The hubby gifted me the Polar FT4 Watch for my birthday (which I hinted on my wish list) and I have been more than impressed with the quality and the easiness of it. Today I thought that I would share with you my thoughts and a quick review on the Polar FT4 Watch, in case you were in the market for a heart rate monitor watch that was uncomplicated and straightforward.

First things first, the Polar FT4 Watch comes equipped with a chest strap/sensor which must be worn in conjunctions with the watch during workouts to provide a more accurate reading of your heart rate. While doing my research, the thought of a strap/sensor initially turned me off. I wanted something transparent and was not looking for an option with the bells and whistles that a lot of the other heart rate monitors offer. However the Polar FT4 seemed to be right up my alley as far as simplicity and price goes, so I figured that the strap/sensor would only be to my benefit.

The sensor is a cinch to strap on – simply wet the strap with a little bit of water, fasten it around your chest, snap the sensor onto the front and adjust so that it’s just between your breasts. Easy as that! Once the strap/sensor is in place you can set the watch to start the workout.

As previously mentioned, together the watch and chest strap/sensor track your heart rate, as well as the calories burned during the workout period. During this period, the optimal training zones are also recorded. Your zone is determined by the personal data you input when you initially set up the watch, such as weight, age, height and other information.

Pros:

• I like the fact that I could pause my workout. On any given day I attend a class and then run a mile on the treadmill. I can monitor and record my heart rate and calories burned from the class, hit pause on the watch and then proceed with my workout once I’ve gotten on the treadmill. The ‘pause’ feature is also great for when I work out at home. I can simply hit pause if I’m interrupted….ahem, Remy.
• I love that I can see when I’m in my zone and push myself even harder to continue to build on that momentum. The watch allows me to be my own competition! It is amazing to see when I’ve burned 500+, even 600+ calories in just 60 minutes.
• Piggybacking on my previous pro, the fact that I can efficiently see the fruits of my labor post workout is a total plus! I now strive for high intensity workouts that are effective in a short amount of time. As a new mom, I don’t have much time to dedicate in the gym so I’m looking for work outs that burn XX amount of calories in a limited amount of time. The Polar FT4 allows me to weed out the sucky workout/classes/fitness DVDs from the great ones.
• Your workouts are recorded and stored in files. If you want to look back at how you did during any given workout in the past you can!

I hope this little review was helpful! Please feel free to leave any questions you might have in the comments section and I would be more than happy to answer them. I also wanted to share that currently the Polar FT4 is under $100!

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wearing: Lorna Jane jacket  (c/o) + aphrodite sports bra (c/o) and Old Navy compression capris (Get 15% off with code ONSAVENOW), Nike Free sneakers

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*This is not a sponsored post. I legitimately love my Polar FT4 watch and wanted to share with you my thoughts.