Customer Reviews

Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Before settling on the Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor, I did a lot of research on the various types of HRM out there. I was looking for a HRM that wouldn't just give me my heart rate, but I also wanted a bit more features, but I didn't need a lot of features that the higher numbered FT models offered.

When I saw the FT7 model, I was surprised to see so little reviews or mentions of this model. I'm not sure why, maybe this is a newer model or Polar just prefers directing people to the more expensive models because I kept seeing numerous reviews for the F6 or F7, FT40, and FT60 models.

After comparing various Polar HRMs, I settled for the FT7 because it had all the features that I was looking for in a HRM.

Watch/HRM

- Monitors heart rates. I found the monitoring to be accurate except underwater. (I'll go into detail about that a bit later.)
- Counts Calories. The Calorie counter seems to be quite accurate. I have used it for walking, spinning classes, swimming, and strength training sessions and the calorie counts are reasonable.
- Target heart rate graph. The graph is useful for seeing where you are and if you're within your minimum and maximum HR "fitness" ranges during a session.
- Very user friendly. Even though there aren't any instructions on setting up the watch, I didn't think they were needed. I didn't even bother looking at the manual until I was done configuring the watch, but I've never been one to read manuals. However, others may find the lack of a detailed manual a bit frustrating.
- Stores Training Files. Which include records of session durations, calories burned, average HR, Maximum HR, and the amount of time your workout HR was spent in the target range.
- Weekly Summaries. This basically sums up the total amount of time spent training, the total calories during each session, and how many sessions during the week.
- Settings are very easy to change especially if you have any weight changes and want to keep an accurate count of calories being burned.
- There is also a backlight, which is quite handy if you're somewhere with minimal lighting.
- I also found out that if you hold the "down arrow" button, you can change the time to a second time zone that you can set by going through the "quick menu" which is accessed by holding down the "backlight button (*)" which also leads to the "button lock" feature. If you hold down the "up arrow" button, you can change the "Watch face" to just display the time and date or the time and date and logo, which is smaller on the face, but it includes seconds and FT7 logo along the bottom.
- The women's watch is black with a gold stripe down the center of the band. I found the design to be all right. It is less flashy and colorful as the other models, which is one reason I like this watch. I can wear it with my work clothes and it does not stand out much.
- User changeable batteries. This was something I really wanted out of my HRM. I never liked sending something to the manufacturer for replacements even under warranty. I just don't like dealing with shipping, waiting, and extra fees.
- Water Resistant. I have used this HRM in the pool and the monitoring is relatively accurate when it actually reads the transmitter. I believe the Polar website notes that in some highly chlorinated pools or seawater the transmitter will not be picked up underwater. The pool in my gym is very chlorinated and there were times when the HRM will not pick up my heart rate. But if I just sit still in the water for a minute or so the watch will pick up the signal again. Though this can get annoying if you are trying to swim laps for endurance. The watch still gives me a fair calculation of calories I have burned during my swim sessions. Though the calorie count is most likely lower since I'm not sure how long the watch is not reading my heart rate during times when I am swimming several laps nonstop. I also tried using this in a saltwater treated pool and the moment I went underwater the transmitter does not work at all. So I'm guessing that this HRM will not work if you are swimming in the ocean.

Chest Strap

- The Chest strap is very comfortable, and I usually don't feel it, but then again it might be because I'm used to having something strapped around my chest all day. And I have had no problems of it slipping. It is also recommended to wet the straps a little. I usually just wet my hands a bit and rub against the cloth area, and I'm good to go.
- User changeable batteries. The transmitter pops off easily from the strap, and like the watch, I can change my own batteries, but unfortunately the watch and transmitter use different types of batteries.
- Another perk is that most of the machines in my gym also pick up the transmitter readings, allowing me not have to keep glancing at my watch while I'm on the elliptical or cycling.

Overall, I really like this watch. For the price I paid, it was worth it and it gives me all the basic things I need to monitor my workout sessions.

If you want a simple watch that gives you fairly accurate heart rates, calorie burns, training records, and user changeable batteries the FT7 is a cheaper option to the FT40 and FT60 models.

I am really pleased with this HR monitor watch. Being a woman, I wanted something sturdy yet not so big it dominated my arm. This fits the bill - very adjustable size wize (both the watch and the chest strap). I am average height, but carry most of my weight in my stomach. The chest strap fits very comfortably to me, and the new feature of being able to simply wet the cloth contacts is great (I was used to the old school hard plastic contacts).

