Suunto T4 Watch - Heart Rate Monitor

I bought this product for a gift. This heart rate monitor is just plain awesome. It's virtually weightless, measures just about everything under the sun, and has an infinite number of expansion kits (gps, bike, etc.). The built-in coach is great, constantly adjusting for what you actually do vs. what you're scheduled to do...realistic yet challenging. I was concerned about the watch band being different than the typical heart rate monitors, but the recipient of the monitor said that he actually prefers it. All together, a great buy!

This thing does it all and the "coach" feature is great. It has shed new light on the diversity of intensity I was lacking in my workouts. The training effect (TE) feature has become more of a reference to me than watching my actual heartrate because it gives you a better value of how effective your workout was. My only complaint was that the batteries were dead in both the watch and the heart rate monitor when I got it. But after getting new batteries (readily available for $5) it worked great.

I bought this to compare to a Polar monitor that I've had for some time. I like the T4's user interface better, and the watch is nice enough looking to wear as, well, a watch. The chest band is comfortable and stays in place even during the jostling one receives during ice hockey. The watch band is nylon webbing and, though very comfortable, tends to loosen under my hockey gloves. It doesn't do this during running or cycling, however. The log and "coach" features of the monitor are nice and encourage you to rest and to work out when you should. You don't want to let it down.... I'm very pleased with this monitor.

I need to study the instruction manual, or take a college course, to fully comprehend how to operate this thing. My digital watch in junior high school had a light button, why didn't they include one in this watch? Also, at first I thought the wrist band issue mentioned in the earlier reviews was people being to nit-picky. After experiencing it for myself, I find it annoying. I'll keep the watch, even though I am tempted to return it. I have wanted a Suunto since 2000. However, I am not thrilled with the purchase.

One cool feature - for me at least - is the display of "training effect" (which according to Suunto "shows the degree to which an individual workout improves your aerobic fitness. More powerful than conventional zone training features, Training Effect tells you the quantifiable results of your workout." Somehow, a little screen telling me that to get to the next level will take 2 minutes really motivates me. Then when I'm at the next level, I think, 4 more minutes, no problem. Then, only 3 minutes to the next one...I can do that. And so on. The log is great too. Today I worked out for an hour. Max HR was 178. Average was 151. And according to the monitor, I burned 888 calories. Hitting those quantitative goals has motivated me to workout harder than ever before. Best investment I've made in a long time.