Polar FT4--Reviews Anyone?

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  • jennifershoo
    jennifershoo Posts: 3,198 Member
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    How accurate is it about calorie counting?
    I have a Timex and I hate it! It always overestimates soooo much that it's unrealistic.
    For example, my treadmill said I burned 325 cals in 45 min.
    My Timex HRM, said I burned 677 cals! Yeah right! I wish!
    I tried wearing it for an hour doing nothing (just sitting on the couch watching TV) and it said I burned 200 cals.
    Like if I burn 4800 cals per day!

    As anyone tried to wear their Polar FT4 for an hour watching TV just to see the results?

    No HRM will be accurate outside a zone of about 90-150. The formula's break down badly outside that range.
    As you confirmed. The Polar will do that too though.

    The Polar, and some others, can be more accurate on the calorie count because they ask for more stats, making the calc's more accurate.

    Gender, age, weight, MHR, VO2 max are needed to be as accurate as you will get. Which for women is still possible 13% off sadly.

    If you don't enter known measured estimated MHR or VO2max, those are calculated for you based on age. For women, that means up at 33% off now.

    Oh, those % off is for Polar HRM in a study, others may be similar or worse.

    And the Polar watch function to measure VO2max is no where near accurate. And the MHR calc for women has a very wide bell curve for accuracy in general.

    But it seems to be the best out there.

    Thank you! Those are very interesting infos.
  • JannineOwen
    JannineOwen Posts: 92 Member
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    i have the FT4 and absolutely love it, its easy to use and well...its just great, i wouldn't be without it, well worth the money.
  • paulwgun
    paulwgun Posts: 439 Member
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    Polar FT4 its the dogs dangles :bigsmile:
  • Butterfly3730
    Butterfly3730 Posts: 220
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    I love my FT4. Very good investment!
  • gfrisk
    gfrisk Posts: 1
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    I've been using my FT4 for a couple weeks now and it works fine. But today I jumped through hoops trying to upload the data to the "Personaltrainer.com website offered with the Polar unit and discovered you Can Not upload the data to the online trainer web site to integrate the data which I believe was a feature I was looking at before I purchased this unit and it clearly describes in the user manual that this "can" be done.
    Set up an account, search community forums for the F4 and F5 you'll save your self the trouble of downloading and installing their "websync" utility and another which neither will accommodate the F4 or F5 units.
    Otherwise I'm enjoying using this unit and keeping track of my heart-rate and calories and (target zone after the workout)
  • lisakammwang
    lisakammwang Posts: 44 Member
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    I absolutely love mine!
  • susannahcooks
    susannahcooks Posts: 294 Member
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    HELP PLEASE! I have been looking into getting this one too. But my skin is extremely sensitive to nickel and even more so when I sweat. I cant seem to get the specifications for the metal pieces of this monitor online. While they are probably stainless steel, I have had watches that were stainless steel backs but the lower quality buckle part made it impossible to wear. Any input??

    even the silver buckle on the watch appears to be plastic - its meant to be waterproof. And it's very lightweight - not heavy enough to be actual metal i dont' think. (I suppose it could be stainless steel, but its probably a coating or something)

    I love mine - i use it swimming (although the first time or two i used it in the pool, i had to fiddle with the chest strap to make sure it was sending to the watch. i don't have that problem anymore), running, weight lifting, playing volleyball. I even (accidentally) washed and dried it in the dryer and it still works (although it took a day to remember itsel). Be sure you reset your weight as you lose, it does calculate based on the weight you tell it. Its more accurate than MFP and most cardio machines (in fact most machines will pick up your heart rate from the chest strap if you don't want to hold onto the bars), but its not the end-all be-all. if you don't eat back every exercise calorie, you're probably safe to use it as a pretty accurate guide. Oh - most of the time I don't wear the watch, but i keep it in my pocket, or around the strap of my swimsuit - it works up to a few feet away if you're not a watch-wearing person. I suspect that the distance is related to battery though..
  • rainwalkerSK
    rainwalkerSK Posts: 81
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    I love my Polar FT4!!!! It is the bomb.com! I also like the fact that I can tell if I am losing weight by the chest strap.

