Customer Reviews

Polar F4 Men's Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Black Thunder)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

I am in the middle of the Couch to 5K running program and am using SparkPeople.com to track fitness and food information. I was pretty sure the estimates were way low for the calories I was burning on the training runs, so I researched HRM options. The Polar F4 gave me what I needed without all the bells and whistles I don't want or need. It's simple to operate. Gives me the data I want and isn't big or clunky.

Turns out I was right and the website was way low on my calorie burn during these training runs. I'm really glad I have it.

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!

I've had this heart rate monitor in ice blue for 2yrs and it has always served me well. For Christmas, I bought this black one for a friend. New heart rate monitors have all sorts of bells and whistles and are rather large. This one is simple and small and does exactly what I need and want it to do. Prior to my purchasing this HRM, my friend had bought herself a non-polar brand HRM and it did not work as well/at all right out of the box. Polar is the original developer of the HMR and I would stick with their products for this reason.

I use it a lot for jogging and while I play tennis. It's pretty good, I've had it for almost two years now and haven't had any issues. You do have to take care of it, always rinse it with some water after you exercise and leave it in a dry place. When I bought it I thought all polar watches could upload the data to a computer but unfortunately this model doesn't, it's not bad but I wish I could do that. So my next polar I'll be sure I can upload the stats somewhere.

I'm really enjoying my F4. It has all basic and important monitoring functions you will need. It is so light that I some times forget that I'm using it.

I bought this for my adult son for his birthday. He uses it when he bikes. He says he loves it and knows what he needs to work on to make his "numbers" what they need to be as he exersises.

This item was just what I was looking for. It gives me a constant readout of my heart rate when I am working out, tells me when I need to pick it up or take it down and even keeps a summary of my workouts for furture reference.