According to the product information, you can actually wash the chest strap in the washer - haven't tried it yet.

Fairly easy to use once you get used to which button controls which feature. Advice - when you are setting the watch up for the first time, have the manual in front of you. I accidentally deleted my settings the first few times.

Using the watch while jogging and walking is very easy - the screen is much easier to read than other products I have tried. I was most interested in tracking heart rate, calories burned, and some basics of how I was working out in the fat burning and fitness zones. This watch does a great job with that - afetr you complete a workout it produces a simple summary of total cals burned, how many minutes you spent in far burn vs fitness, and your average heart rate.

I am sure hard core runners want something more than tracks mileage, but I tried a watch like that and found it too cumbersome. Since I am merely using this for fitness, it works perfectly.

I've had the ft7 for maybe two weeks now, using it many times, since it is my first heart rate monitor. Overall, i think it is a good deal. It feels and looks like a high-quality instrument - solid, if not "flashy". It fits my wrists just fine and seems to have plenty of adjustment for larger wrists (I have fairly small wrists for a guy, at a "healthy" weight of 157 at 5'8", at age 40). I believe the watch band is anti-microbial (and anyway, has a cool yet subtle almost snakeskin kind of look to it). The band's connection to the watch seems quite integrated and sturdy, with the vertical thickness of the band being the same as the watch where the two meet. The watch's main body, while plenty large, does not dwarf my wrist or anything.

I understand that it is a fairly recent development for Polar that the chest strap and the watch will both take regular batteries, rather than having to order replacements from Polar. Certainly that is more convenient. Also as I reviewed potentially replacing my ft7 (see reason below), I found that it is also a treat to have a fabric strap for the heart signal transmitter, as a lot of manufacturers use plastic or rubber (?). I find the fabric strap to be no discomfort at all.

The "heart touch" (i think that's the name) feature, is at least a cool novelty - bring your watch close to your heart strap and the watch will beep then flash to show the time, then go back to the previous display after a few seconds.

You can manually rotate through several displays as you are training. I would prefer a display that shows the heart rate and the training time at once, but that combination doesn't exist. The heart rate is a part of one of the combo displays, but oddly, it is paired with the time of day rather than the training time.

Also, the timing functions are rudimentary. As far as i can tell (and i've read the manual too), there isn't a timer or stopwatch function separate from the heart rate training - to use any kind of timer you must "start training" which then looks for a heart signal. If you continue without the strap, it will warn you there's no heart signal, but once you acknowledge that, that warning disappears and you'll see the timer again. There is no interval or lap timing or countdown function, which seems odd to me as a newbie, for a $110 watch, even if lesser timer/stopwatch functions might be usual for this heart rate monitor watch industry. The watch just keeps track of your training duration, but you can pause and continue your work as many times as you want.

The recording of your training sessions is exceptional - the manual said up to 99 training files will be saved. I know i've already got over 20 that are definitely in the watch.

It also automatically keeps track of how much time you spend in "fat burning" or "fitness" zones during your workout. The calculation for that is automatic based on the input you gave when you set up the watch. (age, height, weight, maximum heart rate).

I'll emphasize that this watch will allow you to change your maximum heart rate setting, which presumably will change the watch's calculations for your different training zones (I'm not sure how big the effect is, having just learned enough about my probable true maximum heart rate to change it today). I've read that for similarly trained people of the same age in the same athletic endeavors, max HR can differ by as much as 60 bpm (!), so this feature seems very important. I seem to have a much higher max HR than what the usual formulas calculate. (That, or the watch doesn't detect HR well, which I don't think is the case, as I've noticed this tendency for a long time on gym equipment with pulse detectors).

Besides being able to set your own maximum heart rate, the ft7 has a zone alarm, that will beep when your heart rate has exceeded the limit (which you can set). UNFORTUNATELY (and this is why despite liking the watch overall, i will be taking it back), the sound the watch makes is very very low in volume. If I'm biking against the wind - I'll hardly hear it if at all. If I'm running on a quiet trail, I'll probably hear it if i'm listening for it. If i'm running on the sidewalk along a main road, I'll probably not hear it above the vehicle noise. As is, kind of defeats the purpose of having an audible alarm if despite having it I'm always having to steady my hand while running, or let go of the handlebars while riding to see what my heart rate is. I can find no volume adjustment, looking through the watch settings or reading the manual.

