Quote Originally Posted by SimpleCycle
For those of you who have monitors, what features have you found to be essential? I'm not sure if I'm going to keep this one - it does heart rate and target zones, but that's all. I'm thinking average, max, and time in zone might be good features to have.
Hi SimpleCycle, I have the basic Polar A3 (about $80) which does average and time-in-zone (plus stopwatch and gives you a little indicator of time in 10-minute "bullets"). I credit this item and my use of it with a weight loss of 40+ pounds and the best aerobic fitness of my life to date.

Occasionally I've had problems with the unit while running (weirdly high readings) but never while cycling or spinning. I would not "trade up": it's perfect for my needs. The *average* function is, I've read, the feature people most need.

Oh! And it has BIG NUMBERS.

--Balrog