Polar FT80 Review

The Polar FT80 is a great monitor for people of any fitness level who want to combine cardiovascular training with weight training. Its integrated fitness test and adapted training program are great tools that help tailor your training to provide the best benefit possible.

While it provides the standard set of training data (heart rate, real time calories burned, etc), the Polar FT80 differentiate itself with its weight training feature and its graphical guidance. When doing weight training, the Polar FT80 will guide you through your set identifying with an easy to understand graphic. This will help you get the most out of your workouts by optimizing your lifting and rest periods.

For people focusing more on cardiovascular training, the ability to connect the Polar FT80 to the Polar S1 Foot Pod or the Polar G1 GPS Sensor is a great addition. These tools can provide feedback as to the distance and speed of a particular training session.

While some users of the Polar FT80 have reported that the model with the black screen had poor contrast and was hard to read in bright light, the model we tested was the traditional black on white display and we had no problems reading the display even when training outside.

More and more, heart rate companies put the focus on online diaries or communities. Polar is no exception and the FT80 comes with a tool to easily transfer your training data to polarpersonaltrainer.com to create a personal training diary. Sites like this can be a great source of motivation and tool to help you keep on track with your training program.

Overall, the Polar FT80 is a great product for fitness enthusiasts. It really shines with its fitness tests and adapted training program and its weight training features is a big differentiator.

Pros:

•  Integrated fitness tests and training programs
•  Weight training features
•  Ability to connect to GPS and Foot pod add-ons
•  2 years warranty

Cons:

•  Hard to read display on the white on black model.

Our rating 9/10

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