17 responses so far ↓

• 1 Eckenberg

  I ordered the Polar F6 watch because it seemed everything I wanted – a coded-frequency hrm designed specifically for a woman, that was waterproof for swimming and loud enough for biking outside. The “OwnZone” feature seemed like a plus, because it’s really easy for my heartrate to exceed the recommended zone even under moderate exercise.

  The first watch I received was a dud – there was a band of non-functioning crystals that passed right through the first numerial of the time/heart-rate, making it hard to tell between 5,6,8 and obscured the 1 in 10 or 100. I worked with Amazon’s amazing return policy, and within a few days received a perfect replacement.

  I’ve been wearing the F6 as a regular wristwatch without any problems (ie, it fits my wrist well, has a large, easy to read watchface and is attractive enough to not be self-concious about wearing a sports-watch.) When I wear it exercising, occasionally the chestband’s sensors need some water on them to get a decent read, but it works perfectly all through the work out without the need to be readjusted. So far I’ve only jogged and biked – no swimming, but I’m looking forward to testing it out when the weather gets warmer I’ve been using it for a month so far an it’s been a perfect companion to my exercise routine! – One warning: the band can get discolored easily (I wore it weeding one day) and doesn’t clean 100% back to it’s factory color. The watch-face seems to be made out of a slightly different plastic that cleans much easier, so the visible part of the watch stays looking nice.

• 2 Costello

  I’ve been using the women’s F6 heart rate monitor for about 18 months and it has worked fine for me. I even use it for swimming, although a lot of other people seem to have problems with its getting ruined by the water. So far I’ve been lucky. One thing I would pass along to other people is this: if you notice that the watch is showing ridiculous heart rates (like 95 when you know you’re working above 160) it could be that the watch is set to display the PERCENT of your maximum heart rate. The watch will display a TEENY-TINY percent (%) symbol if this is the case. You can go into the “settings” menu and change this. This happened to me and the polar service people correctly diagnosed that it wasn’t a broken watch– it was just that it was displaying the percent of my maximum and not the actual beats per minute. All in all, I’d say I’m very satisfied with this HRM, except for the annoying fact that you need to ship it to the manufacturer and pay an exhorbitant amount ($75!) just to get a new battery. I’m going to try taking it to a jeweler when the time comes. If the jeweler screws it up, I can just buy a new HRM for only a little more than the $75 + shipping it would have cost me to have Polar replace the battery.

• 3 Ashley

  I PURPOSE THIS WATCH TO MONITOR MY HEART RATE WHILE EXERCISING & TO COUNT HOW MUCH CALORIES I BURNED DURING MY EXERCISE PROGRAM. THE WATCH IS EASY TO SET & USE. IT IS WORKING WONDERFUL FOR ME, WHAT THE HELL, IT IS HELPING ME TO KEEP TRACK OF HOW MUCH CALORIES I BURN EACH WEEK. YES, IT’S GOOD TO SEE HOW MUCH CALORIE I BURN EACH WEEK.

• 4 McIsaac

  This is a great heart rate monitor and love everything about it except I can’t see time while my heart rate is being monitored. Very nice and comfortable design.

• 5 Eberhardt

  Lots of excellent features, ie count up and count down, alarm, heart rate monitor easy to use, compact, price is great.
  recommended for those looking for good value in a sports watch with strapless heart monitor.

• 6 Conner

  This watch does exactly what I want, which is to give me an accurate heart rate reading during exercise. It works better than my old watch in a couple of ways. I can take a reading while still moderately active–with my old watch I had to stop completely. It also takes the reading much faster, so my heart rate isn’t declining while I wait for the reading.

  The strap is nice and flexible for women with small wrists. It doesn’t slide around during exercise.

  I am also able to read the output without whipping out the reading glasses.

• 7 Kissinger

  Most of the time the monitor reads an accurate heart rate. At one point on a treadmill run yesterday, it told me my HR was 46 (which was hilarious), but I rechecked it a minute later & it seemed spot on. I think it was a temporary glitch. For the price, I think it does its job.

• 8 Beveridge

  I found this monitor very unreliable. Sometimes it worked; other times it did not. Just for curiosity, I tried to get my heart rate 100 times, snd the monitor worked 32 of those times. I even had friends try to use it with no success.

• 9 Linz

  I really liked this watch – had it for about a year and used it for basic functionality – the other day i thought i would try the heart rate zoning manual set up and came across the place where you could enter in your weight. I ran with it and it said I burned 650 cals in a 40 minute run – which seems WAYYY off… Im about 145 lbs and in good shape staying around 165 bpms per minute on a good run…

  I used to think it was pretty accurate when compared to other devices that gave me similar caloric output… now that i told it my weight…im not sure anymore….

  arghhhh wish i knew the default weight to put back in… i liked it better before i made this change as it seemed to be pretty accurate before this.

  other than that – its dependable reliable and easy to use.

