Comments on: Polar F4 Men’s Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Black Thunder)

By: Barowdwngs

Barowdwngs — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:31:07 +0000

Review by Barowdwngs for Polar F4 Men's Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Black Thunder) Rating: For a number of years I used a Polar heart monitor. It more closely resembled the F1 or F2 of today. It had one button. That's all it really needed. While running you could motion the watch passed your chest sensor and it would change the settings to clock, stopwatch, heart rate, etc... It was simple but it was built well and it never failed me.

So when I figured I would buy a new HRM I thought I would splurge a little- get TWO buttons this time. I bought the Polar F4.

So far I'm not impressed. It feels cheaper, it's missing some of the basic features the old watch had, and it cost twice as much as the old one. Having two buttons hasn't really saved me much time in inputing my data either, surprisingly. I may not have figured out all of the features yet but I can't seem to change functions without stopping my run. I can't see past workouts. It seems like it has backlighting when I wave my watch over the sensor but the monitor reboots the numbers at the same time the light is on - so that while the light is on there's no heart rate, just spinning numbers. It just thinks the whole time. I'm a little baffled.

I can't take it back but I wish I could. I don't know if the F1 or F2, of today, is closer to what I had before or if the whole line of monitors took a drop in quality. So I'm not sure what to suggest.

I'm giving it one star because it does indeed track heart rates, and another star because I used to really like Polar.

Someday soon there'll be a reliable solution for connecting your HRM to an iPhone, and it won't require a subscription. In retrospect, I think I would wait for that day, if I had it to do over.

By: elvis

elvis — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:12:28 +0000

Review by elvis for Polar F4 Men's Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Black Thunder) Rating: this item is great! back light? if you put the watch up to the transmitter "heart touch", a back light goes on but only when you're exercising/transmitting. if you want to see the time/date in the dark you can do that also when exercising/transmitting by pressing the right button two times and do heart touch.

before purchasing this product i did some researching about brands, models etc. everyone seems to recommend polar. as far as i've searched this is the least expensive one which also has the "OwnCal" which is what shows calories burned. that's pretty much why i purchased this product is to measure my calories burned.

the watch gives pretty accurate calories burned readings, which was what i was most interested in.

product seems durable enough for me as long as i take care of it and wash it after usage.

one con, it doesn't tell you a minimum heart rate reading, or a RESTING HEART RATE during a workout period.

edit: just one more. if you're a "bigger guy" you probably won't fit the chest strap/transmitter they send as default. polar sends out a size medium which might fit most people. it fit me, but was a bit tight even after i've lost inches off my chest. the medium (which comes default) will fit a 25"-54" chest. i know you wear it just below the chest but it was still tight for me, my chest measures 43". the large, which is the biggest size they offer, will fit 33"-63" chest.

here's the amazon link for the large, which is what i ordered, to save you people time: http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Replacement-Elastic-Strap-Large/dp/B000C044N2/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
you can also search amazon yourself by searching for: Polar replacement strap

great product, i recommend it to all! everyone i showed it to finds it interesting. great tool if you're serious about exercising, a heart rate monitor with calories burned is a MUST HAVE!

By: B. Kniffen

B. Kniffen — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:47:48 +0000

Review by B. Kniffen for Polar F4 Men's Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Black Thunder) Rating: I use it about 3 to 4 times a week and it does what I need it to do. If you are looking for more bells and whistles, you may want to look at another model. If you want a good standard model that will give you heart rate, calorie burn and summarize your information as you continue to do workouts, this is it. For the price...I think it's a great product.

By: Michael P Mccullough

Michael P Mccullough — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:27:49 +0000

Review by Michael P Mccullough for Polar F4 Men's Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Black Thunder) Rating: Read the manual. One reviewer complained that it beeps constantly - she should have reset her target zone. I lamented that it kept reading too high, or became stuck on one heart rate even if I sprinted or stopped, or it displayed just zero zero. I discovered (by reading the directions)that I needed to turn my Blackberry off. It works fine if my phone is off!

By: D. Teuber

D. Teuber — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:10:39 +0000

Review by D. Teuber for Polar F4 Men's Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Black Thunder) Rating: First, if you buy one of these be aware that it's extremely easy to accidently wipe out all the personal and cardio info it stores. There isn't any way to lock this monitor to protect such loss.

I sent this monitor in for repair. They emailed me to tell me they received the monitor. They emailed me to tell me they replaced the circuit board. They had my monitor over a month. I got this monitor back and it works exactly the same as before I sent it in. They did nothing to it. Yes I know how to read and I always read the manuals for everything I buy. This monitor does not display the time when brought to the transmitter belt like it say's it will in the manual. There isn't any way for me to have this display the time while it is monitoring.

Update. It takes Polar apr. 4 days to reply to an email sent to them. The last email they sent me was to inform me that the F4 instruction manual is for the European market and it needs a coded transmitter in order to check the time of day while it's monitoring the heart. It was either pay $45 for a coded transmitter or follow their suggestion and upgrade to the F6 which I ended up doing but would have preferred not to. I just need something to monitor my heart and tell me what time it is. To upgrade I called their customer service and waited on the line for over 15 minutes. Note, if you upgrade they will only credit you with 30% of the F4 price. They have terrible customer support. And to put the icing on the cake they didn't even spell my first name right or include my apartment number on the package with the F6.