Thursday 25 March 2010

Running - running, heart rate monitor


I bought this HR monitor watch not only so that I could get an idea of where I was during running, but also so that I could improve my conditioning during my runs. The chest strap is comfortable & stays in place (ladies should wear under your bra). The watch has a lot of features, some of which I haven't tried yet. I love the indiglo feature, perfect for those pre-dawn runs! It's definitely helped me improve my pace! Timex Ironman Road Trainer Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Plum/Silver, Mid Size

My wife initially bought this wanting something a little more streamlined and user-friendly than her Garmin, plus, yea it's purple. From the first day she has been very pleased with it's function and usability.

She was lucky enough to have had a Body Bugg(from The Biggest Loser TV show) system shortly after to compare it to. With all the items you needed to buy the Body Bugg was a couple hundred dollars easy and the membership was still in trial, so more money once that started up.

The Body Bugg is probably accurate for an individual who might feel as though walking down stairs is physically taxing. If you are physically fit or even newly pursuing a workout program you will see caloric stats from 1000 one day to 300 the next in the same exact workout. Essentially it's a gimmick but since the Timex was never taken out of the mix, we were able to see how accurate and consistent this device was for HRM and certain calorie measures.

The Bottom Line: If you want an easy accurate HRM this is a great device to get; lightweight; stylish; user-friendly, just don't abuse it or the watch band probably won't hold up. While the calorie burn stats seem to be pretty accurate when compared to medical and fitness formulas, it is taken on a 'Lap' basis, which means you can't leave it running 24/7 and more closely monitor your patterns like calories burned in sleep. Still a great product for the price point. She likes it, I'm happy, I would recommend it.

I am a triathlete and 3 months after purchasing this product, when swimming, water formed under the glass and stopped functioning. The watch claims to be water resistant to 100m, I did not go lower than 10 meters!

This was a gift to my sister who does Ironmans. She tells me it took some time to figure everything out and get it working. But that done, she is pleased to see it does have all the different features she wanted. Here's a comment from her: "at the end of the run, it tells me how long I have spent in the training zone I had programmed, what my max/min HR was, how many calories I burnt." One negative perhaps is that it's "not quite as easy to read on the run" as it has a smaller face to a previous HRM she had. All-in-all however, she is happy with this Timex..

I really like this heart rate monitor although I do have to agree with a few of the other comments concerning calories burned, this morning on the treadmill the watch gave me a calorie read out of 349 calories and while the treadmill had 279 calories used. The treadmill reading seemed to be more in line with the workout I had done. The heart rate readings appear to be very accurate and I like being able to see the review that is given at the end of a workout for total time, time in heart rate zone and average heart rate.



I would definitely recommend this heart rate monitor to others. It has also been fun to wear it at work (I wait tables) and see that when we get busy I am often getting a real workout even while I am working.

Ordered this watch/heart-rate monitor as motivation. My Nursing class was having a competition for 10 weeks on 'who could burn the most calories.' I wanted to find out how many calories I was burning per workout and which workouts burned the most. I'm extremely happy with this purchase! I tested the HR monitor against the ones at the gym and this was spot-on accurate. I was worried that the chest strap would be uncomfortable and it isn't. I even wore my heart rate monitor to work (waitress) and found out that I burn almost 2,000 calories on my shifts!!

I bought this for my girlfriend and she loved it. The watch looks good so she even uses it when she is not working out. I have the same model but full size and it has completely change the way I train, you get more control over your workout and use your time more efficiently. I definitely recommend it for anyone looking to improve their performance.

So far so good. This watch has done for me exactly what I wanted. It's comfortable and fairly easy to set-up, plus the watch is nice looking. The pricing on it was extremely competitive. This is my second iron-man watch. I'm still wearing my first, however it does not come with the heartrate monitor. My first watch has a crack in the screen, so I can no longer wear it in water, but other than that it still functions great. I'm hoping this watch lasts just as long or longer. It doesn't have some of the perks that other heartrate monitor watches have (like counting steps, etc.), but for the price, you can't beat it!

I researched a lot of HRM before deciding on this particular model. I am very happy with my purchase and highly recommend this watch to others.



I am an individual who excercises 4-5 days/week for health and weight management. I was interested in seeing how my different workouts (running, spinning, weight/cardio classes, etc...) compared as far as my exertion/heart rate and the number of calories burned.



This HRM is easy to set up (although the instruction manual could be a little clearer and in a better order) and easy to use once you have it set with your maximum heart rate and other options. I am a petite female (5ft. 2in. approximately 110 lbs) and I have to wear the watch on the tightest setting. The chest strap fits great. I don't even realize I have the chest strap on and it fits easily under a sports bra for a comfortable fit. The face of the watch is a good size (I wouldn't want it any bigger for my size wrist)---the screen is easy to read and it is easy to toggle between settings. I know other reviewers mentioned it being easy to hit a button by mistake but I haven't had that problem. The calories burned and the heart rate monitor seem accurate and I haven't had any problems with interference from gym equipment or other HRMs. One of the selling points for me to purchase Timex was that I could change the batteries myself or take it to a local battery retailer and have them do it. I know other manufacturers (Polar for example) have you send your watch in for battery replacement.



Overall, I love my watch so far and it has become an asset to my workouts. I would highly recommend this watch to others.



On a side note, the first HRM that was shipped to me was defective. Amazon was wonderful and easy to work with on an exchange/return! - Heart Rate Monitor - Heart Monitor Watch - Running - Hrm'


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