    Yep, that was my most recent NSV-- my chest strap slipped down during my workout. Hooray, time to adjust the strap!!
  • Healthy_Melva
    Healthy_Melva Posts: 91 Member
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    bump--note can go swimming in FT4
  • lucky48
    lucky48 Posts: 65 Member
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    I tried wearing it for an hour doing nothing (just sitting on the couch watching TV) and it said I burned 200 cals.
    Like if I burn 4800 cals per day!

    Your body surprisingly will burn calories in what you think is doing nothing - it's part of your Basal Metabolic Rate. Each person needs a certain number of calories in order to sustain living and carrying out normal processes.

    And you won't burn that many while you're sleeping so 4800 is a high exaggeration of what you burn in the course of a day.

    However, in response to the post, I have the prior version of the FT4 and love it!
  • abayallday
    abayallday Posts: 3
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    I just ordered one of these and I have a question: does the transmitter on the chest strap hinder you from doing certain exercises? Specifically, the "superman" exercise where you lie on your stomach and arch your back?
  • morkiemama
    morkiemama Posts: 894 Member
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    I just ordered one of these and I have a question: does the transmitter on the chest strap hinder you from doing certain exercises? Specifically, the "superman" exercise where you lie on your stomach and arch your back?

    No, the transmitter is quite small and sits right below your breasts/chest muscles. I have never had it cause me pain or any issues doing any type of exercise.

    This is just my personal experience though. Where it sits. My breasts prevent the transmitter from ever touching the ground while laying on my stomach sooooooo..... yeah.... no problems with it pushing in or anything for me, ha ha. :)
  • abayallday
    abayallday Posts: 3
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    Thanks! That is good to know. I'm pretty small-busted, so I'll just wait to see how it sits once I receive it.
  • lucky48
    lucky48 Posts: 65 Member
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    I just ordered one of these and I have a question: does the transmitter on the chest strap hinder you from doing certain exercises? Specifically, the "superman" exercise where you lie on your stomach and arch your back?

    I don't think you'll have a problem - I'm pretty small as well and I don't have a problem with it. As long as you're not doing anything where you intentionally push the transmitter into your chest, I don't think you'll have an issue.
  • shannonkk
    shannonkk Posts: 192 Member
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    HELP PLEASE! I have been looking into getting this one too. But my skin is extremely sensitive to nickel and even more so when I sweat. I cant seem to get the specifications for the metal pieces of this monitor online. While they are probably stainless steel, I have had watches that were stainless steel backs but the lower quality buckle part made it impossible to wear. Any input??

    Can you not just put some tape around the buck when you use it?
  • Victoriav99
    Victoriav99 Posts: 260 Member
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    I got mine a year ago and I LOOOOVE IT!
  • JS0811
    JS0811 Posts: 1
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    Don't mean to be a jerk but you really cannot give advise if you just bought one a week ago, advise should be given by people who have used one for quite some time. I ordered one today and I would not even think of reviewing it, something to think about
  • jmcreynolds91
    jmcreynolds91 Posts: 777 Member
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    Thanks everyone! In the market for a polar hrm and thinking im gunnna go with the ft4 also!
  • april_mesk
    april_mesk Posts: 694 Member
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    I have the FT60. Have had for three years. Love it!
  • SarahBeth0625
    SarahBeth0625 Posts: 685 Member
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    Yesterday was my first workout with the FT4.

    31 minutes on the elliptical. The Matrix machine said I burned 376 calories. The FT4 said 290. I will now be using the HRM numbers as I know they are based on my height, weight, and heartrate. I love this thing!

    I am even wearing the watch part during the day because my son broke my other watch. LOL. Think it will stick out as "not a regular watch", or not? I got the gray/black one. :smile:

    ETA: will be interesting to see what it says when I workout even harder (I have gotten up to 435 cals in a half hour on the elliptical, according to the machine).

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