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Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor Review: What You Need To Know

Heart rate monitors have been growing in popularity lately because they are being recognized as valuable tools that can really help maximize your workouts. This is due to their ability to let us know valuable workout statistics like many calories were burned, how much fat was burned, etc. This information enables us to customize our own exercise regimen so that we are more likely to keep going to reach our fitness goals. To help you find the perfect tool for you, we have put together this Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor Review to help you decide if it is the right one for you.

Quick Take

A heart rate monitor is a device that is worn during workouts that measures your heart rate. It is an excellent tool for athletes to help them find their exercise sweet spot; that point where the body is being pushed hard, but not enough to cause injury or fatigue.

These tools are also good for beginners to help them find the right intensity of their workouts. It also helps to provide an objective view of how hard you are really working at the gym.

Heart rate monitors are relatively easy to use; especially if you know your target heart rate. Once you know this number, all you have to do is check the monitor to see if you should pick up your pace or slow down. In addition, it is also excellent for making sure that you don’t go overboard on easy days.

One of the best heart rate monitors on the market is the Polar FT7, a great way to have fun and fitness monitored in the correct manner.

Pros

Automatically keeps track or time spent in both the fitness and fat burning zones of your workout
Records up to 99 training sessions
Lightweight band
Battery is easy to replace

Cons

Doesn’t measure laps
Timing functions are rudimentary
Audio alarm not loud enough
Doesn’t show total workout time and heart rate on the same screen

Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor Review

The Polar FT7 is an innovative and stylishly designed heart rate fitness watch that goes beyond the pale of just being a regular heart rate monitor; it is a training computer as well. In addition, it is water resistant and can be used when doing laps at the swimming pool. However, it is important to note, that this watch should not be used when you are diving.

Color Choices

The Polar FT7 comes in a variety of awesome color choices that you can pick from to suit your lifestyle or mood. Color choices include:

With all of these color choices, you can’t go wrong; there’s something to match any outfit. But the Polar FT7 is more than just a snazzy color scheme, its features are quite functional and will help your with your fitness training.

Special Features

The Polar FT7 has so many features that it can seem overwhelming. Therefore, to make things easier, we have narrowed down the most important points to give you a general overview. By doing this, the goal is to provide you with a thorough review without overkill.

  • Body measurement – this measures both your average and max heart rates. In addition, you can set target zones for your own personal training regimen based on beats per minute, max heart rate percentage, and heart rate reserve percentage
  • Measure Your Hear Rates : this measures both your average and your max heart rates
  • Polar energy pointer : this fascinating feature tells you if you are using your training time to burn fat or calories. It can be used to help you decrease, increase, and/or adjust your fat burning and aerobic activity
  • Polar OwnCal : this feature counts the calories that you have lost during each session and cumulatively in other of sessions as well.
  • Polar OwnCode : This a special code transmission exclusively from Polar. It locks in a specialized code so that your heart (and only yours) can be transmitted to your training computer.
  • Training diary : allows you to track your progress by session, day, week, and month
  • Training load : this is a software program designed for Polar that helps you figure out if you are training more than you need to or if you need to step up your game some. This features helps you adjust your degree of intensity and will let you know if you need to lengthen or shorten your sessions.
  • Training programs : offers you optional training programs for everything from outdoors spots to running to general fitness tricks and tips
  • Record keeping : this allows you to store up to 99 training files and your weekly history
    Graphical target indicator: helps you to see graphically where your training falls into your zone.

This fitness watch comes with a ton of innovative features that are geared to help you succeed.

Comparison

There are tons of heart rate monitors available and with new models coming out every year; some come with chest straps while others look more like wrist watches. However, to keep things simple, this comparison is going to stay within the FT product series:

The FT7 has more features than the FT4; especially when it comes to intuitive calculation that take your personal body and fitness metrics into consideration.

The FT4 and FT7 have many similarities that include the ability to display both your maximum and average heart rates during training periods, training percentage zone indicates, maximum heart rate indicate, PolarOwnCal, Polar OwnCode.

