Polar HRM - men's vs. women's models - same except for size?

Mollydolly10

Hi, are the Polar HRM models for male and female the exact SAME except for the size of the watch?? ie. can a female get the "male" version and program it as a female? (The chest strap wouldn't be different / bigger, right?)

For some reason male Polar HRMs seem to be cheaper on websites so I am considering it. Also, I haven't seen these in person, I'm wondering if the men's watch would even be too BIG for me... I'm 5'4" tiny wrists, 124 lbs! I could be saving up to $50 here, so that's why I ask :-P

Thanks so much!!

PS. I am going to be purchasing the FT40 by the way!

goron59

I just ordered the FT40 and I can check out the instructions and fit on my wife (who is about your height/weight) and let you know :-)

khskr1

I would say Yes. My smaller F7 started going on the fritz so I took my husbands F7 and just reprogrammed it (he uses a Garmin with GPS now). It's just a bigger watch. I actually didn't know that there was a "male/female" difference. I have the watch strap almost to the end, but it works just fine.

nehtaeh

Now that I think about it, I think it would be fine.

I purchased the F4 this summer. It had a "men's" sticker on it. The band fits and the watch fits fine. I could program it as a woman. The watch might not be the best size, but I only wear it to work out and don't really care. I am guessing the others would be similar in size though.

I'd guess the watch size - the face of it - would be the only factor you'd need to worry about.

jrich1

Yes the gender is just the style of the watch, but either can be used by either gender

getupandgo

I recently bought the men's FT4. The sales associate at Sports Chalet ensured me that the only difference between the men's and women's is color and size. I personally like the bigger size and the black watch as opposed to the women's watches so I went with the men's. She said that since you enter all your personal data anyways it doesn't matter. In fact, one of the questions when I was setting up my watch was "Male or Female?" So you should be just fine with the men's.

goron59

Just received my gents FT40. The strap has holes along the whole length, is not too big generally and even presumed I was female (had to change it to male), so it will definitely be fine.