Polar FT7

When I first received the package (which arrived 4 days sooner) I thought the box was pretty small. The watch came in a little box compared to the blister packing in stores. The instructions were straight forward and setup was a breeze. Inside the box was the watch, monitor and strap, quick start guide and a instruction booklet.The strap that goes around your chest that measures your heart rate was surprisingly comfortable and not restricting at all. I have fairly small wrists, so I wouldn't mind a smaller display screen on the watch, but it's really not too bad. It makes it easy to track your workout. You can switch between metric and imperial measurements, 12 vs. 24hr time and the screen also has a backlight.I only used it once so far, but it seemed to work well. The monitor even linked with the equipment at the gym (if they're Polar compatible). No complaints so far, but I will have to update this as I use it more.EDIT: 9/1/2013I am pleased to say that I have not had any major problems yet with the watch or the strap. A couple things I do want to note.The signal from the chest strap is a little strong and I can notice my HR being read up to 3 treadmills over. I'm usually at the gym when it's more empty so I am not sure if it would interfere with someone else's unit if they had one. Another thing is the accuracy of the monitor. I normally have a higher resting HR and I can get somewhat tachycardic when exercising, but I have had conflicting numbers between the watch reading and the machine reading (handles on the elliptical, for example) which have been up to 20 BPM difference. That may or may not be important to you.The last minor thing is that the watch cannot be turned off once you start it up unless you remove the battery. I injured my back and was unable to exercise for a couple months and I hate to see the battery drain when I'm not using it.Besides that, I've had a good experience with this watch. Clean it regularly and dry thoroughly.

love this little device!! out of the box it comes w/ a strap, which you attach the actual heart monitor to, which isn't uncomfortable to wear at all (you wear right below your chest) and stays on really well. you must know that the watch itself is NOT the heart monitor (as i originally thought), it's just a little viewer, if you will, that communicates the information that the strap (actual heart monitor) picks up. so on the watch, you see the calories burned, workout time, time spent in fat burning zone and fitness zone, and your heart rate. it saves your different workout session info, which is nice, the watch also is not uncomfortable to wear, i don't wear a regular watch throughout my day, so i take mine off between workouts, but i'm sure one can wear it daily if they wish to. it's user friendly, super easy to set up and get the hang of it, if you do have some trouble, youtube has a few videos to help you out. i used to use a fitbit, but i didn't like that the fit bit can't track calories of workouts that are non cardio/running/walking related, where as the polar, is great for all workouts!! i love how it lets me know calories burned when i'm doing p90x, or any other videos, that may be difficult to track calories burned otherwise.the only bad thing, if you will, is that it's not a fancier version, that comes w/ a bluetooth heart monitor strap, to make it easier to sync the workout info between the heart monitor transmitter and the polar phone app or the polar trainer website. you have to purchase a separate "flowlink" transmitter, looks like a watch charger, that you place your watch on, and it connects to the computer to sync the information saved on the watch. the cheapest i have found is $40, via ebay and amazon, and yes, i did order it.other than that, i still love my polar, wish i would have made the decision to buy it much sooner than i did, but i look forward to workingout, just to wear it and see how much i burn!

I've had this watch for over a year now and it's amazing. It still works almost perfectly (one of the buttons has started to stick) (i did have to replace the sensor battery about a year in) but they were less than $5 on amazon.I've tested this thing running in the winter when it's -20 degrees outside, in the snow and sleet, and in the summer when it's 90+ degrees and humid, and in the pouring rain and it never had a problem. I've dropped it and accidentally smashed it against things and there's not a scratch. It's still accurate. I've used it for 5-7 days a week for over a year for at least an hour at a time and it's still going so I'm happy. The strap it comes with will probably fit most unless you have a smaller rib cage area so I'm looking to buy the xs-s size, but they're only $20.It's definitely given me more motivation during workouts because you can visually see the progress you're making and you can go back and look at where you started. (only thing I wish is that there was a way to upload data online)All in all if you're looking for a heart rate monitor that's good quality, accurate, and not extensively fancy, this is the way to go!