People have asked me… “Debbie… Which Heart Rate Monitor Watch would you recommend?”

Below you will see which watch that I have – a photo, the watch description, and my personal pros and con to each of the watches. I have also included the Product Specs for each watch from Amazon.  Most of the watches that I bought came from www.amazon.com - I have been buying from Amazon since 2003 and I am VERY happy with their service!

FYI: I LOVE watches! I am not sure what this means, but I LOVE all types of watches! I find it fascinating to see such a small mechanical device do so much!  My favorite’s watches are Swiss Made, but for my Everyday Watches, it really doesn't matter where the watch was manufactured.  This report is dated for the month of August 2010.... so, the information below (on the prices and where to purchase them) could change.    

· Polar watches are originated in Finland (1975)
· Garmin Forerunner originated around 1989 – Location is unknown, but their headquarters are located in Kansas USA and they have offices around the world.
·  Casio watches are designed in Japan and most likely Made in China. 

The watch that I had back in the day was my trusting Casio Heart Rate Monitor Watch. I still have the dang watch, because I cannot bear to toss it to the trash for sentimental reasons…..It is SO old that I forgot the year that I bought it (maybe in the mid 1980s?) and I cannot remember how much I paid for it!  I plan to include the watches that I have used within five years, because technology changes quickly and I do not want to bore you with old information.

 
Garmin Forerunner 301

I bought this watch in March 2006 for $170.99 and now it is available for $119.00 at Amazon. The original price used to be around $229.00. I loved this watch so much; that I bought one for Donna a few months later, in July 2006 for $177.35

PRO: I bought this watch, because I wanted something to read my heart rate when I used to walk 4 miles per day. The display is big and easy to read! The major plus is that this watch has a GPS Tracking. If I were a runner or biker, this watch would be PERFECT!  It tracks where you want to go, gives you the distance, what you heart rate was during that time and many other features. It has others features that impressed me too. (Since I bought these watches for the purpose of my heart rate during exercise, I decided to concentrate on that for my review.)  I love how I could change the display to what I needed – Heart rate, Time, and Pace.

CON:  I still own this watch.  The size of the watch is too bulky. I could not wear it as my everyday watch.

Technical Details from Amazon

·         Pace & Calories Burned Continuously Monitors Heart Rate, Speed, Distance
·         Combines Proven Heart Rate Monitor & Training System
·         Software To Create A Highly-Integrated

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Garmin Forerunner 305

I bought it for $174.55 at Amazon and now it is available for $145.00.  Original Retail Price: $300.00.  Extensive details of this watch is at Amazon (too much to list here)

PRO: I wanted to upgrade my Forerunner and decided on this model. I love how it tracks everything. Hook this bad boy up to the computer and it gives a graph of your heart rate, calories burned, distance, period and percentage of how long you were in each of your zones!  Another cool thing about this watch…. If you have the GPS turned on and you plug the watch to your computer, you will see a map of where you travelled with all of the details on the map displayed in your training log!  I plan to get it out of its box and start wearing it again… however, I am so busy that I like to have my watch on already and not have to change it when I have to rush out to teach a class.

CON:  This watch is currently in its box, because I wanted something that I could wear during the day and not only for a workout. I love this watch, but it is too bulky if you want to wear anything that requires sleeves. Again, this IS a GREAT watch and I would wear it ALL the time IF it were a smaller size! What a shame…..

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Mio Fit Heart Rate Watch

I bought it in December, 2007 for $50.18 Model is Unavailable, however there is an updated watch at Amazon that I am looking into purchasing soon (more information at the end of this review)

The Mio Fit brand and style of watch is okay for the Beginner looking for a less expensive workout watch. It does not have a chest strap and you could wear it as an Everyday Watch.  I am not sure how accurate this watch is. I guess I like more technology when I keep track of my workouts.

Product Features

Water resistant to 10 meters

Full-featured watch includes time, date, alarm, stopwatch, and bright backlight

Maximum readable heart rate of 200 beats per minute

ECG accurate heart rate monitor without a chest strap

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Polar F6 Women’s Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Green Tea)

I bought it in July, 2009 for $102.95 and now it is available for around $87.00 at Amazon. Unavailable in my color, but they do have other colors.

