Polar Heart Rate Monitors: 5 Best

By: maggie eliot

Break Studios Contributing Writer

Polar heart rate monitors are said to be the best manufacturer of heart rate monitors for athletes; these Polar heart rate monitors: 5 best guide will help you figure out which is the best suited heart monitor for you and your needs. Polar makes different heart rate monitors based on the needs of different sports and different levels of commitment. There are running heart rate monitors, cycling heart rate monitors, and heart rate monitors for swimming . There are also different Polar heart rate monitors depending on what your fitness goals are: from the recreational gym goer, to the professional athlete. Check out the five best Polar heart rate monitors below.

  1. Polar RS8OOCX Training Computer. This heart rate monitor is for serious athletes who want to make sure they are training at optimum level. The RS800CX will monitor your intensity so that you don’t under train or overtrain. This heart rate monitor is probably best suited for elite cyclists or runners who need very specific data such as the cadence feature. Cadence is your pedaling rate or your foot strike rate. Increasing your cadence makes you a more efficient runner or cyclist and this watch can help you increase your cadence and make your pedaling revolutions or ground contact shorter.
  2. Polar FT60 Weekly Training Program. This middle of the road heart rate monitor is for intermediate athletes who want some training guidance.  This heart rate monitor helps create personalized training program. You will get feedback and be able to set new weekly goals and training targets. Cyclists and Runners will benefit most from the Weekly Trainer since it uses a shoe sensor to determine your pace and calculated distance. It wouldn’t be practical to use on an elliptical machine or swimming.
  3. Polar FS3C. This Polar heart rate monitor is best for beginners who want a workout summary after every training session, but don't need to calculate splits or work on their running form. Shows heart rate on large and easy-to-read display. Helps improve your fitness with age-based heart rate target zone. Displays a summary of your latest workout. Offers one-button functionality and coded heart rate transmission to avoid cross-talk. The best feature of this watch is called the  “Heart Touch;” turn it on  and you don’t have to push buttons when you want to change displays or settings during your workout. 
  4. Polar RS 100. This heart rate monitor is another great deal for beginners who want something simple to help the get into shape. The Polar RS100 also displays calories burned. You can transfer your workout summary to your computer after each workout. This heart rate monitor can be worn in the pool and is water resistant up to 50 meters. It also has a 99 lap memory system.
  5. Polar RS 400. This heart rate helps you train at your target heart rate for each workout. When you are not in your desired range of intensity, the heart rate monitor, an alarm will go off. The RS 400 measures detailed information about your performance at each lap. You can view you average and/or maximum heart rate. This heart rate monitor is one of the most accurate, even more so than the usual age based formula used by most other heart rate monitors. The RS 400 comes with Polar ProTrainer 5 software for analyzing, planning and keeping a training diary. 
Posted on: Apr. 24, 2010