Monday, September 16, 2013

Product Review: Polar Fitness Watch

I haven't done a product review in a while and thought I'd share some info about one of my new favorite toys! Alex got me a Polar Fitness Watch about a month ago for hitting my half way point in my weight loss goals.  I was pretty excited! I had been wanting a heart rate monitor for a while and this does that and a ton more.

So the system comes with the watch and a chest strap.  The chest strap is what keeps track of your heart rate while the watch stores and displays the information.  This watch keeps track of your heart rate, duration of your workout, calories burned, and is an actual watch. 

This watch is super easy to use! There are five buttons that help you navigate through the different pages, start and stop your workout, change your personal information, etc.  It also has a light up feature and is waterproof.

When you are first setting up your watch, a setup wizard will help you enter information about yourself such as age, weight, height, etc.  Based on these facts the watch can calculate your optimal heart rate zone and can use your heart rate to figure out how many calories you are burning during a workout.  By keeping your heart rate within the zone you can also make your workouts more effective!  

It also lets you start, pause and stop your workouts at anytime.  This is a great feature for me since I have 4 kids and often get pulled out of spin class to change a diaper and such. With that feature I can pause my workout, change the diaper, and then continue on when I get back. At the end of the workout it will display a workout summary for you that includes duration of workout and calories burned.  You can also access more information about your workout including how many minutes you spent in your optimal heart rate zone.  Another great feature if your workouts are often interrupted. You can also store your last 10 workouts which will help you track your progress and make improvements!

I was worried that the strap would be annoying but it really stays put and I often forget I have it on.  It's a very soft fabric and adjusts as big or as small as you may need. So far I've used this walking, running, weight lifting, in spin class, and doing insanity/various other workout videos. I've noticed a huge difference in my workouts by constantly monitoring my heart rate.  By staying in the middle of my zone I've been able to pace myself much better in spin which has resulted in a higher calorie loss! It's also helped me pace myself when running so that I've been able to build endurance.  When I started with this watch I could only run in 5 min. increments and now I've built up to running 2 mile increments.  I know that's not all because of the watch but it definitely helped!

So if you are looking for a great fitness watch I would definitely recommend the Polar Fitness Watch! Right now it's $61 on Amazon but often fluctuates in price so keep an eye out for some great deals!  


  1. I just have to say I am so impressed and proud of you! Two mile increments?? And halfway to your goal -- awesome!

    Who knew that keeping your heart rate at that optimum level would be so important? I wonder what my heart rate was when we climbed up the seats to the top of Red Rocks amphitheater... :-)

  2. Thanks Beth! And yeah, that was quite the hike trying to follow our 6 foot plus husbands! I'm pretty sure we lost at least 1,000 calories from all the walking and laughing! ;)