The FT4 only lets you track your last training session, but the FT7 lets you track up to 99.

Both of these watches are popular heart rate monitors and both offer important data and excellent quality for an affordable price. But if you are looking for simple tracking from week to week, and you can store your data somewhere else, then the FT4 is for you. But if you want more flexibility, intuitive tracking, and some more advanced options, the FT7 is the heart rate monitor that you should choose.

Customer Feedback

So far in this review, we have heaped on the compliments for the FT7 heart rate monitor and, although they are warranted, we offer you some customer reviews so that you can have a more objective view of this amazing fitness watch.

Jonathon from LA says, “I have no complaints about this heart rate monitor. It works as promised and I haven’t had any difficulties. I’ve tried other monitors before and it was way harder for me to get a heart rate reading. Another bonus that I liked is that there are a ton of cardio machines at the gym are able to pick up the heart rate signal automatically, so I don’t even have to look at the watch that much while working out.”

JR from Chicago says, “I am actually quite pleased with this fitness watch. Because I am a woman, I wanted something that was sturdy but not big enough that it takes over my arm. This watch fits the bill perfect because of its adjustable size.”

Based on these reviews and others, the Polar FT7 will be sure to encourage you, keep up with your pace, lets you know if you are on the right track, and offers advice if you are not.

Considerations

Before you purchase your next heart rate monitor, there are a number of things to consider. Some of these include:

Price: The Polar FT7 is pretty affordable, however, if you would like to save more money, there are a number of discounts available online.

Look and Feel: This is a stylish watch with a ton of functionality. In addition, the chest strap is extremely comfortable.

Training Features: While you are in a training session, the FT7 will display basic readings like exercise duration, current heart rate, and calories burned.

Recording Features: The FT7 offers a Training Summary after each workout along with weekly summaries and totals. In addition, it stores up to 99 training files on the watch itself.

Customer Service: This watch comes with a 2 year limited warranty. In addition, Polar’s helpdesk can be reached in a number of ways; email, Live Chat, or by calling their toll free number. There is also a pretty popular Polar Forum.

The Bottom LineWith all of its innovative features, the Polar FT7 is an incredible fitness watch and, hopefully, with this Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor Review, you have decided to add it to your wishlist; there are a ton of Polar FT7 discounts that will help you save lots of money. In addition, if you would like to give one as a gift, there are a variety of FT7 deals available online to help you make your loved one happy. So, if you are ready to maximize to fitness potential, then the Polar FT7 is the watch for you.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does the Polar FT7 come with any accessories?
A: Yes, the Polar FT7 comes with chest strap, heart rate sensor, training computer, and get started guidebook
Q: What does the Polar FT7 measure?
A: The primary function of the Polar FT7's fitness monitor is to monitor the effects of your training regimen. It achieves this goal displaying your heart rate in relation to aerobic fitness and fat burning. Polar OwnCal displays the amount of calories burned during one workout as well as the cumulative amount based on information from several training sessions to help you achieve long term goals. The watch portion includes an alarm with a snooze feature, stopwatch, and a date indicator. The Polar FT7 does not calculate weight or distance measurements.
Q: Can two people share one FT7?
A: Unfortunately, the FT7 is only able to hold information for one person.

Rating: 90%

Specifications

Product Type

Fitness Activity Tracker

Brand/Model Series

Polar FT7

Overall Rating

90 %

Phone Control

No

Removable Band

Yes

Fitness Tracker Type

Heart Rate Monitor

Number of Available Colors

4

Type Of Display

Digital

Sleep Tracking

Yes

Steps Tracking

Yes

Calories Tracking

Yes

Bluetooth Enabled

Yes

Heart Rate Monitor

Yes

Max Battery Life

700 hrs

What is included in the box?

Polar FT7 training computer, Polar WearLink+ transmitter, FT7 Getting Started Guide

Warranty

Yes

GPS

No

Product Dimensions

13.5cm x 13.2cm x 9.4cm

On-board music storage

No

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