Care You By Monitor Your Heart Rate

I love this watch. I’ve had it for about 3 weeks now and it does it’s job perfectly. I love the zone system. It allows me to run much farther and for longer than I have before because I don’t exhaust myself by running faster than my body can manage. The beeping feature (that can be turned off) that features two tone beeps to let you know whether you need to slow down or speed up to stay in your zone allows you to pace yourself without having to look at the watch. This model features a bar at the top of the display that shows the lower and upper limits of the zone you want to be in and where you are within (or outside) the zone. This is particularly useful if you decide to turn the two tone beeps off. Not all heart rate monitors from Timex feature this. The batteries on the chest strap and the watch can be replaced by the user – an uncommon feature I believe. The chest strap is quite comfortable and picks up signals very well – my wife tried it and she had no trouble with it either (the strap sits on the lower side of the chest). I found that if I put it on about 15 min before I exercised, my body would generate the sweat needed for good pickup. Some reviewers have commented that the indiglo feature where the numerals light up (rather than the face) made for difficult reading. I found that if I tilted the watch slightly (rather than place the face at right angles to the line of sight), the numerals were clearly visible. I think I prefer this to the old method of lighting the face. It is a fairly handsome watch – a bit on the thick side (about 14 mm x 42 mm or so wide) – perfect for a man even for daily wear but certainly large for a woman. It took me a while to decide on buying this watch. Lack of clear size information (their midsize, large and extra large size indications are meaningless) on the Timex website meant that I had to scour shops and call customer service a couple of times to have them measure the watches for me. PR

I’m 6 feet 4 inches and 210 pounds. The watch is just the right size for me and the band seems quite heavy duty and has a nice feature where the tail of the band has a tab that fits into a notch in the buckle piece so it doesn’t flap. The HRM sensor fits comfortably on my 42 inch chest with the detachable band expanded to it’s maximum extent. I think it would be too tight for larger chests. I run the sensor electrodes under the tap and strap it on and the watch always gets a solid heart rate signal. I wear it while using a number of cardio and weight-training machines and in exercise and stretch classes flexing into a lot of crazy positions, and the sensor has yet to drop out. The batteries were fine out of the box. The watch has a number of fancy watch features, most I don’t use. One great feature is the dual timezone setup. I keep the second zone set to UTC and a push of the “start split” button accesses it. If you are into HIIT, note that the timer feature doesn’t have the capability for doing (for example) 30 seconds HI and 60 seconds recovery. The only problem is that I have been unable to get the sensor to work wirelessly with the Precor and Nautilus machines. Note that the product literature doesn’t claim that this should work and there doesn’t appear to be any standard for interoperability between machines and wireless HRM devices. Some reviews for Timex HRM devices claim that the sensors DO talk to machines. If someone has gotten THIS specific product to work with machines, please tell us how in a comment to this review. Otherwise I think this product gives very good value. I give it 4. 5 stars and if it worked with the cardio machines I would give it five stars. Some may feel it is unfair to downgrade a product rating for lacking a feature it doesn’t claim to have: I think a five-star rating should indicate total satisfaction. I really wish the industry would get together and create a standard so these things can work together!

The reason I bought this was the heart rate function. The display falls woefully short in that area. The heart rate digits should be in a bolder font. Reading it while exercising requires good light and just the right angle. Otherwise you are done in by reflections and/or a dimmed-out display. A bolder font would help a lot. I still read the phone book or the stock market page of the paper without glasses, so my eyesight is not to blame. The display picture here shows it as easier to read than it is in the real world. When I am running or cycling, I want to read it at a glance, not struggle. What were they thinking? Did they test this in a well-lit gym only? Some people exercise outdoors under all conditions. On the bike, it is bad enough to have to look down at my wrist and rotate it to the right angle, but with this Timex, I have to raise my left hand up closer to my eyes. Sweat in the eyes coupounds the problem. I have even considered somehow mounting the watch on the handlebars of my bike at just the right angle so I can read it without dangerous distractions. The night light feature is all wrong. It is the opposite of other digital devices, and displays a dark field with fuzzy lighter digits. It is particularly difficult to read on awakening in a dark bedroom. Just trying to figure out what time it is often makes me more awake than I really want to be. Reading a lighted watch shouldn’t be so difficult. This is so lame. I would recommend this only for those who exercise in a well-lighted gym and don’t get sweat in their eyes, or those who exercise only under the best outdoor conditions. With an easier to read heart display and a conventional night illumination, I would give this five stars. I am returning it and looking for a brand with a better display.