More of a pulse meter than a heart rate monitor. I originally bought this pulse meter to try and measure my morning resting heart rate. It hasn??™t been very useful for that though. When I wake up, I am still have asleep, and can??™t focus my eyes. Then I need to turn the light on, and find the unit. After all of that moving around, my pulse has usually risen anyway.
Where I find it useful is when I am sitting around at work, or at home. I can pull the unit out of my pocket, and get my pulse. It is good for biofeedback. I can watch my pulse, and try to force myself to relax, and get my pulse lower.
The Tanita cardio heart rate monitor measures your pulse by measuring the light changes going through your finger. As your your hear pulses, blood is forced and into your finger, and less light comes through. Sometimes, it is tricky getting your finger in the right position. Because the unit it is looking for changes in light, it needs a consistent light source. So this unit does not work while you are moving around. Don??™t even think about using it while you are running or walking. It just wont work. For that, you will better off buying a real heart rate monitor with a chest strap.
Since I bought the Tanita cardio heart rate monitor as a pulse meter, it has one behaviour that is really annoying. You press ???PULSE???, and then put your finger on the sensor. It will read, and display your pulse for one minute, then switch back to displaying the time. I didn??™t buy this as a clock! I don??™t want it to keep switching back to displaying time! Anyway, if you just want something to see your resting heart rate, while you are sitting around, and don??™t want to go through the hassle counting beats, while watching a clock, then you might like this unit. The price is good.