I love my Polar heart rate monitor :)
Pros:
1. Set up, once I actually got around to doing it, was easy.
2. The display is clear and easy to read.
3. The chest strap is not uncomfortable.
4. Figuring out/remember what the buttons are for takes a bit of getting used to, but after using twice I had no problems remember it at all.
5. I found the calorie count to be more accurate than what is displayed on the actual cardio machines.
6. It divides your workout level into 3 categories and tracks how long you've spent in each category (easy, medium, challenging workouts).
7. It tells you how you're doing in terms of attaining your weekly goals (which you program into the monitor before using).
8. Each week it prompts you to update your weight so that it can provide the most accurate readings.
Cons:
1. It doesn't have a stopwatch. It does keep track of how long you've been working out, but it doesn't have a separate stopwatch function.
2. You need to wear the watch; you can't keep it in your gym bag, even if it's close by. This main affects me when I'm boxing because it's uncomfortable when you're wearing hand wraps plus boxing gloves.
3. You can read the calories burned + heart rate at the same time. You have to scroll to a different menu.
So as you can see, not that many cons. I highly recommend it. It may seem expensive at first, but I think it's worth it.
Hope that was helpful - if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask!
I bought the heart rate monitor over two months ago.
The only reason I waited so long to put it together is that I felt that there were too many steps to get it set up. I was wrong. It was really easy to follow the step-by-step set up instructions. I think the fact that I had to lie down for 3 minutes for it to register my resting heart-rate made me procrastinate (yes, I'm that restless!).
The heart rate monitor comes with an instruction manual, chest strap, transmitter device, and watch.
Pros:
1. Set up, once I actually got around to doing it, was easy.
2. The display is clear and easy to read.
3. The chest strap is not uncomfortable.
4. Figuring out/remember what the buttons are for takes a bit of getting used to, but after using twice I had no problems remember it at all.
5. I found the calorie count to be more accurate than what is displayed on the actual cardio machines.
6. It divides your workout level into 3 categories and tracks how long you've spent in each category (easy, medium, challenging workouts).
7. It tells you how you're doing in terms of attaining your weekly goals (which you program into the monitor before using).
8. Each week it prompts you to update your weight so that it can provide the most accurate readings.
Cons:
1. It doesn't have a stopwatch. It does keep track of how long you've been working out, but it doesn't have a separate stopwatch function.
2. You need to wear the watch; you can't keep it in your gym bag, even if it's close by. This main affects me when I'm boxing because it's uncomfortable when you're wearing hand wraps plus boxing gloves.
3. You can read the calories burned + heart rate at the same time. You have to scroll to a different menu.
So as you can see, not that many cons. I highly recommend it. It may seem expensive at first, but I think it's worth it.
Hope that was helpful - if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask!
