Makes me exercise more!
Written: Mar 21 '01 (Updated Mar 25 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent tool for monitoring your exercise
Cons: Factory servicing of battery and transmitter adds to cost
The Bottom Line: Excellent tool to track your exercise and inspire you to do more.
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| marcman's Full Review: Polar M21 |
I bought the M52 because I wanted to be more scientific about getting fit. I wanted a way to put a number to how hard I was exercising and to make sure I was exercising efficiently. The OwnIndex feature (which estimates how fit you are) was also intriguing to me and this model allows you to store settings for 2 individuals so I could share this with my girlfriend.
Several months later, I am quite pleased with my purchase and use it around 5 times per week. I think my favorite aspect of it is that I can see how long and hard I've exercised for and then I can log it in my Palm (I have an "Exercise Log" memo in my Fitness category). I write down how long I've exercised for and how long I was in my target heart rate zone, and how many calories I've burned and then I can look over it and the end of the week and see how well I've done. The fact that I am able to write down the numbers also inspires me to work out more often and to work out longer and harder so I can get better numbers. Along the same lines, often I'm walking or running and I'm more or less ready to quit, but then I see that I'm only 5 minutes away from getting another "bullet" (a beep/icon that you get for every 15 minutes that you spend in your target heart rate zone). This usually motivates me to continue for 5 more minutes so I get the satisfying little beep and I can see that I burned more calories at the end of my session. So in a way, the heart rate monitor acts as a motivational tool. This alone makes it very valuable to me.
The other great thing about it is that it keeps me exercising at the right intensity so I work as hard as I need to but not harder than I have to. If you read "Smart Exercise" (see my epinion on it at http://www.epinions.com/content_14262767236) by Covert Bailey, or a myriad of other fitness books or magazines, you will see that low and high intensity training are suited for different goals. Personally, I do a lot of fitness walking (fairly low intensity) to burn fat but I mix in some jogging and sprinting (higher intensity) to improve my cardiovascular system. The heart rate monitor is a great help here, because it makes sure that my heart rate is high enough when I'm walking and not too high when I'm running. When I'm running, I only let my heart rate go high for a minute or two at a time so that I'm pushing my body to adapt to anaerobic exercise, but I'm not wasting a lot of effort and tiring myself out.
The transmitter (worn around your chest with an elastic strap) is pretty accurate as long as you follow the directions and wet the electrodes a little before beginning. It sometimes gets wacky when it's not wet enough or when the transmitter is not on properly. Generally, it works very well. You're supposed to wash and dry it when you're done with your exercise to extend its life. The watch is pretty nice and easy to use. I use the watch as my everyday watch.
The OwnIndex fitness test is another interesting feature. You basically relax for a few minutes while lying down and doing nothing and then the heart rate monitor gives you a cardiovascular fitness number that you can track over time. This feature depends on you entering your height, weight, age, sex, and activity level. I have seen some small improvements in my OwnIndex over the course of my exercise. It's nice to see that you are making progress. This inspires you to continue.
I think the only annoyance is that the manual says that the watch battery needs to be factory-replaced (in order to insure the water resistance of it) and the transmitter lasts for about a year or so and then needs to be replaced. These two things mean that you're going to have to pay a bit to maintain your monitor. I haven't had to do this yet though. So far, I am quite pleased with the M52's performance and value.
As far as the price, I bought mine for $139.99 from drugstore.com. I tend to research pretty heavily before buying things, so I looked around quite a bit at various sporting good stores and on the Web and this was the best deal I could find. Actually at one point, drugstore.com had it on sale for $129.99, but I was still trying to decide whether I wanted it and I missed the end of the sale by a day :-( So you might want to keep an eye out for sales, but it seems to me that even $139.99 was an excellent price.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
marcman
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Location: Santa Clara, CA, USA
Reviews written: 42
Trusted by: 33 members
About Me:
If I was writing for my dinner, I'd be a heck of a lot thinner.
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