I'd like to say I know more about whether this might simply be a problem with my particular watch, or a design defect. I started a forum question at Polar's site, but got little response. One other person said they had the same problem there, last i checked. The watch's alarm-clock function also has a very low volume when it goes off, so perhaps that is an indication that is the particular watch and not a design defect.

The problem has turned what was an acceptable impulse purchase into a situation where I've investigated models much more thoroughly, and I think I'll try a Timex, mostly because they do tend to have much better timer/interval/stopwatch functions, and I'd like to see if they're cheaper prices, on the average, are worth it.

That being said, otherwise I am overall fond of this watch, and likely would have stayed with it.

Great Product ! Have used it for a couple of weeks now and don't regret the purchase.. works just like it should.

Picks up your heart beat immediately once your 'strapped' in. Set up was easy with the manual in hand. Once you get the idea of how the menu works its a breeze ! Easy enough to be used by the 'technically challenged'.

Wearlink strap is comfortable and one forgets its really there once you begin your physcial activity.

Watch stores statistical data ( calories burned, avg./max heart rate per workout, length of workout, workout time in fat or fitness zone ) which is a great way to monitor progress. Stores data for weeks if one so wishes.

I use the watch to gather data and then trsf it to a spreadsheet for graphical representation. Great way to stay motivated !

Thus far I'm sold on the FT7 !

This is my first heart rate monitor. I have been using it for about a month and I am extremely happy with my purchase. It is user friendly and much more comfortable than I anticipated - I don't even realize I'm wearing the chest strap most of the time. I looked up my target heart rate online (there are a bunch of calculators to google)and aim to stay toward the high end of my target heart rate during my workouts. My heart rate shows up on the watch and on the cardio machine if I'm at the gym. It provides me with the calories I'm burning in a more accurate form than the estimated calories on the cardio machines. I can also monitor my heart rate/calories burned during strength training exercises. I find it easier to determine how much rest I truly need between sets by looking at my heart rate. The monitor helps me a lot during my spinning as well. It is much easier to tell if I could push myself more or if I needed to slow down and/or decrease my resistance a little. I feel like my workouts are more effective since I started monitoring my heart rate.

There is an optional tool to track training through the Polar website, but it requires an additional purchase to transmit data. I am tracking my exercise in a spreadsheet instead so that I can see trends of what works for my body and what doesn't, without spending the extra money. The watch provides me with the length of exercise, average heart rate, maximum heart rate,calories burned, time in the fitness zone and time in the fat burn zone. I'm tracking these, along with the time of day I exercised, type of exercise I did and what I ate before my workout. I'm also calculating average calories burned per minute.

I highly recommend this product!

I bought the FT7 HRM about two weeks ago and have been sing it for all my workouts ever since. It works. It gives me all the features I really need- such as a record of calories burnt, time spent exercising, Max and avg heart rate and time spent in fat burn vs. boosting aerobic capacity. The chest strap is comfortable, you tend to forget about the fact that you are wearing a heart rate monitor once it is on. So absolutely no complaints. The only reason I havent given this 5 stars is that the watch looks fairly unattractive, as does its screen. SO it is functional but not stylish. And I dont see why adding style to a product should be so difficult!

BACKGROUND: Since buying my Garmin Forerunner 305, I found that I hardly scratched the surface in terms of taking advantage of its features. I was also disappointed that it only calculates calories burned if you are running outside. I know that this allows for a more accurate algorithm, but I workout in the gym 90% of the time. So I opted for the Polar FT7 as a simplified device that would give calories burned for all workouts.

SETUP: There isn't a lot to do here. When turning the device on it walks you through basic setup of date, time, and personal information such as age, height, weight, and gender. I wanted to verify that the WearLink unit and watch were able to communicate prior to going for my first workout so I connected the WearLink unit to the chest strap, wet the sensors, and put it on. The wrist unit began receiving heart rate data within a couple of seconds. Satisfied that everything would work OK, I put the watch and chest strap into my gym bag.

USAGE: Since the wrist unit is a digital watch, you could use it as your primary watch since it doesn't have an off button. However, I don't think it is very visually appealing, and I do not plan to do this.

