Product Description

For that extra push. Welcome to the personal trainer on your wrist. The Keeps U Fit program works out how many calories you have burned and how hard, how often and how long to train in order to improve your fitness. It also comes with Polars comfortable WearLink textile transmitter, to accurately measure your heart rate.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2108 in Sports & Outdoors
• Brand: Polar

Features

• Time of day
• Polar OwnZone - Individual determination of your optimal target heart rate limits based on your daily condition
• Polar Keeps U Fit Own Workout Programme guides you to reach your personal fitness goals
• Polar Fitness Test with OwnIndex - Measures your fitness level in five minutes
• Polar OwnCal - Counts and displays calorie expenditure
• Polar OwnCode - Prevents cross-talk from other heart rate monitors
• Wireless ECG accurate heart rate
• Target zones with visual and audible alarm
• Average heart rate of total exercise

Customer Reviews

An excellent tool for encouraging and monitoring exercise
I wanted something to encourage me to take exercise and get some fresh air. Going to the gym had become dull and membership expensive as my attendance dropped, and it didn't give me any fresh air or sunshine. Walking, cycling or jogging seemed an attractive alternative but I wanted a tool to highlight improvements in my fitness and, being a bit of a gadget addict, would also make taking exercise seem fun!

After conducting research on the internet, it didn't take long to discover and choose the Polar F11 heart rate monitor (HRM) because it was highly recommended in test reports and user comments. I also managed to buy one for £75 (perhaps it had been factory reconditioned but it seemed new and works perfectly). In the ten weeks I've been using it, it's the one thing that gets me out and walking. Here's why:

Packed into this slightly chunky wrist watch is a very impressive health monitoring computer. You'll glaze over if I go into too much detail (which is described elsewhere on the internet) but if you're not familiar with these devices several features are worth describing.

WORKOUT PROGRAMS
Based on your current fitness level, you choose how many times a week you wish to exercise and whether you want to maintain, improve or maximise your fitness. You'll already have entered your details into the HRM such as your age, weight, gender, and how active you are. The F11 then gives you a program which specifies for how long you should exercise on each individual occasion and how many calories to burn each time. There is a standard formula for deciding everyone's maximum heart rate (based on your age) and the F11 gets you to exercise so that you spend so many minutes at 60 - 70% of your maximum heart rate (a comfortable walk on level ground, I find), so many minutes at 70 - 80% (full speed walk) and sometimes in the 80 - 90% zone (a mixture of jogging and walking achieves this in my experience). Exercise sessions typically 45, 55, and one hour 25 minutes. The latter has become my Sunday walk as it targets the lowest heart rate (fat burn) so one has to walk fairly slowly. In addition to this, The F11 fine tunes these heart rate zones during the first 1 - 5 minutes of your exercise periods during which it senses how variable your heart rate is as you warm up (you may be feeling stressed or ill, so it makes allowances).

AEROBIC FITNESS TEST
As the handbook states: `Aerobic (cardiovascular) fitness relates to how well your cardiovascular system works to transport oxygen to your body. The better your aerobic fitness, the stronger and more efficient your heart is. Good aerobic fitness has many health benefits. For example, it decreases your risk of cardiovascular diseases, stroke and high blood pressure.'

Undertaking the test could sound rather intimidating but it is in fact the easiest bit - you simply lie on the floor and relax for five minutes in peace and quiet.

The Polar F11's test is based on your heart rate and heart rate variability at rest in addition to the personal data that you will have entered into the HRM. You are recommended to repeat the test every 2 to 4 weeks to monitor your progress.

EXERCISE RESULTS
The results of the last 24 exercise sessions are recorded in the HRM (I transfer them to an Excel file on my PC). These include the duration of the session, calories burned and the fat percentage, maximum and average heart rates (in beats/min and as a percentage of maximum), and how long you spent in each of the three heart rate zones.
Serious sporting types will probably appreciate the ability to upload their results to the Polar Personal Trainer website. Here you have your own training diary, plus the facility to choose from a variety of fitness programs (cycling, fitness, outdoor sports, running) and where you can nominate the level of fitness you desire. The program on the website then produces a suggested training schedule for the next few weeks which you can adjust as required. Your results are aggregated on a weekly basis and displayed as bar charts showing number of exercise sessions per week, duration, distance, energy expenditure, and heart rate comparisons. As you can see, the Polar F11 is no gimmick and is a serious tool for sports enthusiasts.
In addition, what is really neat is the method the HRM uses to upload the data to the internet - you'll need a microphone attached to your PC and the Polar Weblink software (downloaded free from Polar's website). You simply put the metal plate on the back of the HRM (which is normally against your skin) close to the microphone and select Send from the HRM's menu. The F11 chirps away for 15 seconds like a budgerigar on speed giving a horse-race commentary, and that's it! Log on to the Polar Personal Trainer website and your results will be there along with all your previous uploads. Pretty clever.

