WARNING! POLAR HEART RATE MONITORS DEFECTIVE!

peterdt

WARNING! POLAR HEART RATE MONITORS DEFECTIVE!

First, the conclusion: The algorithm used to calculate calories for people at higher weights are NOT even close to being accurate.




Here’s the supporting data. I’ve been using the Polar FT7 since July. During that time I’ve had my weight set at 326 pounds, and have logged 132 hours on my FT7. My average calorie burn per minute was 6.5 calories per minute with an average heart rate of about 109. I thought that calorie burn was abnormally low considering my weight and was always bothered by it.

Then I bought another Polar FT7 thinking maybe I had a defective one. Guess what? Same results only about 6.5 calories burned per minute.

Then I reset the one of the watches for 190 pounds two weeks ago on a hunch. Logged my results for a week and guess what? My calories burned per minute went to 8.1 per minute with the same 109 heart rate.


I did the same experiment with the 2nd watch. Same results. My calorie burn went UP from 6.5 calories burned per minute to 8.1 calories per minute at the same heart rate when my weight was reduced on the watch from 326 to 190 on the 2nd watch as well!

These results are impossible of course. The only conclusion can be that this model is NOT accurate for calories burned at my heart rate and weight. It does seem to be accurate for lower weights though. I tested 190 pounds and it those numbers look right.



I would like to ask other Polar heart rate monitors users to do the same experiment. I suspect this problem is widespread. This is a significant product defect and the product should be recalled. Please report back to this post your results of your own “experiment. Also, it may not be for just my model. Please do the experiment for any Polar watch if you are at a higher weight.