I am an exercise-lover and one tool that I particularly think is really cool is the Polar watch so I thought I would share
my story and my review of the Polar FT40 Heart Rate Monitor. At one time I was teaching Physical Education to college
kids in Southeast Georgia. The director of P.E. for the local college where I taught researched and found that these
heart rate monitors were the best on the market for the price so he purchased about 30 watches by the college for the
college kids to use. We met on the track by the high school and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:00 a.m., we
strapped them on every class period to walk/run the track. The college students loved the fact (and so did I) that for the
first time you could actually monitor and track your progress! This was my first experience with the Polar Monitors and I
loved it. Some of them had never walked or jogged on a regular basis and they were thrilled to have a trackable way
to brag about “I did a mile today in 5 minutes and when I started, it took me 10 ten minutes this time, instead of 15
minutes.” It was exciting to see how those who had never exercised got all excited about being able to clock and track
their mileage, their heartrate and the time it took them. They also loved the stop watch feature. One other thing is
that in the South it is hot most of the year and you can take the band and wash it in cold water and hang it to dry. It
dries quickly and is fresh for the next walk/jog.
What To Look For When Buying A Heart Rate Monitor:
- How Easy Is It To Use?
- How Does It Track Results?
- How Can It Motivate You?
- Is It Flexible To Go With You Where You Want To Go?
- Where Can I Find Help To Figure It All Out?
- What Are Some Bonus Extra Features?
- What Are Some Extra Options If I’m Interested?
If you just buy a heart rate monitor based on the price, you might be disappointed. I have done extensive research on
this one and I have used one personally. So stick with me here as I will be explaining each of these in relation to the
Polar FT40 heartrate monitor.
How Easy Is It To Use?
Wrist Unit
It is comfortable and durable.
Chest Strap
You just have to slightly dampen it to make it conducive to read your heartrate. Some people
don’t particularly like this feature and it wasn’t my favorite, but once you are exercising and are
working up to your maximum heartrate, you should be breaking a sweat anyway, so I got over that fact.
You can adjust the strap to your liking and once you stop moving, you won’t remember it is there.
How Does It Track Results?
The polar heart monitor gives you several ways to test your heartrate. One feature is the beats per minute. It gives you
a graph or a trend to see how your heart is reacting to the exercise you are doing. Heart rate is the measurement of
the work your heart does and can be expressed as the number of beats per minute or as a percentage of your
*maximum heart rate. Another way to measure is a percentage of your heart rate reserve, which means the difference
between your resting heart rate and your maximum heart rate. The formula looks like this (HRR = HRmax – HRrest).
Using the Polar heart rate monitor, one neat feature is that you can watch the trend of your heart and how it responds
to each workout or training session.
*220 – your age = maximum heart beats per minute you shouldn’t go over during an intense workout. This is a guide
and after you have done the workout with the polar monitor, you will be able to tell what is normal for you. Any pain
in your chest area is an indication of trouble, so don’t overdo. And of course, get a doctor’s clearance and talk to your
doctor if you experience any unusual symptoms during exercise. This is intended to enhance your overall health and
stamina, so be certain you have had a stress test if you are over 30 or have any family history of heart attack and/or
strokes even at a younger age. If your doctor gives you a green light, work intensely, but work up to those intense
workouts. Your heart is a muscle and like any other muscle needs time to build up endurance and the tissues will
actually grow larger. Fun fact to know: You actually have a BIGGER heart, if your heart is fit and strengthened by
regular exercise. Isn’t that cool? Don’t worry if all of this is a bit overwhelming, just go to the website and you can
figure it out step-by-step.
Polar OwnCal feature that calculates for you the number of kilocalories you have expended during your draining. It will
actually display the percentage of fat you have burned during one training session. It also has a cumulative effect by
telling you kilocalories expended during one session and also can add all kilocalories burned during several of your
training sessions as well.
A Wireless ECG , that records the maximum heart rate of training.
Manual Setting – This setting allows you to define the target zone that you desire and is suitable for your own personal
training. You can set the target zone for your training in one of 3 ways: as beats per minute (bpm), as a percentage of
your maximum heart rate, or as a percentage of your heart rate reserve (HRR%).
Heartrate-based with audible alarm and visual alarm
How Can It Motivate You?
You can choose your target zones for a training session based on your heart rate to help define the right intensity for
you. I love this feature. What happens is that when you are exercising and get out of the preset zones, the training
computer gives you a visual and audible alarm to alert you as a warning.
Weekly History
This features a weekly history that gathers your weekly training data for you automatically. By selecting a certain week,
you can review your training data for exactly what you have done in your workout.
EnergyPointer
This is really great too. The polar FT40 has an easy-to-use feature which lets you know if during a training session, the
main effect of your training has been fat burning or fitness improvement. It gives you a visual indicator with the center
point between these two training effects, so when you are below that point, you are improving fat burning, and above
that point, you are improving your aerobic fitness. That may take a bit of getting used to, but once you learn how to
“read” this, you will appreciate knowing “Am I burning fat?” or “Am I strengthening my lower body and heart muscles
by having a slower, toning-my-muscles day.”
