Heart Rate Monitor Watch

Hi Jazzy
I used to use Polar - the chest strap was fine (I'm not that big in the top half IYKWIM!). The system is fine but I found the battery life was TERRIBLE and if you don't send it back to polar to get it replaced (at a massive cost) then they void the waterproof warranty (I was using mine swimming as well) which was a bit useless.
Really great to use one though if you are targeting a specific heart rate whilst training.

I use a Polar too. The battery life on both of my mine have been pretty good. The first only died because I had bashed it around so much (swimming, cycling, sailing, running). Replacing the battery via Polar in AKL isn't too dreadfully expensive. I think about $40 and then mine lasted as long as the original one had - about 2.5 yrs depending on how much I used it. Plus having them replace the battery and the seals meant I could swim with it again quite safely.

I do have a bit of a problem with chest straps, but think that is just me as I am rather large chested and when wearing a sports bra, a tri top with another built in bra and the chest strap it all gets a bit crowded! The chest strap is adjustable so will fit most people. I found that the static from some of my running t-shirts would send the reading a bit screwy - I would be at max heart rate when walking - so natural fibre t-shirts were better. No problems with my tri tops though.

I have a Polar one too and I haven't found the battery life to be too bad. I think I've had it for about 6 years and only replaced the battery twice (and I did ironman so it was used a lot in the first two years!). I have found the chest strap fine but I am not big on top either. Though I did loose a bit of skin on ironman day as I wore the chest strap all day and I was wet (it rained) and the strap rubbed and took my skin off. But I'm sure that's not exactly normal circumstances!

ETA because I realised the first time I changed the battery I paid for the polar dealer certified one so it was waterproof, the second time I just got a normal jeweller to replace the battery but I haven't had any trouble with the waterproofness.

Edited by Shelt

I don't even know where mine is
Used it a lot in 2006/2007 so no doubt it's completely obsolete now! Yeah, the straps in the bras sound like a good idea. I do remember my strap being really comfortable and stretchy. Never had any chaffing

I have the RS200 but I'm pretty sure they don't make that model anymore. I've always found it pretty easy to use but I don't do anything very techincal with it, I've never even bothered to download the data to my computer. I just like to monitor my HR zones while I'm running and I use the stopwatch a bit when I'm doing intervals. I also like the backlight (easy to turn on when I need it) as I run very early in the morning and for most of the year that means running in the dark. I always meant to get the footpod so I could measure the distance run more accurately but I never got around to it.

I would be very careful using Vaseline anywhere near the electrodes on the strap. I don't know what the new monitors are like but with the old ones the contacts need to be kept clean and then you have to wet them before you use the strap. Any vaseline on the strap can cause the electrodes to stop working and then the watch will fail to pick up the heart rate.