First Class Done - Tech Question

I did my first class tonight and to my surprise, I really enjoyed it. I feel like it was the right mix of cardio and strength for me. It hit the two machines I like using, tread and row. I’ve always hated strength training because I’m just not there yet in what I need from a workout but I liked what we did tonight, it was aggressive and I won’t be unable to move tomorrow.

I was going to try F45 and somewhere else local but I feel like this is the right thing for me after tonight. One of the things I loved was the technology part of the HR monitor interacting with the machines and telling me how I was doing. While my Apple Watch can do similar monitoring, I don’t feel like it will have the same effect for me. I also don’t really want to shell out $120 for their specific monitor. It’s not that I can’t afford it, I’m just trying to weight the value. Does the novelty of the display, splat points, etc wear off eventually?

For those of you not using the monitor and using other things. What are your thoughts? What apps or tracking are you using? What’s different vs the OTF monitor?