how accurate are calorie counters on cardio machines?

[Deleted User]

I'm wondering how accurate you've found calorie counters on cardio machines to be??  IE, the arc trainer says I burned 400 calories in 1/2 hour, how accurate is that?  I enter my weight and measure my HR periodically,

tychandler

Not very accurate, the machines are pretty finicky

staceytaylor0704

Probably not super accurate, but I think it might give a good estimate.

jonchrissy

I usually subtract about 100 from the count, it ends up I burn 550-600 during 1 session which I still think is too high. Even though you're entering your height/weight, gender plays a very large part in how much you burn.

kayakrunhike

I remember reading somewhere in a health magazine that you should consider them to be at least 10% too high in regards to calorie burning.  I use a Go Wear Fit (not Body media Fit or something like that) which is more accurate on counting how much you burn.  I suggest a GWF or some sort of a heart rate monitor with a chest strap if you want to know more accurately what you're burning, but they're not really necessary, either.

raynes

Not accurate at all.  They are rarely calibrated and use their own number for what they think your heart rate is to calculate the burn.  400 calories in 30 minutes is not very likely, unless you were doing HIIT.

I would highly recommend a heart rate monitor (one that comes with a chest strap) to keep track.  You can get the Polar F4 for less than $100.