General Polar or more specific to bike?

[e.e.cummings]

I am on the verge of buying a FT60 Polar Heart Monitor (its a birthday gift from my husband, so this is going to happen quite soon). My gym provides a 25% discount. I do a lot of spinning, I work out in the gym, and of course, I cycle, but the weather is getting colder, so there will be more inside for the time being. I am wondering if I should get one of those more bike-oriented watches that I can use inside as well, or am I better off getting a more simple bike computer and getting my FT60? The factor in particular that I am looking at is cadence - does it really help to know this, it is a good tool?

Another note: one thing I find about some of the watches is that my wrist is very small - the male sizes are too big. When I look at some of the more bike oriented ones, they look like they only come in men's sizes. I was going to buy the F11 but I don't like the powdery candy-colours offered for women, and the men's gray pepper doesn't fit. I need to stick to something that actually is offered in a women's sizes. The FT60 that I am looking at is gray pepper (essentially black). Am I picky or what?

[Kiwi Stoker]

Polar does a bike mount for watches so you don't have to have them on your wrist if you don't want to.


Have you looked at any other brands of heart rate monitors? The Garmin watch one was pretty small.

[OakLeaf]

I have very small wrists, and the Garmin 310XT fits me fine with only a thin sleeve underneath it - I think the band can be replaced, and that might make it fit even better, since the unit itself is not that big.

That's way more than your husband was planning to spend though. The Forerunner (not Edge) 305 is a multi-sport computer which is or has been phased out, but they're still available for sale a lot of places, pretty reasonably. But, the unit is very large and I've heard a lot of women complain about the size, as well as have salespeople steer me away from it (this was before the newer units came out, too).

There are bike mounts (of varying durability ) for all the Garmin units, too.

But do you need the wrist mount (for running, skiing, triathlon, etc)? Or are you looking for a bike computer?

[e.e.cummings]

A wrist mount would be nice.

I was checking out the Garmin and I discovered that the 405 is made smaller, and better for smaller wrists. The Garmin customer support person told me that the only significant difference between the 405 and 305 is that the 405 is smaller showing only 3 data fields as opposed to 4 on the 305. The 405 is styled more like the size of a normal watch. It also has a shorter battery life than the 305.

[Dogmama]

Decide what you want to see on your watch during normal operation. For example, I want to see my heart rate and the time. Some people want to see calories burned, time elapsed, etc. Make sure your watch gives you the combination you want without having to switch back & forth.

If you're spinning indoors, sometimes the lights are low. You might want a monitor that lights up.

Make sure that it doesn't get interference from other monitors, telephone poles, etc. All of my Polars did that. Annoying. (I have a Sigma now & I love it.)

Make sure your chest strap is snug. If it is cold & I'm not sweating, I use a electrode gel to get a good connection. I have a small chest & I had to cut the elastic & make it smaller.

When I started cycling, I had a cadence monitor & loved it. Now, I don't & find that I really don't miss it much. You get used to what feels right for your body. Just don't mash big gears or over spin so that your knees hurt.

[OakLeaf]

I was checking out the Garmin and I discovered that the 405 is made smaller, and better for smaller wrists. The Garmin customer support person told me that the only significant difference between the 405 and 305 is that the 405 is smaller showing only 3 data fields as opposed to 4 on the 305. The 405 is styled more like the size of a normal watch. It also has a shorter battery life than the 305.

Check them out in real life before you buy. The display on the 405 is just too small for my soon-to-be-50-year-old eyes. That was a deal-breaker for me on that watch.

Also, if your hands sweat heavily and you expect to want to hit the lap button, change display, etc., during a workout, the 405 kind of has a reputation that sweat interferes with commands to the bezel - but since I've never used one myself, I can't speak to that.

WRT Dogmama's comment, all the Garmins allow you to customize at least one screen for each sport, so you can see exactly the information you want. Some models let you customize two or more screens. The 310XT also has an option to automatically scroll through four screens - not sure if the Forerunner 305 or 405 will let you do that.