POLAR FT7 Heart Rate Monitor

So, I got this to train at my target heart rate and this is indeed damn good as a heart rate monitor. I researched a lot of HRMs and settled on this one. When running, I don't want a phone or a ipod or any other gizmo with me as I run on residential streets and being distracted will likely get me injured or killed. Put the strap on your chest and I just use a bit of water on the skin and under the chest sensor to get it started. Within a few minutes of running, I start generating enough perspiration that this thing has no issues with wetness or anything. Keeps the heart rate very accurately. The watch on the other hand is so-so. It looks really cool with its snake skin texture and the cool red strip but the display is pretty underwhelming so I don't use it as my primary watch. The problem is that if it is even slightly dark, you would not be able to see the display. That being said, I did not buy it as a stand alone watch. I come to the locker room, take my regular Casio watch out (wife gifted that one and it even has the LED so I can light it up for a second in the dark to see time) and put this on and go running. When I come back, I take a shower and swap the watches. I just use a wet napkin to wipe the underside of the strap. The instructions say to wash it, but I live in Seattle and if I washed it, it would likely not dry before my next run. I will likely wash it every once in a while.

We already have one and it was time for me to get one. After seeing what some friends use and doing some research--- it is not exactly perfect, but it really works well. I took it on its maiden voyage yesterday and the initial setup was simple enough and I never even opened the instructions as it is decently intuitive. After spending the 5-minutes setting it up and testing it out at home, off to the gym I went. Two good things--- first was that our PreCor elliptical machines at our gym pickup on the heart rate sensor so it always shows on the screen on the machine. I really like that as it allowed me to display the calories on the watch in full screen. With that, the calorie count is accurate as I used two different elliptical machines and the calorie counts were within a +/-5% of the FT7. Again that is great.At first I thought the display looked a bit dark, but once I went into a normal area with decent lighting--- it was great. There are two things that I would suggest to be different..... first is I wish the edges of the buttons had a softer radius. For me it would give a richer and smoother feel. The other is that the battery in the watch is different than the one in the sensor. I did buy spare batteries for the sensor as they are the ones that wear out first, but for me I wish they would have made them the same.... prevents having to buy two different ones. For the batteries, I bought Philips brand on Amazon and they worked out to be about $1 each and were dated out to around 2018.... much better than the $3-4 each locally.I really look forward to watching my heart rate much closer and coordinating that with calories burned. I am a big fan of datalogging and feedback--- comes from my engineering side. So to get feedback like this, I can really use it to my advantage to help me get unstuck from my current weight plateau. Although I do not have a lot left to lose, I have been stuck at the same point for almost 7-weeks and this will definitely give me an inside track to what I need to change.

Bought this from Amazon's open box deals and was skeptical at first, when I checked the other products being sold many stated that there were scratches on the product but a few, including this one, stated the only damage was minor and it was to the box the product came in which I was fine with. Buying open box was also a lot cheaper than buying new and I am very glad I did the product came looking brand new and it works perfectly. After setting it up with my measurements (height, weight, etc.), I began using it right away and it is very accurate.I was never sure whether the workout machines were giving an accurate count of burned calories but it was pretty close for the most part, using the HRM I noticed I burned about 100 or so more than what was shown on the machine. I also noticed I burned a little over a hundred cals lifting weights which I never used to count before. I spent about an hour shopping in the mall and I burned another 300+ calories (I was walking more so than standing around trying things on), I play volleyball twice a week and was happy to see another 300-400 cals burned. It is very helpful in many of these situations because I was unable to count cals in these situations before.BATTERYOne of my biggest concerns was battery life, I was afraid that if I use it too much I'd be changing the battery on the watch or the HRM a lot. Well, its been pretty great so far, the elastic band that goes around your chest has a HRM (heart rate monitor) that attaches to it, it also uses batteries. I didn't realize that if you leave it connected to the band it continues to use the battery in the HRM, I accidentally left attached for about a week and figured it would be dead when I tried to use it, but to my surprise it still works just fine.EASE OF USESetting it up is very easy and for a more accurate calorie count I would recommend putting in your body measurements. To set it up just follow the simple instructions on the little booklet, also I was told it is recommended to wash the elastic band (without the HRM!), to keep its elasticity and increase its longevity. Once you have your measurements in all you have to do is put on the band with the HRM, you also need to moisten the plastic strip on the back of the band for it to get a more accurate reading (I don't know how this works but thats what it says). Once you've got it on, just push the start button on your watch and you're ready to go. You can easily navigate through the menu to view heart rate, fat burning zone, and calories burned. I must admit I haven't really gotten a chance to play around with it more. There are a ton of other features for your typical gym rat so I highly recommend this product, especially if you count calories like me and want to know whether you burned enough calories to have that bag of popcorn at the end of the day. :)

