I picked up the Polar F6 unit this weekend as I planned to get into running for the new year and one good thing to monitor is your heart rate and calories burned during that workout.

I picked up for around $120 CDN at our local Running Room store and it was recommended to me by one of the employees once I gave her what I was looking for.

The unit monitors both heart rate and calories burnt.  But it also does a lot more than that. It also allows you to setup a zone for your heart rate and alerts you when you are outside of that zone.  It will also tell you at the end of the workout statistics such as the percentage of the calories burnt that were fat calories.  Amount of time in the zone and many other things.

The unit comes with a chest band that you wrap around your chest and it transmits the heart rate data to your watch.  So there are two pieces in the box that you require to use it.

Today I used it for the first time on my elliptical machine and noticed that the machine I use (Precor EFX 546) actually was taking the heart rate from the transmitter on my chest.  I didn’t have to hold onto the sensors the whole time.  This was an added bonus to me that I found really cool.  Other things I noticed I will write about later.

One thing I really wish it has was a vibrate feature.  Most people work out while listening to music so you won’t hear the beeps from the watch.  It should vibrate to warn you of the range.  For now I just turn off the audible notification.

The unit also saves your last week of workouts in a file on the watch.  You can then upload this to the web through your microphone later on to keep track of your progress.

You can head over to www.polar.fi to take a look at all of their watches and compare the features.

I highly recommend getting one of these so you can carry your monitor with you when your not on a machine.  Or even if you want more accurate tracking than what the machine offers.

Labels: Fitness