for athletes, but we have already made it clear: if we are athletes, we are interested in a heart rate monitor because it will be dedicated.
Some Garmin children's heart rate monitors have limited capabilities in tracking exercise, such as the most basic ones that follow our running exercises and nothing else. In this case, we are interested in whether we are an intermediate level athlete and even if we only practice running.
It must be taken into account that the sports with the most popularity and the easiest to calculate the exercise will be those that will be collected the most in the most accessible heart rate monitors on the market. If the sport we practice is one that requires complicated monitoring of activity, that has contact with water or is not one of the most widespread, we will have to search among the most advanced heart rate monitors on the market.
Encourage sport in children through gamification
Having children play sports on a regular basis is a complicated task, and one of the pillars of a lack of exercise in children is usually the lack of direct motivation. Exercise is good for your health, but its benefits are long-term and it is difficult to maintain a habit solely on the promise of better health in the future or to maintain an existing one.
That is why heart rate monitors for children with gamification apps are becoming a highly valued gift to encourage sports in children. But what is gamification? It is a concept widely used in apps for monitoring healthy lifestyle habits, such as sports, such as doing housework, learning to cook ... Video game elements are introduced as rewards and advances in a game, locked after tasks to do. In this case, it is an interactive game that connects with the heart rate monitor to advance if it detects that the child has done a minimum amount of daily exercise, and increases its rewards if it detects that it does so regularly.
Some exercise gamification games have their own designs, and some like Garmin include a selection of heart rate monitors with official Disney designs that are linked to an official app with Disney characters. If the child to whom we are going to give the heart rate monitor (our son, little cousin, brother, nephew, the son of some friends ...) is a Disney fan, this motivation that he will give may be the first step towards a lifestyle healthier.