Nice, sleek design, Perfect for monitoring all Activities... Gives accurate information on calories, fat burning or fitness and a large memory bank. Very easy to use. Great quality. Definitely recommended.

I've tried everything with this heart rate monitor over the last few years but it just keeps losing signal. The only way to get it going again is to cancel the workout and restart then it magically works for another undetermined about of time. It's too bad because otherwise it is very easy to use and do love knowing my heart rate and cals burned during a workout and didn't have all the frills and options that I'd never use.

First off i'd like to say that i thought the watch would be bigger. the picture in the description is a little deceiving. Other than that this is a great product for anybody who is serious about their workouts.Only flaws is that for similar watches in its categories (example TIMEX Ironman) it lacks a lot of KEY functionsFor example, there is no timer function. As a guy who likes to time his rest period between his sets, ( or as another example doing a plank) i find this rather annoying.Another thing that bugs me is the transmission distance between the chest strap and the watch seems fairly small. Using the plank example again, due to the lack of timer function i like to take the watch off and hold it in my hands while planking or putting it down in front of me so i can see the time. It seems to lose signal somewhere between a 3-4 foot range.Other than these 2 flaws, for me anyway, this is a great product. It can store up to 40 data files i believe and it breaks down ur workouts by week or total since X date so you can compare the volume of exercise per week or see the sum ( total calories, sessions, and total amount of time).Also, this watch is exteremly well built and sturdy. Polar must've gotten these manufactured by the same company who manufactures Nokia phones cuz it seems unbreakable. It never leaves my wrist. I shower with it, work with it, wash dishes, go swimming with it, etc. and it still works as good as the day i took it out of the box.Speaking of swimming, I tried to use it while doing laps. It was a pure and utter fail. Although it is water resistant and can be used for swimming as it says in the manual, i highly do not recommend it. The transmitter will still transmit the heart rate data even in the water, its just the design of the strap itself is what makes it annoying to swim with it. The elasticity of the strap combined with the bulky chest transmitter you attach to it makes the strap flip on itself as you move forward in the water once you start going at a decent speed, causing the transmission of heart rate to stop.

Works awesome.Lots of info and ways to get it.

Battery life and elastic chest strap life are short lived. Monitoring functions start to deteriorate as well

This is more a personal rating, once there was not wrong with the watch, but I use reading glasses, and the numbers on this watch is too small for me, the background is too dark and the light didn't make it better at all.So I have to return the watch and I'll look for another one with bigger numbers and a clear background.

I bought this watch for my girlfriend. The only downside to it is the way it takes your heart beat is by a band you wear around your chest. It is not a big problem though, and my girlfriend always wears it and rarely knows it's there.Would recommend to anyone looking for a heart rate monitor that is cheap.

Easy to use! It changed the way I train. I would recommend to anyone who need a good heart rate monitor. I didn't want an expensive watch with GPS since I'm happy with runkeeper on my cell. Only a good HRM and the FT7 is the better buy you could do I guess. The chest strap is comfortable and fully compatible with cardio training quipment at gym.

Worked like a dream

I have used it for about 6-8 months now. It works fine and is comfortable. I do fine the buttons on the watch a little difficult to use and the screen is not all that bright. But, it does what I want and accuracy compared to an monitor reader on my bike is bang on.

As a HR monitor it works great. My only complaint with the light on dark face, the contrast isn't enough. It hard to make out everything on the screen in less than optimal lighting conditions.

The FT7 does all the functions that I need it to. I particularly like the databank feature. The one issue that I have with it, is that this model (black and red) has a dark display, and is not the easiest to see unless you're in direct sunlight.

Good watch and the signal with transmitter working fine.The only negative point is the transmitter is not compatible with Bluetooth like some other Polar watch.

It matched my husbands expectation. Good product

Must for fitness. Keeps track of everything. Good to have.