The chest strap seems to be designed for right handed people. I say this because it only attaches on one side, and it felt natural to me. This is different than my Forerunner which had attachments on both sides of the strap to accommodate both lefties and righties.

The buttons on the watch are fairly small and somewhat stiff. While I've gotten used to this, it almost gives it a bit of a cheap feel. This is merely a perception, but it is not one that I had with the Forerunner. That being said, using the FT7 is about as straightforward as you could ask for. After putting the wrist unit and chest strap on, simply push the middle button on the right to establish a connection between the two. When you are ready to begin training, push the button again to start recording your workout.

During your workout, the top and bottom buttons on the right navigate the display between heart rate, calories burned, elapsed time and clock time, and exercise zone (fitness or fat burn based on heart rate). When you are done, press the bottom left button. You can then scroll between resume and stop and select your choice. Once you have stopped, the FT7 displays your summary stats that you can scroll through, and it saves the file with the date and timestamp of your workout.

You can also review your workout history. While in the main time display, press either the up or down button on the right side. You will have a choice of "Settings" or "Data". Selecting "Data" gives you access to week by week information. You can look at weekly summaries as well as data for a specific day. The unit stores up to 99 data files so this should hold 4-6 months of data for most people.

If you need to change any of the information that you entered during setup, you simply choose "Settings", and navigate to the appropriate place.

I was curious how the calorie burn numbers would compare to those of the cardio machines at my gym. I was able to compare with a Precor Elliptical trainer, and I found that the numbers are fairly close. While they did not track identically, they usually came out within 20-30 total calories out of 600 in a 35 minute session. This gives me confidence that the numbers are reasonable, and that what it tells me for activities in other settings are close enough. I also noticed during my session on the Precor that the Elliptical picked up the heart rate from the WearLink unit. This should be the case for any cardio equipment that is labeled for use with Polar technology.

I found the FT7 very easy to use. If you can navigate menu driven software such as Windows Explorer or Windows Media Player you should have no trouble with this device.

CONCLUSION: If you want an easy to use heart rate monitor that tracks calories burned, this is a great place to start. It does what I expect it to do in a straightforward manner. If your needs are not beyond what I have described, there is no reason to spend more money on features that you will not use. If you have questions that I have not addressed, please feel free to ask in the comments section below.

My Polar FT7 has been in use one month now and I love it. I have owned other Polars and a few other brands and frankly, they have all been pretty much disposable. The Garmin I had lasted all of five days and the last Polar had the strap with the non-replaceble battery. This unit uses a removable module on the strap and seems to be of better quality all around. The biggest peeve I have is the absolute lack of any real manual. On page 11 of the manual, right after instructions for initial setup, you are directed to further directions on the internet on a site that is frequently down. I had to watch a youtube video on how to set some of the other functions. The so-called manual also barely mentions the fact that the strap has contacts that must be wet before you place the strap on your chest. I also got that information on youtube. Other than the issues with the manual the monitor has proven utterly reliable and spot on accurate. The training function even accurately tracks calories burned and seems to match the actual dietician sourced calculators 100%. BTW, those calorie calcs your dietician prescribes can usually be found on ebay dirt cheap. Besides, this monitor serves that function very well, at least as far as keeping track of burned callories. I'm not sure how durable the finish is on the watch face as some of the paint seems to me rubbing off right at the Polar logo but the display seems OK and the strap is very good. I highly recommend the Polar FT7.

I've owned about 10 Polar watches over the years. I liked the look of this watch. It's small and has a nice large display for the time. I really like the training log features. I find it very useful to track your training totals by week. I also like the new style chest strap. It's very comfortable and accurate. However, there are two key problems with the watch:
1. The alarm is very low volume. It's barely noticeable when you know it's going off so there is no way it would wake me up.
2. There isn't a way to show the elapsed training time and the heart rate at the same time. To me, this seems like such a basic feature of a heart rate training watch that I was really surprised it wasn't featured. I thought the heart touch feature might help, but it only shows the time of day.

Without these shortcomings, it would be a great watch. These two are pretty major flaws though and if possible I'd return the watch. Unfortunately I bought the watch out of town and there isn't a store near me to return it.

I am really enjoying having this heart rate monitor. It appears to be accurate -- all the time -- and is helping me to know what works for me, in terms of increasing my heart rate and burning more calories. I cannot think of any negatives to this particular model. It's great!