An excellent heart rate monitor - all the features you need at a great price!

When I set out to purchase a heart rate monitor, in order to accurately measure the intensity of my workouts, I limited my search to Polar products. As a regular gym-goer, the heart rate feature on cardiovascular equipment primarily works with this brand. As a result, I don't have to hold onto the heart rate sensors or look at the watch while I'm running.

I researched all of the different Polar products and found the F6 to be the best blend of reasonable cost with all the features I actually required. Though it has the traditional "hard" strap, this strap is comprised of about 8" of flexible plastic, where the sensors are located, and the remainder of the band is stretchy elastic. It is much more comfortable that I imagined and also would fit a large range of sizes. It is also waterproof, so can be worn for swimming.

This model allows the user to view current heart rate in either bpm or % of maximum.

One of the neat features is OwnZone, which monitors the increase in your heart rate through a five minute warm-up to determine your personal maximum heart rate. You can do this each time you wear the watch or use previous settings.

The user can then set a zone that they are trying to target, for example, 70-80% of MHR and turn on/off audible beeps that occur when above or below the range.

After inputting gender, age, weight and height, the watch also calculates calories burned with OwnCal. This method is likely to be much more accurate than the readback provided on gym equipment.

During the workout, you can also view the time, time spent exercising, time in zone and calories burned.

Data is stored on the watch to allow you to review previous workouts.

All in all, I'm thrilled I purchased this heart rate monitor and it has improved my workouts considerably.