Polar FT60 Heart Rate Monitor Review

I love my Polar heart rate monitor :)

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!

Everlast Talking Jump rope (Product Review)

I’ve been looking for a good jump rope for some time. The ones I’ve used/bought in the past have either been too long or the handle has been uncomfortable or the quality of the rope was too cheap. When I found the Everlast Talking Jump rope online (amazon.co.uk) I thought I would give it a chance. Although there weren’t any reviews, I didn’t think too much of it (especially at a price of – first of all, it’s produced by Everlast – and I love their brand. Second of all, it has an electronic display that tells you how many calories you’ve burned, how many jumps you’ve done, how long you’ve been jumping for etc. Plus, it talks to you! (Shouts out encouraging comments once in a while, e.g. Not bad!)

After setting the jump rope up, I tried it out. I was really happy that I was able to adjust the length of the rope – it made a big difference. The rope itself seemed to cut through the air smoothly. For my test run (or rather jump), it went well.

However, when I went to actually use the jump rope for part of my workout, I had a different result. After less than 40 seconds of jumping, all of a sudden I stumbled. At first I thought it was just me, and so I attempted to jump again … but then I looked at the rope and noticed that it had completely twisted around itself. You couldn’t just untangle the rope or step on the rope to straighten it out. It refused to budge. Eventually I did manage to get it straightened out, but by that time it was too late – my heart rate was down, I lost my momentum, and I was just overall frustrated.

Disappointing product Everlast.