Polar F11M Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Grey Pepper, New Design)

I purchased the F11 for use in monitoring my workouts while deployed in Iraq. The grey color for this model made it a perfect fit with the grey in color uniforms I wear. After a short while I began to expereience some of the same problems that other users have reported experiencing. The heart rate would go up to 220 beats per minute or it would not register anything at all. I have another Polar watch that I use for hiking that also has a heart rate monitor with it that has worked perfectly. That receiver used the T31 Coded monitor. When I went home on leave I tried the F11 using the T31 Coded Heart Rate Monitor. The F11 worked perfectly. I have been using the F11 with the T31 for 3 months now and I haven't had any problems with it since changing out the heart rate monitor. I like the features of the F11 and the size of it. The fact that the heart rate monitor is faulty led me to give this 4 stars instead of five. The T31 Coded Monitor can be purchased individually through Amazon.com. It is much cheaper to go through them than to purchase one from Polar directly.

My F11 starting failing after a couple of years. It would run up to 220 BPM even though no was else was in sight. Or it would just shut down altogether and then start back up. And even if it hadn't failed, it was not very intuitive at all. Terrible menu system. Hello Garmin Forerunner 305 - perfect.

I recently bought the Polar F11 heart rate monitor at the suggestion of my trainer. I have been working out consistently for several years but it's just been within the last 6 months that I've really gotten serious about getting into shape. My trainer told me that a heart rate monitor would be a great way to track my progress and make sure I'm working out at the proper level.

After doing some research it was no secret that Polar is absolutely the best of the best. Hands down they receive the best ratings, are very user friendly, and seem to have a lot of repeat customers or customers that come based on recommendations. It was a little difficult for me to choose a model, and I asked several of my workout buddies which they preferred. After looking at all of the different monitors, I went with the F11 model for the following reasons:

Fitness test and program: There is a fitness test that tests your heart rate for 5 minutes and then gives you a number. Based on that number you can choose to create a program that will maintain, advance, or maximize your fitness level. Based on what you want to do (I chose maximize) it creates a program for you. Mine says to work out 5 days a week (you can change this) and tells me to do a total of 3 normal length sessions, 1 long, and 1 short. It gives times and target calories for all of these. If you reach 80% of your goal you are given a picture of a trophy that is displayed on the main screen of your watch. For me this was very motivating, as I wanted to keep that trophy on my screen! It was a reminder that I worked hard and it made me want to keep working hard.

Storage: It stores all of my daily sessions for about 12 days and probably about the same amount of weekly sessions (I've only had mine for 6 weeks so its not full). Within each day or week you can see how long you exercised total, how many calories you burned, how long your heart rate was at each zone (light, moderate, or hard) and how many sessions you had (each week). It's great to be able to track your progress over time and see your progression.

As a bonus, it syncs with all of the treadmills, ellipticals, stair climbers, and bikes at my gym (they aren't a Polar model). I think that any cardio machine that has a place for you to put your hands and measure your heart rate will sync up with this heart rate monitor. It was really nice to be able to see my heart rate vary as I was exercising without having to always look down at the watch.


The strap was very comfortable, I didn't even feel it when I was exercising.

The watch was pretty user friendly, but it took me some time to get the hang of everything. This was my first heart rate monitor purchase and I would absolutely recommend this to anybody. It's a great deal for the price you'll pay, not too expensive but with a lot more features than a basic model. You don't have to be a super jock to get a lot of use out of this, it's been very motivating for me to use in every day use. I got it primarily to be able to workout outdoors in the summer and skip the gym a little more often and it's been great for that. I wear it when I go hiking, running, at the gym, and even walking the dogs. I don't forsee ever using a different model as these are very high quality and very useful for my workouts. I would absolutely recommend this model!

This is my first HRM, and I love it. Just having it on motivates me to push myself harder because it tracks my progress throughout the week. At the end of the week, I get a summary of the total number of workouts, the total calories burned, the total time working out, and the time spent in each heart rate zone. There are only a few buttons on it, so it is pretty easy to figure out, although it does take a little time playing around with it to figure out all the bells and whistles, but the basic functioning is very straightforward. This model links up to the Polar website, which is less exciting than I thought it would be. I thought it would help me track my workouts better than it does. Oververall, I am very pleased.

I gave this 4-stars because it's pretty good, but not perfect. I've had this unit for over 3 years now and there are times when the data goes beserk. I figure it's from sweat getting into the snaps which can corrode. I noticed that after cleaning the snaps, the reliability improves. I wanted to blame the battery but after cleaning the snaps (removing the green colored corrosion) all was well. Now, I put a dab of vasaline in the snaps to help keep it clean. I wash the sweat off the snaps after each workout. The only other problem I've noticed is that when carrying the unit in a travel bag, the buttons can get pushed to activate the monitor and store bogus data. Even after using the "LOCK" feature, it can become unlocked and start recording. The fix for that is to just wear the unit while traveling. No biggie, but it does happen.

As for the "KEEP-U-FIT", I stopped using it as I felt like I wasn't getting a good workout for my condition. I workout about 5 days a week for an hour each and I believe Polar programs these things on the conservative side so that you don't over do it. Keeps lawsuits to a minimum, I guess.

I now use the manual mode where I set my own limits as it gives me the final say in my workouts. I prefer to use more advanced HR calculations instead of the "220 - your age", as it is not for everyone. All this time I've owned it, I've only had to reset it two times after it "locked-up" for some strange reason.

I like the built-in diary as I can go back later and retrieve the information for my excel spreadsheet.

Would I buy this unit again? Probably. It has all the features I need to keep track of calories, HRmax, HRavg, HR%, alarms, and workout time. My only beef is the chest strap and snaps that can corrode, causing the sender to malfunction. Regular maintenance will extend the life of the chest strap.