CHEST STRAP / TRANSMITTER
The chest strap has been improved from the previous, uncomfortable, hard-edged model which inconveniently had to be returned to the manufacturer for the battery to be replaced.
This new Wearlink model is waterproof to 100 feet, has coded transmissions to prevent crosstalk between neighbouring HRMs, and has a soft, washable elasticated strap which incorporates the embedded mesh electrodes. (These electrodes need a thorough wetting under a tap each time before use). The transmitter and battery-housing block sits over your sternum and is connected to the strap by a simple snap fastener on each side. Detaching the strap switches off the transmitter and allows the strap to be machine washed (washing bag recommended). The battery can now be replaced by the user (big relief) and a spare O-ring is thoughtfully provided to ensure the battery compartment remains water tight. A CR2025 battery (replacement cost: £1.27 for a pair of Tesco-branded batteries) is estimated to last 2 years. I saw somewhere on the internet that Triumph (not the motor bikes) in cooperation with Polar produce a sports bra with the transmitter built into the lower edge; this would provide a neat solution for the lasses.

HRM BATTERY
The wrist unit battery is estimated to last 1.5 years and Polar recommend returning the unit to an authorized Polar Service Centre to ensure the unit's water resistance is not compromised. This doesn't prevent you doing it yourself - the battery is a CR2032 - just be careful not to damage the waterproofing seal.

CONCLUSION
A really clever, interesting and useful device that has successfully encouraged me to walk/jog over 200 miles in the last couple of months whilst achieving the targets it sets. Serious sporting types will get even more out of it.
What is more, it's even paid for itself in 10 weeks because I cancelled my gym subscription. Plus I get fresh air, rain and sunshine ... Easy 5 stars.

POSTSCRIPT FOR FELLOW SPORTS UNENTHUSIASTS
If you haven't yet found a route round which to exercise, you might try the following:
Find an Ordnance Survey map or go to their website (ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/) and tap in your postcode. You will see on the 1:25,000 map all the public footpaths and bridle ways marked by green dashed lines. If you then view these paths on Google Earth, you can relate the lines to the actual hedgerows and find yourself an interesting circuit. Using the Ruler tool in Path mode, you can measure the exact distance around your circuit. A route of around 4.5 miles I find works very well and can be walked fast in just over one hour whilst you listen to music or the radio via an MP3 player (e.g. see my other reviews). Going out at 6 a.m., the air's fresh, the light soft, and you're back before you know it with the whole day in front of you. Pretty good for kicking depression!

Great watch and Heart rate monitor - works with my gym equipment
THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS WATCH
all the Gym equipment at my gym has the POLAR logo on it. That means if you are wearing the strap (no watch required) you can set your heart rate limits on the treadmill or cross trainer etc and it adjusts the speed and difficulty to keep your heart rate in the preset limits. It's fantastic. If you use the watch as well, then you can go from machine to machine taking all the data from the complete workout. And if you hit your targets for a week a cup is displayed on the "time" screen (quite a motivator!).

REPLACING THE BATTERY
I own the Polar F11 (comes with strap). The Polar watch battery life is about 2 years with daily use of 1 hour a day (according to the manual). Admittedly this is much shorter than my Casio G-shock which promises a 10 year battery life. That's because the radio link between watch and strap uses more power than a watch that simply tells the time.

Another reviewer that complains that they couldn't get a replacement battery for the strap. Really they mustn't have tried too hard to get the battery out. A 2 pence coin can be used to unscrew the battery cover from the chest strap sensor. A standard CR2025 battery goes in, and the cover should be screwed back in place with the same 2 pence coin.

Replacing the battery on the watch is slightly more tricky. A precision screwdriver will be required to unscrew the back cover. Of course you need to be careful not to damage the rubber seal if you want the watch to continue to be waterproof. If in doubt take it to a jeweler. For that matter a jeweler would probably replace the battery in the chest strap too if you ask them. Anyway, changing batteries is explained in the manual.

READ THE MANUAL
This watch has a lot of features, and I must say you really do need to READ THE MANUAL to get the best out of it. The important thing is to manually set your heart rate limits to a suitable level for what you want to do. Generally there are three zones. Zone 1 is low exertion, i.e. I'm very unfit, recovering from an illness etc. Zone 2 is more suitable for Fat burn/light exercise, and Zone 3 is where you want to be if you are doing cardiovascular training, e.g. training for a marathon. The three zones are calculated based on your resting heart rate. Once you've set the zone you want to work in the watch will beep at you to tell you to speed up, or slow down. I've found the watch particularly useful for finding my pace when running as I have a tendency to either run too slowly, or too quick and burn out. By keeping me at the correct pace I can keep running much longer than if I went out running without my trusty watch.

The watch can also do periodic checks on your fitness and plot a graph. I generally do this every couple of months. All in all I'd say a great gadget for improving your fitness, tracking your progress and good for motivation.

Polar F11 female
I have been using my Polar F11 hrm since October, and I find it to be invaluable in assessing my exercise regime. It is simple to use, and comfortable to wear, as the strap is softer than most.
I find that I am more motivated, as am always trying to better the previous results, and also understand better how I am working out.