Why get a heart rate monitor?
I started looking for a heart rate monitor last summer. I was training for a triathlon and wanted to know how my perceived exertion measured up with my actual exertion. Enter the heart rate monitor. Among other things, heart rate monitors are really good at resolving this problem of perceived versus actual exertion. For those of us that think we are working harder than we are or overcompensate and burn ourselves out, heart rate monitors take the guess work out of exercising.

Which make?
I automatically associate heart rate monitors with Polar as I do copiers with Xerox, so I started my search with Polar (www.polarusa.com). Polar used to offer heart rate monitor with names like Tracer, Pacer, etc. Now they offer the A-series that is billed for beginners, the M-series for the "dedicated exerciser," and finally, the super-technical S-series with functions for VO2 max and computer upload capabilities.

Which model?
I wanted a monitor that would tell me how long I had been exercising in my target heart rate zone and one that I could swim with. Therefore, I settled on the A5. It seemed to give me a greatest number of functions for about $100 dollars. It was waterproof and it told me how long I had been working out in my "zone." The A5 will save your last workout until the next time you exercise. (Each time you activate the monitor it starts a new file, so write down your readings after each workout to insure you don't lose the information by accident.)

How I like it?
It is a quality item built by a quality manufacturer. As long as you research which model you want for what you want to accomplish, any heart rate monitor you buy from Polar will stand the test of time. The chest strap (transmitter) was comfortable. The watch although a bit on the chunky side has a display that is easy to read and buttons that are easy to operate. All that being said, it is not that easy to operate. An article I read advises allowing 40-hours to get used to operating your monitor. I didn't believe them but after I had deleted several of my files and exercised a couple of times without creating a file, I had to admit that it was taking longer than I thought to get the hang of the thing. My advice is to wear it to work for a day. I did that and not only had I mastered the functions of the watch by the end of the day, but I also had the added benefit of seeing what events through the day caused my heart rate to rise. Interesting!!

Downfalls?
Besides the ease of use issue, I found that in a very short amount of time (less than 6 months), I wanted the A5 to give me more information. I wanted to know how many minutes I was in the target zone, as well as how many minutes I spent above or below the zone. I wanted to know exactly how long I had been exercising without having to remember the time I started or estimate it based on the Target Zone Bullets (a dot appears on the screen for every ten minutes of exercise in your zone) or press buttons in the middle of a workout to get a timer. So I went back to the Polar website to compare models. What I found was that the next step up to the M-series watches also came with a price jump but without a lot of added functions. The M-21 (black watch face) and M-22 (silver watch face) add OwnCal and OwnZone which calculate how many calories you have burned while exercising and your most efficient exercise zone respectively. These function cost another $50 without telling me what I really wanted to know. The M-51/52 did tell me but for $180. (There is a two-user function which would be beneficial for a couple that doesn't exercise together, as well as OwnIndex, which gives you an idea how fit you are.)

Conclusion
If you plan to train harder in the next year than you do now and think you want to know more information, get a monitor with more functions that you might want now so you can grow into the watch as you get more serious about your program and more knowledgeable about your heart rate. The A5 will keep average exercisers happy for most of the time. If you just gotta have Polar and don't mind spending more to have it, you will probably be happy with what you get (no matter what model).

I didn't need to stick to Polar and thought I could do better on the price/function ratio so I started looking at other manufacturers of heart rate monitors and found there are several worth looking at. I ended up with the Sports Instruments ECG 5 Zone Trainer Pro (www.sportsinstruments.com) purchased from www.trisports.com. It gave me exactly what I wanted and then some for about half the price of Polar.

My husband now uses the A5 and so far has no complaints.


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