Customer Reviews

Sports Instruments Fit 3 Heart Rate Monitor

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

 

 

Sports Instruments (SI) was a Utah based company with 3-4 employees that was sold to Bell Sports in 2004 (and Bell Sports was later sold to Easton Sports in 2006). SI's activities had slowed, and it is reasonable to believe that Sports Instruments Pro, Fit and ECG Heart Rate Wristwatches were last produced in 2003 or earlier. Products were made in Asia by a reputable factory.

Designer and competitive masters athlete Bill Corliss created products with an intelligently designed user interface that was easy to use. The Pro 7 and Pro 9 Hear Rate Wristwatches provided detailed and valuable data for the serious athlete. The Fit and the earlier ECG Fitness Heart Rate Wristwatches had fewer advanced features. The chest transmitter should work with most fitness equipment designed to work with the Polar standard.

If you buy an SI watch, you should know that the original batteries are at the end of their shelf life. Unless the seller has recently replaced batteries, you will quickly or immediately face the burden and cost of dealing with battery issues.

Replacing the watch batteries is too difficult for most consumers, although it can be done with care. Even a professional repair person must use care to maker certain that the parts are precisely returned to the original positions to maintain water resistance, and silicone grease is used for the gasket. Expect to pay $9-20 to have the watch battery replaced, and tell your repair person you want the product to keep its water resistance. The battery on the wireless chest transmitter may be less drained than the watch's and is user replaceable, a nice feature. The chest transmitter's CR2032 3-volt lithium battery should be available for under $4. Total outlay for 2 batteries: $13-24.

The Sports Instruments Pro, Fit and ECG products are closeouts with manufacturing dates of 2003 or earlier. If you are willing to deal with battery replacement issues, make certain that you get a good enough price to justify the added repair burdens ... and that you get good information about how to obtain warranty service from a brand that is no longer produced.

Performance is average, and certainly not terribel. Sometimes with wrist movement you loose signal, sometimes nonsensical maximum reading are recorded that destroy data integrity. The performance is similar to Timex watches of the 2003 era, since SI and Timex watches were built in the same factory and use the same chest sensor. However, I am a great fan of the sensible user interface.

I have really enjoyed this product. As some have mentioned on this page i also experienced some issues with battery life. I sent in the product to the mfr (the warranty is for 2 years from purchase)the bater was replaced and I got it back within 2 days. Their service department was greatIt now works like a charm and I couldn't be happier. I use it 5 times a week and have yet to see another monitor with the same features for the same amount of money.

I have the Fit 3, Pro 7, Pro9 and Fit 1 monitors. These monitors are new old stock and are becoming very scarce. I just received two Fit 3 units and they both are in perfect condition. these monitors provide very accurrate heart rate and have a 7 day workout history mode that gives you date, total time, time in 3 heart rate zones, calories burned, average heart rate. no other monitor has this feature. The Fit 3 is much easier to use than the newer Pro 7 or Pro 9 and has better features. I much prefer the Fit 3 over the Pro series models.

CONS: the Fit 3, and all the pro series models eat batteries in the main unit and are a pain to replace. Must be very careful not to damage the case changing batteries. Need a jewler size phillips screw driver to open the case and remove the watch back, the watch band, a retaining strap, not damage a spring etc. All in all difficult!

All of these units go on tilt when they are under power lines, but return to normal when clear. Can be frustrating.

A nice simpler alternative is the Fit 1 which has less special features but still gives you details of your last workout and is easiest to use of all the models. It does not go on tilt near power lines. It has memory of last workout but not last 7. It is easiest to change batteries and the batteries last 3 times as long as the others.It is hardest to find of all the models. It is smaller, easier to read, simpler to operate. Search for one before getting a Fit 3 or a Pro series monitor, you wont be sorry.

nice HRM but the case breaks
i think they quit making them too
the ears that hold the band on, break
i have had 5 of them so far!
no, i am not doing anything special to make them break

on the other hand it is a very good HRM
you can just exercise and later see how much time you spent
in 3 separate zones
the zones are not changeable
they are
50-70% max
70-80
80-up

i like that better than having to set 'training zones' like all other HRMS

this one is different
i like the way it works better
if the cases were any good
they aren;t

both batteries are user replaceable
battery life is good


wle.

THe Sports Instrument Fit 3 is a great starter heart rate monitor. I had problems and had to return mine within the first month but since the replacement it has wroked like a charm. Great for setting goals and keeping up with workouts.

Beware, I received this watch and it did not work, when I sent the inquiry to Infitinate Surplus, I never received a response. Wish I had read all the reviews prior to ordering and realized it had been manufactured in 2003!! The watch arrived DOA! Now Amazon says Infinite_Surplus has a policy that once an item has been opened, they will not take it back (Amazon should be ashamed of themselves for making people read the fine print of their re-sellers for shipping a product that doesn't work, how are you supposed to find out it doesn't work unless you open it????) In any event, this watch came in a box that had obviously been opened before and taped back shut. Now I think Amazon AND Infinite-Surplus are a huge rip-off

I've been using the Sports Instruments Fit-3 Heart Rate monitor for about a month now and it's proven to be great. I especially like the 'zoom' feature, making it easier to read. The 'chart' mode is great also as I can keep a record of past work-outs. I previously used another brand of HR monitor that was good, but this unit is great!