Polar Heart Rate Monitor Review

Whether you are looking to lose weight or train for a marathon, a Polar heart rate monitor can assist you in making the most of every minute of your workout. It acts as a true personal trainer by providing feedback relevant to your workout goals. This feedback varies by model but can include calories burned, intensity level, target heart rate zone alert indicator, and much more.

Polar is known for it's high quality and variety of fitness products. A varied selection is wonderful but can also be overwhelming. A few of the Polar heart rate models are described below to help you quickly determine which one is right for you.

The Polar F4 is fairly basic. It comes in both a women's and men's model with both having the same features. It gets right to the point with three main tools to help you meet your fitness goals.

1. An audio alert to help you stay in your target heart rate zone.
2. A calories burned tracker that can record your total calories burned over numerous workout sessions.

3. A display monitor with an indicator that will let you know if you are staying within your predetermined workout intensity for a particular workout.

One of the best features of the Polar F4 is that it provides an exercise summary that is automatically displayed once you press stop. The summary includes exercise duration, exercise time in your target heart zone, average heart rate during your routine, and calories burned. You can view your most recent workout session or a cumulative total based on your predetermined beginning and ending dates.

The Polar F6 takes it up a notch by adding to the basic features of the F4. If you tend to workout in groups where other machines or monitors are present, this heart rate monitor watch can block those signals that can disrupt the reading of your personal data.

Another bonus of the F6 is its ability to help you determine a safe and effective heart rate workout zone that takes into account your current fitness level. While many us are familiar with the 220 minus your age formula, this Polar heart rate monitor makes sure your target heart rate zone is appropriate for you in a way a math formula simply can not.

In addition to providing a workout summary, the Polar F6 has a Diary feature that lets you compare exercise results for the current calendar week. The Diary forces you to really pay attention and review your progress since it automatically resets itself every Sunday at midnight. Don't worry, the Polar F6 sends you a reminder to review the Diary via a symbol on the watch.

The Polar F11 comes in at least three color choices and includes the above features plus one that truly sets it apart from the pack. Its claim to fame is that it "is the world's only heart rate monitor (Polar) that creates a workout program to tell you how much, how hard, and how long to exercise to reach your goals." Clearly, this gets to one of the top reasons people purchase heart monitor watches in the first place.

After getting a reading of your current fitness level, the F-11 then creates a weekly fitness plan for you. This Keeps U Fit Workout Program feature is truly the key to reaching your specific fitness goals.

Swimmers take note. This Polar heart rate monitor is water resistant to 30 meters (100 feet).

Weight trainers listen up!

Building on the features of previous Polar models, the F55 brings it with the Keeps U Fit Workout Program as well as the BodyWorkout and OwnRelax features that are unique to Polar.

You no longer need a personal trainer since this watch essentially tells you what you need to do. The BodyWorkout option makes strength training recommendations which includes sets, repetitions, and weights. Simply adjust it as you get stronger.

Now there's no excuse to skip a proper cool down after a vigorous workout, The OwnRelax feature is essentially a 5-minute relaxation session based on heart rate and heart rate variability.

Due to the extensive features of this model, it is highly recommended that you read the entire owners manual before your first use. If you are going to pay for these features you might as well use them to the fullest extent possible. It's hard to justify having a personal trainer if you have Polar F55. 

The Polar RS100 is a heart rate monitor and a stopwatch. This one is similar to the Polar F4, F6, and F11. Other that the added stopwatch feature there's not much difference between this one and the F11 as far as functional features. The design is however different in that it has extra large digits for easier viewing.

This model also allows you to view cumulative information based on your recent workouts. It keeps track of these totals starting with the last reset. Cumulative totals are a great way to manage weekly calories burned goals. It becomes very easy to see if you have burned enough calories to equal one pound of weight loss (3500 calories).

This is one purchase that you really should not take out of the box and just begin using. Avoid frustration while getting the most from your Polar by reading the entire owner’s manual before testing it out regardless of which model you go with. Even though some of the features are intuitive, taking an hour to examine the features of your Polar is time well spent.

Polar recommends having all service to the heart rate monitor (especially battery replacement) performed by an authorized Polar Service Center. It appears that failing to do so could result in voiding the warranty.