I’ve played with a lot of heart rate watches over the years, but I would say that my all time favorite is the FT60. I don’ think that there is any watch at this price that even comes close to giving you the functionality that the FT60 does. For people who are serious about training, fitness, or losing weight, this watch is an incredibly useful tool.

Probably my favorite feature is the built in training program. You tell the watch what you goals are in the set up process, and you get a customized program. That means if you want to lose weight, you get a weight loss program. If you want to improve your fitness level for a sport or a race, you get a program that’s designed to improve your fitness levels. The real cool thing is though, while other watches give you a generic program based off of age calculations, Polar takes it another step further by guiding you through a fitness test and observing your actual heart rate.

This is how a real professional trainer would work with you to plan a program. But you get that right in the watch…This is far more accurate and individualized than an aged based calculation, which is often wrong.

Of course, to get this program you do have to do some initial set up. The setup takes about 5-10 minutes, you walk through a wizard and it asks you for your data like age and weight. Then you take your fitness test. I suggest you don’t skip this step. This is important to establish your current level of fitness and develop and develop the appropriate program for your goal.

And, this is not just for improving your fitness level. After all, some people are not necessarily interested in preparing for a race or don’t need to condition themselves for a sport. What they’re more interested in is losing that fat around the middle. The FT60 gives you a fat loss plan too and offers a feature called the energy pointer.

The energy pointer is a visual guide that you use during your workout to make sure you train it a heart rate that will burn the most fat. Or, if conditioning is your thing, the enery pointer will also point you to a zone that provides you the greatest improvement in your fitness level. The beauty of this is that you can see exactly where you need to be to achieve your goal. For me, soccer is my passion and I train to improve my performance on the field. I can’t even begin to tell you what kind of improvements I have seen as a result of the fitness plan and energy pointer.

The fitness plan with this watch gives you important information like:

• How many calories to burn
• How intense to workout
• How many days per week you should workout

Plus, you don’t just get a plan. You get a way to capture your performance and compare it against your plan. This is so important in improving your fitness…As I write this, I almost feel like I am gushing a little too much about this watch, but I really love it.

But, there is a downside. If you want to track your speed and distance you’ll need to invest in the G1 GPS sensor or the S1 foot pod. These are sold separately, but I like that Polar sells the watch and GPS independently. There’s a lot of people who want the great functionality that you get in the high end watches, but don’t need a GPS. So, they can get a great watch at a price lower than the GPS watches.  For someone who wants the GPS, you can add it on for about the same price as a heart rate monitor and GPS watch.

I’ll also say that this watch is definitely not for everyone.  I don’t feel this is the watch for someone who is not committed to their fitness or weight loss plan. Frankly, the watch isn’t cheap and if you aren’t going to use it very often you shouldn’t really spend the money. But, for the price, the functionality is great for a serious exerciser.
Manufacturer’s Warranty
The original purchaser of this heart rate monitor is backed by a limited warranty that states that this product that the product will be free from defects in material or workmanship for two years from the date of purchase.