Most of you have seen me wear this watch in class. I  wear it a lot and it is one of the best, less expensive Polar Watches out there. I have tried many of their styles and so far, this one works the best in this price range. It keeps track of  my most recent workouts - it gives me the heart rate... percentage of time in that zone, the max and min of my heart rate, and what percentage of fat I am burning. It does not hook up to a computer, so you would have to write your report down in a dairy if you keep track of your workouts. It does not have GPS.  I highly recommend this watch.

Product Features

Automatic/Manual Target Heart Rate Zone

Zone Pointer

OwnCal / OwnZone / OwnCode

Full watch functions/Stopwatch/Exercise time/Backlight

 
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Bought and returned:

Polar F11 Women's Heart Rate Monitor Watch

Bought April 2009 for $177.13  - The F11 did not impress me much. Basically it did the same thing as the F6  but more expensive.

 
Garmin 010-00679-25 Forerunner 50 with Heart Rate Monitor and Foot Pod

Bought March 2009 for $111.56 - Nothing much to say about this watch... I was not impressed with it.  I cannot remember why I did not like it... perhaps it did not have the details that their other workout watches had.

 
Polar B3

 Bought it in November, 2006 for $136.14 - Unavailable. Nothing great with this watch. Like the Garmin Forerunner 50, it did not impress me to keep it.

 
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Looks Interesting:

Women's Garmin FR60 LTD Monitors

I am excited! While doing my research on HRM, I ran across another one from Garmin! Log every mile and every minute with FR60, a sleek fitness watch, plus workout tool that tracks your time, heart rate and calories burned. When bundled with the wireless foot pod, FR60 also tracks speed and distance, indoors or out. Then, FR60 wirelessly sends your workout data to your computer for later analysis.

You also can track weight, body fat, body water and six other measurements when using the FR60 with the Tanita BC-1000 body composition scale. The readings are stored on FR60, then automatically sent to Garmin Connect™ when in range of your computer.  However, I am not a big fan on digital body fat weight scales (A review on Body Fat Options coming soon)!  I LOVE the fact that it is smaller in size and it comes in three color choices! At the Garmin website it shows the suggested retail is $99.00, for just the watch!  To purchase the entire bundle, it will cost around $199.99!

MIO Energy Pro Plus Heart Rate Monitor Watch with Fit Stick

I plan to check out this watch soon. Price is around $120.00 

Product Features

Heart rate monitor watch bundled with USB-compatible fitness tester

Displays ECG-accurate heart rate with single touch of watch face

Includes chest strap for continuous heart rate monitoring

Fitness tester interacts with web portal to perform heart health and fitness tests

Customizable with personal data, such as age, weight, height, and more

 Would love to buy, but.....

GoWear Fit

This is pretty cool.  This is NOT a Heart Rate Monitor/Watch, but an overall system if you like to know your total daily activity.... 24 hours daily activity!  I like the fact that you could wear it to bed and see exactly how much sleep you are really having! (Someone like me with insomnia that this could be useful to see) Price is around $260.00 for the set.  By the way.... the GoWear Set is exactly like the Body Bug, however, the GoWear Fit has a sleep monitoring sensor (which the BodyBugg does not).  The BodyBugg has a daily food log and the GoWear has a food log that you do 3 days at a time

CON: $6.95 per month with a 12-month commitment, $9.95 per month for a six-month commitment, or $12.95 per month with no commitment. Why can't this watch have a software CD that comes with the watch for us to keep track on our own computer without buying into a program!!!!!!

Product Description
The GoWear Fit display (NOT including the Arm Band) gives you convenient access to your data – allowing you to track your progress minute-to-minute, day to day! It can be worn as a watch, or clipped to your shirt, pants or bag. Simply sync your GoWear fit armband with the Display and go about your day. It’ll help motivate you to take the stairs, park your car in the furthest spot, or walk your dog the extra block to meet your daily goals!

Please check out the details by clicking this link

Comments? lim761@gmail.com

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