Concept2 Forum

I am looking to buy an HRM.
What are your opinions of HRMs in general and the Polar F11 in particular?

Is the "wristwatch" worth the extra $85?
Is it accurate?
Does it give accurate readings of all the things it says it does?...calories burned, calories from fat, etc., etc.

If the "watch" is accurate, why buy the chest strap and receiver?

Does the HR info from the receiver get transmitted to the PM3 and stored on the log card/uploaded to your computer? If so, is this useful...or just data overload?

Oh, and can the batteries be changed at home or does it have to be sent away?....I like my Swiss Army wristwatch...but what a pain to have to send it in to get the battery replaced. But if I don't the water-proofing warranty is no good.

You get the idea...what I need is a primer on HRMs!

Regards,
Brent

Hi Brent,
I have the F11 but just don't use the watch part, only the chest belt and receiver. I guess the watch is more useful if you bike or run neither of which I do a great deal of.
I'll sell you the watch cheap if you want it! I think battery replacement can be done at any jewelery store as I don't think its waterproof.
Dave

Tinpusher wrote:Hi Brent,
I have the F11 but just don't use the watch part, only the chest belt and receiver. I guess the watch is more useful if you bike or run neither of which I do a great deal of.
I'll sell you the watch cheap if you want it! I think battery replacement can be done at any jewelery store as I don't think its waterproof.
Dave

I was thinking of the watch for OTW rowing. It would be interesting to see how it varies from on the erg. So far, OTW is not nearly as intense a workout as on the erg...probably because we are all novices.

I thought you could buy the Polar HRM and receiver with or without the watch?

Do you find the HRM useful? And, if so, how?...i.e. what does it tell you while you are erging that changes what you do....or what information are you gathering that helps you row....better....faster? As I say I need a primer.

It does say waterproof on the C2 product page.....it would need to be waterproof if I was going to wear it while I was erging!!! But I'm getting a CBreeze to cool me down soon.

P.S. What do you call cheap?

Brent

I guess waterproof would be an advantage!
You can just buy the receiver and I thought I'd use the watch but just haven't. OTW would work too, but I haven't made that leap yet.
I use the HRM on the C2 all the time and the IP for the 2K is HR capped.
Cheap=negotiable
Dave

Tinpusher wrote:I guess waterproof would be an advantage!
You can just buy the receiver and I thought I'd use the watch but just haven't. OTW would work too, but I haven't made that leap yet.
I use the HRM on the C2 all the time and the IP for the 2K is HR capped.
Cheap=negotiable
Dave

OK you got me....the "IP" is what exactly? and HR capped....what's that?

As my weight drops and I start to think about going faster rather than just farther, I'd like to know how my heart is feeling about that!

(The Cambridge stroke in the boat race in 2006 was 244 lb!!....no wonder they lost again!)

You need to try the OTW thing, it's great. I'm very lucky to have the St. Catharines RC and their rec. league system fairly nearby. Any clubs within reasonable driving time of you?

Brent

I think having the transmitter and having HR show up on the PM is worth it. I don't do much with that info, and no longer limit my workouts at all based on HR, but I like monitoring it.

I don't use the wrist watch at all, so I have the simplest/cheapest version. But I think the soft "wearlink" chest belt is worth the upgrade, and you get that with the F11, so if you think you want the extra bells and whistles for OTW rowing, then that could be good choice. Shop around because price really varies (nashbar and performancebike are often good places).

IP means "interactive plan" which is a workout plan either here on the C2 US site or more likely off the UK C2 site. HR capped means a workout in which you "cap" your HR, so you don't let your HR get over a set target, like 150, and so have to slow down or stop if your HR hits that target.

Michael has summed it up. The 2K IP is from the UK site. A 26 week program to improve 2K times with workouts HR restricted to different levels depending on intensity.
There is a rowing club in Orangeville, all I need is more than a day off every 8 or 9 and I'll give it a go.
The soft strap is definately the way to go.
Think endurance, ie distance before speed. 30-40 minute sessions is the way to get a good start.

Dave

Tinpusher wrote: The soft strap is definately the way to go.
Dave

Also the soft strap can be bought separately. As I remember, mine cost about $40 U.S. when I got it a couple of years ago. I think that it was from a Big 5 outlet. I use it on my Model D, with a receiver unit purchased from C2, and on a treadmill at a local fitness center. The T.M. has a built in receiver. I have a Polar watch (model number long forgotten) that originally came with a hard strap, but I prefer the soft strap and rarely use the watch.

Bob S.

Thanks all!
But just to clarify...
1) are we talking soft strap for the chest band...or for the watch strap?
2) when you are not on the erg, do you need the chest band AND the watch on....i.e. does the chest band transmit the data to the watch? or is the watch in itself a HRM? I had heard that wrist type HRMs were not very accurate?
3) do you all think that the other functions of the F11 are worth...anything?...calorie monitor, calories from fat, heart rate zone...etc...or are they expensive bells and whistles.

BTW....as usual I spoke too soon about OTW not giving me as much of a workout as the erg. At tonight's practice we were really starting to move and did a spell of about 3000m pretty much as fast as we were capable of going at this stage.
It's quite different putting everything in to 3000m versus doing a steady HM or 60' on the erg!!

Race night 1 on Thursday...but for strategic reasons I shall get myself into the "spare" boat for race one. (I want to be in the race boat proper for the 500m sprint night and for the last race day...when we race against boats at our level.....the other 3 race nights are mix-and-match round robin type match-ups).
As usual the "rec. league" label is beginning to mean less and less as the competitive aspect approaches!

Brent

icomefrombirmingham wrote: But just to clarify...
1) are we talking soft strap for the chest band...or for the watch strap?
2) when you are not on the erg, do you need the chest band AND the watch on....i.e. does the chest band transmit the data to the watch? or is the watch in itself a HRM? I had heard that wrist type HRMs were not very accurate?
Brent

The chest band has a transmitter with a cover of either a stiff, rubber-like material or hard plastic. Polar makes two types. The earlier one, the "hard strap," had the transmitter and electrodes all in one long (1"X12") unit with the stiff, rubber-like cover and an elastic strap that attached to it. The newer one has the transmitter in a small (1 3/8"X2 3/8") hard plastic case. The electrodes are imbedded in a soft woven strap that attaches to the transmitter unit with metal snaps to make electical contact. Both straps are elasticized and adjustable as well.

I don't like either of them since they both press against my sternum wires and I find this to be irritating.

The so-called watch is basically a radio receiver that picks up the signal from the transmitter, but it also has a number of other functions, depending on the model, and, since one of the functions is keeping time, it is appropriately called a watch. I wear mine on the erg handle so that I can check it when the C2 receiver conks out, which happens more often than we would like. It seems to come and go without any good indication why. Why the handle and not my wrist? It is easier to see on the erg handle.

As far as I know, neither Polar nor Suunto makes a wrist pulse pickup. They both use electrodes that have to make electrical contact with the skin on each side of the chest. The skin has to be wet to have effective contact — no problem with the usual erg workout — there is always enough sweat generated to make the contact effective.

I recently purchased a Suunto T6, since that can be attached to a computer to download the stored heart rate data (in more detail than just pulse rate alone, i.e. interval times between pulses). But I haven't yet had the stomach to read through the over one hundred plus pages of garbage in the instruction manual and the training guide. Since it wasn't cheap (like well over 300 bucks), I have to do it one of the days, but haven't yet worked myself up to it.

The Suunto chest strap is similar to the old Polar strap and the watch has more functions than I have any use for, like barometer readings — for runners and cyclists who are doing hills. It can also be inter-faced with GPS equipment.

Incidentally, the C2 PM4 is said to have a built in receiver for the Suunto belt, whereas the receiver unit for the PM3 works just with the Polar belts. Both companies are Finnish, with the full company names ending in Oy. Makes me wonder what is going in on Finland that there is so much interest in heart monitering. Maybe it is the result of too many people getting shocked by the old habit of jumping out into the snow directly from the hot sauna steam baths.

enough blather.

Bob S.

Thanks Bob,
Hmmm...I don't think I will need the barometer or the GPS interface....if the coxie can't figure out which part of the 2000m we are at, we're all in trouble.

Your Suunto sounds interesting....I have an irregular resting pulse, it would be interesting to plot it over time...but perhaps too scarey?!

So, basically I need the Polar soft chest strap type and the receiver. The wrist "watch" is an optional extra...but I can pick one of those up for under $5 from tinpusher!!

Brent

So, basically I need the Polar soft chest strap type and the receiver

Yes.

The wrist "watch" is an optional extra...but I can pick one of those up for under $5 from tinpusher!!

I think you need a new keyboard too, yours seems to be missing some numbers

Cheers
Dave

Tinpusher wrote:

So, basically I need the Polar soft chest strap type and the receiver

Yes.

The wrist "watch" is an optional extra...but I can pick one of those up for under $5 from tinpusher!!

I think you need a new keyboard too, yours seems to be missing some numbers

Cheers
Dave

Heeheeheehee!
Brent

Brent,

Check Amazon.com From time to time they have the chest strap/transmitter alone. Then you may need the C2 connection cable for the erg. For OTW, you'll need a watch that can read the tranmitter. That most likely would be a Polar watch. You can probably get these off Amazon too. Need to check that the specs are equivalent.

I picked up a Polar M61 for under $90 with shipping a coupel of months back. Works very well erging and OTW. No C2 cable yet. I get a couple of pulses lower average heart rate at end of overall session depending on how soon I stop the watch. But unless I've been sleeping through the session, as long as it's in the range (which I manually set versus the old age-225 method or the Polar program) I'm not going to quibble. I think it's fairly accurate. I haven't had any "not working" problems either. I only use the HR and the chronometer, have even looked at the book on any other feature. So my advice is don't over pay for features you're not going to use.

Does it help? For information purposes only. I'm not doing any HR based training but it let's me know if my training is up at the level it needs to be or if I'm going too hard too often with interval sets.


ST

Thanks Tabb,
I have looked at the websites everyone has suggested. The C2 prices aren't too bad it seems.
$175 for the F11 watch, strap and C2 receiver package?

And I think I can get tinpusher to drop his price on the watch!!!!

Brent