Cheap Heart Rate Monitors- Less Than $50

An entry-level heart rate monitor is a great investment in your future fitness. Even the most basic heart rate monitor has tremendous benefits. I have used a cheap heart rate monitor for years with great success. For less than $50, you can have a heart rate monitor which will allow you to keep track of your fitness progress and motivate you to keep exercising. There is nothing wrong with a cheap heart rate monitor.

Even a heart rate monitor under $50 will have the feature you need the most- displaying your heart rate. In most cases, that’s all you really need.

We’re asked all the time: “What is the best, cheap heart rate monitor“? Although we have a couple of favorites it really does depend on your needs. Read the reviews to see which cheap (i.e. less than $50) heart rate monitor is best for you.

Strap or Strapless:

Many heart rate monitors require your to wear a chest strap. In order to get accurate reading you wet the sensor and strap on the transmitter just under your sternum. The transmitter will send your heart rate to the watch for display. This has the advantage of being more reliable and accurate. Some users feel the chest strap is not very comfortable.

Strapless heart rate monitors will display your heart rate when you place 2 fingers on the watch. Although more convenient, strapless heart rate monitors are known to be less accurate. Strapless heart rate monitors are also not waterproof, so they cannot be worn when swimming. The Mio Breeze and Mio Select (see reviews below) are strapless heart rate monitors.

Other notable differences between inexpensive heart rate monitors:

The FS1 is the only budget heart rate monitor we reviewed with no backlight.
The Timex T5G971 and the Mio Select are the only heart rate monitors we reviewed for less than $50 which have the capability to display the calories you are burning.
The Polar FS2 allows you to turn on the backlight by raising the watch to your chest. This is known as the Polar HeartTouch feature.
The Mio Breeze and Mio Select are available in versions targeted for women.

Here are our reviews of beginner heart rate monitors: