Great watch - i only need a heart rate monitor and this one serves the purpose very very well -- it gives me control over the intensity of my exercises and also is a good for distracting me in a good way from the pain when i am going really hard. I have indoor machines so i haven't used it outside - might be too much of a distraction biking -- unless you mount it on your handlebars -- but the watch itself is the best and i prefer a monitor around my chest as opposed to the watches which measure heart rate from your wrist - i trust them more and also read on the reviews about this watch that it is more accurate than more recent polar heart rate monitors with the new strap -- i am quite satisfied with my selection - I should add that i was advised by a running store that Polar heart rate monitors is the best brand to get.

In general this unit works fine. Does what it says it will do. CAUTION: When the battery in your coded chest transmitter dies, look out. This is nearly impossible to replace. THere are some YouTube videos on it, and I followed one perfectly. 1.5 hours later the new battery didn't work. So when that happens you'll have to buy a new chest tansmitter for $40. What a rip off. The is no excuse for such poor design.

If you want a device that is just a heart rate monitor without a lot of additional bells and whistles there aren't many options. I settled on this Polar model because it seemed simple to operate and relatively attractive. The set up is not intuitive and the small manual that comes with the monitor isn't much use but the user's manual on the website is easy enough to use. Monitor, monitor band and chest strap are alll well-designed, better than average. The monitor is fine as a digital watch when you are not wearing the chest strap. The operational problem is that pairing between the chest strap and monitor sometimes takes quite a while to produce a heartbeat readout, often 20 seconds or more. The time varies from about ten seconds to several times as long. Once the readout begins it usually continues until you stop it. The other annoyances are for the future; the chest strap, unlike those made by virtually all competing vendors, does not have a user replaceable battery, so you can't simply purchase a battery and replace it. I will have to purchase a new chest strap or send the old one back to the company, undoubtedly for a good deal more money than the cost of a new battery. The battery in the monitor is in theory user-replaceable but removing the back requires a "Torx 5" screwdriver, in constrast to the small Phillips screws used in all competing devices. I can purchase a Torx5 at a hardware store or Walmart for a couple of dollars, but this is an additional annoyance unless you want to pay a local Polar dealer for battery replacement. I had one of the early Polar heart rate monitors when they first came out more than 20 years ago but since then have purchased competing devices, largely because I didn't like being gouged for battery replacement. I don't know why I assumed that Polar's corporate policies had improved in the interim. They are not in my view a consumer friendly enterprise.

If you want a gadget that will persuade you to get off your butt and exercise because you want to play with lots of bells and whistles, this isn't it. (Hint: No gadget will get you off your butt. Only you can do that.)

However if you want an accurate heart rate reading so you don't give yourself a heart attack instead of cardiovascular fitness, this is your boy. Inexpensive, simple, light, convenient - it just works to beep when you go out of your pre-set heart rate zone to warn you to slow down so you don't stop permanently. :o)

With wonderful corporate unconscious humor, when you order it the distributor will send you an e-mail advising you that there is a later "new and improved" model available (for more more money of course). Chuckle indulgently when you see it, press the 'FU' button, and buy this anyway.

My old heart rate monitor died and I couldn't revive it with a new battery. That is why I bought this Polar Ft1. I don't use a lot of features so I was looking at inexpensive monitors. I simply need to keep track of my heart rate when I work out, to prevent it from going too high. This one does the job. What I don't like about it is that the one button system makes it difficult to set. By default, it shows the time of day. You press the button for one second to get it to start measuring heart rate. That is all well and good but it doesn't always work. I usually have to repeat the one second button push several times to get it displaying heart rate. Once it is displaying heart rate, it will do so with no more intervention required.

Update 1/24/18 The battery on the chest strap is apparently dead. There is no way to replace it. I did as some YouTube videos suggested and used a heat gun. After 30 minutes of heating, prying, heating, and prying, there is a rip in the rear cover. I'm going to buy another monitor but it will be one that advertises a user replaceable battery.