Polar FT4 or FT7?

justkeepswimming83
justkeepswimming83 Posts: 15
in Fitness and Exercise
What are the major differences between these two Polar Heart Rate Monitors? Is the FT7 worth the extra $? I will be using it for walking, jogging, biking, hiking, indoor aerobics, and yoga. My biggest concern is accurate calorie burn, comfort, and ease of use. I would like to be able to keep track of workouts as well as have alerts for staying within fat-burning vs cardio ranges. Thanks!

Replies

  • winterswish
    winterswish Posts: 162
    I have the FT4 and love it. Can't comment on the FT7 because I haven't tried it, but as far as accuracy and ease of use...this feels like a winner to me.

    The chest strap is comfortable (and I'm sort of rolly in that area) and it has never failed to sync with the watch. The readout on the watch is easy and intuitive to use. I've had mine about six weeks now.
  • jayevan
    jayevan Posts: 7 Member
    I have the FT4. I use it to count calories and keep me motivated while exercising to get my hear rate up. I think its great. I dont see a reason for spending mor emoney, but I am not sure what the FT7 does differently.
  • leomom72
    leomom72 Posts: 1,797 Member
    i guess i cant compare..i have the ft4, and i love it
  • fresh_start59
    fresh_start59 Posts: 590 Member
    Take a look here to read about the differences:
    FT4: http://www.polar.com/en/products/get_active/fitness_crosstraining/FT4
    FT7: http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/products/get_active/fitness_crosstraining/FT7

    The differences I noticed were:

    Ft4 saves 10 training files (workout sessions)
    FT7 saves 99 training files

    FT7 has something called the Polar Pointer: "EnergyPointer is an easy-to-use feature which tells you during a training session if the main effect of your training is fat burning or fitness improvement."
    However, if you read info here on the fat-burning zone vs. fitness-improvement zone, you'll find that the consensus is the fitness improvement zone actually burns more fat, along with carbohydrates. So that may not be a feature you'd ever use.

    FT7 lists the PolarPersonalTrainer.com site where the FT4 does not. I do not know why that is, since FT4 owners can also this site by manually plugging in the information from their HRM.

    FT7 has the ability to automatically transfer training info from the HRM to the PolarPersonalTrainer.com website. Nifty! BUT ... you must also purchase the Polar FlowLink to do it. The FlowLink is an additional $46-47 on Amazon.

    I opted for the FT4. I got it last month, on sale for less than $50 from Sears.com, with free store pickup. The differences between the two and difference in cost, made the FT4 a clear winner (at least for me).
  • dondimitri
    dondimitri Posts: 245 Member
    Edited to add: The previous response was made while I was typing up mine. Obviously I didn't really have anything much to add! lol...



    I was looking at both but have not purchased yet nor have any personal experience.

    www.polarusa.com allows you to compare feature sets for 3 products at a time. Plug in FT4 and FT7 and see what you think.

    The most significant difference as far as I can tell is that the FT7 allows you to uplink your data to polar for analysis. It doesn't look like the FT4 has that feature. Otherwise they look very similar to me.

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