Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

If you want a device that is just a heart rate monitor without a lot of additional bells and whistles there aren't many options. I settled on this Polar model because it seemed simple to operate and relatively attractive. The set up is not intuitive and the small manual that comes with the monitor isn't much use but the user's manual on the website is easy enough to use. Monitor, monitor band and chest strap are alll well-designed, better than average. The monitor is fine as a digital watch when you are not wearing the chest strap. The operational problem is that pairing between the chest strap and monitor sometimes takes quite a while to produce a heartbeat readout, often 20 seconds or more. The time varies from about ten seconds to several times as long. Once the readout begins it usually continues until you stop it. The other annoyances are for the future; the chest strap, unlike those made by virtually all competing vendors, does not have a user replaceable battery, so you can't simply purchase a battery and replace it. I will have to purchase a new chest strap or send the old one back to the company, undoubtedly for a good deal more money than the cost of a new battery. The battery in the monitor is in theory user-replaceable but removing the back requires a "Torx 5" screwdriver, in constrast to the small Phillips screws used in all competing devices. I can purchase a Torx5 at a hardware store or Walmart for a couple of dollars, but this is an additional annoyance unless you want to pay a local Polar dealer for battery replacement. I had one of the early Polar heart rate monitors when they first came out more than 20 years ago but since then have purchased competing devices, largely because I didn't like being gouged for battery replacement. I don't know why I assumed that Polar's corporate policies had improved in the interim. They are not in my view a consumer friendly enterprise. The watch battery died after three years as expected. I threw both watch and strap away. A strap that works with most free exercise apps for my smart phone is available for about $30 and has a user replaceable battery.