Care You By Monitor Your Heart Rate

I’ve owned my Polar A3 for about four years. I bought it from a sports equipment store. I would give it 3. 5 stars if I could do so. It has been robust and reliable. It has functioned well over this time and I would recommend the product with a couple of reservations: 1) The battery in the chest strap is not replaceable because Polar wants to sell you a whole new chest strap later with a list price of $39. 95 (rather than a $2 battery). Speaking from an ecological or financial perspective this is disappointing. Fortunately for me, the chest strap from my stationary exercise bike works just fine with the Polar A3 so I now use that. 2) When using the A3, the standard display is your current heart rate (clearly shown in large numerals) and above it the upper and lower limits you’ve set up to cause it to beep when your heartrate moves out of the desired range. You can switch the display to elapsed time, but you cannot (or I have not yet figured out how to) simultaneously display elapsed time and current heartrate, which would be ideal. I’ve learned a couple of things as a new user of heart rate monitors: 1) The age-based pre-programmed heart rate range on the A3 was much lower than what my exercise physiologist recommended for me. If you feel you cannot get a proper workout staying within this range (or conversely if it feels like a strain) you should get the help of a professional to determine the right range for you. 2) When you first put the chest strap on and activate the monitor your heart rate sometimes doesn’t register or appears erratically high or low. As soon as you start exercising and sweat a little it works fine. To avoid this I wet the underside of the chest strap a little when I put it on. This comment is not specific to this product and applies to any chest strap-type device. 3) I was surprised how high my heart rate was when running and I am very glad I bought a heart rate monitor because otherwise I might have caused myself serious harm and never even known that I was overdoing it. Getting a heart rate monitor is a great idea, especially if you’re not young any more.

Easy to read, acurate reading (even w/o glasses), it helps me with my workout. If you don’t want anything high tech but looking for something worth your workout, this item is it, **NOTE** It DOES NOT count your calores as the description says.

This is a great item. I had tried 2-3 other monitors and for the money this is by far the best. It has all the features most beginner/intermediate athletes would need and is easy to use running or in the pool. I love it.