Emery M 51

Advantages: Great motivational tool, Easy to Use, Many functions, Comfortable to wear, Reputable brand, Long lasting
Disadvantages: Cost of initial outlay

...pace. In Polar's words: "A Polar heart rate monitor will act as your ideal training partner, giving you feedback every time you exercise, and motivating you to keep going". The HRM's themselves come in the form of a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is an elasticated belt that you wear just underneath the chest muscles (just under your bra if you're a woman). The receiver looks like a watch and is worn as such. The M51 ~~~~~~~~ The HRM I have recently started to use is the M51 (for info - this has exactly the same features as the M52 only has a different looking watch, which is blue as opposed to grey). This is a fairly middle of the range HRM for someone who does exercise of some form on a regular basis (for example going to the gym 3 or more times a week). The watch itself is very comfortable to wear. It... Read review

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Advantages: See how you're doing with a reliable, neat piece of kit
Disadvantages: Sometimes gets confused, fiddly to start with

...limits for your training zone - the literature supplied will show you how this works (and whole books have been written on the subject) or you can take a suggested figure. The "Last exercise file" feature shows your exercise date, exercise time, time in your "training zone" your average heart rate, an estimate of your fat consumption as a percentage of the calories burned, and total exercise time. In addition to the heart rate functions you get a watch, alarm, calendar and stopwatch. The M51 adds some more functions to the list, including a fitness test which you can run first thing in the morning. It takes your heart rate at rest (before you get out of bed!) and looks at how much it varies over a few minutes - you tell it your age, weight and height and it comes up with an index figure, supposedly showing how fit you are. Whether you... Read review

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Advantages: monitors calories burned as well as heart rate
Disadvantages: expensive!

..., bikes etc will pick up your rate. And as the transmitter is coded, rather than random, you know it is picking up YOUR heart rate rather than that of the marathon runner in training on the next machine. All in all this clever little gadget got my vote, despite the pricetag. Polar do make more expensive monitors, the M51 and M71, but the main advantages of these seemed to be the ability to hold recorded data for more than one user, which wasn’t a requirement for me. If you’re planning to share your monitor with a real-life gym buddy then the three-figure asking price might be worth splitting between you (but you’ll want to get your own chest straps however great mates you are!) Now if you are following a calorie-controlled weight loss diet you know how bloody difficult and restrictive it can be, once you’ve... Read review

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