13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good, accurate, low cost monitor., April 28, 2010
This review is from: Schwinn Active Trainer XT Heart Rate Monitor (Sports)
Contrary to the other review I have never had redness,irritation or slippage from a chest belt, having used one for over six years.
My previous chest belt's battery has lasted over six years. Having a replaceable battery in the belt is a plus.
I have never had trouble breathing with the sensor snug to my chest, could hardly tell it was there.
The monitor setup is a little confusing, only because of the input data it requires.
It does everything my +$100.00 pulse rate monitor does and more.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gym on a Budget, August 1, 2010
This review is from: Schwinn Active Trainer XT Heart Rate Monitor (Sports)
I have a 25-year-old exercise bike. The manufacturer is no longer around. The bike is a perfect fit for my 5'00" height. The pedals work, the resistance knob works, and the timer is inaccurate, though it works. What doesn't work is any of the monitoring dials and gauges, that would help me track the time and intensity of a workout. After two weeks of 15 minute workouts, I wanted to know something objective about effort, beyond the consistent daily use of the exercise bike.
I wanted to refurbish the exercise bike because of the weather in the past eight months. We went from three record snowfalls to record allergens to record heat, with very little walking-outdoors weather in between. I would have to stay in a small apartment and get my exercise at home, to regain some conditioning after the eight-month hiatus.
Once I had set up the daily habit of biking for ten minutes or more every day, the challenge was to turn this exercise bike -- the perfect fit for my size -- into a bike that would monitor training in some way.
The Schwinn Active Trainer XT Heart Rate Monitor (HRM)has turned out to be everything I wanted, for a rock-bottom minimum price that I could afford NOW. I didn't need it to fit my small wrist, but it does, with another inch of holes for the buckle to go smaller, and over two inches of holes to go longer.
The SCHWINN Active Trainer XT does several different things that are part of the usual bells and whistles on an exercise bike, treadmill, or elliptical machine. You need to take time to set it up correctly. I don't think any HRM is really a quick start.
First, copy the instructions, and enlarge them, using a "fit to page" setting for each single page.
Read the details of operation, such as wetting the back of the strap that goes around your chest. This strap picks up your heart rate and sends it to the HRM, for constant information about your heart rate. This is part of determining whether your exercise is reaching aerobic levels.
The watch has a number of modes: TIME and ALARM work like any watch. The two training programs are TIMER, for training a specific length of workout, and CHRONO, for a training program that is not time specific. Both require that you begin by enter USER information, gender, age, height, and weight, from which the watch calculates BMR -- though it doesn't reveal this figure. Free BMR calculation is available on the web, and is simple enough that I'm sure the Schwinn can calculate BMR accurately.
It takes a bit of play and study to figure out, and reading (and rereading) the directions is *very* important to the entire experience. There are 9 or 10 modes. TIME and ALARM work like a watch. Either TIMER or CHRONO has the trainer programs that you design -- twenty minutes in your target heartrate zone, with a five-minute warmup would go in the TIMER mode. For the CHRONO mode, you also input information about your target heartrate, desired warmup, and then it works like a stopwatch, counting the time you spend exercising -- or in physical activity that burns calories and fat. You have to pick either TIMER or CHRONO and run it with the other program closed.
MEMORY mode tells the calories and grams of fat burned during your exercise.
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To summarize:
Using the information you have entered in the USER mode, the Schwinn watch/monitor (HRM), with strap in place, keeps track of whether you have increased the vigor of your exercise to the aerobic level, 60% to 80% (or a percentage you can set). The HRM keeps track of the time you spend "in the zone" -- at or above the aerobic level of exercise. The record is available in the MEMORY function.
Is the Schwinn Active Trainer XT accurate? The heart beat detector is accurate. It reports the heart beat at the same time as a friend's Blood Pressure Monitor as equal, + or - 1 beat.
I thought it would difficult to pedal and watch the watch, rather than having some sort of monitor mounted on the bike. Thus I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is a very neat way to mount the the Schwinn HRM on your training equipment handlebar.
If there is no signal on the HRM, there are several reasons. The strap may be too loose, or you forgot to wet it before putting it on. You may need to be moving fast enough/hard enough to raise your heart rate to within 10 per cent of the minimum aerobic target. The possibilities are nicely covered in a very readable (once enlarged) set of instructions -- to which you should turn *first*.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing Value!, August 13, 2010
This review is from: Schwinn Active Trainer XT Heart Rate Monitor (Sports)
This is my second heart rate monitor, both with chest straps. This one is easy to use and tracks calories easily, which is why I wanted one. It is actually a great watch and especially if you are on the fence due to the low price, I would grab it. I use it mainly for running, P90x and biking. I paid $16 but I see the price has gone up a little, but still a great deal!
I am a small/medium sized woman and the strap is on the very tightest setting and barely fits. So if you are small this might need a new strap. But, you don't even know its on.
Also, the bad review is about HRMs with straps in general, don't let it talk you out of this watch!
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