The Impact Sports ePulse Strapless Heart Rate Monitor Watch and Calorimeter is a new way to monitor heart rate and calorie consumption without the hassles of wearing a chest strap during your workouts.
How Does The ePulse Heart Rate Monitor Work?
Unlike most exercise monitors, the ePulse Strapless Heart Rate Monitor Watch and Calorimeter dispenses with the uncomfortable chest strap and is worn around the forearm.
The monitor, manufactured by Impact Sports, displays the current heart rate, maximum and minimum heart rates, and average heart rate of a given workout. Powered by AAA batteries, it also allows you to enter a personal profile, including height and weight, which is used to calculate the number of calories and amount of fat you are burning.
The wrist-watch design of the monitor is ideal for a beginner as well as an intermediate athlete and does not require sacrificing the features demanded by more advanced runners. The ePulse monitor uses the same technology found in hospital monitors.
In addition to keeping track of pulse rate and calorie consumption, the product measures your basic metabolic rate (BMR), which is particularly useful for people trying to reduce calories and lose weight through a diet program and exercise. The monitor, using an LED display that is visible during day and night, also covers basic data points, such as elapsed exercise time.
The chief selling point is the strap-free design. Many people, especially women, find the chest strap used by the vast majority of exercise monitors cumbersome and downright uncomfortable. The ePulse Strapless Heart Rate Monitor Watch and Calorimeter is worn on either wrist during a workout. The majority of online reviewers raved about this design aspect and noted that it didn’t limit functionality.
What Others Are Saying – Does the ePulse Heart Rate Monitor Work?
William B. Votts from Las Vegas, NV, is enthusiastic about the ePulse.
"I put my new ePulse monitor through […] an intense 40-minute workout with my personal trainer, mainly lower body and aerobics, and found the device to be very accurate and reliable. […] The armband is non-intrusive. Once it’s on a few minutes you don’t even think about it; while on first inspection it looks ‘bulky,’ it’s actually light and unobtrusive. I actually put it on pretty light and only once did it slip. My conclusions are that the ePulse has set a new state of the art in fitness monitoring, is an excellent exercise and health tool and is totally usable for anyone wanting pulse rate and caloric burn info"
Allan Kaminsky is a physician who endorses the ePulse.
"I’m a physician who has had heart surgery, so I’m very interested in having a continuous heart rate readout to make sure I’m doing the desired cardiovascular workout. I hate chest straps […] The ePulse is accurate, comfortable, easy to use and highly visible during gym use. […] Highly recommended.
How Much Weight Will I lose?
D. Rudnay from Ohio wore the ePulse for 10 hours a day the first week so that he could calculate his energy expenditure. Using this information he started consuming the right number of calories in order to lose weight. He explains:
“I started on a path to weight loss in January 2009. I bought a scale, a pedometer, and fell in love with sparkpeople.com. I bought a few games for the Wii and in June I purchased the ePulse. All of these tools have helped me to lose 73 pounds so far. It’s amazing.”
A. Cullum bought the ePulse after being diagnosed with depression. He wanted to get back in shape.
“I went from 215 to 178 pounds in almost 3 months. This monitor has been great at keeping me at my cardio target heart rate as well as what I’ve been burning during my workout!”
Problems And Complaints
However, not every user was as pleased with the design and quality of workmanship. In fact, a small number categorized the Impact Sports ePulse Strapless Heart Rate Monitor Watch and Calorimeter as “junk.”
Philip J. Klotzbach of Fort Collins, CO, was more diplomatic, saying,
“If all you are looking for is a device that gives you a real-time measurement of your heart rate, this device works fine. However, other functionality does not deliver as promised.”
Competitive athletes may want to stick to traditional monitors until Impact Sports de-bugs their ePulse Heart Rate Monitor, which, in all fairness, is the first of its kind. If, however, you are an average person who wants to keep track of your heart rate and calorie consumption during a workout, the ePulse is the answer.