Product Description

The M61 features the WearLink™ Coded transmitter made from a soft, fabric material. The electrodes, which pick up the heart signals, are integrated right into the strap for added flexibility and comfort. The Coded feature eliminates interference from other heart rate monitors. The M61 is a must for the individual seeking guidance and motivating feedback.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10193 in Sports & Outdoors
• Color: Grey
• Brand: Polar
• Model: 190021676
• Released on: 2005-01-06

Features

• Displays heart rate, exercise time, and average heart rate
• WearLink Coded transmitter, made from a soft fabric material, eliminates interference from other heart rate monitors
• OwnIndex feature will determine your fitness level, track your improvements
• Polar OwnZone helps determine an individual exercise zone; calorie counter and goal management
• Large easy-to-read, backlit display with split screen; water resistant to 30 meters

Amazon.com Product Description
Work out at the right intensity and hit your fitness goals with the Polar M61 Heart Rate Monitor, ideal for the serious exerciser looking to lose weight or reach the next level of fitness. You can use the M61 monitor to conveniently view your heart rate while walking, swimming, biking, cross-country skiing, or any other exercise without disturbing your exercise rhythm. The wristwatch-like monitor features a large display that includes 12/24-hour time of day, alarm, and stopwatch. The transmitter includes the Wearlink Coded function, which eliminates interference from other heart rate monitors. The transmitter's electrodes, which pick up the heart signals, are integrated right into the strap for added flexibility and comfort.

The OwnCal feature shows your energy expenditure during one exercise session as well as your accumulated kilocalories during several exercise sessions. It also allows you to set daily and weekly exercise goals in terms of calorie expenditure. The OwnZone feature helps determine an individual exercise zone, guiding you through an appropriate warm-up routine and automatically determining a safe and effective exercise heart rate zone. OwnZones presets include Basic, Advanced, Light, Moderate, Hard, and Weight. The OwnIndex feature will determine your fitness level, track your improvements, and provide motivation.

The M61's visual and audible alarms alert you when you reach your target heart rate zone. The Time in Target Zone feature calculates the amount of total exercise time spent in your personal target zone. You can use this feature together with the Total Exercise Time to determine the effectiveness of your exercise program. The Fitness Bullets feature shows a bullet on the monitor's display for every 15 minutes spent exercising/training in your target heart rate zone.

Key Details:

• Displays heart rate, exercise time, and average heart rate
• Manual and automatic heart rate limit settings
• Target heart rate zones with audible and visual alarm
• OwnCal calorie counter shows energy expenditure during workout and enables you to set goals
• WearLink Coded transmitter, made from a soft fabric material, eliminates interference from other heart rate monitors
• OwnZone helps determine an individual exercise zone
• Large easy-to-read display with backlighting and split screen
• 24-hour clock with day/week indicator and stopwatch
• Two-year average battery life
• Water resistant to 30 meters (100 feet)

What's in the Box?
M61 heart rate monitor watch unit, wireless transmitter, elastic strap, battery (built-in CR2032 lithium cell), printed instructions

Manufacturer's Warranty
2-year limited warranty

Note:
Polar heart rate monitors are precision instruments; consumers are not advised to change their own battery. Polar recommends that all service be done by an authorized Polar Service Center which will include a warranty for 90 days on repairs and 6 months for batteries.

About Polar
The first EKG accurate wireless heart rate monitor was invented by Polar back in 1977 as a training tool for the Finnish National Cross Country Ski Team. The concept of "intensity training" by heart rate swept the athletic world in the eighties. By the 1990s, individuals were looking to heart rate monitors not only for performance training needs, but also for achieving everyday fitness goals. Today, the same concept of heart rate training is being used by world-class athletes as well as everyday people trying to lose weight. Polar is the leading brand among consumers, coaches, and personal trainers worldwide and the company is committed to not only producing the best products, but also being the leading educator on the benefits of heart rate based exercise.

Customer Reviews

Good but may be overkill
I've used a Polar A1 basic heart monitor for several months, found it useful for losing weight and gaining fitness, but found myself wishing for something a bit better. Now that I also have the much fancier Polar M61, I'm seeing anew the virtues of simplicity (not to mention low cost.)

Compared to the A1, the M61 usefully adds a stopwatch and regular watch (with either visible along with the current heart rate), and a backlight. It also beeps at you if your heart rate goes above or below a specified target zone. I find all those added features very useful.

Sadly, it is also a far more complex watch to set up and operate than the A1, with many features that no longer seem as important as I once thought. Even so, it still lacks features I'd expected it to include, such as recording the highest and lowest heart rate reached during a session, and a way to record the drop in heart rate during the first minute after ending an exercise session.

I now know I'd have been about as happy with the Polar FS2 model, for half the price, but would still prefer the M61 over all other Polar heart monitors.

P.S. A great guide to effective use of a heart monitor is "Younger Next Year: A Guide to Living Like 50 Until You're 80 and Beyond" by Chris Cowley & Henry S. Lodge, M.D.

The little Heart Rate Monitor that...well...almost could...
There is so much to like about this heart rate monitor I almost feel disappointed in myself for not liking it. The wearlink transmitter is comfortable (if a little odd in the fact that you have to wet the sensors down to use it), the own zones, the custom zone, and the accuracy are exactly what I expected and thought I needed in a heart rate monitor. As with another reviewer, I have lost weight (26 pounds in 14 weeks) while using this monitor to help regulate and target my workouts.

That said, there are quite a few quirks to this monitor, and things that it simply will not do, due to design issues and logic flaws.

There is no key lock. This means that while doing some work outs, the monitor will stop and reset itself. This is particularly annoying to discover after you've just done 30 minutes of basketball, martial arts, or even weight lifting, only to see the watch showing a minute and a half and asking you if you are sure you want to quit.

This monitor also only tracks one exercise session. Which means if you do a split work out (twenty minutes of high intensity cardio followed by twenty minutes of resistance training) you have to manually note your data at the end of each session, and adjust your target heart rates. If you fail to do so, the data (time, time in zone, average heart rate, calories burned, etc, other than total calories burned) is lost. Given its lack of keylock, its entirely possible for you to lose a session just by bumping your wrist against something and having the monitor start again.

The user manual (and this seems to be a common complaint with Polar products) is overly complex and not very user friendly to the point that I nearly found it incomprehensible.

Polar M61 Heart Rate Monitor Watch
I can't think of anything that I don't like about the watch. It does what I was looking for; telling me what my HR is while exercising and giving me an average HR per workout session. You can manually set a range that you want your HR to be in between or it can automatically come up with one for you (it will alert you if you go above or fall below these limits). The transmitter fits comfortably and is easy to put on and take off. Well worth the investment.