Customer Reviews

Timex T5H881 Zone Trainer Digital Heart Rate Monitor

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I bought this watch to replace a hand me down Polar S210. Let me just say that I can set up a vcr, but I could never properly set up the polar. I wanted a hrm that told me my heart rate and yelled at me when I was out of my zone. That's it. I know what my heart rate zone should be, I didn't want to go through the endless options of the Polar to setup a single stupid heart rate range.

This Timex is not complicated. It does not have the advance features of the Polar. I know my way around the plain Timex Ironman and when I got this watch it took me about 5 minutes to figure out how to manually set the heart rate zones and to arm the alarm. There's also a dedicated button to simply turn on the heart rate. The manual's there and it's complicated, but it doesn't need to be read.

The Heart rate is a little goofy every now and then when jogging but that's usually because I'm not sweating enough. The watch is probably half the volume of my old Polar and not nearly as fugly. The watch face is appx 3cm high by 2.5cm wide... just a little larger than a plain Ironman Timex. The watch band's max accommodation is just over a 8 inch circumference. If you're a bigger guy, I'd go for the other model the T5H9xx

There's probably other features of this Timex that I'll never use. 4 out 5 stars because I'm pretty sure the watch amazon sent was a previously returned item.

This is my second Timex heart rate monitor and I would never buy anything else. I've experimented with Polars and was highly disappointed. This watch fits nicely and I recommend the black color so that dirt doesn't change the color. I wear it all day and then throw on the chest strap when exercising. I love checking how many calories I have burned and its easy to use. I highly recommend this heart rate monitor!!

This watch makes it easy to do zone training - exercising so that your heart is in one particular "zone" (a percentage of your maximum heart rate). For example - if you are exercising in Zone 3 (70-80% of maximum heart rate) you will get 3 points for every minute exercised and the idea is to accumulate a certain number of points per week. The watch tells you how much total time you exercised, and how much time you spent in your target zone. It doesn't tell you how much time you spent in any other zone or for that matter, points accumulated per exercise - two data points that would have made it much easier to follow the zone training suggested in the manual provided with the watch. Given all the data the watch provides, it would have been trivial to provide these data points as well and it's really beyond me why Timex didn't bother. Seriously guys - time to hire product managers with a functional brain. The heart sensor is, as far as I can tell, pretty accurate and the watch is easy to read. The heart monitor strap can be uncomfortable - being a guy I have all of a sudden, newfound sympathy to women who decide to burn their bras.

I weigh 190lbs with a 34 in waist and the chest strap just fits. I have a small frame (albeit somewhat overweight) so I can see how larger men would have a problem with the chest strap. But, it fits me so I went ahead and gave the watch five stars.

The more I use this thing the more I like it. I wear reading glasses or bifocals at 2.0x power. I can still read the time (the instructions were a different story) without my glasses. In the chronometer function the HR range is displayed above your elapsed time. Your current HR is a little black cursor above the HR range. You can see this in the product picture. This is cool because (even without my glasses) I can see if I am starting to get out of range as the cursor approaches either the high or low end of the range (while still being able to see the chronometer). If you would rather just watch your HR you can switch to make that the dominant display with the chronometer in a small font above it.

You can set an alarm tone to sound when you get out of your HR zone, too.

It will calculate your HR recovery over a 1 min or 2 min period. And, when the recovery period ends the watch is smart enough to stop sounding the HR TOO LOW alarm. However, if your HR goes out of range during recovery the alarm tone keeps sounding. The watch also starts the recovery period as soon as you press stop on the chronometer.

There is a review function so that you can see AVG HR, peak HR, min HR, etc. If you enter your weight in the setup then it will estimate calories burned, too. It just keeps the stats on one session.

After you put in your values for low and high HR for your HR range, you also select your fitness "zone" by selecting if you want to loose weight or work on aerobic fitness, etc. The watch then uses a different percent of max HR to calculate your target HR range depending on the zone you have selected. This "zone" is in the setup so if you want to switch your workout goals everyday then it might be a pain to switch that every day... but at least you wouldn't need to enter values for HR or figure the percent of max that you want to use for that day.

