Polar FT60 Heart Rate Monitor

The Polar FT60 heart rate monitor is the next model up from the Polar FT40 in the new Polar FT series. It is a wireless heart rate monitor using coded transmission and has features about the same level as those of the older Polar F11. The FT60 has several variants differing in either size or color, as can be seen on this page.

The main features of the FT60 heart rate monitor are:

Continuous heart rate monitoring so you can check your real time heart rate while exercising
Star Training Program: This is a personlised training program based on your user profile such as weight, height, age, sex, fitness level, activity level, and training goal. You can choose to: Improve Fitness, Maximize Fitness or Lose Weight.
Two automatic methods of setting your heart rate training zones are available: one is age-based and the other, known as OwnZone, is based on your fitness on the day of the exercise. These automatic methods set up 3 heart rate zones: zone 1, zone 2, zone 3. You can train freely among these 3 heart rate zones or you can lock into one of them so you train strictly within that one zone.
The 3 heart rate zones' limits can be fully manually adjusted if desired. That adds a lot of flexibility so that you can train within the exact limits that you want.
Heart rate can be displayed either as beats per minute (BPM) or percentage of maximum heart rate (% MHR)
Polar Fitness Test: It is a simple test and it gives you a score called OwnIndex (comparable to VO2 Max) measuring your cardiovascular fitness.
Data displayed during training: real time heart rate, calories, your current zone, time in that zone, weekly target (if training program is used), time of day, duration. If you use the optional foot pod or GPS sensor, you can also see: speed, distance.
Stop watch to start, pause, resume or stop your exercise session
Training session is stored in a file. A file can recall the following data: training effect feedback, time spent in zones 1, 2, 3, OwnZone limits, calories burnt, fat percentage of calories burnt, average heart rate, maximum heart rate. The following data can also be recalled if you used the GPS sensor or foot pod: average speed, maximum speed, distance. If the training program is in use, you can also see: your targets for the current week and the results you have achieved up to now.
Weekly follow-up will appear every Sunday at midnight. It will comment on your past week's results, summarize various training data, and give guidance for next week's training.
Intelligent Notifications: The Polar FT60 is a smart computer. It will notify you if it thinks you need to update your weight, or do a fitness test. Depending on your training results, it will also adjust your training program or recommend you to take a recovery week!
Weight Diary: It keeps the weights you have entered and is able to plot a graph to show the trends of your weight.
OwnIndex Results: 47 test values are stored. This allows you to monitor your long term fitness.
The Polar FT60 stores 100 files, with each file representing a given training session. You can thus review details of any one of your past 100 workouts.
You can review your weekly training summary for the last 16 weeks: Total duration, number of sessions, calories burnt for the week
You can also review totals starting from a given date: Total duration, total number of sessions, total calories burnt
Time, date, alarm, 2 time zones. The alarm can be set to one of the following: Once, Everyday, Monday to Friday.
Training sounds' volume adjustable.
Backlight
Button lock to prevent accidental presses . It can be set to manual or automatic lock.
HeartTouch: During training you can see the time of day display by simply bringing the wrist watch close the transmitter belt.
Wireless heart rate monitor with a coded analogue chest strap transmitter (WearLink) and a wrist watch receiver. Both the wrist watch's and the WearLink chest strap's batteries can be self-replaced. The coded wireless transmission avoids interference and cross-talk from other heart rate monitor users exercsing nearby.
Water resistant up to 30m. To maintain water resistance, do not press buttons while under water.
Polar FlowLink (optional): This is an optional device that allows you to transfer training data from your wrist watch to your computer for analysis.
S1 Foot Pod (optional): This gives speed and distance information when running.
G1 GPS Sensor (optional): This provides speed/pace and distance measurement for outdoor sports like running and cycling.

The Polar FT60 is the next model after the Polar FT40 in the Polar fitness series. The differences between the two models are highlighted in bold in the list above. Bold in black means those features are found in FT60 but not in FT40.

The main differences between the Polar FT60 and Polar FT40 are:

The Star Training Program and associated features
OwnZone for determining heart rate zones
The division into 3 heart rate training zones i.e. zone 1, zone 2, and zone 3. (In contrast there are 2 training zones on the FT40.)
The re-introduction of full manual overrides on the limits of the various heart rate zones
The ability to add foot pod or GPS sensor for speed and distance measurement
The ability to show a graph of past OwnIndex values, so you can see at a glance how your fitness has improved.

The Star Training Program

This is an intelligent, personalised training program that tells you how long and how intense you should train in each week based on your own goal. It then gives you feedback after each session. At the end of the week, it gives you training guidance for the following week. Furthermore it adapts to your training habits and changing fitness to make sure that it gives you the best advice. To use this program, first do a Polar Fitness Test. Then select one of the following 3 training goals: Improve Fitness, Maximize Fitness or Lose Weight. Once you have done that, the Polar FT60 suggests the total time target, individual time targets in zone 1, zone 2 and zone 3, and total calorie target for the next week. So you start training, and trying to fulfill what the Star Training Program suggests. After each session it will tell you if you have improved in Fat Burn, Fitness or both. At the end of the week, it will analyse your performance and may suggest that you train more, train less, train the same, or take a recovery week! It also has all sorts of reminders and notifications. For example it may remind you to weigh yourself or do a Fitness Test. The Star Training Program continues to update and adapt itself based on your fitness. There are more features than can be covered here. The bottom line: It is as if you have a real coach guiding you by your side!

OwnZone

OwnZone is a fitness-based automatic method of setting your heart rate training zones. Before your main training begins, you will be asked to do a series of short warm up exercises (around 5 minutes). The watch measures your heart rate resulting from doing these activities. At the end of it you are given your heart rate zone limits for the current session.

Manual Heart Rate Training Zones

This feature, though basic, disappears in the Polar FT7 and the Polar FT40. Those two models allow you to set the upper heart rate limit in your training, but not the lower limit. The designers of FT7 and FT40 probably thought that most people would happily accept the limits suggested by the wrist watch computer. However, for those who want to exactly specify their own heart rate training zones, the loss of manual override can be a bit of a problem. However, luckily, the Polar FT60 now lets you do just that. You can now set the limits exactly the way you want them.

Speed and Distance Measurement

For those who would like to couple heart rate training and speed/pace training, this can now be done on the Polar FT60, provided the optional foot pod or GPS sensor is used. The older Polar F11 (which the FT60 is meant to replace) did not have this functionality. This makes Polar FT60 a very flexible training tool that will grow with your needs.

Other FT60 models:

Summary

The Polar FT60 heart rate monitor is a great intermediate/advanced heart rate monitor that has a lot of capabilities. The most important of them is the Star Training Program. If you are serious about your training, and you want guidance as you continue to train and improve, then the Polar FT60 is just the heart rate monitor for you. There is a large number of features to help you in your training. And you get comprehensive feedback on how you are doing, include a graph of Fitness Test results which will show you your improvements over time. Furthermore, the Polar FT60 can be enhanced to have speed and distance measurements. This product is highly recommended.

This takes you to Amazon for some of the best selections for this model. Certain selections come with FREE Super Saver Shipping.