• 10 Anthony

  I bought this watch mostly for the heart rate monitor. However, I really like everything about it. The heart rate monitor does a nice job during my workouts. It takes a few minutes to display the actual heart rate accurately, but once it is working, I find it very accurate. I really like the target heart rate zone monitor and the calories burned reading also. Another plus is the dual time zone feature which worked out well on my recent vacation to Australia. At a touch of a button, I could see what time it was back home. I have a very small wrist, so the band is a bit large. I have to wear it in the smallest hole possible, but it does fit at this setting. Overall, I am very happy with this watch.

• 11 Blackburn

  I am not a full time marathoner or tri athelete. This monitor is perfect for the 3-4 races I participate in each year. Being first is not my drive. Personal gratification and health are my goals. If you have similar goals this watch is perfect for your needs. The heart rate is accurate, the splits are easy to use and the appearance is sharp. The cost does not break the bank.

• 12 Joyner

  This review is for the latest version of this watch (purchased Feb. 2010). Apparently this is the 2nd generation of the watch, which is much improved over the 1st gen, which got deservedly poor reviews.

  I’ve had the watch for just under a week, but it appears to bury anything Polar has at a similar price point. The Timex beats polar on:

  - Good, easy to use backlight
  - Easy to configure display, that switches where and how time and BPM are displayed. It’s a feature you will probably like and use often.
  - User-replaceable batteries on both watch and chest strap. No need to do a chest strap exchange a la Polar
  - No interference from other users – applies to low-end Polars (never buy an uncoded watch, you will regret it)
  - Much better resistance to interference to other RF sources than Polar
  - Simple, good feature set. Most people don’t need and won’t use all the egghead metrics.
  - EASY to use menus. You only need to read the manual once, if at all.
  - $5 for a five-year extended warranty. (Look at the bottom of Timex’s website for the link)
  - Cheap and available parts from Timex via phone. Extra band is $8+tax delivered.
  - Recessed, scratch-resistant face (much better than Polar)

  The only reason you really need more watch is if you have to have the GPS feature. Then you pony up for the Garmin, but for everything else, the Timex seems to be the ticket.

• 13 John

  Works as advertised. Best feature for me is the constant readout on cardio equipment without having to place my hands on the equipment’s reader.

• 14 Dockter

  This is my first heart rate monitor. I have been using it for about a month and I am extremely happy with my purchase. It is user friendly and much more comfortable than I anticipated – I don’t even realize I’m wearing the chest strap most of the time. I looked up my target heart rate online (there are a bunch of calculators to google)and aim to stay toward the high end of my target heart rate during my workouts. My heart rate shows up on the watch and on the cardio machine if I’m at the gym. It provides me with the calories I’m burning in a more accurate form than the estimated calories on the cardio machines. I can also monitor my heart rate/calories burned during strength training exercises. I find it easier to determine how much rest I truly need between sets by looking at my heart rate. The monitor helps me a lot during my spinning as well. It is much easier to tell if I could push myself more or if I needed to slow down and/or decrease my resistance a little. I feel like my workouts are more effective since I started monitoring my heart rate.

  There is an optional tool to track training through the Polar website, but it requires an additional purchase to transmit data. I am tracking my exercise in a spreadsheet instead so that I can see trends of what works for my body and what doesn’t, without spending the extra money. The watch provides me with the length of exercise, average heart rate, maximum heart rate,calories burned, time in the fitness zone and time in the fat burn zone. I’m tracking these, along with the time of day I exercised, type of exercise I did and what I ate before my workout. I’m also calculating average calories burned per minute.

  I highly recommend this product!

• 15 Feldmann

  I love this product! I have owned several Polar HR monitors. This one is by far the easiest to set up and use – yet still accurately tracks details on multiple workout sessions. The chest strap is a new design that is very comfortable. Only cloth touches the skin; the transmitter snaps onto the front of the strap. The transmitter on my old chest strap irritated the area of my skin were it rested. I have used this new monitor and chest strap combination during biking, step, walking, and strength training. I have not experienced any signal drops outs even when I am bending over. I love the option that allows me to see the heart rate or calories in a large font so that I just have to quickly glance at my monitor while exercising to see my progress.

• 16 Magee

  I am really enjoying having this heart rate monitor. It appears to be accurate — all the time — and is helping me to know what works for me, in terms of increasing my heart rate and burning more calories. I cannot think of any negatives to this particular model. It’s great!

• 17 Futamura

  I looked at a lot of monitors and read a lot of reviews and finally settled on the Polar FT4. The numerals for heart rate, calorie burn, and the time are large enough to easily read. I wanted a monitor that gave heart rate and calorie burn so I chose this one. The monitor looks nice and is not nerdy. It is a little pricey. I must say that I bought the right one for me.

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