Record Total
The Polar FT40 keep totals including your training data starting from the last reset enabling you to follow your training
progress from the beginning to end.
Records number of exercise files (with summaries)
The number of exercise files stored in your heart rate monitor and includes total exercise time, time in target zone and
average heart rate.
Polar Fitness Test measures your aerobic fitness at rest in just five minutes. The result, Polar OwnIndex, evaluates your
maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max). With the Polar Fitness Test you can measure your aerobic fitness by yourself,
automatically and without any exertion. All you need is your training computer.
Is It Flexible To Go With You Where You Want To Go?
Water resistant (but read exactly HOW the Polar monitor can be used before diving in)
Polar products may be worn when swimming. They are not, however, diving instruments. To maintain water resistance,
do not press the buttons of the product under water. When measuring heart rate in water, you may experience
interference for the following reasons:
Pool water that has a high chlorine content, and seawater are very conductive and may cause the electrodes of the
transmitter to short-circuit which will prevent ECG signals from being detected by the transmitter which reads your
heartrate.
Jumping into the water or strenuous muscle movement during competitive swimming can possibily shift the
transmitter to a location on the body where the ECG signals cannot be picked up.
How does Polar define water resistant? (You need to know this before you jump!)
When it says “water resistant” it means it is alright to be exposed to wash splashed, sweat, raindrops.
When it is a Polar Wearlink, and says “water resistant up to 30m” it means alright to be exposed to wash splashed,sweat, raindrops, bathing, swimming.
When it says ” water resistant up to 50m” it means alright to be exposed to wash splashed, sweat, raindrops, bathing,
swimming.
When it says “water resistant up to 100m” it means alright to be exposed to wash splashed, sweat, raindrops, bathing,
swimming and skin diving with snorkel (no air tanks).
Where Can I Find Help To Figure It All Out?
Website Help – The company encourages you to register at http://polarpersontrainer.com to help keep you motivated
and to record your workouts so you can see daily, weekly and long-term follow up. You may function
better with a workout buddy and you can interact here as one option.
This website also offers you help when choosing a type of exercise and then specifically tailor it to your individual level
and fitness goals.
You can also invite your friends or meet new ones here on this site to challenge them or just to challenge yourself to
stay focused on your personal fitness goals. Use the polarpersonaltrainer.com community to share your training goals,
problems and personal successes with them so that you can talk to other people who are also using the same
equipment that you are – the Polar FT40. It always helps to read about how other people solve their issues with some
new thing-a-ma-bob.
Another cool feature is that you can take all of this information on your watch and transfer all of your training and test
data wirelessly to your computer to access your progress.
What Are Some Bonus Extra Features Included?
Date and weekday indicator
Dual time zones
Time of day (12.24h) with alarm
Backlight
Keylock (By activating the KeyLock, training computer buttons are locked, and accidental presses won’t be a problemduring your workout.)
Control the sound volume level setting
Low battery indicator
Additional Options To Consider As Extras To Purchase:
Polar T31 – Coded transmitter that locks in a code to transmit your heart to a training computer.
FlowLink – Transfers data between your training computer and the website by Polar called polarpersonaltrainer.com.
All you have to do it connect it to a PC with its USB connection and you’re good to go.
Bike Mount – mount it on your bike
What’s Included:
Polar FT40
* Polar FT40 training computer
* Polar WearLink®+ transmitter
* Manual
Does It Include A Warranty?
The Polar site says: ”Polar Electro Oy/Polar Electro Inc. guarantees the original consumer/purchaser of this device that the product will be free from defects in material or workmanship for two (2) years from the date of purchase.” So hang on to your receipt!
What Others Are Saying:
This polar heart rate monitor has received rave reviews from most consumers
on the net with an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars from most reviewers on the
Amazon websites and other review websites.
Here are some of the comments to date”
“Unlike the older models, FT40 has a replaceable battery”
“The green Polar FT40 is the first heart rate monitor I have owned and I love it”
“I always used Polar to track my exercise”
“Compatible with most gym equipment, treadmills, cross trainers etc.”
“Easy to use”
“I like the download data feature as well”
“Find that the font size is perfect, I can read it without glasses”
“It is simple to set-up and use, and comfortable to wear”
“It is easy to tell at a glance whether I am in a Fat Burning zone or a Fitness zone”
Any Complaints?
I found very few complaints for the heart rate monitor around the internet. One
consumer said that he had found it very difficult to replace the battery. However, this
new model has the improved feature of the replaceable battery versus the older models.
You can either replace the battery yourself of go to your local jeweler to have the battery
replaced versus having to send the entire unit back to the manufacturer with the older models.