Ok, I found an annoyance with this watch. I set the alarm tone to notify me when I am above or below my HR range. When you stop working out the watch doesn't know when to quit. You can stop the Chronometer, reset it... you can even take off the chest strap, and the watch keeps beeping. The only way that I have found to turn off the alarm is to separate the two (like my kids) so that the watch can't receive the RF signal from the chest strap.

I read alot of reviews on heart rate monitors. upon recieving the item I took it out of the box and followed the directions. It was easy and simple. It comes with the chest strap. As the instructions suggest I ran my finger under tap water. With my finger (after it was wet) rubbed it on the monitor and put on the strap. It worked withing 30 seconds and conitinued to monitor my heart rate in real time. Works like a champ.

Pro:
I average 10 miles a week with legs and lungs to supplement my martial arts practice and I stand 5'9" and weigh 180lbs. The basic features for this watch are great for the casual to semi-serious runners and work out junkies. HRM, Target Zones that beeps if you exceed or fall below, average heart beats per lap, and approximate calories burned (I wouldn't really rely on this because every body is different) are to name a few of the features that I like. A very AFFORDABLE HRM watch, I've been looking around for the past year and couldn't really justify paying $100+ for a Polar or anything within that price range - If I was a pro triathlon athlete, the story would change. However I'm sure this watch can meet some expectations of the pro's.

Cons:
The face of the watch was a little bit small to read. I tend to jog at night so it's important for me to stay alert and not have to zone in on the watch to figure out my HR and time. Therefore, this was the primary reason why I exchanged it with a Timex Ironman T5C411 Unisex 30-Lap Digital Fitness Heart Rate Monitor Watch. The T5C411 is much more aesthetically pleasing with a large face, same functions, and a few more bucks out of the wallet. Nonetheless, don't discount its size for its functionality!

First of all, the delivery was a day or 2 sooner than expected. I spent allot of time on line researching heart monitors before purchasing. I wanted to make sure I purchased a heart rate monitor that would work in an athletic club, i.e. spin class, therefore the Digital monitor was the way to go. I also wanted the monitor to be easy to use and read. I had it narrowed down between the Pulsar and the Timex, as both appeared to be Digital and easy to use. I chose the Timex due to the fact that you can change the batteries yourself vs. sending it back to the manufacturer. I have used the watch about 5 days/week during exercise including running, biking and even group classes in the gym. It has worked great! I am very happy with the purchase.

I read the reviews and thought what if it doesn't work. Took the plunge anyway. Best plunge I ever made. Had it for about a month. I have no regrets. The HRM is easy to set up. The manual does not go into great detail, but you get enough to get going and if you are a quick study it's pretty easy. BY ALL MEANS READ THE MANUAL. The cost was a steal when compared with other sites. I use mine at least twice a week and it works very well. I use only the watch in chrono mode to time my daily walk on my lunch break at work. I stay in my zone, which I customized myself. It tells me how long I was in my zone and how fast I recovered as well as the total calories (requires chest strap to be on and watch in chrono mode). The calories are a bit exaggerated, but the HR is dead on. I am sorry that it does not save the workout totals to a log, but you can always write it down. Helpful hint- Use plain old tap water to make it work. Just a wet your fingertip and smear it on the chest strap, put it on and TA DA! I love it, and yes it is more of a girl size watch, but you guys can strap it to your machines like I do and get all the benefits without people looking at you funny. It won't display on my home elliptical like I hoped, but that's what the strap is for. Buy it, you won't be disappointed.

I purchased this product mainly for heart rate monitoring while cycling. The product works great as long as the chest strap and the watch are in close proximity to each other. During cycling, while sitting upright and arms extended, the wrist watch (mounted on the wrist) can be about 2 feet away from the chest strap. Unfortunately, at this distance, the sensor in my watch sometimes fails to pick up heart rate signals from the chest strap. I replaced the battery in the chest strap but saw no improvement. I now wear the watch closer to my elbow during cycling workouts. Ever since I started doing that, the product hasn't missed a beat. Just make sure the watch and chest strap are close to each other.

It is a nice watch that is easy to read and use once you read the directions. The heart rate sensor adjusts easily and has no trouble being picked up by the watch.

If you are interested in logging your workout on the computer with the use of a data logger, then do not buy the Oregon Scientific logger. It is not compatible with the coded FM signal from the Timex heart rate sensor. Instead you need to get the Timex T5G751 Data Recorder 2. It works great with this package.