Acumen Eon Basix Plus Heart Rate Monitor

Here are its main features:

• Continuous heart rate monitoring
• Two ways to set the upper and lower limits of your heart rate training zone: manually and automatically. When set automatically, it uses your age to calculate the zone limits.
• Audio alarm and visual indicator when you train outside your training zone
• Stop watch: You now know the duration of exercise session.
• Time in/above/below heart rate target zone during the exercise session.
• Calories consumption with Exercise Factor
• Fitness Index: This is a short 60 second test at the end of your exercise to see how fast your heart rate returns to normal.
• Basic time keeping: You can set time and alarm and date.
• Smart Lite: This feature will automatically switch on the backlight for 3 seconds between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. when you press any button. You can set this feature on or off.
• Wireless heart rate monitor with a chest strap transmitter and a wrist watch receiver

The additional features of the Eon Basix Plus over the Eon Basix are highlighted in bold in the list above. For brief descriptions of the features common with the Eon Basix, please refer to the Eon Basix page.

You can now time your session and find out its duration. You can see whether, during that time, you have been training mostly at the right intensity by looking at your time in target zone. You can also see whether you have been over training (or undertraining) by checking the time above (or below) your target zone.

There is now a 60 second fitness test which you can do after your exercise to see how fast your heart rate recovers. You get a number called the Fitness Index which ranges between 0 to 100.

The interpretations of the number are as follows: 0 - 20: Poor, 21 - 40: Fair, 41 - 60: OK, 61 - 80: Good, 81 - 100: Excellent.

The fitter you are, the faster you get back to your resting heart rate, and the higher your Fitness Index score is. So the theory goes.

You can now also set the date, making it a more full featured watch than the Eon Basix.

You now have backlight. Useful when exercising in the dark or in dimly lit places. You can also switch on a feature called Smart Lite. This means whatever button you press during 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., the backlight will come on automatically.

Note that the in-zone count down timer is gone from the Eon Basix Plus. It probably is no longer necessary.

Note: The Acumen Eon Basix Plus ES and Eon Basix Plus ES-WP heart rate monitors are basically the same as the Acumen Eon Basix Plus in terms of functionality. Both variants have a smaller wrist watch and a smaller transmitter belt. The wrist watch of the Acumen Eon Basix Plus ES-WP can come in different colours.

Other issues

Based on customer reviews found on the net, there can be some quality and durability issues with this heart rate monitor. Some users are very happy with it. Some not quite so happy. So do look up the reviews on Amazon.

Summary

It is a heart rate monitor with a number of useful features such as time in/above/below target zone, exercise duration and calorie consumption. However, because of the above-mentioned quality and durability issues, it can be a matter of chance whether the one that you buy will last for a long time (or not). It is however easy to use and relatively cheap.

Useful Information

Not sure which heart rate monitor is right for you? Take a look at the Which Heart Rate Monitor page.