Polar F7 Men's Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Blue)

I run about 15-20 miles a week, 5 days a week and I absolutely love having this HRM as a tool to keep track of my workouts. It is very easy to use. As soon as I opened it, I turned it on and it asked me to input my information ie, DOB, Age, Weight, Height etc etc.. I had it working in a matter of minutes. This is my very first HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) and It has every feature that I need. It will keep track of up to 99 workout sessions, if I'm not mistaking. It will show me the duration of my workout, how many calories I burned, how many of those calories were fat calories, average heart rate and max heart rate. The best feature on my HRM is the bar that appears on the bottom of the screen. After you've started working out, the HRM will automatically set an average heart rate which will be placed at the center of the bar. There is a small heart that will gradually move RIGHT (Faster Heart Rate) or LEFT (Slower Heart Rate). Depending on the type of workout you are trying to achieve; This is very important! Most people think that the harder you work out, the faster your heart will beat which means you burn more fat. This isn't necessarily the case. This watch will tell you if the intensity of your workout is primarily FAT BURNING or FITNESS TRAINING. This is important because if you are trying to work on burning fat, you don't need to work out as intensely as if you were working on your fitness. This has helped me save energy when I need to and tells me when I need to hustle up!Again, The watch is easy to use, easy to read and best of all, it comes with a MANUAL! You can read through it in 10 minutes and you will be well on your way to a better, healthier lifestyle. The rubber strap feels great on my wrist. The actual watch itself isn't too big so it doesn't feel like it gets in the way of anything that I do. The buttons are a bit hard to press. At first I thought that I had a defective watch but it seems like they are tough to press so that you don't accidentally stop your work out or press anything by mistake. There is a back-light so if you run at night, you can still view your progress. The watch also comes with a chest strap and adapter which attaches to the strap. (The strap actually sits slightly under your pecs). I have a larger chest so when I put it on the first time; it felt like it was going to slide off. It doesn't. You have the ability to adjust it depending on how tight you want it around your chest. The chest adapter and the watch both use batteries which can be replaced at home or by any watch store.The electrodes on the strap do need to be wet before you put them on so the manual states to run the chest strap under some water before putting it on. I went ahead and purchased Electrode Gel by company called Parker Labs. It's called "Spectra 360" This is what I use instead of running the HRM strap under the faucet. It's not sticky, you only use a dab which means the tube will last you at least 6-8 months. Bet of all, It's only a few bucks and helps the HRM give you a more accurate reading than water. (So it states). I purchased the tube at the same time as the watch and they both got to my house on the same day.Overall, This watch is great! They offer different models, ie FT4, FT7, FT40, FT60 and the FT80. If you want a watch that counts your calories, fat calories, average heart rate and max heart rate, this is the watch for you! No need to spend the extra cash on other features you might not use. I recommend you go to the Polar website and compare the watches side by side. See which one has features that appeal more to your workout style.

I ordered this product for use with P90X. I am VERY satisfied with this monitor and would recommend it for anyone who wants to make sure that they are getting an effective workout.I used to think that I was getting good workouts. I would move from exercise to exercise, sweat a bit, and feel like I was accomplishing something. For some reason though, the weight didn't come off and I didn't seem to be making much overall progress. It turns out that what I thought was a good workout was really a waste of my time because I was not maintaining the intensity that leads to change. This monitor has helped me get great results in just a few months (35 pounds lost in 2.5 months).Here are the key functions:1 - Fit: There are three components in the package, the watch, a chest strap with two electrodes and the transmitter that plugs in to the chest strap. Contrary to some other reviews I have never had a problem getting an accurate reading of my pulse. The ONLY 'trick' is to RTFM and slightly wet the two electrodes before you put it on. Electrodes on dry skin give you inaccurate readings. Wet electrodes give you accurate readings. It's that simple. The strap stays in place no matter the workout (even in the pool).This unit easily fits my formerly 48 inch chest and it would expand a few inches beyond that.2 - Setup: It takes a couple of minutes to enter your age, weight, etc. An initial (optional) fit test helps to establish your baseline.3 - After that, you simply put the watch and strap in place before your workout, press a couple of keys and you can now track in real time how effective your workout is. If your heart is only beating at 110 bpm in the middle of your Plyometrics workout, you're dogging it and you better step things up. This sort of real-time feedback has meant much more effective workouts for me.4 - I rinse all three components in the sink after each workout and let them air dry. Some folks throw the strap in the washing machine after each workout but that seems like overkill to me.I have been recording my max and average heart rates, along with calories burned for every P90X workout except push-up intensive Mondays. I have done over the past several months and I am seeing improvement in calories burned, workout intensity and time spent in the 'effect' zone. It's amazing what weight workouts do for your heart when you don't take long breaks between sets.This monitor even works in the pool. I was able to discover that the pace I thought was good was in fact only getting my heart up to 120 bpm. Knowledge is power and I upped my pace so that I now maintain a heart rate of 145-150 bpm during my workouts. I can now exercise for less time and burn even more calories, yielding better results.Again, a heart rate monitor is a critical element to your workout success. Buy one, use it, and you will appreciate the positive results.