I really have to admit that Biggest Loser really influence my life. Since last year I made a promise to myself to have a healthier lifestyle. I managed to stop smoking since last year and this year I plan to be a runner and hope to enter any of the local marathon event. One day I watched Biggest Loser and I saw this guy with a heart rate monitor wrist watch and I told myself “boy… I really need that”.. why? I’m a gadget freak so everything have to involve with technology in my life …hahaha ..actually, since I seriously started to jog for the past one month I don’t know wether I push my body to hard or I can push it further…so the options are: -
1. Join a gym club and I can use their machine with a heart rate monitor
- Naaa… I’m to lazy to go to gym, I hate to pay for the parking and the monthly commitment. Also I’m an outdoor person
2. Buy my own gym equipment with a built in heart rate monitor
-Wah!!! to expensive… I can buy one Nikkor 17-55mm with that money…Hahaha
3. Just buy one pair of good jogging shoes and a wrist watch with heart rate monitor…
-Aha!!! this sounds good and really cheap… no monthly commitment and I can also enjoy the outdoor workout
With all the researched I did finally I decided to go for the Polar brand. My first impression about Polar product was really confusing because they have bunch of models which suited your needs and the worst thing, nobody from my local fitness retailers can give me a good product explanation. Finally I bought mine at Johnson (The Curve, Damansara) and the sales guy really helpful to answered all my questions. His product knowledge not 100% accurate but his very helpful and polite entertaining my question.. (not like Fitness Concept in Pavilion, where the guy explain to me very rude as if I’m wasting his time)
I love the packaging… small, nice and simple
Before I decided which model to get I did my own research from the web and also from some of the fitness shops around Kuala Lumpur. I almost buy the latest model which is FA40 but only realized it doesn’t have a heart rate monitor. With some great explanations from the sales guy (or I should called them ‘Fitness Consultant’) I decided to go for the FT40 model…. It’s the latest model, have just the features that I need and the most important thing still within my budget.
Polar FT40
Opening the box you can see another essential tools in the Polar heart rate monitoring system the ‘WearLink’. You need to wear this WearLink to your body so the Polar can read you body data. The WearLink consist of two parts, the strap and the connector. The strap have an electrode which read your body data and another part is the connector which function as a transmitter to transmit your body data to your Polar wrist watch.
The WearLink.. The strap and transmitter
As you can see the WearLink strap have button for you to attached the transmitter. You need to wear it around your chest with the transmitter facing in front (Something like the UltraMan light button la…hahaha). Once you wear it you need to wait for the FT40 to read your heart rate and my advice is do your normal warm-up before you start your workout…why? Because the WearLink can’t read your heart rate if it’s dry. Someone suggested to me apply small amount of water with normal water n the WearLink but I think this is not necessary because normal warm-up will definitely make your body sweat.
Oh!!! before I forget, you need to key in your data such as weight, height, birth date, sex, maximum heart rate (220- your age) and your type of exercise (Low 0-1 hours/ week, Moderate 1-3 hours/ week, High 3-5 hours/ week and Top more than 5 hours/ week). Once you key in all your data you can start using it. Actually it’s fairly easy and user friendly to use it. Just press the centre button on the right side of FT40 and straightaway you can do your workout. Once you finish it gives you all the necessary reading such as your calories and fat burn, heart rate average and maximum and your fitness level. Apart from that like any normal watch it tells you time (2 zone time programable), date and day also a nice amber green backlight for you to view in the dark.
Another cool features, once you register your Polar products in their website you will have your own user account where you can create your own workout challenge. All can be done at their Polar Personal Trainer site. Also you can make your challenge public for other Polar users to view it or accept it.
Pro: -
- Easy to use
- WearLink easy to maintain
- Great website for additional support and training
Cons: -
- For a sport watch, no stopwatch feature
- No additional protective element.. it’s not a really cheap watch
notes: Few days after I bought my FT40 I realize there was a problem with the display… kudos to Hivelocity (M) Sdn. Bhd. (Polar Malaysia distributor) for their fast response.. I got my unit back within a day.
